Baked French Onion Soup

Baked French Onion Soup

While watching Food Network, I saw Melissa d"Arabian make baked french onion soup.  I literally got up from the couch and went to the kitchen to start making this soup immediately.  I knew I had all the ingredients on hand and she just made it look so good, I just had to have it for dinner.  

I started by chopping all the onions.  Make sure to slice them with the grain to hold their shape

 

Melt the butter and add the onions to the Dutch Oven.  You can also use a deep saucepan if you do not have a Dutch Oven.

 

Saute the onions with the top on for at least 90 minutes.  This is the longest step, I promise.

 

 

Almost there

 

Until they look like this

  

Sprinkle in the flour and cook for another minute or two.  Deglaze the pan with red wine and cook for another few minutes until slightly reduced.

Add the beef broth and bay leaf and cover for 10-15 minutes until hot

  

Ladle the coup to an oven safe bowl, top with bread and cheese.  Place under broiler until cheese is melted and slightly caramelized.

 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 yellow onions (about 1 3/4 pounds), thinly sliced with the grain to hold their shape
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour (I usually use King Arthur Whole Wheat)
1/4 cup dry red wine
4 cups beef stock
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup grated Swiss or 4 thick slices
Baguette slices, cut on the diagonal Optional

Directions

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the onions; sprinkle with salt, cover and cook 10 minutes to get them going. Uncover, add the thyme and bay leaf, and continue cooking until the onions are deeply caramelized, 1 to 11/2 hours.

Turn the heat up to medium and sprinkle the onions with the flour. Stir and allow the flour to cook, 1 to 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine and allow to reduce. Add the beef stock, lemon juice, and simmer, about 10 minutes. Taste the soup, and add salt and pepper as needed.

Meanwhile, preheat the broiler to high. Ladle the soup into 4 ovenproof crocks.


 

Honey Baked Cod recipe

 On the menu tonight

 Honey Baked Cod
Baked Sweet potato
Roasted Cauliflower

Being stuck at home due to the Chicago Polar Vortex, gave me an opportunity to cook a meal that takes a little longer than the average 30min meal.

I initially found the cod recipe here on Pinterest

I altered it slightly so here is my version

Ingredients:

4 pieces of cod

Soy Sauce

Honey

Rice wine vinegar

water

Marinade:
  12 tablespoon Soy Sauce
  10 tablespoon Honey
  2 tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar
  2 tablespoon Water

Preparation

1. Mix the marinade well in a gallon size zip top bag.

2. Place the cod in marinate in the zip top bag for 30 minutes.Turning the baggie over once to marinade the other side.
3. Preheat oven at 350F
4. Lay cod in a baking dish with some of the marinade to cover the bottom of the pan
5. Bake the cod for 20 minutes 

6. Turn the broiler in HI and broil for another 10 minutes to caramelize

Sweet Potato

1. Poke several holes in the sweet potato
2. Wrap with a wet paper towel
3. Bake in the microwave for 5-8min depending on the size of your potato
4. Top with your favorite toppings.  My girls like a pinch of brown sugar and agave nectar.

Cauliflower

1. Cut 1 head of cauliflower in pieces.  
2. Put all pieces in a zip top bag
3. Put in olive oil, salt, and garlic powder seal up and shake until all pieces are coated
4. Put on lined cookie sheet and baked at 400F for 20-30min tossing every 10 min.

 The Cod was super sweet and almost crab like.  It was delicious and both my kids and husband loved it as well.

Family Birthday Sign

Family Birthday Sign

My grandma just celebrated her 80th birthday and my sister and I saw this beautiful sign on Pinterest and decided to replicate it.  My grandma had 8 children, so we have a VERY large family.  We have 80 family members, plus one on the way.  The project took several hours, broken nails, and major arthritis in the hands.  But it turned out beautiful and she cried when we gave it to her.  Here is how we did it in case you are interested in making one.

Here is what you need

Wooden Circles(1-1/2 x 3/16 in)-enough for each person

Various colors of acrylic paint (we did one color per family)

Paint Brush or sponges

Sharpie Paint Pen

Large Wooden Sign

12 Eyelet hooks

Round Jump Rings 10-12mm(can be found in jewelry sections of craft stores)

List of dates

Drill with a 3/32 drill bit

Alphabet Stickers

Paper plates

Wet wipes and paper towels

Needle nose pliers

I found the sign at JoAnn Fabrics back in December when they had their 75% off sale on all Christmas stuff.  Not sure why it was in the Christmas section, but it was.  I got the sign which says FAMILY for $7.

Next we bought all the wood discs from Michael's, as well as the paint, paint brush sponges, alphabet stickers, and 10" round jump rings (in jewelry section).

We got the small eyelet hooks from WalMart for $1

Then the fun began

We started by separating each of the 8 children into colors.Then we painted each wood circle on paper plates, waited for them to dry them painted the back.  They dry pretty quickly.  Some colors needed 2 coats.

After the paint fully dried, we drilled 2 opposite holes into each circle.  We used a 3/32 drill bit to drill the holes.  Go very slowly and do not push hard at all.  I broke or split the first 3 until I got the hang of it.

After all the holes were drilled, I wrote all the names and dates on each circle.

The the hard part began, We had to add all the round jump rings.  This is where our fingers began to hurt and we suffered many broken nails.  We added two to each circle and connected them all in birth order per month.

Then we added the stickers to spell our BIRTHDAYS and all the abbreviations of the months,  I measured the distance, and divided 12 even spaces. Then carefully applied all the stickers.  I had a hard time with the spacing since all the letters are not the same width.  I had to remove some and start again.  They are not perfect, but they look good when hung up on the wall.

Then we needed to add the eyelet hooks on the bottom under each month.  I tried to do the first one, but really had a hard time.  I asked for my husbands help and he screwed in all 12 of the eyelet hooks.

After that, we added the strings to the proper month and were finally finished!  All 81 members of my large crazy Italian family.  The project took at least 5-6 hours to complete and cost $42. Well worth it if you ask me.  Best part was it made my grandma cry when she opened it, priceless.

Honey Mustard Pretzel Crusted Stuffed Chix recipe

It has been a long day of fighting with my girls to get to dance class on time, followed by a trip to McDonald's Place Place for lunch to blow off some steam on this COLD Chicago day.  So while watching the kids play on the jungle gym, I started planning my dinner and decided to do one of my go to's.  So here is what we are having for dinner.  It is one of my go to dinners because both my husband and kids love it.

Honey mustard pretzel crusted ham stuffed chicken breasts (I know it is a mouthful, but that is the best way to describe it)

Ingredients

• 4 Chicken breasts
• 1 cup Honey Mustard (I like Frenches)
• Salt
• 4-8 Slices of deli luncheon ham
• 1 cup crushed pretzels

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Clean and butterfly each chicken breast.
3. Stuff each breast with 1-2 slices of ham
4. Close chicken breast up and place in a greased pan
5. Sprinkle each breast with salt
6. Coat each breast liberally with honey mustard
7.  Place pretzels in a large zip top bag and here with where you can get the kids involved or take out some aggression.  Crush the pretzels with your hands, mallet, pan, or whatever you can get your hands on.
8. Coat each breast with the crushed pretzels.  Make sure to really push them into the breasts.
9. Place in oven and bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes or until the juices run clear.