Onions! A New Recipe

We LOVE onions. And when I say LOVE, I mean LOVE. My grandmother ate at least one entire onion every day of life. At least that is what I remember. My younger girls and I eat at least one onion every day. Jamie, in particular, eats onions with absolutely everything. Every sandwich that is made has onion on it. Every pizza that is cooked has onion on it. Every casserole I bake has onion in it. Every soup that I make has onion as one of the ingredients. Well, I have found and adapted an incredible casserole that is made with onion and bread! Two of my favorites. And now, I will share it with you. P.S. It is also vegetarian, which makes it even better in my house.

Cheese & Onion & Bread Casserole

4 eggs
3 cups low-fat milk (2%)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 loaf French bread (whole-wheat baguette from Publix, about 16" long, cubed)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 LARGE sweet (Vidalia) onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Whisk together eggs, milk and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add bread cubes. Let mixture stand for 30 minutes, stirring every now and then.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add onions, sugar, salt and pepper; cook over medium-low heat until onion is very tender. This takes 15 minutes or so.


Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Spoon half of bread mixture into baking dish. Top with half of the onion mixture. Repeat with the remaining bread and onion. Sprinkle with ALL of the cheese (and maybe a tiny bit more). Don't worry if your layers aren't pretty and perfect - just sort of layer it. It all cooks together beautifully in the end.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until puffed and golden. Let cool slightly before serving.

I think this would be delicious served with steak. Or chicken. But, I rarely cook chicken and I pretty much never cook steak since James is gone. He was the steak man. So, we just ate it with some salad. Or maybe, we just ate it straight out of the casserole dish. Either way, it is yummy. I hope you enjoy it.

P.P.S. Summer decorated it with cilantro, which was also delicious on it. We love cilantro, too, and will try it with anything.