French Onion Soup

The Soup

8 cups high quality beef broth (home made if possible) http://recipesbysuneday.blogspot.com/2012/02/beef-stock.html
1/4 red wine - Merlot is good
1 TBS Kitchen Bouquet
1 tsp dried thyme or 2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves stems removed

Place all of the above in a pot and reduce to 1/2 (4 cups). This takes about 20 minutes over medium heat.

The Onion Mixture

1 Large sweet onion sliced very thin
1 Large Granny Smith Apple - peeled, cored & grated
2 Large baby Portabella Mushrooms sliced very thin
2 TBS Canola or Vegetable Oil
2 TBS Butter
Salt & Pepper
1/8 cup red wine

Sauté the onions, apple, mushrooms, salt & pepper in the oil and butter until they are caramelized and a rich Carmel color. Deglaze the pan with the wine and remove from heat.

The Assembly

3 pieces of French bread cut into about 1/2 thickness, toasted broken into large pieces.
1/4 cup Swiss Cheese - freshly grated
4 Slices Provolone
1/4 cup Parmesan or Asiago Cheese - freshly grated

Split the onion mixture between four oven safe serving bowls. Ladle the soup into the bowls leaving a little room at the top. Divide toasted French bread pieces between the bowls. Cover the soup, onion & bread mixture with the cheeses in this order, Swiss Cheese, Provolone Cheese then finish with the Parmesan or Asiago Cheese.

The Baking

Place your oven rack in the center of your oven and turn on the broiler. Place your 4 soup bowls onto a rimmed cookie sheet. Carefully place the cookie sheet into your oven for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is browned and bubbly.

The soup bowls will be hot.....when I serve this to my family I place the hot soup bowl into a slightly larger soup bowl so the bowls are easier to handle and I don't have to worry about scorching my table.

How to Make Puree

Choose what you are going to puree. Place it in your steamer until soft (rice cooker works great to steam veggies and fruit if you have one of those). Remove from steamer and allow to cool. Discard water. Place into food processor and process until pureed. Package into 1 cup zippies use through out the next week. If you can't use it all up in one week, package and freeze but use it within 2 - 4 weeks.

Side Note:

Fruits turn brown. To stop that add a couple dashes of lemon juice to the puree.
Potatoes are not a good puree
Foods with pungent odors such as broccoli typically work best with tomato based foods unless you don't mind adding that flavor into the meal.

Healthy Meat Loaf

1 pound diet lean ground beef
1 pound extra lean ground beef
1 package whole carrots
1 package raw spinach (when rough chopped up it should equal about 3 cups)
1 small yellow onion chopped fine.
1 can diced Italian tomatoes (or make your own recipe below)
2 regular size cans tomato soup (do not add water)
3 garlic cloves run through a press or minced
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
1 Egg (optional)*

Step 1:
Clean the carrots, clipping off tops. Fine shred all the carrots. Set to the side.
Fine chop onion
Fine chop spinach
If making own diced Italian tomatoes mix together:

• 5 Roma Tomatoes diced fine
• 1 TBS Dried Basil

Step 2:

Remove 1 cup of the shredded carrots. Reserve the rest to the side.

In a large mixing bowl mix together 1/2 can of the tomato soup, the ground beef, onion, 1 cup shredded carrots, spinach, diced Italian tomatoes, garlic salt and pepper. (If you prefer denser meat loaf add the egg now). I prefer mixing with my hands to get everything well incorporated. Pour into an non-greased 9 x 12 pan shaping it into a loaf the length of the pan, leaving space on both sides of the loaf.

Step 3

Pour the rest of the shredded carrots over the meat loaf and down beside the meat loaf. Yep cover that puppy. Then with a spoon, spoon over the remaining can and 1/2 of tomato soup over the entire pan of meat loaf and carrots making sure everything is covered with the soup.

Step 4

Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven until the internal temp is 160 - 165 degrees taken along the length and in the middle of the loaf. Usually around 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.

Variations and Notes:

If I have left over pasta or tomato base sauces use them up by adding it to the meat mixture.

If I have left over cooked veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, squash, yams, sweet potatoes, I puree them and add them to the meat mixture in addition to what is listed on the ingredient list to use them up.

I prefer a looser version of meat loaf this is why I don't add the egg.

The carrots give a wonderful flavor to the ground beef instead of fat. My DH and Children love the side carrots on this meal as the ground beef lends a wonderful flavor to the carrots. I leave the skins on the carrots, I just wash very well as this is where the most nutrition is.

IF, you have a picky eater who you think will see the veggies in the meat loaf and refuse to eat it, here is what you do: Replace the one cup shredded carrots with two cups carrots that have been steamed and pureed with a hand blender or in your regular blender or food processor then add it into the meat mixture. Then in a food processor, process the raw spinach to fine particles and add it into the meat mixture, they will never see it or taste it but all the good stuff for you is still there.

This is a great place to add ground flax seed to the meat mixture 3 heaping tablespoons should do to maximize fiber.

I serve this with (fake) garlic mashed potatoes:

Steam a whole head of cauliflower, once soft but still warm toss into food processor and gently pulsate until the constancy of mashed potato add a little butter, 1 clove garlic pressed, salt & pepper. Yum, you would never guess this is not mashed potatoes.

Brown & Serve Meatballs

1 lb Hot Italian Sausage
1 lb Very Lean Ground Beef
1 Egg 1 TBL Dried Basil
1 tsp Garlic Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Mix all the ingredients together well. Roll mixture into 1 inch balls. Spray steamer top with cooking spray place meatballs into steamer, making sure they do not touch. Steam until each meatball is firm when pinched between tongs about 5 minutes at high altitude. Remove from steamer and cool on cooling rack, transfer onto a cookie sheet but do not allow them to touch. Freeze. When frozen, package into serving size packages and return to freezer. When you are ready to serve, you can thaw first then brown and serve or just toss into sauce to thaw.

Dishes Using Brown & Serve Meatballs

• Meatball Subs
• Spaghetti & Meatballs
• Swedish Meatballs
• Sweet & Sour Meatballs

Sidenote:

Add 2 heaping tablespoons of ground flax seed to the meat mixture to maximize fiber.