Immersion blender

Here is the post you are all waiting for, I’m sure. What do you do with those handy-dandy immersion blenders?

First of all – smoothies in a glass. Now, Kylene mentioned that she didn’t have a glass that it fit in. I didn’t think of that, because it fit in mine right away. My suggestion would be to go to Goodwill and find a couple. You want glass, not plastic. They really don’t have to have awful wide necks. Just wide enough. My blender just barely fits into my glasses and that keeps anything from spraying out.

So once you have the glass, fill it 1/2 full with milk, then add your fruit. I start with a few slices of frozen banana, then add a handful of frozen blueberries and a few frozen strawberries. Once it is blended really well, you may need to add additional milk to make it drinkable. You could also add flaxseed if you want a little more fibre. Of course you could make it with yogurt, but I figure why bother with the expense if it tastes good with milk. I do use vanilla soymilk (light) because it has that vanilla flavor, but you could add a little vanilla to your smoothie if you think it needs it. Same with a little sweetener, particularly if you don’t use many bananas.

Another smoothie that worked really well was taking a can of SlimFast and putting it in a cup with some frozen fruit. It was like a slightly fruity chocolate milkshake! Actually, it would probably work the same with regular chocolate milk, but the SlimFast has a few other nutrients.

Soup. If you make soup where you cook the vegetables, then blend them to make them smooth, you can just dunk the blender right in the sauce pan and blend away. No hot liquids squirting out the top of your blender. No messy blender to clean up!

Beating eggs. I tried mine on egg whites the other day to use for a very low cal breakfast. I cracked a few (3, I think) into a ceramic bowl with sort of high sides and put the blender attachment right in there and they whipped to a froth in no time. Made a great “omlette,” even without the yolks. Without whipping them, they look too white and like they are missing something (well, they are.. the yolks.)

Mashing potatoes or squash. If you are just cooking a few potatoes to mash, or just want a little squash mashed, you can do it with the whisk attachment. Just use it right in the pan or bowl that you cooked the vegetable in. I leave a little of the cooking liquid in, so I don’t have to add anything else to it. I’m sure you could also use that whisk end to beat up a small bowl of eggs or to beat lumps out of lumpy gravy, right in the pan.

Baby food. I used to use the blender to make baby food out of supper leftovers, but cleaning up that blender was a real pain. With this, you could just put the leftovers in a bowl with high sides or a saucepan and blend them right up. Slick, huh?

That is about all I’ve thought of, so far, but I expect I’ll find other uses. When I’m finished, I wash it right away before anything has a chance to congeal on the far side of the blade. Put it in the dishdrain to dry and it’s ready for the next time!