What To Do With 12 Onions

For some reason, probably seasonality, onions have been on sale lately. I ended up with 12 big ones. The only solution was to make French onion soup.

Problem: I don't really like French onion soup. Caramelized onions are not my fave, so that many is waaaay too many. Plus, isn't French onion soup just an excuse to eat the bread and cheese crouton? Why not shortcut to the bread and cheese to begin with?

In the spirit of avoiding food waste, I made the soup. We ate it with a ridiculous number of cheesy slices of bread. It was ok. We had enough leftovers for another whole meal. Ugh.

I'm staining my deck right now, and sometime during the hours I've spent doing that, it occurred to me that I could add some slow cooked beef to the onions and broth, and put that in a grilled cheese. I put some beef in my slow cooker, cooked it overnight, and shredded it once cool. "Grilled cheese" got too complicated, plus it was hot, so lunch turned into a crudité salad plate, with cheese, hummus, and the beef-and-onion mixture on toast. Topped with horseradish, this was a big hit. Having it again today...