Friday Food—Onions

Can I just take a moment to share my newfound love for onions? Ask Cody, if I'm cooking, I'm using onions. I always shied away from them because I didn't want bad breath, but how did I not realize that the bad breath factor is minimal, if not non-existent, when one cooks them! So basically, here's a great big shout out to the ever so fabulous onion.

Trying to cook on a tight budget? Onions are your friend. Not only are they inexpensive, but it is easy to fore go expensive fresh herbs and still have a meal packed with flavor when you use onions.

I made vegetable soup last week, and the flavor was incredible. It was the best soup I've made—and I make a lot of soup! The secret to my success was a Cajun seasoning mix + curry + of course, onions. You can use this combo to taste in practically any soup. Never made vegetable soup? It's so easy, and the perfect solution when you have soon-to-go-bad vegetables sitting in the crisper.

Mary's (read: Mom's) Vegetable Soup:

1 large pot

Base: Tomato soup or juice

Various vegetables

Filler: Rice, beans, potatoes or pasta (I like to combine beans with any of the other three)

Meat, or bouillon cubes for a meat flavor (I love to use ground hamburger)

Pour tomato base and water into pot, and turn burner on high.

Add fresh or frozen vegetables to the pot.

Brown hamburger or other meat in Cajun seasoning, or other choice.

Combine meat with vegetable/tomato/water mix and then add your filler item(s)

Season to taste with curry, salt + pepper, and more Cajun seasoning.

As you may have noticed, I didn't provide you with any amounts/measurements. This is the beauty of vegetable soup! You can make however much or as little as you want, and vary the amounts according to your own taste. If you're not great at experimenting in the kitchen, vegetable soup is a great thing to start with.

And now back to onions... although they are great even in small quantites, here are some "go big or go home" recipes to try:

Smitten Kitchen French Onion Soup
Smitten Kitchen Roasted Stuffed Onions
Onion Rings or try a baked version here.

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