French Onion Soup

The adults in this household think French Onion soup is amazing, and we just found a recipe that is easy, that is delicious, and that keeps well in the fridge (the onion broth that is) so you can eat it multiple nights!

Recipe adapted from French Onion Soup Gratinee on allrecipes.com

Ingredients

4 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. salt
2 large red onions, thinly sliced
2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
1 (48 fluid ounce) can chicken broth
1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. thyme
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 thick slices of bread
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 pinches paprika


Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in salt, red onions and sweet onions. Cook 35 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized and almost syrupy.
2. Mix chicken broth, beef broth, red wine and Worcestershire sauce into pot. Add herbs. Simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low, mix in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep over low heat to stay hot while you prepare the bread.
3. Preheat oven broiler. Make toast out of bread and then cut toast into bite-size pieces.
4. Arrange 4 large oven safe bowls or crocks on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each bowl 2/3 full with hot soup. Top each bowl with a large handful of toasted bread bites, a handful of Swiss cheese and a smaller handful of the mozzarella. Sprinkle a little bit of paprika over the top of each one.
5. Broil 5 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve immediately!

Crock Pot #3, 4, 5 & 6: Salsa Chicken & Black Bean Soup

Remember that Crock Pot challenge I had going?  It's been awhile since any activity has been reported but it's still underway albeit slowly. 

Crock Pot #3 was a beef vegetable stew that came from my head and the freezer that needed to be emptied before we moved.  No recipe was used and it turned out great.  Crock Pot #4  & #5 were made out of necessity - only one burner on our stove worked until today - and they were tried and true recipes.  Tomato Soup and Moroccan Chicken.  The Moroccan Chicken recipe was given to me by Erinn at a bridal shower, and five years later it's still one of our favorites.

Tonight's dinner was #6 - Salsa, Chicken & Black Bean Soup.  YUMMY!  We all had seconds of this - yes, that means Helena too (but without the mushrooms & sour cream).

One of the great aspects of this recipe is that it uses dried black beans.  All you have to do is soak them overnight and then dump them in the bottom of the Crock Pot!  Now I want to figure out how to do beans in the Crock Pot for non-Crock Pot recipes - anybody know how?  It's probably really easy.