French Onion Soup Recipe

Most restaurants that have French onion soup on their menu would vouch for the popularity of this dish. Once considered poor man's broth, the onion soup is today a favorite with people of all classes and a bestselling dish especially in upmarket restaurants. The rich flavor of this soup along with the taste of caramelized onions is irresistible. There's evidence of onion soup being popular as far back as Roman times. Back then and till a few centuries ago, it was considered a healthy soup for poor people to whom onions were affordable and available in plenty. In the eighteenth century, the soup was given a twist by the French who made the soup using beef broth and caramelized onions.

There's been no looking back since then. The new recipe was accepted throughout the world as THE Onion soup and came to be called the French onion soup. It's believed that King Louis XV of France made the first French onion soup when he cooked onions, champagne and butter together to get a snack. These were the only ingredients he could find in his kitchen. Whether this story's true or not, a delicious concoction was born out of accident and is cherished by soup fans all over the world.
If you want really good French Onion soup, there's only one suggestion I can offer; make it yourself. A homemade French onion soup is way better than the bland canned soups that are available at stores; it's even better than what you get at restaurants. Of course, it's much healthier too.
Just follow this recipe-
You'll need-
* Sweet onions - 5
* Salt - 1 tsp
* Butter - 3 tbsp
* Chicken broth - 10 oz
* White wine - 2 cups
* Beef consume - 10 oz can
* Apple cider - 10 oz
* Thyme
* Bay leaf
* Parsley
* Country bread - 1 loaf
* Coarse salt
* Powdered black pepper
* Shredded Fontina or Gruyere cheese - 1 cup
Directions -
* Tie parsley, thyme and bay leaf with a kitchen string.
* Halve onions and cut lengthwise into thin slices.
* Set a temperature of 300o on your electric skillet. Melt butter in this. When the butter melts completely, toss in a layer of sliced onions and season with salt. Keep adding layers of onion slices and sprinkle salt over each layer till you put in all onion pieces. Let this remain for 15 to 20 minutes without stirring. After the specified time, stir occasionally. You'll see the onions turn brown and the quantity would have reduced to two cups. The process may take 45 mins to 1 hour.
* Now, pour in the wine and turn up the heat till the wine reduces to syrup.
* To this, add chicken broth, beef consume, apple cider and the tied herbs. Simmer for about 20 mins.
* Keep your oven rack in the top 1/3rd position and set to heat broiler.
* Take the loaf of country bread and make circular cuts that will fit inside ovenproof soup crocks. Keep this on baking sheets and broil for 1 minute.
* Add salt and pepper to the soup broth. If you want you can even add a dash of cognac. Take off the herb bunch and spoon out the soup into the crocks. Keep the toasted side of the bread on top of the soup. All shredded cheese to the top of the bread and broil for about 2 minutes till the cheese starts bubbling.
Voila! Your French onion soup's ready. Serve piping hot.

If you would like to see the photo of this dish and how it turned out, please visit: http://www.onionsoup.org/

Old Fashion Vegetable Barley Soup

This old time soup recipe reminds me of my childhood. I grew up in rural Southern Indiana where my family operated an old-fashion general store. We sold everything from kerosene and gas to fresh sliced luncheon meats and cheeses. The center of this huge old building held a big old pot-bellied coal stove to provide heat. Vegetable Barley Soup reminds me of the soups, beans, pot roasts, etc that my mom would cook on top of this old stove. She had slow cooking down to a science long before crockpots were ever invented. Give this healthy, old-fashion soup a try. Maybe it will become a favorite of yours or bring back memories for you, too.

BARLEY VEGETABLE SOUP
This old-fashioned recipe is also a healthy one. Give it a try for an old-fashioned healthy, tasty meal. Just add a crusty whole-grain bread or muffin and you have a healthy meal!
In a stock pot, heat 2 tbsp oil and saute 2 medium chopped onions until transparent. Add: 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced and 1/3 cup barley. Saute a for a few minutes.
Add to the stock pot: 1 cup diced carrots, 1 cup diced celery, 3 cups sliced mushrooms, 1 potato, scrubbed clean and diced with peeling left on, 8 cups water or beef or chicken stock--your preference, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, 3 tbsp soy sauce, and 3/4 tsp seasoned salt. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
Add to soup: 2 small zucchini, cut in half lengthwise then cut into slices. Continue to cook until zucchini is tender. Season with salt, if desired, pepper, and cayenne pepper to suit your taste. After dishing soup into serving bowl, garnish with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.
Yield: 8 servings
Enjoy!

For more of Linda's recipes and diabetic information go to http://diabeticenjoyingfood.squarespace.com
For her vintage recipes, visit her blog at http://grandmasvintagerecipes.blogspot.com

Using Root Vegetables to Make Easy Soup Recipes

Root vegetables are a real staple in the wintertime. They are affordable, tasty, and full of nutrients. So, what is a root vegetable exactly? Root veggies are actually plant roots, which are used as vegetables. The "root" is the part of the plant, which grows underground.
Popular root veggies include carrot, parsnip, rutabaga, radish, beet, sweet potato, and yam. Some bulbs also count as root vegetables and examples include onion, shallot, and garlic.

Tips for Storing and Using Root Vegetables
Most root veggies keep for up to two weeks and should be stored in plastic bags. You can leave the skin on young carrots or turnips but you should peel bigger or older ones because the skin will be bitter.
When you are using these vegetables to make a soup or stew, feel free to mix and match. All root vegetables complement each other's flavors, which is why root vegetable pairings like potato and carrot, turnip and rutabaga or onion and garlic are used so often in recipes.
How to Make a Spiced Root Vegetable Soup
This soup is richly flavored, filling, and easy to make. If you have never tasted a root vegetable soup before, you are in for a real treat. A lot of people have tried famous soup recipes like French onion soup or minestrone soup but have not made root vegetable soup.
You might like to try turnip or rutabaga instead of the carrots, for a different flavor. Diced potato or yam works nicely also.
This might be a basic soup but it is a real winter warmer and ideal for the whole family. Serve this vegetable soup with thick slabs of buttered bread. This recipe makes enough to serve four people.
What you will need:

• 10 oz parsnips
• 6 oz carrots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• 1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 stick celery
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

How to make it:Peel the carrots and parsnips and slice them into 1/3 inch thick disks. Finely chop the celery and onion and crush the garlic. Put the oil in a big pan and heat it over a medium heat. Add the celery and onion and fry them for 3 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and the spices.
Cook the mixture for 20 seconds over a high heat, stirring it all the time. Add the broth, parsnips, and carrots. Add salt and pepper to taste and bring the soup to the boil. Simmer it until the vegetables are soft, and then puree it in a blender in batches, until the soup is the consistency you like. You can leave it a bit chunky if you prefer. Serve the soup hot.

Soup is a classic dish, which anyone can learn to make. Impress your family with a root vegetable soup or a tasty French onion soup, you will find that there are easy recipes which combine fresh vegetables with other ingredients, to make a healthy, warming soup. Once you start making your own French onion soup recipes, you will be delighted at the simplicity of the recipes and your family's enjoyment of them!
FrenchOnionSoups.com - Simple, Elegant, Perfection; Soup the Way it Was Meant to Be!

Vegetable Soup Diet - Lose 10 Lbs a Week

A vegetable soup diet has the dual advantage of being very nutritious as well as low in calories and contributing to weight loss. As a result, it forms the core of many different diets and it is possible to even design your own soup diet and select ingredients according to personal preferences.

There are some important matters to consider no matter which approach you take to a vegetable soup diet - whether to adopt one that is known to be popular or concoct a recipe of your own.
1. Canned foods tend to have a high salt content, so try to avoid these in your soup if possible.
2. Potatoes have a high glycemic index - they are absorbed more readily into your bloodstream, so use these in the mix sparingly, if at all.
3. Many cookbook recipes for vegetable soup also specify a lot of salt, so be alert to this and keep the content as low as possible. The presence of sodium salt encourages water retention in the body, so adds weight.
4. Use as many fresh vegetables as possible.
Here is a nutritious, delicious and easy to prepare recipe and daily plan for a 3 day diet which will shed about 5 lbs weight:
Ingredients:
1 16 oz can of beans or lentils
1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes
Several sticks of celery
1 large onion
1/2 head of cabbage, chopped
16 oz pumpkin, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
Seasoning as preferred
Beef or chicken stock, as preferred
Cover with water and boil for 10 minutes, then simmer until the vegetables are tender.
No alcohol or bread to be consumed.
Day 1: Eat only fruit and soup today. As much as you like of both, spaced throughout the day with about six meals to minimize hunger. Do not include bananas in your diet.
Day 2: Eat veggies today, along with the soup. Again, as much as you like in about six meals spaced throughout the day. The veggies may be cooked or raw. Give preference to green leafy veggies if possible. At dinnertime, a treat is allowed in the form of a baked potato with butter.
Day 3: Have all the soup, veggies and fruit that you want but no potato.
After 3 days of this diet, you should be about 5 lbs lighter and can return to moderate helpings of your normal diet. If you have problems with bowel movements, a cup of bran will help.
As outlined, this diet is intended for a period of only 3 days, with a break of 4 days normal eating before following the diet again.
A variation of this diet which covers a 7 day period is based on the Sacred Heart Diet. It aims for a weight loss of 10 lbs:
Day 4: Because your body now requires additional potassium, carbohydrates and calcium, eat at least three bananas throughout the day and drink as much skimmed milk as you want. Also have at least one serving of soup.
Day 5: 10 - 20 oz of meat is allowed - beef, skinless chicken or broiled fish. Not fried. Have up to six tomatoes, along with at least one serving of soup.
Day 6: 10 - 20 oz of meat is allowed - beef or skinless chicken, not fried. Also as many veggies as you want, especially green leafy ones. One or more servings of soup.
Day 7: As much soup as you like. As well, cooked veggies, brown rice and unsweetened fruit juice is permitted.
By the end of day seven, it's likely that you will be at least 10 lbs lighter.
This vegetable soup diet plan has plenty of nutrients as well as protein and carbohydrates. It is not intended to be adopted as a lifestyle and some may find it too stringent to follow. However, a weight loss target of 10 lbs requires that some persistence must be shown to achieve this. The practices outlined offer a useful guideline for changes in eating habits that may allow further weight loss if this plan is only loosely followed (or adapted to your needs) beyond the seven days.

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Lentil Tomato Soup Recipe - Ingredients and Directions on How to Make the Perfect Lentil Tomato Soup

Lentil Tomato Soup is delicious and filling and very easy to make. Green vegetables make this soup a powerhouse of nutrition. Be sure not to overcook the lentils, as they can get rather mushy.
After you stir in the tomatoes, let the soup simmer for 20 minutes if you have time in order to allow the flavors to blend a little more. And feel free to double the recipe and keep some in the fridge for a day or two, as the soup will get even better over this time.
This lentil tomato soup recipe makes 3-4 servings, depending on how much of a hunger you've got going...

Lentil Tomato Soup Recipe Ingredients

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine (or apple juice instead)
• 1 Tbsp each of dried basil, dried oregano, and dried marjoram or 2 Tbsp each of fresh basil, fresh oregano, and fresh marjoram
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup lentils
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup spinach OR kale OR chard OR another green
• sea salt

Lentil Tomato Soup Recipe Directions

1. Heat a large soup pan on medium heat. Add the olive oil and saute the onions and garlic until translucent (not browned).
2. Pour in the wine and allow it to bubble to deglaze the pot and burn off the alcohol.
3. If using dried herbs, stir them in now, followed by the lentils. Pour in the water and boil for 30 minutes or until the lentils are softened.
4. Stir in the tomatoes and sea salt and leave for 10 or preferably 20 minutes.
5. Stir in the greens a few minutes before serving so they wilt. If using fresh herbs, stir them in now.
6. Optionally garnish this lentil tomato soup recipe with fresh herbs or a roasted nut or seed and enjoy.

To watch a free video of me making this lentil tomato soup recipe, so I can show you the exact techniques that will make the perfect soup, go to http://www.healthyveganrecipes.net/video/lentil-tomato-soup.
Heather Nauta is a registered holistic nutritionist who teaches you how to live a healthy vegan/vegetarian lifestyle, including how to get proper nutrition, enough protein, vitamin b12 and other minerals, and how to make an amazing variety of simple, fast healthy recipes that taste incredible for you and your family.