Simple French Onion Soup

French onion soup is an absolute comfort food for me. I never liked it until this year, either. Isn't it strange how that works? Anyway, I have been craving it all winter long. I get it every time we go out to a restaurant to eat. Bizarre. Anyway, I am going to share a very simple recipe with you today on how to make it at home. Now this is a college-friendly recipe, which means it can be made on a budget. It is also "healthy" because I skipped out on the cheesy, delicious, carb-filled croutons or french bread. You can absolutely add those little delights when you make it, though.

You'll need:

2 c. caramelized onions

1 beef bouillon cube

thyme

pepper

2 c. water

For the caramelized onions:

You can make a huge batch in a slow cooker with a drizzle of olive oil. Just place your sliced onions into the slow cooker, top with some olive oil, cover and let cook for 7-9 hours on low. Then, go ahead and portion up your caramelized onions and stick most of it in the freezer. For this recipe, I already had about 2 cups in the freezer, so I just pulled it out, stuck it in the pan and let it thaw on low heat. You can also caramelize them on the stove in a pan, but I used ones that were made in a crock pot by my lovely neighbor. 

If you are using frozen caramelized onions, add them into your sauce pan with the water and cook, covered,  on medium-low heat until the onions are thawed. If your caramelized onions are not frozen, just mix them with the water and heat on medium-low until the soup is warm.

The best part about this recipe is that the onions are already cooked, so all you have to do is heat them back up.

Add in your beef bouillon cube (try to get low sodium, if you can) and stir it around a bit until dissolved. You may need two beef bouillon cubes, depending on how flavorful you'd like your soup to be. 

Then, add in your black pepper and thyme.

Serve it into a little bowl, and enjoy the instant comfort that it provides.

I sprinkled mine with some shredded cheese because my name is Amanda Rose and I'm addicted to cheese. You can also add those tempting croutons or french bread (with melted cheese on top) to really make this soup heavenly. 

Have you made French Onion soup at home before?

What are your winter comfort foods?