Jan’s Gadget Post 3

This week I am continuing our discussion of the kitchen gadgets we would not want to do without. Several weeks ago I narrowed my choices to a few precious items and when looking over the list I see a few that we use almost daily. This gadget travels back and forth between my daughter’s kitchen and mine (remember, we have two households within the same home…two homes within the same house?) And this is one with many miles between the two…..

The Immersion Blender

This is another item that is used multiple times a week preparing soups, mashing potatoes or cauliflower, blending smoothies, whipping cream. Easy to store and clean, it saves the hassle of getting out the big blender and cleaning it afterwards. We have a Vitamix blender and a Kitchenaide mixer but use our Stick Blender much more often.

When blending hot soups, there is no need to remove the soup from the pot…just pop the immersion blender in and whizz away until smooth. It does the absolute best job of making mashed cauliflower of all the available appliances. Cook the cauliflower, use the immersion blender to puree the vegetable then add the butter, cream and seasonings. Blend again and voila!

I have had my Kitchenaid Immersion Blender for many years. At the time, I lived very near the Kitchenaid factory and outlet in Ohio. I picked this one up to replace a less expensive one that had give up the ghost after a few years. Kitchenaid comes through again with a fine, hard-working product!

Carol:

I wish I knew exactly how old my Braun Immersion Blender is. It seems like I have had it for an eternity, however over the years in my possession it has been used infrequently until the past few years. Without success I tried to figure out just how old this model is. I do know that there are no longer replacement parts.

The first time I used this gadget, I did not follow the instructions. I blended alright, just not completely immersed. Soup splatters flew as did a few select verbs. It is used much more often now especially since many of my soups include cauliflower which acts as a thickener in low carb recipes making for a creamier soup.

Just recently I have used the chopping feature which has been a true revelation. I have several recipes requiring chopped jalapeño peppers. Having developed a significant reaction when chopping jalapeños that caused difficulty breathing I looked for a solution. I have several family favorite recipes calling for loads of this finely chopped pepper. Purely by accident I tried this hand blender with the mincer/chopper accessory. Voila…finely chopped jalapeño peppers!

Pat:

Gotta dissent on this one. Do I have one? Yes. Actually inherited the one from our mother’s home, so I may win the oldest award. Do I use it? Rarely. Will occasionally pull it out to thicken a soup or blend a gravy, sure, but do I consider it essential? Nope. Takes up a lot of space, hard to clean, and rarely used.