Mad-Crazy Love for French Onion Soup

I'm pretty excited for Fall, I'm not gonna lie. Fall means I can do more cooking of comfort foods, soups, stews, etc. I really enjoy making warm dishes, using the oven and snuggling up with something that's gonna warm my tummy.

The recipe I'm sharing today is for one of the first soups (actually, I think it's the first) soup I ever attempted. Whenever I went out to restaurants, I'd always have to try their French onion soup. A lot of times I would judge a restaurant by their soup: if it was good, I'd assume that most everything on their menu might be good as well. Bad soup? Good luck with any other menu picks. I realize that isn't always fair but hey, it worked pretty well most of the time.

When I went to Wisconsin for vacation 2 weeks ago, dinner one night was at a restaurant that I used to . . . well, I wouldn't say frequent, but I'd eaten there several times in the past. One of my ex-coworkers had suggested it and said their French onion soup was amazing. The funny thing about that, at the time, was that I knew she didn't like onion. I found out as we were ordering that she actually has them strain her soup. And yes, they actually do this for her. It's a family establishment and my coworker visits enough that they accommodate her. She is seriously, I think, the pickiest eater I've ever encountered.

I thought to myself when she ordered this, "Why would you order French onion soup, even if they strain it, if you don't like onions?" Granted a main flavor of the soup is always the beef base, but still. I was puzzled. And then our soups arrived.

Their soup was one of the best French onion soups I've ever had. There was plenty of melted cheese on top and the bread absorbed plenty of broth without completely dissolving. What made it so wonderful and helped me to figure out my friend's love for this soup was the base; it seemed that instead of a beef base, it was more of a mushroom base. There was still a light beefy flavor, but the broth was thicker than most soups I've had and was definitely mushroom-y. It was absolutely delicious and I plan to try to recreate this sometime very soon. Until I can perfect this one though, you can try this recipe.

As always, the measurements are approximate and please, season to taste for you and your family! I think I actually use more beef bullion than what this recipe calls for, but since I don't measure, it's hard to say for sure. Again, it's a recipe I've had for awhile and have no idea where it came from.

French Onion Soup

3 lg. onions
½ c. butter
2 Tbsp. beef bouillon
4 c. hot water
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp. salt
French bread, toasted (for croutons)
Swiss, provolone or mozzarella cheese for topping

Saute the onions in butter until lightly browned. Pour into a crock pot and add remaining ingredients. Cook on low, 4-6 hours. Top with bread and cheese; place under broiler to melt cheese.

I'm assuming you'll be able to tell from the short list of ingredients and the quick preparation that this isn't a 5 star restaurant recipe for French onion soup. It's quick, it's easy, it requires little work and time and you can pretty much prepare it and leave it alone for a few hours to finish cooking. While this isn't the end-all FOS recipe, it does my body good!