Easy weekend recipes

So another weekend gone by so fast...



All in all it was a good one. We enjoyed being snowed in and on Saturday night I realized I had all of the ingredients in the house to make us some French Onion soup.



This is the easiest recipe in the world. Here's how I make it. This was a small batch, but you can double/triple/whatever very easily. As I've said before, soups are great because you really can wing it, and they are pretty forgiving.



3 large onions (if you are able to go to the store, I recommend vidalia or another sweet onion). You can also mix up whatever you have. Red onion, vidalia, yellow, it all works. Since I just had a bag of onions in the house, I used em.



1/4 tsp sugar (optional if you use sweet onions)

4 cups of beef stock

1/2 cup of wine or beer

pat of butter

2 tsp olive oil

salt, pepper, bay leaf, thyme

1 clove of garlic

Bread and cheese for topping



The most important part of this recipe, is just getting the onions where they need to be. If you are adding the sugar, add it about 10 minutes in. The whole process takes about 25 min. Once they are cooked down enough (cook them in the oil and butter), you add the garlic, spices, and bay leaf and cook for a minute. Then deglaze with the wine or beer, add the stock. Simmer for at least another 30 min. Then top with toasted bread and cheese, and broil in the oven.



Here are the recipe steps in visual form:





Mmm Mmmm good.



Another recipe I made this weekend was Black Bean Dip. Easy peazy!! I decided to bring this healthy option to a super bowl party I was attending. I served it with chips and veggies for dipping.



Ingredients:



2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 jalapeno, seeded

1/4 red onion

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream

about 1 cup fresh cilantro

juice of 1 lime

salt



In a food processor, combine the jalapeno, onion, garlic, and cilantro. Blend until finely chopped. Add in the beans and sour cream and lime juice and blend again until creamy. Add salt to taste.