It's soup season again. The immersion blender would make life a lot easier. Any recommendations?

I have the Kitchenaid. Love it.

Thanks for the input. Homemade soup and homemade bread are becoming a regular occurrence here. I think DH ate an entire loaf of oatmeal sourdough bread this weekend!

Here is the recipe I started with. I didn't have dry milk, so I scalded 1 c of milk and used that in place of the hot water and dry milk. I also ended up using a lot more flour, as the dough was sticky. NEXT TIME, I will increase the oatmeal and play around with some other types of flour. Sourdough Oatmeal Bread (2 medium loaves) Sponge: 1 c starter 1 c warm water (105-115) 1-1/2 c bread or all-purpose flour Dough: 1 c hot water (120-130) ½ c nonfat dry milk 2 T honey 1 pkg dry yeast 1 c quick oatmeal 1 T sugar 1 tsp each salt and baking soda 2-4 c bread or all purpose flour, approximately To make the sponge, begin the night before by mixing the starter, warm water, and flour into a large mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and put in warm place (85-90) for 8 to 10 hours or overnight. On bake day, stir down the sponge, and measure in the water, dry milk, and honey. Sprinkle on the yeast. Stir in the oatmeal, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Measure in the flour, ¼ cup at a time. The dough will be a rough shaggy mass that will clean the sides of the bowl. If the dough continues to be moist, add liberal sprinkles of flour. Knead 10 minutes until dough forms a soft ball. It should become smooth and satiny. Shape into a ball and leave on the work surface to rest under a towel for 10 minutes. Knead for 30 seconds to press out the bubbles. Divide in 2 pieces, shape into balls, and let rest for 3-4 minutes. Form each loaf, tuck under the ends, and place in the greased pans, seam down. Place pans, covered in waxed paper, in a warm place until the center has risen above the edge of the pan (about 75 minutes.) Slash the top of each loaf lengthwise to allow the bread to expand along the slash and not pull the top crust away from the sides of the pan. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and continue baking for another 25 minutes, or until loaves test done.

When the kneading was almost done. Fortunately, I took a breadmaking class a few years ago. The single most important thing I learned was how to tell how much flour to use based on the look and feel of the dough.

Tacky, yes. But this was beyond the tacky stage. This was the stage of scraping it off your hands. Once you get a sourdough starter going, does it become more sour over time? I haven't done much with sourdough in the past, so this is new territory for me. My breadbook has some wonderful sounding recipes for sourdough, including whole wheat, potato, and pumpernickel. DH has become obsessed with losing weight - he thinks if he can't see his 6 packs he is too fat. Since bread is his biggest downfall, this is my way of making sure his weight doesn't go down any more. He's 6'2" and 165 pounds!

Thanks for the info. BTW, I never thanked you for pushing me to get a new doc. (Remember the doc that said gaining weight is impossible to stop as you get older?) I found a new doc that I absolutely love. And, after 7 months of not sleeping more than 2 hours at a time (even if I took Ambien CR), she has me sleeping again! Life is so much better! Thanks again.

Hormones.