Crock Pot French Onion Soup

We are still in the season of soups. January is, I think, the coldest month most places so I know that a lot of you are still dreading going outside. You're bundling up and enjoying time on the couch, by the fire, drinking tea or coffee or hot chocolate. Well, I am anyway and I'm not really North!

I found this recipe on Pinterest way back and finally gave it a try. It is the best crock pot meal that I've ever tasted. The work of caramelizing the onions before hand really pays off with the flavor. I went the route of making croutons and I didnt broil with the cheese. You'll see the way I did it below but feel free to go to the original source and see what they did. Either way you finish it off, the flavor of this soup is the same as restaurant quality - I promise!

French Onion Soup (adapted from All Recipes)
6 tablespoons butter
4 large yellow onions, sliced and separated into rings
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup cooking sherry
7 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf

French Bread, cubed
Olive Oil
Onion Powder, Garlic salt, Garlic Powder, Oregano, Basil (or any seasonings you want/have)

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/3 cup shredded Asiago cheese
1/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat butter in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat; cook and stir onions until they become translucent, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle onions with sugar; reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring constantly, until onions are soft and browned, at least 30 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Stir sherry into onion mixture and scrape bottom of pot to dissolve small bits of browned food from the pot. Transfer onions into a slow cooker and pour in beef broth. Season to taste with sea salt; stir in thyme and bay leaf. Cover cooker, set on High, and cook 4 to 6 hours. If desired, set on Low and cook 8 to 10 hours.

At any point you can make your croutons. Simply toss the bread in a large bowl with olive oil. then add your seasonings and toss again, to coat each piece. Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 375 for 4 minutes or so, turning half way through.

When soup is done, ladle into bowls, then add croutons and sprinkle your cheese mixture on top. Let sit for a minute or 2 so that the cheese can melt from the heat of your soup.

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

I have a real love for Panera's Broccoli Cheddar Soup. In fact, I get it 99.9% of the time that I go there. It can be 100 degrees out and I will order my soup with a smoked turkey sandwich (or a sierra turkey if I really want to be bad). The calories aren't really that high for the 1/2 portion, but when I moved to Nashville I moved away from Panera. I have one by work, but I really don't have time to get there and it isn't conveniently on my way home (especially now that I have a baby in tow).

Anyway, I can safely say that I was having some serious withdrawls. Especially when the fall weather hit, I needed some soup and stat. Enter in Pinterest. Adam helped me whip up this soup and it was seriously so easy and so delicious. We both really enjoyed this and next time I will double the recipe and freeze half.

I love that there is no heavy cream involved. And I used skim milk. It was still creamy and perfect with a baguette, a la panera :) the only thing that I had to change was the rue (the water and flour mix) - the soup wasn't thickening up enough so at the end we added in another portion of rue, only less water and more flour - and it thickened up perfectly. So you may have to play around with that, but leave it until the end to see. Sorry for the crap pic, we ate it at night and had no leftover to photograph the next day.

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder (from LuLu the Baker)

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped carrot

1 celery stick, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

4 cups chicken broth 1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup milk

2 cups chopped broccoli

2 heaping cups shredded cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a large soup pot.  Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender.  Add garlic and cook 1 or 2 additional minutes. 

Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and cook 25-30 minutes.  

Mix flour with water, add, and simmer until soup is slightly thickened.  

Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is just tender and soup is heated through.  Stir in cheese, allow to melt, and serve.