Dish It Up Sunday~

Today I am sharing another yummy soup recipe.  Who doesn't enjoy a warm bowl of soup on a cold winter's evening?

French Onion soup is something we have always enjoyed, but take out the gluten and dairy, and well...you basically take out the best part, the crusty bread and gooey cheese. Until now.

Rich French Onion Soup

Ingredient:

3/4 C butter or expeller-pressed coconut oil (we used Earth Balance Dairy/Soy Free Butter)
3-4 large sweet onions, (Vidalia), approx. 6 cups, thinly sliced
6-10 cloves fresh garlic, minced (more or less to suit your taste, we used our good old jarred)
2 TBS. arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
1/2 C red wine
2-3 tsp dried thyme
5 large bay leaves
1 1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper (we use white since I can't have black, crazy, I know)
1/2 tsp garlic powder (the more garlic the better I say)
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 quarts organic beef stock (we use Kitchen Basics)

Instructions:

1. Place the butter (or coconut oil) in a large soup pot (we love our Staub Dutch oven) and add your thinly sliced onions and minced garlic.
2. Cook over medium heat, covered but stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent and starting to turn golden brown.  This will take about 10 minutes.  Careful not to let the onions burn.
3. Stir in the arrowroot powder until the onions are coated.
4. Add the red wine (hope you didn't drink it all ;-) and stir around.
5. Let the mixture cook for 3-4 minutes to burn off the alcohol (we do want this to be kid friendly).
6. Add the spices and stir.
7. Add the beef stock and bring soup to a nice simmer.
8. Reduce heat to low/medium-high and let simmer 45 minutes.
9. Remove from heat and serve.

To add back in that crusty bread with the gooey cheese, we sliced a loaf of Udi's French Bagette and toasted with sliced Follow Your Heart Provolone Cheese.

Spoon soup into individual bowls and top with two "cheesy croutons".

Enjoy!