Sunday, September 25, 2011

Soup's On....

  Recently, our family had a scare as our daughter had an emergency appendectomy.  It definitely was not planned as she came home from school with a tummy ache that only got worse through the night with us in the ER at dawn.  What made it worse was her liquid diet.  I was super nervous and made sure I checked and rechecked with all of her nurses in regards to her food allergies possibly being in medications and her food tray.  All of the nurses were awesome and very helpful; they made a neurotic mother feel at ease.  However, the dietary services dropped the ball BIG TIME!  Once she received her food tray the following morning after her surgery, she started getting itchy with more stomach pain.  I called dietary services to check on her food and low and behold wheat and soy were on her tray.  I am not gonna lie, I had a moment.  It was not pretty and I did not handle it well, however in my defense I was nearly 48 hours without sleep and the coffee was horrid.  I did apologize to the nursing staff repeatedly because it was not their fault and they truly felt sorry for our situation.  However, it is a scary situation when a person cannot even rely on their healthcare system, their local hospital, to provide the proper care.  The Doctor was called and they decided to hurry up and get us out of there before the hospital tried to feed her again.  My husband had to actually leave and go to the grocery store to get her something to eat.  I was so proud of the emergency care and the nursing care that she received, but that is the end of it.  I cannot imagine what would have happened to the uneducated individual or the single parent trying to do it all.  However, with all of that being said the important thing is that she is home, healthy, and appendix free.  When we got home she requested a bowl of soup for her dinner that evening, and I got started asap as her meds took her to dreamland.  Her request?  French Onion Soup!  Okay, kinda sweet and easy to eat, so I got started.  Luckily, our onion crop was fantastic this year and I have a ton of red and white onions to choose from with her favorite being the red.  I'm not just saying this, that girl loves her onions.  She loves to go through the gardens in the summer and pull up onions to wash off and eat like apples.  I thought I would share my French Onion Soup recipe with all of you.....

French Onion Soup

4 tbs butter
2 tbs canola oil
5 medium onions sliced thinly
1 box of Kitchen Basics Beef Broth
2 tsp tarragon
salt and pepper to taste.
Your favorite Allergy-friendly bread
Gruyere Cheese

To saucepan add butter and oil.  When melted add onions and tarragon.  Stir often until onions reach that beautiful carmelized appearance (about 40 minutes or so).  Add beef broth and cover until heated through.  Salt and Pepper to taste.  Ladle soup in crocks or mugs.  I made garlic toast out of our Rudi's Multi-Grain bread and place on top, shred gruyere cheese to cover toast and place under broiler until melted and bubbly.  If that's not a post-surgical treat, I don't know what is.


2 comments:

  1. yum! ...and I have these exact same bowls! :) Pier 1?

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  2. Not sure, keila. They were a gift. TJ Maxx, maybe? And yes, this soup is super yummy! Lol

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