Recipe! CROCKPOT FRENCH ONION SOUP! & More

Well, I am officially done my Master's!!! I will be graduating June 3. I am very very excited and it feels liberating to be able to do nothing all day and also realizing I will have a more relaxing life without homework and a portfolio hanging over my head! I also have a lot of great elements from my teaching portfolio to be able to put into my interview portfolio - which is great!! OH SO GLAD TO BE DONE!!!

Maybe now I can make all those neat things on I keep finding on Pinterest.

After I got out of class The Hubs picked me up and we went to our friend's house for another friend's Cinco de Mayo birthday party. It was a blast. I LOVE my college friends. They're actually The Hubs' college friends but after spending their whole senior year with them they welcomed me to the crew. Everyone meets a couple times a year and it's always a sh*tshow blast. We're all in our 20's and loving life. The Hubs and I are the only ones who are married but the heart of our crew, The Hub's roommate and my bridesmaid, are engaged and will be married in June 2013. We can't wait. I bet theyre wedding will be even more awesom than ours. Anyways, I didn't drink but The Hubs got pretty sauced and we ended up coming home around 8 p.m. Considering we left the house at 7 a.m. and got to their house at 12:30, it was a looonnnggg day. The Hub's bff from home came up and we all went out for pizza and drinks. They dropped me off and we went back out for the night. I spend the rest of the night with Lucy... considering she was home alone allllllll day I didn't want to leave her alone anymore. Poor girl, we came home and left like an hour later. It's okay, she's basking in my attention now. I do feel kinda guilty because our college bffs got a BRAND NEW PUPPY. Her name is Abby and she's TO DIE FOR. I want to wear her as a necklace and never take her off. Picture coming soon.

UNBELIEVABLY DELICIOUS FRENCH ONION SOUP!!!

Crockpot French Onion Soup
Serves 8-10 8 oz portions
Recipe adapted from How Sweet Eats
Ingredients
4 medium sweet onions, thinly sliced (about 6 cups worth)
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
8 ounces of beer (any flavor)
64 ounces of beef stock (low sodium if you can find it)
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (more or less depending on the beef stock you use)
No Knead Bread formed into loaves the shape of french bread (I left the rosemary out)
Mozzarella Cheese, sliced (shredded is fine too)
*The combination of mozzarella cheese, bread and thyme in the soup taste like pizza! It’s delicious!

Directions
Set your crock pot on high and add sliced onions, minced garlic, butter, salt and balsamic vinegar and mix. Cover and let cook for 60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are a bit caramelized. Add the beer, beef stock, thyme, and pepper, then turn heat to low and cook for 6-8 hours. You can also do 3-4 hours on high.

*Soup can be made a day ahead of time, chilled and just reheated prior to serving. It can also be frozen (use ziplock or air tight containers) and thawed/reheated for a later use.
Before serving, cut the bread into 1 inch thick slices and put a piece of cheese on top of each piece of bread. You have 2 options for browning the cheese:

1. Fill each bowl almost to the top, then cover with a thick slice of bread and a slice of cheese. Set the entire bowl under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. This option is good if your broiler height is tall enough.

2. Place the bread/cheese on a cookie sheet and place under the broiler, then plop each little cheesy toast into your filled soup cup. This is the option I went with because my broiler is shallow (the kind on the bottom of the oven where most people store random cookie sheets). if you go with this option, you’re gonna want to make extra cheese toasts. They’re perfect to dip into your soup after you ever so politely scarf the toast on top of

Mine kind of looks like worms but I promise it's absolutely DELICIOUS. I think I made it like 3 times in 2 weeks. Oh.. it's SO good. I already have my meals planned for the week but I might just have to make this anyways. Oh and I don't put the toast on top because I do NOT like soggy bread. I just toast it in an oven with the mozzarella on top and dip it inot the soup :o) Here is the finished product:

Recipe courtesy of www.fatgirltrappedinaskinnybody.com