Oh, hi!
My name is Lindsay and I love my blender.
Now repeat after me: my name is ____ and I love my blender.
If this is your first time here, you should know that we are a people who love our blenders, choppers, food processors, spiralizers, and the like. And we have many delicious reasons for this love which I’m about to shove in your face. PLEASE BE CONVINCED.
Some of you hear the word BLENDER and you think of a rubbery smell or a smoking motor. Let’s just say – I’ve been there. Holy green smoothie with chewy black rubber pieces in it, have I been there. A middle of the road blender is both a blessing and a curse. But even if a middle of the road blender is what you’re working with right now, it’s still mostly a blessing because it can be a gateway to greater blender things.
And with that, let’s take a moment to reflect of the ghosts of blenders past.
Just for reference, I started my cooking life a few years ago with this lovely little Oster blender.
I think we registered for it at Target when we got married. It was nice. It blended things. It made us many-a-good meal, even though I often had to stop and stir things up or push things down or just generally help the cause in some way or another. But it was a good first. Thank u for the good times, little blender!
When we lived in the Philippines, I had a green blender.
I literally just sat here for a minute and tried to think of the brand name – and by some miracle, I REMEMBERED IT, and googled it (“American Heritage Philippines Green Blender”), and found a picture of my old friend. You’re welcome.
I remember debating whether or not to bring our blender abroad with us – I knew we’d want it, and I had no idea what kind of access we would have to things like BLENDERS once we got to the Philippines. But sure enough, we found one in Metro Ayala in Cebu (I would be so happy if just one person left a comment saying they knew exactly what I was talking about here) and this little guy lasted us through the year and performed extremely well at the task of daily mango papaya mint smoothies.
Okay, now for the big one.
We came home from the Philippines and now, for the last two years, I’ve been using this bad boy – the Blendtec!
And let me tell you – that Blendtec is a beast.
It can handle, well, basically anything, considering I’ve had mine for two years and used it exactly 684 times (there’s a digital counter on the screen that reminds me how obsessed I am). I’ve tested it to the max with lots of thick and hard mixtures, and it’s STILL purring like a kitten.
Two things:
You can get the brand new Blendtec (I have the Designer Series in black) on Amazon. It has a 4.5 star rating out of 300 reviews and it comes with a 8-year warranty. Wait, though. EIGHT YEARS.
Possibly an even better choice – you can get a refurbished Blendtec from the Blendtec company itself for $279 – and get this -> you STILL get the eight year warranty. We have a refurbished model of the Designer Series and it’s been great, if you can’t tell from my zillions of recipes featuring this blender.
Regardless of which option you take, it’s still an expensive blender. Please don’t buy one of these epic machines if cooking is not a big part of your life – for you, the Oster (or American Heritage, if you live in the Philippines) will do just fine.
That being said, it’s been an extremely useful tool for me – I’m doing the math for the 684 uses in two and a half years time which means I’ve averaged more than two uses per day?! – and for a person who does a lot of cooking and likes to make healthy food in creative ways, a good blender is a must.
Rant = done.
Here are ten awesome ways to use your blender, whatever kind it might be!
Creamy Soft-Serve Smoothies
Why it works: Well, let’s just get the obvious out of the way. Smoothies are still a totally genius way to use your blender even if it is cliche, especially when you take advantage of a super-high powered blender’s ability to puree everything (INCLUDING GREENS if you dare) into a creamy, luscious soft-serve texture.
Recipes: Coconut Green Smoothie (pictured), Honey and Wild Blueberry Smoothie, Holiday Detox Green Apple Smoothie
Awesome Lemonade
Why it works: It’s a weird little trick of the Lazy Girl trade – making lemonade in the blender is so easy and so super good. You put a bunch of limes and lemons in there with some water and sugar – annnnd blend. You wait for the lemon pieces to separate, drain out the liquid, and stir in a little sweetened condensed milk bc you bouta treat yoself.
Recipes: Blender Lemonade (pictured)
Easy Pancakes
Why it works: A better question is why NOT give your pancake batter a quick whirl through a blender? One of my favorite everyday pancake recipes (compliments of my bestie Ang) is made in the blender in about five seconds flat. Hop to! Brinner awaits.
Recipes: Cinnamon Whole Grain Power Pancakes (pictured)
Silky Smooth Soups
Why it works: Soups in the blender are one of my favorite things of all time, especially when the soup base has a few potatoes or other starchy vegetables to just hold it all together with a slightly thickened silky smooth perfection. I never liked butternut squash soup until I owned a Blendtec – true story. That smooth texture can make a lover out of anyone.
Recipes: Coconut Curry Soup (pictured), Butternut Squash Soup, Creamy Potato Kale Soup (this is a major favorite in our house – we don’t make many recipes “regularly” but this one reappears at least a few times each fall/winter season)
The Fluffiest Eggs
Why it works: I guess I don’t really know WHY it works, but it does work. Whir those eggs around in the blender for a few seconds and you’ll have yourself the most lovely fluffy scrambled eggs and/or omelettes of your egg-eating life. I’m crossing fences for this one because I don’t even like eggs. But Bjork loves them, and it’s true that even I might be able to come around for some super soft scrambled eggs loaded with goat cheese when they’re this fluffy.
Recipes: I don’t have a recipe that directs you to use a blender for the eggs, but just take any recipe you have and instead of whisking the eggs by hand, whir them up lightly in the blender for about ten seconds. As for specific ideas, I think this is my ONLY acceptable egg recipe – Goat Cheese Scrambled Eggs with Pesto Veggies.
Homemade Sauces
Why it works: Take everything you were going to chop up and simmer into that sauce and put it in the blender instead. You can retain some texture, but the aromatics like onion and garlic get distributed evenly throughout the sauce. Dressings, sauces, everything. It’s so hard to go back to regular chopping once you make this your MO.
Recipes: Lazy Girl Chicken Quinoa Enchiladas (pictured), Spanish Chicken and Potatoes, Sesame Mango Chicken Teriyaki, and there are a million more examples on this site – this is basically how I cook everything.
Oat + Nut Flours, Butters, and Milks
Why it works: I’m lumping these all together because there are just endless possibilities here. A good blender can take anything in this category (nuts, oats, grains, seeds, you name it) and make it into something new. Oats become flour, cashews become cream, and almonds become milk, just to name a few yummies.
Recipes: Oat Flour (pictured) as used in these Pumpkin Bites with Maple Glaze, 5 Minute Cashew Sauce
Quick Salsa
Why it works: I literally picked vegetables from my garden for this salsa. I HAVE A GARDEN and it GREW THINGS. But I digress. This one is a tad bit tricky because fresh tomatoes can get kind of weird-textured and light pink colored in the blender. But if you add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, and pulse gently, just a few seconds at a time, you will end up with a gloriously easy, still red, chunky, fresh salsa. From your garden.
Recipes: this Blender Salsa from Little Spice Jar uses canned tomatoes like normal (pictured above is my chunky version with my home grown tomatoes)
Creamy Cauliflower Sauce
Why it works: This post wouldn’t be complete without mention of that creamy cauliflower sauce. So… mentioning. When I made it again for this post, I re-discovered my love of this white gold stuff. Creamy, adaptable to whatever flavors you want, and full of NUTRITIOUS CAULIFLOWER. No one has to know.
Recipes: Creamy Cauliflower Sauce (pictured), Creamy Cauliflower Garlic Rice
Divine Whipped Cream
Why it works: I honestly think making whipped cream in my blender works better than it does with my electric mixer. Just turn it on and let it get amazing. Plus, you can easily add in some honey and send it all spinning around for a second for the most yummy, fluffy honey whipped cream.
Recipes: no recipe – just pour whipping cream into the blender and turn on a medium level setting until it’s thick!
Bonus: Compost Breakdown
Why it works: Yeah, this one is a little bit of a weirdo-person thing, but worth mentioning since I’ve joined the ranks of the Composters this year. A high powered blender can be a great way to break down your food waste that is headed out to your compost bin. Which means you’ll get nutrient-rich dirt faster! Which means more tomatoes and basil and green beans. And you don’t have to really touch anything. You compost, right? You guys, if I (captain of team Lazy Girl) can compost, you can most definitely compost. Just think how right you will feel making granola every day after you start composting. Worth it.
Recipes: ew. none.
Whether you go the NEW Blendtec route via Amazon, the REFURBISHED Blendtec route in order to save $175, the regular little Oster blender route because you’re new to this whole thing, or the don’t-need-to-get-anything-cause-I-already-have-one route, I see many blender adventures in your future.
Pst – do you have a blender you know and love? Leave a comment and let me know – I’m on a quest to find the best possible blender brands and varieties of all time.
Disclaimer: The links for the blenders in this post are affiliate links. I would love to be a blender twin with you!
The post 10 Simply Genius Ways to Use A Blender appeared first on Pinch of Yum.