French Onion Soup

A friend of mine gave me a quart of turkey stock that she had made and frozen recently. I caramelized 3 large onions in some butter, thyme and a bay leaf; and deglazed the pan with sherry.

Then I put the frozen stock on top of the onions and let it melt and then simmer.

I dumped in a can of beef consomme (bought from the dented section, 30 cents), seasoned with freshly cracked pepper and let it simmer for a few minutes.

A few days earlier, I toasted some rye bread ends that I had gotten for free at a local natural foods store. They make sandwiches from the bread and never use the ends, so they put them in a big basket free for the taking. They use all kinds of organic breads, so I usually take a bag or two and use them for croutons, bread crumbs, toast, etc.

When the soup was done, I put it in a small soup crock, topped it with toasted rye bread and some swiss cheese - perfect for the cold nights we've been having recently. I am going to freeze the rest of it I think. I pureed some for Amelia to eat. She doesn't seem to like chunky soups so I just give her stuff a whirl in the blender. She loved it - that's a success for me considering it was the first time she had it. I'm hoping I can get her to eat a wider variety of foods if I puree them in soups.