No-Cream-of-Crap-Soup Green Bean Casserole

One of the biggest evils of the Thanksgiving meal is inevitably some sort of cream-of-something soup (known as cream-of-crap soup around my house).  Here's a really quick and really delicious recipe to do away with the cream-of-crap in green bean casserole.  

If you have another recipe that calls for a cream-of soup, just go through the recipe until you add the green beans, and you'll have a great replacement (if it's cream of celery, use celery instead of mushrooms; if it's cream of chicken, add some bouillon instead of mushrooms; if it's cheddar cheese soup, add about a cup or two of shredded cheese at the end and omit the mushrooms; etc....)

I don't have the pictures ready to upload yet, but I want to get this posted before Thanksgiving... pictures are soon to follow, though!

Here's the casserole before we bake it - I made it ahead of time
and haven't baked it yet, so there's no final picture yet!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (unrefined)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground sage
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
• 2 pounds green beans (if frozen, thawed)

Directions

Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pot over medium heat.  Add the onions and sauté until soft and golden brown.  

Add the butter.  Once the butter is melted, add the mushrooms and sauté for about 5 minutes.  

Stir the flour into the onion-mushroom mixture and stir over medium heat for about a minute.  

Whisk in the milk and stock.  

Add the salt, sage, pepper and garlic.  Whisk and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the sauce is thickened.

Mix the green beans into the sauce and pour into a baking dish (or aluminum pan to save dishes!)

Bake at 350 degrees until the sides are bubbly and the top is slightly browned.