French Onion Soup

I love French Onion Soup.  It is one of my favorite soups in the whole world.  Here is a basic recipe for making it.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 2 14 1/2-ounce cans beef broth
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• Bay leaf
• French baguette, sliced and toasted
• 1 cup grated Swiss cheese or Gruyere

Directions:

• Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. 
• Add onions and cook until golden brown, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. 
• Mix in the broth, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Heat to a boil and then remove from heat. Discard the bay leaf. 
• Season to taste with pepper. 
• Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Refrigerate. Rewarm soup before continuing.

Now you can finish this off one of two ways.

• The first is to ladle the soup into broiler proof bowls.  Place the toasted baguettes on top o the soup and sprinkle with Swiss cheese.  Broil this until the cheese has melted and is bubbling.

• The second way is to ladle the soup into bowls and top with toasted baguettes.  When toasting the baguettes, place the cheese on top so that it melts onto the toast.

Beef Stew

Here is a basic beef stew recipe that I've found and that brings back memories of childhood.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chuck roast, preferably with the bone
• 2 medium sized carrots
• 3 celery stalks
• 1 large tomato
• 1 medium potato
• 2 shallots
• 6-8 springs of parsley
• salt 
• pepper
• 32 oz beef broth
• water

Directions:

• Place the chuck roast (beef) into the bottom of the pot.
• Rough chop all of the vegetables so that they are in bite size pieces.
• As the vegetables get chopped up, place them in the pot on top of the beef.
• Add salt and pepper then cover everything with the beef broth and water.
• Simmer on medium heat for 3 1/2 to 4 hours stirring occasionally.
  

White Chicken Chili

I was watching the Food Network a couple of weeks ago while I was cleaning the family room and saw a recipe that I simply had to try.  It was "White Chicken Chili" by the Neelys.  I've simply linked to their recipe instead of retyping the whole thing. Sorry about the extra click but this recipe is worth it.

This was a simple chili to make and when it was done was absolutely delicious!  The hardest part of the recipe was shredding the rotisserie chicken, although I had a little helper assisting me with that!

I'm still here...

I haven't posted in a while, but I'm still here and still cooking new things in the kitchen.  Since the weather started to get cold, I've been trying to cook soups and stews at least once a week.  These are turning out great.  My problem...I don't remember to take a picture of the soup until we're eating the last drop of soup!