My Battle with the Onion

I have never liked onions. They're too potent, too strong, too ick. So, I rarely ever put them in recipes. If a recipe called for onions, I would scoff at it and just completely omit them.

I was dumb.

As I've cooked more and more, my taste buds have become...smarter? mature? less snobby?

It was a slow process (and had a lot to do with Evan whining whenever I left onions out of things, because the boy loves onions. loves.), but I eventually began adding onions into recipes that asked for them. At first, I'd just add may a fourth of what was asked for and only if they were cooked first. I could taste the onions in the recipe and slowly realized something--onions are very flavorful and add a lot to a recipe.

I know. I'm a flipping genius.

But, when there's a food you hate (peas) (onions) (most legumes), you don't want to ruin a perfectly good dish with it. You know? How was I supposed to know that when you cook an onion it caramelizes and becomes this delicious, tangy, sweet flavor that really enhances dishes and other foods? Oh, by actually trying it out? My bad.

Well, my whole point is that I went from never having onions in my home to going through a 3 pound bag of yellow onions every two weeks. I've learned to love the onion. Even though they make me cry EVERY TIME I cut one. (It's so pathetic. Elisabeth has learned to ask when she hears me sniffling in the kitchen, "Mom, are you cutting onions?") I also have green onions and pearl onions in my produce drawer as well. I am growing up.

So, when you see me using onions in my recipes, please know that this is a new phenomenon in our home. A very happy phenomenon.

But, don't expect this to be happening with peas. Those are just ick to the tenth degree.