French Onion Soup and Cilantro Salad

On Friday, I made dinner! I decided to make french onion soup. It was really good and pretty easy. The only thing that took really long(3 hours) was caramelizing the onions. Even after cooking them for that long, they were not quite caramelized, but I didn't want to wait(:  While in the prosses of making the soup, I decided to try making a different kind of salad just to mix things up. Cilantro Salad. It is was pretty good as well. 

 Enjoy!

                              VV^^VV^^VV^^VV^^VV^^VV^^<>^^VV^^VV^^VV^^VV^^VV^^VV

French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 cups thinly sliced onions, about 4 to 5 medium onions
• 4 cans condensed beef broth (10 1/2 ounces each)
• 4 slices French bread, 1 inch thick
• 4 tablespoons shredded Gruyere cheese
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Directions for easy French onion soup
In a large skillet over medium low heat, melt butter. Saute onion until golden in color, about 8 minutes. In a medium saucepan, combine beef broth and sautéed onion; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, toast French bread on both sides under broiler; sprinkle each slice evenly with cheeses; broil just until cheese is bubbly. Pour French onion soup into 4 individual soup bowls; float a slice of toasted French bread, cheese side up, on each bowl of French onion soup.
French onion soup serves 4.

Cilantro Salad

Directions

Vinaigrette:

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated gingerroot
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 cups mixed greens

• 2 tomatoes diced
• 1 cup peeled and diced cucumber
• 1 cup sliced red onion
• 1/8 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
• 3/4 cup fresh picked cilantro leaves

Whisk all the vinaigrette ingredients together in a small bowl. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

In a salad bowl, combine all the salad ingredients. Add a little bit of the vinaigrette and toss to coat. Serve the remaining vinaigrette on the side.

Chef's Note: if you want to make extra special add 1 cup pepper jack cheese or any cheese you like!

Matty showing me a wasp nest he found

I asked Matty to pick me some peppermint for the salad but he didn't get enough the first time. The second time...well, he got plenty(: 

waiting for the onions to caramelize

Still waiting...

Finally, back to work(:

Cooking more(they didn't all fit in the pan in the beginning)

It is crazy how much onions shrink!