Pick me Up Meal …French Onion Soup

We have both been lagged the past few days and not sure why so I put it down to three key things.

1. Work stress

2. A contagious disease

3. Need a holiday

Times like this I look for a pick me up from the kitchen and usually turn my cooking attention to healthy, wholesome and just plain comfort food.

Onions and garlic the two most powerful medicinal foods in the kitchen and always have in good supply. So I am making a french Onion Soup. Here is my take on a very ancient soup that was around as far back as the Roman times. According to Wikipedia the modern version was picked up by the French in the 18th century and traditionally is caramelised onion with a good beef broth topped off with a croutons and gruyere cheese melted on top.

Getting started caramelising onions

French Onion Soup

Rabbit Food Diet

I am currently on a very strict diet and it feels like the worse kind of punishment for a true foodie. My diet consists of protein, fruit and vegetables so that means very little of the good ingredients in carbs and dairy food groups…sigh.

This week was kinda tough eating really boring meals because I had not had time to really look at any recipes that would make the diet more enjoyable. Over the next few weeks I am going to search for a few nice recipes and try them out.

One of the foods that I can have and I adore is tomato so I think this will be a good place to start. Tomatoes are very plentiful and inexpensive at the moment so will head off to the Saturday market soon and get in a good supply.

The first recipe is going to be a tomato soup!

Low Calorie Tomato Soup

Hearty Roast Tomato Soup

5 tomatoes cut into quarters

1 small onion finely chopped

1 teaspoon curry powder

3 gloves of garlic

2 handfuls baby spinach

salt and pepper

Place tomato wedges on a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake for 15 mins or until tender and lightly brown.

In a large non stick fry-pan saute onion curry and garlic. Add the roast tomatoes and water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in spinach until it wilts. Place ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Return to pan, season with salt and pepper and serve.