French Onion Soup with Portobello Mushrooms and Havarti

I'm not sure if other people find French Onion Soup as tasty as I do, but I happen to find onions irresistible and the savory, salty combination of French Onion Soup beckons to me until I make a batch each winter.

I try to make soup at least once a week during the winter months because we usually have leftovers we can freeze (see below) for lunches and because soup is just comforting food when it is cold outside.  This week French Onion Soup was on the menu and it did not disappoint!

Some recipes for French Onion Soup call for up to a half cup of butter or more.  I used white cooking wine, spices, and Worcestershire sauce to add depth to the flavor without adding unneeded fat.
The soup itself is actually very low in calories--the bread and cheese is what gets ya!

I also added portobello mushrooms to the soup because I love the taste of mushrooms and onions together.  Also, the "meatiness" of the mushrooms helps satisfy my carnivorous family.  My son thought it was sausage for a couple of bites!

Speaking of kids, French Onion soup doesn't get a great score for kid friendliness.  This might be a great day to make Peanut Butter and jelly--but Sawyer did get into dipping the cheesy bread into the broth.

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If you want to make French Onion soup like a French Chef, you would dish the soup into a ramekin with the cheese and broil it in the oven.  I'm not that fancy--if it tastes good, then I am satisfied.  I actually tried the fancy way last year and ended up with sinking, gloppy cheese at the bottom of my soup, so this time around I decided not to get hung up on technical skill.  I just broiled the cheese on the bread in the oven and made toast to add to my soup just before I ate it.

Here is the recipe for French Onion Soup:
Ingredients:

1 carton Low Sodium Beef Broth 50% Less Sodium

4 medium Sweet Onion

1 tbsp Coconut Oil or Olive Oil

2 cups Portobello mushroom

2 tsp Thyme, Dried

3 Bay Leaves

1 tsp Black Pepper,

1 tsp Garlic Powder

2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce Reduced Sodium

1/4 cup White Cooking Wine

Wheat French Bread

Creamy Light Havarti (such as Denmark's Finest)

Directions:

Slice onions and mushrooms into thin strips. Heat oil in stock pot. Saute onions over medium heat until onions are golden brown. Don't rush the onions--cooking the onions slowly helps them to caramelize and release great flavor! Cooking them slowly allows them to sweat and you won't need as much oil to keep them from sticking to the pot.

When onions are almost done cooking, add sliced mushrooms and allow them to cook through. Add spices, Worcestershire sauce, and cooking wine and stir in with onions and mushrooms. Next, pour in beef broth and bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, slice eight slices of french bread and cut eight slices of cheese. First toast bread under the broiler on both sides until lightly toasted. Put a cheese slice on each slice of bread and broil (in bottom third of oven) until cheese is melted watching carefully that bread does not burn.

Dish soup into bowls and place a slice of cheesy toast on top. enjoy!

If you don't plan to eat French Onion soup for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner then here are some ideas for the rest of your day.

Breakfast: 333 Calories

Oatmeal w/ fresh chopped apples,

 raisins, and dried cranberries

Snack: 240 Calories

1/4 cup Natural Almonds

1 Tbsp Dark Chocolate chips

Lunch: 377 Calories

French Onion Soup with

Portabello Mushrooms and Havarti

Raw Veggies

Snack: 170 Calories

1 Graham Cracker with 

1 Tbsp Natural Peanut Butter

Dinner: 484 Calories

Apricot-Mango Chicken

1 cup Brown Rice Cous Cous

1-2 cups Steamed Broccoli

Total 1605 Calories