Life changes and French Onion Soup

I promise that I have been cooking. I haven't just stopped eating for the past three months. But we moved, and if you've ever moved, you know that it takes a long time to feel settled. First, there's the thinking and planning about moving, which includes planning out meals for a couple weeks so that you use what you have and don't have much left in your fridge the day before you ship out. Then there's the three day drive with the poor cat, who doesn't figure out until part way through day two that she's not going to die and meowing doesn't actually help very much. Then you move in, and you give away your empty moving boxes for free on Craigslist.

But even after your first trip to the grocery store to pick up dinner because you're starving and you need some of those new home essentials, it takes a little while to really get settled, physically and emotionally. I'm just now getting used to the idea that this is home, as we put in all the effort it takes to find our way around town and make new friends. And still do the meal planning and cooking. 

I've been experimenting in the last month or so with buying and eating less meat, for a variety of reasons: meat can be pricey, environmental impacts, health impacts, etc. We still buy and eat meat, because it's delicious, but what about all the other food out there that is amazing that I skipped over before just because meat is quick, easy and familiar? 

So I stocked my kitchen with lentils, beans, quinoa and other dried and canned goods. I've made a lot of soup and soupy things, with some seriously epic failures (one that I couldn't even eat, but my sweet (hungry) husband got it down AND ate the leftovers for lunch the next day). I'm enjoying the exploration, my new crock pot and food processor, and have had a lot of fun buying from the dry goods bulk section at the store. I've gotten most of my recipes from Forks Over Knives. 

My favourite thing that I've made in the past few weeks is French onion soup. I pulled from two different recipes and filled my ramekins and was thrilled with the result. I didn't even get weepy from cutting up six onions! And all the cheese? Amazing. So amazing, that the only photo I have to offer is an after photo.