Finally! School is in, folks. It’s been a tough couple of weeks but the kids are finally back in their element. Seemingly just in time, the weather is starting to cool off at night and fall seems to actually be possible. If you haven’t noticed, I love fall. I love the weather, the foods, the holidays and atmosphere.  Even in Houston, I can feel the air getting a little crisper-a little drier.  The leaves won’t turn here and it will be in the 80s until December, but you can smell fall in the air and feel the excitement and anticipation.

Often, I am disappointed to find French Onion Soup to be little more than raw onions in beef broth, when really it should be so much more.  I wanted to make a soup that would be a meal.  A warm, rich bowl of comfort.  This is not a quick soup-it takes over an hour-but it is rich and velvety and worth it. It makes a great fall meal paired with a salad and tart apple slices.  Next time I might try doubling the recipe and keeping a batch in the freezer for the many busy school nights coming up.

French Onion Soup

• 3 large onions, red, yellow, white or a combination, thinly sliced
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 56 oz beef broth, boiling
• 1 heaping tbsp mushroom soup base (optional, or could sub mushroom broth for some of the beef broth)
• 2 oz Swiss cheese, shredded
• 1 loaf crusty french bread, thick slices
• Swiss or Provolone cheese, thick sliced
• Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling (optional)

1. Heat butter and oil in a pot, add onions and shallot, sweat and soften for 15 min.
2. Add salt and sugar, cook for 30-40 minutes until deeply golden brown, stir often enough so that they do not scorch.
3. While onions are cooking bring broth to a boil, add mushroom base.
4. Once thoroughly cooked, sprinkle onions with flour and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes.
5. De-glaze with white wine and add hot beef broth.
6. Simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. While soup simmers, toast french bread slices at 325°F for 30 min.
8. Turn off heat on soup and stir in shredded Swiss.
9. If you have individual oven-proof bowls: ladle soup into bowls, cover with a thick slice of bread, sliced Swiss and sprinkle with Parmesan. Broil-keeping a close eye!-as needed to melt and brown cheese.
10. If you don’t: Cover toast with Swiss cheese and sprinkle with Parmesan, broil until cheese is melted. Serve soup topped with cheese toasts.

The onions you choose for this soup will greatly affect the flavor.  Super sweet varieties of onion will make the soup noticeably sweet.  I would use a combination of typical yellow or white onions and a red onion to keep the flavor beefy and onion-y without getting too sweet.

What’s for dinner this week?

What to eat after days of granola bars and peanut butter sandwiches? Happy, satisfying comfort food. The grocery stores have a very limited supply right now but I managed to procure some bacon, heavy cream, yellow onions and frozen corn. Creamed corn seemed the inevitable result. You’ll notice my creamed corn isn’t thick or, well, creamy. You can adjust the amount of cream to an amount that makes you happy. I also decided to make some creamy Parmesan risotto, so I made the corn a little drier than I might if I was serving it with a chicken breast.

Creamed Corn

serves 4, prep 5 min, cook 10 min

• 2 slices bacon, chopped
• 1/4 yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen
• 1/2-1 cup heavy cream

1. Saute bacon over medium heat until almost cooked.
2. Pour off all but 2 tbsp fat and add diced onion. Saute bacon and onion together until bacon is well browned and onion is soft.
3. Add corn kernels and cream, bring to a simmer.
4. Simmer approximately 10-20 minutes until cream has thickened and reduced. Season with salt and pepper (and maybe a dash of garlic powder).

I kind of over-reduced my cream because I was paying attention to my risotto. If this happens to you, just hit it with another splash before serving.

Hahahahaha! Remember how yesterday I told you guys everything was back to normal?  Well that was before I realized Comcast intended to take my internet down for an undetermined period-five days so far…

Since I’ve been dealt the start over card, I am making the most of it.  I have a few resolutions for my new refrigerator and freezer.

• No more stockpiling.  I have a terrible famine instinct, I just can’t help stocking up on things that are on sale-even when I don’t need them.
• No more buying warehouse sized jars of things that take us years to use up.  Gross!
• No more buying bottles of prepared condiments that I can make myself-yeah, we’ll see how long this one lasts.  I don’t mean ketchup and mayonnaise-although I recognize I could make these myself, and may try at some point just for kicks-I do mean tartar sauce, stir-fry sauces, salad dressings, etc…
• No more loading up on frozen fruits, veggies, breads and meats without any plan for preparing them.
• I plan to use my freezer to keep homemade meals that can be thawed and cooked on busy school nights.
• I would like to get back to making freezer snack foods and quick meals so the Chaos household can continue to eat on the days I work without resulting to corn dogs.

We’ll see how it goes.  The first, third, and last will be my biggest challenges.  I used to make calzones, fried rice, breakfast burritos, etc… and keep them in the freezer so we always had breakfast on the go, quick snacks, meals, or side dishes.  I would really like to get back into that routine as my baby becomes a somewhat more independent toddler.  Wish me luck, and reap the benefits here!

So power, water, internet and phones have all been mostly restored at our house. Which is wonderful and amazing considering that right now 50% of Centerpoint’s 2.3 million customers still have no electricity. Luckily we have had some wonderful fall weather so people aren’t dying from lack of A/C.

We really lucked out at our house. Many of our neighbors are replacing their roofs, siding, and windows and are still without power. Our roof did really well, only losing a few shingles, and our windows and siding held up. Our fence went down, but really it would have been a surprise if it hadn’t. Our neighbor’s tree fell in our yard and took out our water line which was really the worst damage we had.

Four days without power meant I had to throw away everything in the fridge and both of our freezers. Luckily I had spent the week prior trying to cook a lot of it. Although it was really painful to see all that expensive meat go in the trash. On the other hand, the stink of food rotting in an enclosed space helped speed up that process.  I would be lying if I told you it was all bad. My personality type actually kind of relishes the opportunity to completely empty both fridge and freezers, wipe them out, and start over fresh. Our groceries are starting to open back up and I’ve already been to the store three times for what ever fresh foods I can find. It will be a long time before I willingly eat a granola bar.

Thanks for all of the good wishes! I am happy to report life is slowly returning to normal, at least at our house.  Many of our neighbors only houses away are still without power.  Our businesses are closed and the traffic signals are out.  We great our co-workers and friends with hugs and questions: “How is your house? Do you have power?”  The schools have been closed for a “to be determined” amount of time for clean-up and power restoration.  Things are getting better, our trash actually got picked up and some of the traffic signals are back on.  A few restaurants are open.  Gas is becoming easier to find and with shorter lines.  One of our local grocers is now fully stocked.  We have a lot to be thankful for.

Thank you again for all your good wishes.

What’s for Dinner after a hurricane?