French Onion Soup

I've been craving French Onion Soup like crazy lately but every night has been too crazy to tackle making it. I find it hard to believe that Alek, who will be 8 this month, has never experienced warm pleasure of FOS. So, enough with the excuses I finally just made the time and cooked it. It was souper (LOL) easy and way better than any that I've had in a restaurant. The key was in the caramelized onions that I added to the stock.

Here's my simple directions if anyone else is dying to try it. (Heather H. you know I'm talking to you!)

• Slice 3 or 4 medium onions into thin rings.
• Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan with about 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter
• Add the onions to the frying pan and toss to coat with the oil. When the onions start to sizzle, sprinkle 1 Tbsp of white sugar over the onions and toss again.
• To help speed up the process I used 2 pkgs of onion soup mix instead of making my own stock. Start this going in a large pot.
• When the onions are golden and starting to crisp, add them to the pot of simmering onion soup.
• While the soup and onions are mingling in the pot slice some mozza and swiss cheese. If you just have mozza that's just fine. And either toast thick slices of bread or dig out some croutons. I prefer the bread because it gives the soup nice texture and depth but doesn't overwhelm it with additional seasoned flavor. It you use toast, cut it up into cubes.
• Ladle the soup into bowls; top with a good handful or two of dry bread and cover with a nice thick layer of cheese.
• Time is a factor in this house so then I just pop the bowls into the microwave for about 30 seconds to help get the cheese melting.
• Enjoy!

We had no soup left over. Alek had 2 bowls of soup and Mikah gobbled his up too. Big smiles all around. It was really quick to make too. It probably took 20 minutes or so.