Fakin' it.....

Have I mentioned it's snowing here? LOL It's COLD so I wanted to send Rob off to work with something warm in his stomach today.

One of my favorite regular features in Real Simple Magazine is "Fake It, Don't Make It." It's the first thing I go to every month when my magazine arrives.

Rob and I both love French onion soup. We had French onion soup the very first night we met, at the Summit Restaurant in Aurora, Colorado. At the time, the restaurant was owned by Jan and Wayne, my best friends, and unbeknownst to me, also his best friends. Jan and Wayne totally set us up to meet each other. But that's another post. Anyway, it's a very upscale place and Jan gave me the restaurant's "from scratch" recipe for French onion soup.

That recipe is pretty labor intensive so as much as we love it, I'll admit I don't make it very often.

This recipe is about as easy as it gets, Ladies.



Fake It, Don't Make It French Onion Soup

hands-on time: 10 minutes
total time: 20 minutes
makes 4 servings

3 14-ounce cans ready-to-eat beef broth
3/4 cup canned French-fried onions
1/4 cup dry sherry
4 slices stale French bread
4 1-ounce slices Swiss cheese

Heat oven to 400*. Arrange four 10-ounce oven-safe bowls on a baking sheet. Divide the broth and onions among them. Add 1 tablespoon of sherry to each. Float a slice of bread in each bowl and top with a slice of cheese. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the soup is bubbling.

If you made it from scratch: 1 hour



Here's what you need.

And here's what's amazing. I had all this on hand.
These recipes are so simple, I almost always have
what I need on hand.

The French bread was in my freezer.
The Swiss cheese was leftover from my Christmas deli trays.
I always have canned beef broth in my cupboards
and I usually have French fried onions too.
And I consider the three most common cooking wines(red, white and sherry) to be basic cooking staples.

By the way, it's OK with me if you notice
I got a stainless steel breadbox for Christmas. :-)



Have I ever mentioned The Peppercorn
at the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado
is my favorite kitchen store in the whole.wide.world?

We love French onion soup so much,
I bought special bowls for it at The Peppercorn,
years and years ago.

As you can see, I also bought au gratin dishes at The Peppercorn.
And special dishes for Italian dipping oil.

But that's a whole 'nother post. Or two. *wink*



I changed it up a little.
I heated the broth in a saucepan because I wanted it piping hot
before I put it in the bowls.

And I toasted the French bread but only because it was frozen.

And....I dumped the whole 6-ounce can of onions into the broth.
Because we like onions. A lot.



Ladle the soup into the bowls.
And be smart. Don't make them this full. LOL



Place the bread on top of the soup.



Lay the Swiss cheese over the bread.



Put the bowls on a baking sheet, for obvious reasons.
And stick them in the oven until the cheese melts.



Deliciousness. Rob loved this.

This is so easy, I can't believe I'm even showing you photos. I guess I just got a little excited when I realized I could whip this hot lunch out in less than 20 minutes.

I love, love Real Simple's "Fake It, Don't Make It" recipes.

I posted another favorite, Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches, about a year ago. Easy peasy.

I'll bet you think Real Simple asked me to promote their magazine. They didn't. At all. I just realized that if I like these "fake" but fast recipes so much a lot of you probably will too.

Go to this web site. Real Simple has posted, to date, 58 "Fake It, Don't Make It" recipes.

It's no secret I love to cook. But sometimes the faster I can get in and out of the kitchen, the better I like it. I'm busy doing some other things today. But my husband went to work with a warm belly. :-)