Saturday, January 17, 2009

Kitchen Essentials: Stick Blender

One item I use a lot, especially in the winter, is a stick blender. I've found that many people have no idea what a stick blender is. Some picture one of those little stirring sticks to mix up protein powder shakes. I sure didn't realize what a stick blender was or how handy it was until I happened to find one at a thrift store for $4 and figured I'd give it a whirl (ha, pun intended!)

A stick blender is your best friend if you like to make creamy soups. And creamy soups are excellent for hiding lots of vegetables in soups that your kids will actually eat. You can process soups in batches in a blender to make them creamy, but that takes a while to do because you can only process a small amount at a time. It's also risky - it's very easy to blow up hot soup all over the kitchen. I know this from personal experience.

To use a stick blender, you simply put it in the pot of soup after everything is tender. Then you press the button to turn it on and let it blend as you move it around the pot. So easy!

You can also use a stick blender to make dips. Often when you put dips in a blender, the quantity isn't large enough for the blender to be effective, and then if you do blend it in the blender, it's difficult to get out. Make hummus, pesto, honey-butter and more with your stick blender.

When purchasing a stick blender, buy a nicer quality one. A good one will cost around $25-$30. I definitely don't recommend buying a $10 Durabrand one from Walmart. Mine died after only 3 or 4 uses!

2 comments:

CompleteLee Blogger said...

Hmmmm. You'll have to show me yours when I come to visit. I am not sure I know what you are talking about. Sounds like a good invention, though. I like things that help sneak in veggies. :)

Mom of 7 said...

Yeah, I had no idea what it was at first. If you don't want to wait to see what it looks like, go to Amazon and search for stick blenders. Sneaky veggies are fun!