Munchie Monday: Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

Don't you just love a bowl of French Onion Soup?!  I do.  Without the bread and cheese is the way I like it best.

The other day I got a bag of Walla Walla Sweets onions at Costco because I needed an onion.  Of course there were seven onions in the bag.  Each onion was at least one pound in size.  After slicing one to sauté with two small zucchinis, slicing another to sauté with garlic and spinach, I still had five onions.  What to do, what to do....French onion soup. 

Caramelizing the onions is the job to do with French Onion Soup...so I looked for easy caramelizing recipes online. Most of them suggested quickly sautéing them with sugar. What!!!  Then there was one that suggested using a crockpot.  That was my guy.

After slicing three onions (64 ounces worth!) I put them put them in the crockpot which was then about three-quarters full.  I put them cooking on Low at 10:24 AM. 

Three or four times during the day I gave them a stir.  At about 7 o'clock I took a big spoonful of them and put them over mashed potatoes in a bowl. 

Boy, were they great tasting!

Because they were not quite ready for the soup, I put the crockpot on warm all night with the lid slightly ajar. 

This morning they looked great.

I added two quarts of vegetable stock I had made yesterday in the Instant Pot (all the saved vegetable peelings, scraps,  etc, stored in the freezer until I had a gallon of them, then put in the Instant Pot at high pressure for 45 minutes after covering the scraps with water, then strained and bottled...) poured over the onions.  To the onions and broth I added 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of thyme,  2 Tablespoons of vegetable base (Better Than Bouillon), plus a scant half teaspoon of black pepper. I turned the crockpot back to Low and will let it bubble all day while we are gone.  When we get home I am sure it will be delicious. 

Dear One may like it with toast and cheese on top but I will love it just as it stands.  I can hardly wait.  AND one of the best things about this is that supper will be READY when we get to the apartment!