Cinnamon-Sugar Muffins

One of the great things about my parents' house (in terms of blogging) is that their kitchen has great light for photos. Take, for instance, this fantastic photo of this Cinnamon-Sugar muffin. I made these for brunch on the day after Christmas. They are easy to make and really good.

The recipe is actually called "Doughnut Muffins." And of course, it's a King Arthur Flour recipe. I renamed them "Cinnamon-Sugar Muffins" because they didn't taste like doughnuts to me (of course it's been awhile since I've eaten a doughnut). At any rate, they are tasty. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly, but I did make a slight change to the spices. The original recipe can be found here.

Tender Turkey with Gravy

We had a small family gathering for Christmas "dinner" this year (we actually ate around 1 p.m.-- that way we could have leftovers for dinner and not be super stuffed before bed.) A whole turkey would have been too much for eight people, so my mom roasted a turkey breast. The meat was juicy and the skin was golden brown. The secret for the brown skin? Mayo. Yep, mayonnaise.

She used this recipe posted at Food.com. I used the turkey "juice" (I'm sure there's a better word than juice, but I can't think of it right now) to make gravy.

Chicken Tamale Pie

It snowed last weekend. I mean, it SNOWED last weekend. Inches and inches and inches, not to mention there were ferocious gusts of wind that whipped across the lake. Comfort food was definitely on the menu Sunday to top off our frigid weekend. I chose a recipe I’ve wanted to try for months:“Granny’s Tamale Pie” from the October/November 2009 issue of Cook’s Country magazine.

The recipe came from a recipe contest for “America’s Best Lost Suppers.” According to the article, “Some 70 years ago, the elderly wife of a sheep rancher bestowed this unusual recipe on Betty’s family. Now Betty is sharing it.”

Well, Betty, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for sharing.

Rosemary Cheddar Bread

Since soup season is here, it’s extremely important to have some great bread to op up all those empty soup bowls. A recipe for Rosemary, Asiago, and Olive bread caught my eye a few months ago in King Arthur’s Baker’s Catalogue and I have been dying to try it.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta

Nothing beats butternut squash-- delicious and good for you. I’ve been on a butternut squash kick lately. Having just made soup with this super veggie only a few weeks ago, I went hunting for another recipe and found this one on the AllRecipes.com website: Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta.

It’s sweet and smoky and cheesy—the perfect comfort food. I pretty much followed the recipe word for word, so I’ve included a link to it. However, I made a couple of adjustments:

Mushroom-Barley Soup

When the weather outside is like this:

It’s time for a big bowl of this:

"This" is a big bowl of Mushroom-Barley soup.

Baking Bonanza Part 3: Pitiful Pitas

So, Baking Bonanza Part 3: Pita Bread, should have been posted last Sunday. However, I decided to experiment and cook the pitas on the stove top in a skillet instead of in the oven on the baking stone. While the bread did get cooked, it didn't turn out as it should have. Pita isn't suppose to have much color on it, and many of my little "loaves" got a bit charred, and only 3 out of the 12 even puffed. Therefore, Baking Bonanza will be completed tomorrow (probably a recipe for oatmeal bread).

Keep reading for pictures of the Non-Perfect Pitas.

Baking Bonanza: Flax Pancakes

Time for Baking Bonanza Part 2: Flax Pancakes. (And for those of you thinking that you have to have an oven to bake, please note that Dictionary.com defines baking as “to cook by dry heat in an oven or on heated metal or stone.”) I made these for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. We needed a special treat for the holiday since we ate in the living room and watched the Macy’s Parade, but I wanted something kind of healthy since we were going to indulge later in the day. These are pretty good—I was afraid they would be kind of chalky, but they’re tender and have great flavor. They’re not really sweet, which was nice, too.

Baking Bonanza: No-knead Oatmeal Bread

This is the first installment of “Baking Bonanza”! It’s Thanksgiving week, which gives me 4 days off with nothing to do, so it’s a great time to get ahead on the baking. The first thing I baked was No-Knead Oatmeal bread from King Arthur Flour’s Baker’s Catalogue. I’ve made this bread three times because it is sooooo good and so easy to make.

Chicken Adobo

This week was a great week- mostly because I wrapped up work travel for awhile. That leaves me with free time to start my weekly tradition of trying at least one new recipe. This week’s pick is Chicken Adobo from the January 2011 issue of Cook’s Country. It really is a great magazine filled with great tips and fantastic recipes.

Chicken Adobo is simple, inexpensive, and spicy! The flavor has a lot of layers as a result of the molasses and instant coffee, and the use of chicken thighs instead of white-meat chicken.

Thanksgiving-style Skillet Chicken

Fall is here and that means Thanksgiving is right around the corner. And that also means I start craving stuffing. Nothing fancy, I’m happy with the stuff right out of the cardboard box, so that’s why I was excited to find a recipe for Thanksgiving skillet chicken in the latest issue of Cook’s Country. This recipe had a TON of stuffing—in all honesty you could probably feed 6-8 people with it if you increased the number of chicken pieces. It’s also really quick and easy—it took about 35 minutes from start to finish.

This is really yummy-what makes it so good is you mix cranberry sauce into the stuffing, and the stuffing is put on top of the chicken, so it gets crispy and brown on top. Mmm, mmm, mmm!!! (And you can justify eating all that stuffing becuase it's made with lean meat and has antioxidant rich cranberry sauce).

Easy Beef Stroganoff

Hello dear readers! I have returned from my travels in the great state of Michigan and couldn't be happier to be back in the kitchen. For the last 3+ weeks I have survived on a diet consisting of Subway, Panera, Wendy's, Lean Cuisine, and free hotel breakfasts. Since arriving home on Friday, I have cooked Tuscan Baked Chicken and Beans (very yummy recipe from Cooking Light), veggie stir-fry and two loaves of bread.

Bow ties with sweet potatoes and turkey sausage

New pasta recipes have been my choice of late since they're usually pretty quick to throw together. This recipe for bow ties with sweet potatoes and smoked turkey sausage only takes about 30 minutes to put together. The original recipe from Food and Wine's Quick From Scratch Pasta originally called for Canadian bacon, but I couldn't find Canadian bacon at Meijer. But, I did have about half a pound of smoked turkey sausage in the freezer, so I pulled that out and substituted. I also used fresh thyme instead of dried sage.

This recipe is really good, and I'd definitely make it again. The sweet potatoes are really unusual, but yummy.

Bow ties with sweet potatoes and smoked turkey sausage (4 servings)
2 Tbsp. of extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 sweet potato (1/2 lbs.), peeled, cut in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup of water
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/8 tsp. of ground cayenne
1/2 tsp. of salt
1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes (16-oz)
1/2 lbs. smoked turkey sausage, diced
1/2 lbs. bow tie pasta

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sweet potato and cook 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft. Then, add the tomatoes, water, cayenne pepper, and salt. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the sausage and thyme and cook for 5 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, cook the bow ties according to pasta directions.

Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce and serve and ENJOY :-)!

Summer Sandwich Classic: BLT

To tell you the truth, I was never a fan of the standard BLT sandwich, but that was mostly because I didn't appreciate the ingredient.  However (as with most simple things), quality is the key. In the past, this was my impression of the classic BLT components:

• Bacon--this is one ingredient that I have always LOVED
• Lettuce (yuck-I never ate green veggies until I went to college)
• Tomato (flavorless!)
• Bread (those pieces of flavorless air from the bagged bread aisle in the grocery store aren't sturdy enough to hold up to the lettuce and tomato)

My view on BLTs began to change about a month ago when....

My patio tomatoes began to ripen.... And I really wanted a sandwich and wasn't in the mood for peanut butter and jelly.... I *knew* that I should eat some lettuce because it's "good for you"... I had just baked bread.... And I just happened to get a hankering for bacon...

The base of this sandwich is this wonderful Sharing Bread from King Arthur Flour.

The nice thing about homemade bread is you get to slice it as thick as you want. I sliced a tomato from my container garden (and took out the seeds), cooked 3 slices of center cut bacon (only 2 slices made it to the sandwich ;-)), and layered on some crisp romaine. Instead of mayonnaise (I'm just not a fan), I substituted spicy mustard. 

And voila! My original presumptions about the simple BLT sandwich were found to be unfounded!

In other news- I finally got a job! Look for more regular posting in the next few weeks. I have been trying out some new recipes, so be sure check back soon!

Bow Ties with Chickpeas and Tomatoes

It's been weeks since the last post here on Goode Taste due to the lack of internet access at our house. But, my hubby was nice enough to bring his laptop home so I could get online.

Since we were getting tired of regular pasta with tomato sauce, I tried the Bow Ties with Chickpeas and Tomatoes from the Food & Wine Pasta cookbook. I really wasn't expecting this recipe to be good, I thought it would be okay, but it turned out to be very tasty and easy. It also got a thumbs up from a very picky eater :-).

This sauce differs from others since its seasoned with cumin and cayenne pepper. These spices aren't overpowering in the dish, you hardly notice that they're in the sauce. Also, the original recipe only calls for 1 cup of chickpeas, but I added in a whole can.

Bow Ties with Chickpeas and Tomatoes
Ingredients (4 servings)
3 1/2 cups (28 oz.) canned whole tomatoes with juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3/4 lbs. bow ties
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

I prepped all the ingredients before beginning the sauce-- that way I could get the onion, garlic, and parsley chopped before getting the cutting bored all soggy with the tomatoes.

So, go ahead and chop the onion, garlic, and parsley and set aside. Next, drain the whole tomatoes and save 3/4 cup of the juice from the can for the sauce. Chop the tomatoes.

Heat a saucepan over medium low heat and add the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic and seasonings. Once the onions are translucent, add the tomatoes and tomato juice and simmer for about 20 minutes until the sauce reduces. Then, add the chickpeas and cook for 10 more minutes.

In the meantime, boil the pasta for about 15 minutes. Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce for a couple of minutes so the bow ties soak in the flavor. Serve garnished with fresh flat leaf parsley.

This recipe makes enough sauce for 4 servings-- I cooked enough pasta for 2 people and then saved the rest of the sauce to eat later in the week.

Bison Cincinnati Chili

I never had heard of Cincinnati Chili until I rented the first season of Cook's Country from Netflix. Honestly, I probably never would have tried it unless my mother had begged me to make it for dinner. Of course I made some modifications to the recipe, but it was very spicy (not hot spicy, just lots of spices) and really filling.

The ingredient list is long, but the recipe is really easy to put together. The recipe makes 6 generous servings. What distinguishes this chili from others is that

• the meat isn't browned, it's cooked in liquid
• you serve it over spaghetti (awe-some!)

Ingredients
1 lb. ground bison (original recipe calls for 1 1/2 lbs. of 80% lean ground chuck*)
2 Tbsp. canola oil
2 medium onions, minced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper (I went a little shy on this)
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 cups tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar (original recipe calls for cider vinegar, but I couldn't find any in the house)
2 tsp. dark brown sugar
1-15 oz. can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Hot sauce-optional (I didn't put any in)

Accompaniments
Spaghetti (you can add butter to it)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped white onion

Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the canola oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and cook until they are soft and brown on the edges (this takes about 10 minutes). Add the garlic to the onions and cook for about one minute, or until the garlic is fragrant.

Then, add the chili powder, oregano, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, allspice, black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir stir stir :-) until the spices are fragrant, only about 30 seconds. Add the tomato sauce, broth, water, vinegar and sugar to the pot and scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

Add the bison meat (*see the note at the bottom of this page if using beef. This is where I deviated from the recipe-- I thought bison meat would be lean enough not to make the chili greasy. It was pretty lean, but I still had to skim some fat off the top. Next time I'll blanch it). Increase the heat to high, and once the mixture starts to boil, kick the heat back down to a simmer. Stir the mixture occasionally until the chili has thickened (it took about 1 1/2 hours).

Here is another deviation from the Cook's Country instructions: the kidney beans are traditionally a topping, but I just added them into the chili for about 30 minutes before serving. (Everybody at our house wanted beans, so why not throw them in the mix?)

Season with the salt (and hot sauce) to suit your taste.

Serve over spaghetti and top with the cheese and onion (and beans if you don't want them in the chili).

*If using ground beef, you need to get rid of some of the fat so the chili isn't greasy. Boil 2 quarts of water and 1 teaspoon of salt in a pot. Then add the meat, and stir stir stir until the meat separates into strands. When the foam from the meat rises to the top of the water, drain the meat in a strainer and set it aside*

5-Fruit Salad

Here is a really easy recipe for fruit salad and it's called (drum roll, please): 5-Fruit Salad. You'll never guess why-- oh oh, yes, yes that's right, there are 5 fruits in it.

This is simple to make, but it takes about 20 minutes of prep work.

Ingredients
1 pint of blueberries
2 pints of strawberries, quartered or sliced
3 kiwis, quartered then sliced
1 cup of grapes (red or green)
2 apples (I used Pink Lady), cut into 8 wedges, cored and thinly sliced *You can also use nectarines instead of the apples*
1 1/2 cups of orange juice
1/2 cup of sugar or Splenda

Start with a large bowl- pour in the OJ and mix in the sugar or Splenda until dissolved. Then get to slicing those apples, kiwi, and strawberries. Add each fruit into the juice as you get it sliced (I start with the apples since they turn brown quickly-- plus, the apples really soak up the juice).

This salad is great as a healthy dessert and it's good to make for a crowd.

Warm Spinach Salad

Tonight this Warm Spinach Salad served as a side dish. It's really simple to throw together, and doesn't take too many ingredients.

This recipe is adapted from Food Network Magazine.

Ingredients
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
10 ounces baby spinach
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup feta cheese

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and cook until golden brown.

Once the onions are browned, add the mushrooms and cook until golden brown, and then season with salt and pepper.

Turn the heat off and add the parsley, spinach, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and toss well to combine (the spinach will wilt down slowly). Top with the crumbled feta cheese.

This would also be fabulous with some bacon :-).

Two-Tomato Arrabbiata Pesto Pasta

This is a pretty easy recipe and yields delicious results. I think this recipe came out of the Food Network Magazine, but can't be sure since my mom photocopied the page and then cut out the recipe. This is a good summer dish since the only thing you have to cook on the stove top is the pasta.

This recipe makes 8 servings (although the original recipe reads it serves 4). When I make this again, I would cut this recipe in half to get 4 servings.

Ingredients
1 pound spaghetti
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped
2 large garlic cloves
2 Tbsp. hot water
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (I used a 3 cheese blend of Romano, Asiago, and Parm)
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped chives

Now, go ahead and get a big pot of water boiling on the stove and cooke the spaghetti. That way you can get the sauce finished as the pasta is cooking. Make sure to heavily salt the pasta water, and you'll need to reserve at least a cup of the cooking liquid to add t;o the sauce and pasta at the end.

(NOTE: Make sure your food processor is in working order before you being the sauce. Unfortunately, the food processor I was using had a crack in it and one of the parts fell off, so I had to use a mini food processor, which worked well enough.)

Put the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, crushed red pepper, and 2 tablespoons of hot water in the food processor, and turn on the machine. Drizzle in the extra-virgin olive oil as the mixture is processing. Next, add in the halved tomatoes, salt, and pepper and process until the sauce is smooth.

Transfer the sauce to a big bowl and mix in the cheese, parsley, and chives.

Stir in about 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water into the sauce (you can always add more if you need it).

Drain the pasta and add it to the bowl. Toss it with the sauce to coat it well. Garnish with parsley.

Citrus-Marinated Mushrooms

I'm usually not a fan of uncooked mushrooms-- they're dry. I much prefer them sauteed when they turn brown and soft and taste meaty. This recipe for Citrus Marinated Mushrooms changed my mind-- the 'shrooms soak up all the marinade and aren't dry at all. These don't have a strong citrus flavor either-the orange and lime zest give them a fresh flavor.

You'll need to make these a day in advance so they can marinate overnight. This dish would be great to serve at a potluck or barbecue since it can sit out at room temperature. (I suggest doubling the recipe).

You will need:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
3/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. salt
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp. grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. grated lime zest
2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 lbs. mushrooms, cleaned and halved

To make the marinade:
Combine the rice vinegar, sugar, lime juice, soy sauce, red pepper, salt, and garlic cloves in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute to dissolve the sugar. Take the pot off the heat and add the orange zest, lime zest, extra-virgin olive oil, and sesame oil.

Combine the marinade and mushrooms in a large bowl and toss well. Cover and refrigerate overnight. This recipe makes about 6 servings (2/3 cup per serving).

Rosemary Potato and Caramelized Onion Frittata with Blue Cheese

Great recipes come from many places: a cookbook, a magazine, a website, a blog, a plant. Yes, you are reading it correctly: a plant. For dinner tonight I made a wonderful Rosemary Potato and Caramelized Onion Frittata with Blue Cheese. My mother found the recipe, and as soon as I took a bite I asked her where she found it. Expecting her to say the Atlanta-Journal Constitution or Cook's Country magazine, I was very surprised when her response was "It came with the rosemary plant." 


This has great flavor and is really filling. 

The first step of the recipe is to caramelize the onions (I love onions so much I used 3 instead of the 2 the recipe calls for). While those are cooking, get the potatoes going. By the time the potatoes are done and sliced, you can transfer the onions to another dish and keep them warm. You can clean out the skillet you used for the onions and cook the frittata in there (and saves you from dirtying another skillet).

The recipe is suppose to make 6 servings, and if you were serving this as a side dish, 6 servings would work. We ate this as our entree, and will end up getting 5 meals out of it.

First of all, gather up the ingredients: 

Caramelized Onions

2 Tbsp. of unsalted butter

2 (or 3) large yellow onions, sliced into 1/8 inch slices

1/4 tsp. salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon of granulated sugar

Frittata

5 medium red potatoes, unpeeled

2 Tbsp.olive oil

1 tsp. salt, divided

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp. freshly minced rosemary

2 ounces of crumbled blue cheese

For the onions, begin by heating your 9-10 inch non-stick (oven-safe) skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter and then add the onions, salt, and pepper. Cook the onions until they are soft and golden brown (it took me about 20-25 minutes). Stir in the vinegar and sugar. Cook the onions until the vinegar glazes the onions, about 1-2 minutes. (At this point, transfer the onions to another dish and wipe out the skillet and prepare to add your chopped potatoes).

For the frittata's potatoes, you'll need to place the whole potatoes in water, and then bring the water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add a good amount of salt, and boil the potatoes for 10 minutes. Drain the potatoes and rinse them under cool water until you can handle them. Cut them into 1/2-inch pieces.

Heat the oil over medium heat in the skillet, and add the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook the potatoes uncovered, and turning them occasionally for 15 minutes-- they should be golden brown. Next, spread the potatoes in an even layer in the skillet. Go ahead and get the oven ready: move a rack 6 inches below the broiler and preheat the broiler. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together 10 eggs, the rosemary, and salt and pepper until combined. 

Pour the eggs over the potatoes and reduce the heat to medium-low. 

Use a spatula to lift the cooked portion of the eggs up from the pan and let the uncooked egg flow to the bottom of the pan. You will need to do this for about 5 minutes, occasionally lifting up the cooked eggs to allow the raw egg to cook. When the top is almost set, top with the blue cheese and put it under the broiler, Broil the frittata for about 1-2 minutes until the top is puffed and set.

When the frittata comes out of the oven, top it with the caramelized onions and serve. It went great with a simple salad. 

Okay, so the onions don't look that great, but they taste AMAZING!

Super Veggie Salad

Super Veggie Salad with a side of citrus-marinated mushrooms and roasted rosemary potatoes with ketchup.

This is my favorite salad-- hands down! It's loaded with peppers, olives, cheese, and pine nuts and has a balsamic vinegar dressing. Salty and sweet!

It's really easy to put together-- the most labor intensive parts are slicing the peppers and toasting the pine nuts.

Dressing
1/4 to 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

Salad
1/2 lbs. mixed baby lettuce
1 cup broccoli slaw
1 cup shredded carrots
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup crumbled feta or goat cheese (I use feta because I like its salty flavor)
1 cup of kalamata olives
1/2 cup of pinenuts, lightly toasted

First, mix up the dressing. I like to do this a few hours before I'm going to serve the salad so the sugar has time to dissolve.

In a very large bowl, combine the ingredients for the salad. Add the dressing and then toss to coat. Serve!

Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

Despite being at my parents house to enjoy their company before I move 800 miles away to Michigan, my mother appointed me cook for the duration of my stay. She wanted to have French onion soup for dinner one night, and wanted a particular recipe for the soup, a slow cooker version from Cook's Country. Since I haven't written a post in awhile, I leapt at the opportunity. 

This soup is pretty good, but you probably want to be alone when you're doing the initial preparation-- slicing five pounds of onions and microwaving beef bones can leave a rather pungent smell wafting through the house, but once the onions get in the slow cooker, you'll be in heaven. 

You start the recipe by microwaving the beef bones on HIGH until they turn brown (it took 8  minutes).

While those are cooking, put the butter in the slow cooker and set it to high, and then start slicing those onions!

Once the onions are all sliced, add them to the slow cooker along with 2 teaspoons of salt, the brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of pepper, and the thyme.

Then it's time to add some unusual ingredients (unusual for French onion soup).

Mix together the flour, apple butter, sherry, and soy sauce until smooth (be patient and use a whisk). Then add the mixture to the onions and toss it all together.

Don't be scared-- you won't taste the apple butter at all.

Now, get those beef bones from the microwave and nestle them under the onions toward the outside edges of the slow cooker. 

Check out that marrow!

Put the cover on the slow cooker and cook the onions on high for 5-7 hours (the original recipe instructs you to cook the onions for 10-12 hours, but the onions turned soft and golden brown after about 5 1/2 hours in my mom's cooker). 

To finish the soup, remove the bones. In a pot on the stove top (or in the microwave) bring the beef broth to a boil, and then add it to the slow cooker. Continue cooking the soup until you're ready to eat. We served this with some good chewy, crusty bread and salad. If you're a traditionalist, feel free to ladle the soup into bowls, top with a slice of bread and some Gruyere cheese, and melt the cheese under the broiler (just make sure your dishes are broiler safe.

I was so excited to eat the soup, I forgot to snap a picture of it in the pretty serving bowls. At least I got a shot of the leftovers in the Gladware container before it went in the freezer!

Slow Cook French Onion Soup adapted from from Cook's Country (serves 6-8)

2 lbs. of beef bones (the bones I used weighed about 1 1/4 pounds)

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

5 lbs. of yellow onions, sliced into 1/4 pieces

1 Tbsp.  brown sugar

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

5 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

3/4 cup apple butter

3/4 cup sherry

1/4 cup soy sauce

4 cups of beef stock

Salt & pepper