French Onion Soup Average Jane Style

My fiance hates french onion soup, BUT HE LOVES THIS!

I'm sorry there isn't a picture. I made this soup before I started a blog and it costs a lot to remake it. It uses expensive ingredients like red wine and balsamic, ...if you don't already have this stuff, it needs it.

I used wood smoked cheddar on baquettes that I baked in the oven before serving the soup and it is better than the traditional cheese on this soup. If I had the cash I would have preferred an apple wood cheddar.

If you've never made french onion before, don't worry, neither had I, but it is easy. Just look at youtube videos and lots of recipes on how to do it. You can twist it any way you want to.

I didn't measure, but if you take a look at other recipes for french onion you will get a good idea of how much to use. I used 3 lbs onions compared to 2 litres of broth. I really feel that I could have used more onions! I like it to be very thick with carmalized onions.

I used flour and butter to thicken the soup to more of a gravy consistency. I don't like "soupy" onion soup. I like it to be thick.

I used red wine to deglaze the pan after carmalizing the onions.

Spanish yellow onion organic
beef broth organic
chicken broth organic
minced garlic organic
butter organic
balsamic real aged 4 years or more
brown sugar
coarse sea salt or pink himalayan sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
smoked paprika
red wine aged
parmasean cheese crumble
asiago cheese shredded
wood smoked aged cheddar
dijon mustard
flour
baquette

Simple Bok Choy Soup

1 Litre low sodium vegetable broth
8 cloves minced garlic
dash of fresh cracked black pepper
juice of 3/4 lemon
2-3 tsp. UDO's oil
bok choy (as much as you like)

Bring the vegetable broth to a medium boil. Add bok choy and turn down to simmer for 4-6 minutes, uncovered. Add juice of lemon, dash of pepper, and UDO's oil. Serve.

Guiness Beer Stew with Poached Eggs

My Fiance loves this stew. I made it up because he likes his beer, his vegetables, his steak, and his eggs.

8- 10 peeled Yukon gold potatoes organic

2 peeled parsnips organic

2 peeled carrots organic

3 peeled yellow onions organic

5 peeled cloves garlic organic

1/3 pound Portobello mushrooms or preferred mushrooms

10-12 slices steak organic and grass fed

1 and 1/4 cup dark beer (Guiness Chocolate)

1 cube beef stock or beef stock equal to one cube

3 bay leaves, fresh

organic butter and olive oil

2 leeks organic

3 tomatoes organic

1/2 celery (strings removed!)

fresh thyme, rosemary, parsely, oregano, and basil

some amaranth flour for thickening

1/2 cup olive oil

organic free range large eggs

adjust beer for taste

You will need a crock pot if you want the flavours of the basil, beer, and other ingredients to really come out into the soup.

Clean and peel all of the vegetables and cut them into small pieces.

Heat the olive oil in a pot.

Sauté the garlic, thyme, and rosemary a little, but not enough to discolour it. Then add the vegetables and sauté. When the vegetables have softened up a little, add the beer and broth to cover and simmer for a bit. 

Add meat to veggies and beer. Brown the meat in butter and oil. Season. Set aside. 

Remove drippings from steak. Get a pan and place on medium heat, keep 2 tbsp. dripping in the pan. Put in 1 to 2 tbsp. amaranth flour using a sifter and whisk. Stir constantly and add water. Add to the soup.

Heat the stew in a crock pot on low for 4-6 hours. If not "done", leave it for another 2 hours.

When the stew is ready, serve in a bowl with a poached egg on top and then sprinkle with parsley and thyme.

French Lentil

This is a romantic soup best paired with red chardonnay ten years or older. 

1/2 cup French Green Lentils organic

2 cups chopped yellow onions

2 large minced garlic cloves

3 tbsp. olive oil or UDO's oil 369 Omega Blend

1 tsp. salt (optional) (does not need it)

1/2 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper 

1 tbsp. minced fresh thyme leaves (picked and rinsed)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 cup medium diced celery (2 stalks)

1 cup medium diced  rainbow carrots

2 cups vegetable stock

2 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. real aged balsamic (4 years or older)

finely chopped spinach and kale, rinsed

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika 

pinch cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cumin

Use a pressure cooker for lentils and do not overheat. If you do not have a pressure cooker, this will take a long time.

Add Udo's oil at the very end. Udo's oil cannot be heated or else this healthy oil combusts turning it into a carcinogen..which is a byproduct of burning food and is not healthy for you.