Slow cooker French Onion Soup.. Better for you recipe

As I mentioned in my last post I've been working on a better me.  Working on being healthier and cooking healthier not just for myself but my family.

I had a request for French onion soup for dinner for a Sunday night and I went about searching for a recipe that wasn't so full of fat and calories and in the end wound up tweaking a recipe to make it healthier (because honestly, there's no need for 2 Tbs oil and 2 Tbs unsalted butter).  Time and Patience, yes.. all that extra fat, no way.

I have this pan I love, like, I absolutely Adore it and use it for just about anything I can.

It's only a 2Qt, but I love that nothing sticks to it, and if I do get some sticking a little soak in hot water and scrub a bit with baking soda and it's good as new.  I've had this for over a year and a half and It still looks good as new inside.

I was making my soup in the crock pot, but to get the onions properly caramelized was either going to take me 12 hours in the crock pot, or just about an hour on the stove top.  I don't like leaving the crock on overnight (especially with four legged critters in the house). The recipe that I based mine off used 3 pounds of yellow onions, plus oil and butter.  Since becoming lactose intolerant butter isn't really my friend and all that fat is really unnecessary in this recipe (as well as 12 hours for the onions in the crock pot, that's not happening).  

I started out with three pounds of yellow onions plus one big vidalia onion, cut into quarter moon slices, one tablespoon of vegetable oil, 1 Tsp Sea Salt and set it over medium-low heat.   I knew this was going to take a while, so I had a project I was working on while this was going.

                                                                     15 minutes in...

45 minutes in

60 minutes in...

an hour and 15 minutes in...

                                             90 minutes and they're ready for the crockpot

This was the most time consuming part of this whole recipe, but really, it's so worth it because the end result is absolutely delicious.  I started this at 9am on a Sunday morning, my son was sleeping, my BF was at work so I had the time and while I was doing this I was working on a needlepoint project so I only got up every so often to give it a stir, plus this is a nice heavy bottomed pan that doesn't burn as long as you've got he heat set nice and low.

I don't have soup crocks, so in the end I ended up toasting the bread and cheese in the oven and topping the bowls of soup with it like that, it was amazing either way.

So now, without fail, here is my recipe, adapted from the Kitchn's recipe.

Ingredients

3 pounds yellow or Vidalia onions, peeled, sliced, and cut into quarter-moons

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

Freshly ground black pepper

10 cups reduced-sodium beef broth 

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

4 to 6 toasted baguette slices per bowl

1/3 cup grated Swiss cheese per bowl (1 1/3 to 2 cups total)

Instructions

Since I started my recipe on the stove top as stated above, these are my directions:

Cut the onions into quarter moon slices and place in a heavy bottomed pan with 1 Tbs oil and 1 tsp Kosher salt.  Sweat the onions over low heat and continue to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until caramelized.  Mine took just about an hour and a half to be right where I wanted them.

Add to Crock pot along with the broth and vinegar. 

Cover and continue cooking on low for 6 to 8 hours. Longer cooking will only intensify the flavors and add richness to the soup. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.

Portion the soup into oven-safe bowls. Arrange a rack in the upper third of the oven and heat to 350°f and place the bowls on a rimmed baking sheet.

Top each bowl with a slice of toast and about 1/3 cup of shredded cheese.

Bake until the cheese is completely melted, 20 to 30 minutes and then broil for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the oven to broil. Broil until the cheese is bubbling and browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Serve with chopped fresh shallot or onion if desired.

This makes a lot of soup and it was enough for dinner sized portions for the three of us, plus seconds for my kid and lunch for myself the next day

Mmm Chicken & Dumplings

One of my very favorite comfort foods is Chicken & Dumplings. Today we're in for a whopper of a snowstorm that went from an estimated 3-5" on Friday up to 6-10" last night and then just a little while ago when flipping through the channels saw that it's gone up to 8-14" I've had enough of winter already.

Anyway, on to the Chicken & Dumplings

I don't like to just toss chicken in a pot with water and very rarely do I use bouillon, so what I do is I take the skin off all the chicken, toss it into a Zipper bag and season it really well with salt, pepper, sage and paprika then I roast it in a 425°f oven for 25 minutes


I then put the chicken into my trusty stock pot and cover it with 2 quarts of water, 1 small onion, sliced, 2 cloves garlic, smashed and then let it go for about an hour. After the hour is up I add in a big bag of frozen mixed vegetables, check the seasoning and adjust it to my liking and then it's time for the dumplings.

I will confess here, I don't go all out rolling dough for dumplings.. I make Bisquick dumplings. There is nothing like the little fluffy clouds of dumplings that you get from Bisquick, that's how my grandma made 'em and that's how I do it too. (Pancakes too, but that's another day) Bisquick dumplings are so easy! 2 1/4 cups Bisquick and 2/3 cup milk, mix in a bowl until doughy and add to hot liquid. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, cover and cook another 10 and you're good to go!

Yummy!!!

French food doesn't have to be stuffy

Alright, so Most of it really is.. Foie gras (eew, in my book) Creme Brulee.. takes a lot of work (but so totally worth it, lol) French toast, one of my absolute favorite foods! But this, well. this is as far from stuffy as it gets, and the best, quickest, easiest French onion soup that I have ever made, and I've made quite a few (all that required hours of simmering on the stove or in the crock pot) I made this tonight when I got home after drooling over the recipe for a week I finally had all my ingredients together and was ready to just do it, the results (a damn shame I don't have a camera to show y'all how damn good this looked!) perfectly soft onions in a rich, dark broth perfect harmony in a bowl of soup topped with a cheesy crouton.. The best of the best in my book and done in under 30 minutes!

FRENCH ONION SOUP

"Thick slices of French bread are toasted in the oven and placed on top of each bowl of rich onion soup. Slices of Swiss cheese are melted over the toast."

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup butter
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup red wine
2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed
beef broth
1 French baguette or thick bread
8 ounces sliced Swiss cheese

DIRECTIONS:
1.Melt butter or margarine in a 4 quart saucepan. Stir in sugar. Cook onions over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

2.Stir in flour until well blended with the onions and pan juices. Add water, wine, and beef broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover soup, and simmer for 10 minutes.

3.Cut four 1 inch thick slices of bread from the loaf. Toast the bread slices at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) just until browned, about 10 minutes. Reserve the remaining bread to serve with the soup.

4.Ladle soup into four 12 ounce, oven-safe bowls. Place 1 slice toasted bread on top of the soup in each bowl. Fold Swiss cheese slices, and fit onto toasted bread slices. Place soup bowls on a cookie sheet for easier handling.5.Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or just until cheese is melted

Chinese Hot & Sour Soup.. it'll cure what ail's ya...

I think I have a cold.. maybe it's just my allergies, who knows. What I do know is that ever since I had a bowl of hot & sour soup from the Chinese place by work at lunchtime I'm feeling better.. I can breathe again and I'm not coughing anymore...

So what exactly is in this 'magic' soup? I have no freaking idea, lol... okay.. I have some idea of what was in the potion I had for lunch today.. Strips of ginger, mushrooms, tofu, red pepper flakes.. really that's all I could tell you. The soup itself is thick, it slides right off your spoon without a splash. I don't know what it is about this soup.. but it works. Hopefully the coughing will be away by tomorrow. Regardless I took an advil cold and sinus and am on my way to bed now.

If any of you have a recipe for this 'magic soup' I would love to give it a try.