Marie's French Onion Soup

Paul recently reminisced about his Mom's French Onion Soup, so I asked for her recipe. It's largely made from Julia Child's recipe, but with some alterations. It was great on this cold winter day.

Ingredients:

• 5 -6 cups yellow onions, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 to 2 lbs)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil (I used coconut oil)
• 2 tablespoons butter (but have 4 Tablespoons on hand if possible)
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon sugar (Truvia for baking)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 6 cups beef stock
• 1 cup wine (dry red or white, I used Pinot Grigio and enjoyed it)
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
• 6-12 ounces Swiss cheese (sliced or grated)
• 4 ounces parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 -3 tablespoons cognac
• 8-12 slices French bread, about 1 inch thick (We're partial to sourdough)- plan on 1-2 croutes per serving, depending on your bowls or ramekins. Or if you love bread like me - double the croutes and fill your bowl with bread before adding soup!  :-)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, for toasting bread

Directions:

1. Heat a large Soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add 1 Tbsp. coconut oil, 2Tbs butter to pot. Add sliced onions and stir until they are evenly coated with the oil. Cover and cook on medium low for about 20 minutes until they are very tender and translucent.
2. To brown or caramelize the onions turn heat under pot to medium or medium-high heat. Add 1/2 tsp sugar or sugar substitute and 1 tsp salt and continue to cook uncovered, stirring frequently until the onions have browned and reduced significantly (this took about another 20 minutes, but I may have had the burner too low)
3. Once caramelized, reduce heat to medium-low and add 3 Tbsp.p flour to the onions. Brown the flour for about 2-3 minutes trying not to scorch it. (I added another 2 Tbsp. butter here).
4. Stir in about 1 cup of warm stock, scraping the bottom of the pan to get up all of the cooked-on bits. If your pan is non-stick to begin with - it shouldn't be an issue. Add the rest of the stock, wine, sage, and bay leaf to the soup. Simmer for 30 minutes, while preparing the croutes.
5. To make the "croutes" (toasted bread), heat oven to 325 degrees F. Drizzle or use a pastry brush to apply olive oil to both sides of the bread slices. Place on parchment paper on a baking tray, and toast in oven for 10-15 minutes each side. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add 1/2 slice of Swiss, 1 slice of provolone or a slice of gruyere. Remove from the oven when the cheese is melted and bubbly.
6. Check the soup for seasoning, and add salt and pepper if desired. Remove the Bay leaf.  Add a few ounces of the Swiss cheese directly into the soup and stir. Add the 2-3 Tbsp. cognac.
7. Ladle soup into individual bowls and top with cheesy croutes. Sprinkle with grated parmesan and allow cheese to melt. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef

I adapted this one from a recipe posted at The Recipe Critic. It might be my new favorite crock-pot meal! It worked best for me to prepare everything the night before, and just pop it in my Crock-pot on my way out the door in the morning.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds Flank Steak
• 1/3 cup Almond Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Minced Garlic Cloves
• 1/4 cup Dried Minced Onion
• 1/4 teaspoon Dried Ginger
• 3/4 cup Bragg's Amino Acids
• 3/4 cup Water
• 1/2 cup Splenda Brown Sugar
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup snow peas
• Chopped Green Onion for garnish

Directions

• Cut Flank Steak into thin strips. In a large ziplock, add flank steak pieces and almond flour. Shake to coat.
• If prepping in advance, add all ingredients but snow peas and green onion to the ziplock and leave overnight in the fridge. In the morning empty ziplock bag contents into slow cooker.
• OR If prepping in the morning, add olive oil, minced garlic, minced onion, dried ginger, amino acids, water, Splenda and carrots to slow cooker and stir. Add coated flank steak and stir again until coated in the sauce.
• Cook on high 2-3 hours or on low 4-5 hours until cooked through and tender. Add Snow peas in last hour of cooking. Serve over rice or riced cauliflower. Garnish with green onions.

Chicky Muffins

Chicky is my Aussie friend (AKA Clarissa), and this recipe came from her experiments in healthy eating. Two teeny muffins make a great filling breakfast. They are high in fiber and very low in fat. Clarissa's are even healthier than mine, because I use the whole egg, but she uses just the egg white.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup oat bran
1/2 cup shredded or flaked coconut
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons Splenda Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons splenda
1 egg
1/3 cup nonfat milk
cooking spray or mini muffin cups.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray mini muffin tins with cooking spray, or line with muffin cup papers.
Combine all ingredients. Divide into 12 mini muffin cups.
Bake for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
Cool on wire racks.

Roasted Potatoes

Everything is easy once you make it your own. I used to be intimidated by oven roasted potatoes until I realized it comes down to three basic parts. Mix and match to make your own favorites.

Ingredients:

• Potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces. These can be Idaho, Red, Baby Red, Yukon Gold, Fingerling...and potatoes you want. I've never met a potato that didn't taste good roasted! I usually use an average of 2 small or 1 large potato per person. You can always have leftovers!
• Cooking liquid, your choice. I've tried cream, white wine, broth, olive oil, other cooking oils or butter. You'll want about 1/4 cup of liquid for every 4-6 potatoes.
• Spices or herbs or flavoring. Almost anything you like the taste of will complement potatoes. Some of my favorites are: a packet of onion soup mix, a packet of Ramen spices, a few tablespoons of Mrs. Dash, and packet of Barbecue sauce spices. Get creative, it is almost impossible to mess this up!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 
2. Put the liquid and the spice in a large ziplock bag and mix by agitating the bag.
3. Add potatoes, seal and shake to coat the potatoes in the seasonings.
4. Pour into a 9x13 oven safe dish. IF your cooking liquid is not oil based, it is best to spray the dish before you add the potatoes.
5. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until you can mash a potato with a fork.
6. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

This evening, my family had red potatoes, roasted with olive oil and onion soup mix. And if the empty dish says anything, it was a good choice! I'd love to hear your favorite combinations!

Don't Waste Gravy!

Time saver twist...If you make Tangy Pot Roast or any other gravy recipe, and are left with a bunch of gravy in the crockpot when the meat is gone, throw that gravy in a Tupperware and put it in the freezer for another night. Today I was caught unprepared when it came time to make dinner, and I ended up pulling off a pretty good meal anyway. The trick was my leftover gravy!

I grabbed some pork chops from the fridge, and the frozen block of gravy from the freezer. I could have used chicken, or steaks. I put the pork chops into a skillet to brown and microwaved the gravy to thaw it. After the pork chops were browned, I put in enough gravy to cover them, and covered the skillet. I let them simmer while I cut up and roasted some red potatoes, and threw some frozen peas under the hot tap to thaw and heat. Presto! Comfort food, ready in 35 minutes.

I'll throw my recipe for roasted potatoes up on the blog next. Like all my favorite recipes, it includes three ingredients!

Saucy Chicken and Peaches

As regular readers will know, I get many of my recipes passed to me from my sister, Mercy. She even sent me a whole cookbook put together by her church group. This is one of the gems I found in that cookbook, and it was submitted to the book by my awesome sister!  I had forgotten to post it to the blog until I was talking about it with my friend Carrie tonight.

Saucy Chicken and Peaches

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 2 c. canned peaches (1 large can)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon basil

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat until hot.
2. Add chicken, cook 4-5 minutes. Turn chicken over, cover and cook another 4-5 minutes until juices run clear.
3. Remove from skillet; keep warm. You can also cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces to cook more quickly and for better serving sizes for small appetites.
4. Meanwhile, drain peach syrup into glass measuring cup. Add water to make 1 cup of liquid.
5. Whisk cornstarch, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and basil into peach liquid.
6. Pour liquid into hot skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.
7. Gently Stir in Peaches and chicken.
8. Serve over hot rice.

Mercy's family likes the sauce so much, she makes double. Then she saves half of the peaches in custard cups for the kids to eat cold.

Banana Streusel Muffins

I've always been a big fan of banana nut bread, but when I needed to whip up a dessert for a recent potluck, I spied the very ripe bananas sitting on the counter and decided they needed to become a sweet, rather than a bread. I found a recipe for banana streusel muffins on food.com and altered it to create the recipe below.

Ingredients:
Muffins:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3-4 bananas mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Topping:

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
2. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with paper liners. I wanted bite size treats, so I used 36 mini muffin cups (without nuts, probably just 30-32).
3. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. In another bowl (or stand mixer bowl), beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Add nuts if desired.
5. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins. be sure to only fill cups 2/3 full. You need room to place the topping or it will fall off the muffin and caramelize the pan!
7. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour and cinnamon.
8. Add melted butter and stir until well blended.
9. Spoon evenly over muffins.
10. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Enjoy!