The cooking vacation is over

Well, my cooking vacation is officially over. I guess I should explain. I got a new job for the new year, which is going quite well. My boss mentioned that they had been wanting to do an email newsletter and I said, Oh, that's easy, I can do that for you. Which I did. And she gave me a bonus for it! Which included many restaurant gift cards. Therefore, we ate out (well in, carry out) for the last week or two for free! It was very nice, especially since that time period was also when we got our little guy, Talbot, and he was still adjusting to his new home. So anyways, I went back to cooking this weekend. Saturday I made tried and true chicken parm which always turns out well. Then Sunday, I tried French Onion Soup, which turned out fabulously! Here's the recipe:

Rich and Simple French Onion Soup
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups sliced onions
4 (10.5 ounce) cans beef broth
2 tablespoons dry sherry (optional)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
4 slices French bread
4 slices provolone cheese
2 slices Swiss cheese, diced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Melt butter with olive oil in an 8 quart stock pot on medium heat. Add onions and continually stir until tender, translucent, and begin to carmelize.
2. Add beef broth, sherry and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven broiler.
3. Ladle soup into oven safe serving bowls and place one slice of bread on top of each (bread may be broken into pieces if you prefer). Layer each slice of bread with a slice of provolone, 1/2 slice diced Swiss and 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese. Place bowls on cookie sheet and broil in the preheated oven until cheese bubbles and browns slightly.

Andrea's Notes
-By carmelizing the onions it makes them very soft, which is how I like them. If you prefer more in-tact onion, just simmer them until translucent.
-I did opt for the sherry. I went to the liquor store (not the beer store, Jamie!) and said I need sherry for a recipe and the guy took me straight to it - only $5.99 for the bottle.
-I forgot about the Parmesan cheese, but didn't miss it.
-I used regualar butter and actually ran out of EVOO the day before and just used vegetable oil. So don't think those made a big difference.
-If you have Corelle bowls, those would be safe to put in the broiler, keep an eye on them! Once the cheese starts to brown, it can go from brown to black pretty quickly!
-It smelled very strong while it was simmering for the thirty minutes, which made me skeptical, but it was sooo good, right up there with Panera and Max and Erma's French Onion soup.
-I bought two large white onion and used almost all of them. This recipe says it serves 4, but it would really only serve 2, since so much of it cooks off while it simmers. If you have hearty eaters, you may have to double the recipe, add a salad, or make it the appetizer.
-Very easy to make, just takes a little time. You have to watch the onions as they cook, but you can pretty much walk away as it simmers.
Happy cooking to all!
Love,
Andrea