Kitchen Review- The Blend- Tec

Even though I am super busy with Vegan MOFO (day 10!) I've had time to reflect a lot lately.  Maybe its the fact that my kitchen needs constant cleaning because I've been cooking every day or maybe its the never ending pile of dishes.  I'm not sure.  What I am sure about is that I couldn't do alot of what I do in the kitchen without my Blend-Tec.

I've owned alot of hand-me-down blenders in my day.  Most of them were freebies, all of them broke within a year and never worked well at all.  At one point I was a raw vegan (no cooked food or animal products) and a blender was a vital kitchen appliance.  Even though Im back to just being vegan now I still use this blender almost daily.  Let me give you some examples:

Easiest Ever Ice Cream

Chilled Cantelope Soup

Mango Raspberry Smoothie

Tropical Lust Smoothie

Vanilla Chai Pear Butter

I made all those things and more with a blender.  Now on to other important matters.  I would say some pro's of this blender is that it will blend everything you may ever need to blend while cooking and it will do an amazing job at it. It's also really easy to clean and easy to use a spatula in order to scrape out whatever it is you blended.  The wider base makes it more effective at blending thicker things like filling for a cheesecake (its the only way I make cheesecake filling now because its so fast!), or nut butters.  I've blended ice, and even frozen bananas (for my ice cream) with ease.  I have yet to be disappointed with this blenders performance.  The biggest thing for me is that the base is really easy to clean, just wipe down with a sponge or paper towel.  It has a digital screen and flat buttons that make it a breeze to clean up.

I would say the only real con to this blender is the noise.  Unfortunately, I haven't seen a blender this powerful that wasn't noisy.  Some claim the Vitamix brand is less noisy but I call b.s. on that.  All I can say is that I'm so happy with how well it works that I can forgive the noise.  It's so nice to have smoothies without berry seeds in them (the blender grinds them up) or random chunks of ice.  I can even make a quick soup in minutes.  The convenience of this appliance is a huge benefit.

Well enough about the blender.  If you're in the market you would love the Blend Tec, worth every penny.  Now I have to get back in the kitchen and clean because tonight we are getting started on making hard cider! I'll post all about it tomorrow!

One final thought: What do you use your blender for? I'm looking for new ideas!

Easiest Ever Ice Cream!

So last week was what they call "Restaurant Week" which is where several restaurants participate in offering deals for lunch and dinner (sometimes both!).  Sometimes they have special menu's they prepare and it's always a great way to try out new foods, and lots of them!

So that is my excuse for having not cooked in a week.  I did however decide to make some of this ridiculously easy ice cream which tastes delicious. It's a little bit like the consistency of frozen yogurt, but in my opinion it tastes better.

Photo taken by kitchen partner Dan :)

Ice Cream

Very ripe bananas, cut into 1/4" slices


Optional Flavorings
Vanilla Extract
Lacuma (gives it a caramel like flavor)
Any other kinds of fruit (my favorite is mixing in blueberries at the end)
Cocoa Powder
Peanut butter

1. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.  Spread out banana slices.  Add another piece of wax paper on top if you need room for more slices.

2. Cover with plastic wrap.  Freeze a few hours or overnight.

3. Blend 1-2 cups of frozen banana slices at a time in a blender.  Note: The more powerful the blender the more banana slices you can add at once but be conservative at first! Use a spatula to scrap down the sides and pulse the banana until creamy.

When it comes to adding flavors its better to add too little and have to add more than to add too much at once.  If you are using a flavoring like cocoa powder (I have some that is raw) you may need to add some agave nectar or other sweetener.  You can eat this plain, which is what I do, or mix in some fresh fruit for some extra pockets of flavor.  Contrary to what you would think this is not overpoweringly banana flavored. I like adding some homemade vanilla to mine and maybe a crack of sea salt. :)

Once frozen the bananas can be transferred to a zip lock bag and kept in the freezer for quite a long time if need be.  Some times I have this "ice cream" in the morning instead of my normal breakfast smoothie. 

I apologize for there being no end picture.  I will try my best to remedy that soon! I just wanted everyone to be able to enjoy this recipe while the weather holds!