Easy Caramelized Onions and Classic Hot Dog Onions

My regular readers can guess that this involves a slow cooker. Everything easy involves a slow cooker (or a blender, as you shall see in a future post based on tonight’s dinner).

Last night, I decided to have my potato burritos for breakfast today.   I have a bunch of kielbasa defrosted and love them together. I have some kale and spinach starting to wilt in the refrigerator, so I figured I’d mix this into some mashed potatoes or cauliflower and put it in a paleo tortilla and have a yummy breakfast with Papa Satyr, who only eats real breakfasts on Sundays.

With this forethought, I realized I could do the onions in butter easily.  I buy my onions 5 lbs at a time, so I grabbed four medium onions from the bag, pulled out my tiny, one-temperature (medium) crock pot, and got ready.

Easy Caramelized Onions (Basics, Comfort food, Gluten-Free, Nut-free, Paleo)

• 1 stick grass-fed butter or 8 tbsp ghee
• 1-1/2 tbsp oil of choice
• 4 medium onions, sliced or diced as preferred

1. Plug in the slow cooker and turn it on if it has a switch.
2. Place butter in slow cooker
3. Add onions.
4. Top with oil.
5. Cover and forget for 10 hours.

Done and enjoy.  Optionally, you could add herbs or pepper sauce for flavored onions, like this one…

Classic Hot Dog Onions (Basics, Comfort food, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Nut-free)

• 2 tbsp oil or ghee
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
• 1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon honey or coconut palm sugar
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

1. Place oil in slow cooker
2. Add onions.
3. Wait one hour.
4. Mix in all other ingredients.
5. Cover and forget for 4 hours

You will notice the fat decreased tremendously. That is because they do not provide a butter sauce. The time is also reduced to give the onions a bit more texture, but they could be cooked overnight after the rest of the ingredients are added for the lazy, soft onion enthusiast.

These are fabulous on hot dogs wrapped in a Paleo tortilla (possibly on a stick) or on a steamed bun if you do that.

Pro tip: If onions are getting old, cut off soft or dirty pieces for compost. Only work with the solid, healthy parts.

Pro tip: If an onion (or garlic or shallot, for that matter) grows a green stalk from the center, peel all material away, leaving the roots intact, and plant it in your garden or a pot of dirt, green tip up.

Pro-tip: Trim the greens growing from planted onions and use every week, once over 5″ tall, for a mellow flavor that adds color.