Souper Saturday

ETA:  I revised this post to not be so long.  Will post what I deleted in a future entry.

One goal for myself this year:

• Post a soup recipe once a week (Souper Saturday). Both DH and I want to eat healthier and we thought eating soup for meals more often would help. Here are some guidelines for my version of "Souper Satuday"
• Post recipe to blog once a week (preferably on Saturday)
• Definition of "soup" will vary depending on my needs-like today!
  
• Choose recipes from as many different sources as possible

Pretty basic, feel free to suggest some soups to try or join me by posting your own recipes for Souper Saturday!

For my first entry, I've decided that for today, oatmeal will count as "soup." After all, it is kind of like a breakfast soup/stew-right?

Background: When DH was ill last month, I ended up watching lots of TV, and one of my favorite shows is Good Eats on the Food Network. Alton Brown made this in one of his episodes and knew I wanted to try it myself.

Recipe: Steel Cut Oatmeal
Time: 10 minutes prep, 35+ cooking= about 45 minutes total
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter
1 cup steel cut oats
3 cups boiling water
1/2 teaspoon salt (not mentioned in online recipe but was on the show)
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon low-fat buttermilk
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Procedure:
In a large saucepot, melt the butter and add the oats. Stir for 2 minutes to toast.
Add the boiling water and reduce heat to a simmer. Keep at a low simmer for 25 minutes, without stirring.-It was hard not to stir!
Combine the milk and half of the buttermilk with the oatmeal-add 1/2 tsp. of salt at this point. Stir gently to combine and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Spoon into a serving bowl and top with remaining buttermilk, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Mmmmmm. It was really good! It definitely has a nutty texture to it and the buttermilk is a must! Of course one could make it much healthier by using lowfat ingredients but I wanted to make the recipe "as is" for the first time. You can add to it just about anything that suits your fancy (nuts, vanilla extract, fruit, maple syrup, etc). It was warm, VERY filling, and can be reheated the next day-if you want to make it the night before.

Funny story: When I bought the buttermilk, the clerk asked it I wanted it in a bag or if I was going to drink the buttermilk right away! Ewwwww, I don't think I could drink buttermilk straight!