French Onion Soup

I know for most of you, fall is in the air, and you want to make a hot soup for dinner, right? Well, I made this last week, and it was 80 degrees, humidity 90%, and I'm not going to lie, I was sweating the whole time, but it was so worth it. I have always wanted to make this soup since I have a love of caramelized onions, cheese and crusty bread. After making this soup, my husband and I both agreed that this was the best french onion soup we have ever had. I looked at a couple of recipes, and chose ingredients, and methods that I felt comfortable working with, and the soup was FAB! Leftovers were even better. We just had the soup for dinner, but a salad would be nice on the side as well. My kids gobbled this up. My 4 year old loved the cheese, and called the onions "noodles", whatever works!

French Onion Soup

5-6 yellow onions, cut in half and then sliced
2 bay leaves
1/2 c butter
2 c beef broth
2 c chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
crusty artisan bread (I got some at Costco)
grated mozzarella cheese, about 1 cup

In a large pot, that is oven safe, place sliced onions, and butter. Cook onion and butter in the pot with a lid on for 20 minutes on medium high heat. Heat over to 425 degrees, put pot of onions with the lid off into the oven, and let cook, stirring a couple of times until the onions are caramelized. (This could take up to an hour) The onions should look like light carmel color. Remove pot from oven, add broth, bay leaf, and garlic. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove lid and simmer another 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf, season with salt and pepper if needed. Toast slices of bread in the toaster until dry and crisp. Using oven safe bowls or crocks, place soup in each bowl, then slice of bread (make it fit), and then cover generously with cheese. Place bowls or crocks on a cookie sheet and broil the tops of the soup until cheese is melted and starting to turn brown. SERVE!