Easy Hearty Onion Soup

I grow a lot of onions. A few weeks ago I started planting next year's onions. With all the onions, I need to cook something that requires a lot of onions. The weather has started to look like fall. It got dark at 7 PM tonight. I decided that a big bowl of hot soup would be perfect for dinner.

Believe it or not, I can't remember the last time I made a pot of "just" onion soup even though I love soup, all kinds of soup. I came up with this simple recipe below. The hardest part is slicing the onions. These freshly pulled onions made me weep the entire time. I could hardly open my eyes and had to pause a few times to wipe my face full of tears, but it was worth it!

Ingredients:

3 large yellow onions
1/4 cup butter (this makes it "hearty")
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon flour
2 14.5 oz. cans of chicken broth (you may go with low fat)
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup water
dashes of white pepper

Melt the butter in a medium to large size pot then mix in the sugar. Pour sliced onions into the pot and mix well. Let it cook for 10 minutes or until golden and soft. Add flour and mix it well with the onions. Add chicken broth, white wine and water then let it simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes or so. You know it's done when you smell the sweet onion. Sprinkle some white pepper before serving.

It's simple, tasty, and nutritious. These are some of the health benefits of onions (courtesy of Nutrition and You):

* Onions are very low in calories (just 40 cal per 100g) and fats; but rich in soluble dietary fiber.

* The phyto-chemical compounds allium and Allyl disulphide in onion have anti-mutagenic (protects from cancers) and anti-diabetic properties (helps lower blood sugar levels in diabetics).

* They are rich source of chromium, the trace mineral that helps tissue cells respond appropriately to insulin levels in the blood; thus helps facilitate insulin action and control sugar levels in diabetes.

* They are also good source of antioxidant flavonoid quercetin, which is found to have anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetogenic functions.

* They are also good in anti-oxidant vitamin, vitamin C and mineral manganese which is required as co-factor for ani-oxidant enzyme superoxida dismutase. In addition, isothiocyanate anti-oxidants in them help relieve from cold and flu by exerting anti-inflammatory actions.

* Onions are also good in B-complex group of vitamins like pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, folates and thiamin. Pyridoxine or vit.B-6 helps keep up GABA levels in the brain which wors against neurotic conditions.