Smoothie, milkshake, frozen margarita?

I found a new kitchen gadget I’d like to share. I’ve been searching high and low for the perfect blender and/or food processor.

I haven’t been known to frequently use a blender. Like most, I had a “smoothie phase” when my blender tended to live on the counter for easy access. After awhile, I found myself growing lazy because my individual smoothies didn’t seem worth the process of cleaning the large, heavy (for my weak arms anyway), glass blender. The bottom line though is there are moments when one needs a blender for the occasional quick smoothie, iced coffee or delicious milkshake. As I said, I’d also love a food processor, but blender-food processor duos all seem to have terrible ratings. The food processor hunt will have to wait.

After touching base with Consumer Reports online (a wonderful tool I must add) and a couple other websites, I realized I might need to drop the idea of investing in a great blender for my “future” (who wants a mediocre kitchen gadget?). Perhaps I needed to purchase a single-serve blender for this chapter of my life. After all, how often am I really going to need to whip up a giant batch of blended liquids? And who says I can’t just whip up a couple smaller ones? In fact… maybe my guests will all want different drinks and I’ll have to do them all separately anyway? To be honest… these questions didn’t really come up until I started writing, but they’re semi-valid, right?

To make a long story long… I found my match. I read decent reviews on the Hamilton Beach^®
Single-Serve Blender and decided to try it out (Walmart has a great return policy). Not only is it slim, compact and affordable, but it’s also extremely convenient! It’s a plastic cup you can remove from the base and walk out the door with. It’s supposed to be able to fit into most car cup holders (haven’t tried that out yet) and it’s dishwasher safe! Could it get any better?

It could. Was it powerful enough… for ice? I had to test this out. When I got my new purchase home I tried out a simple smoothie consisting of frozen blueberries, rice milk, acai juice and banana. It blended the mixture with ease (I added enough liquid as you’d have to do with any blender). Then I was onto the real test of just solid ice cubes and water. The ice cubes were transformed into a uniform slush consistency within a minute. Woo hoo… I’ve found my match! Now, onto the search for the perfect food processor (the recipes are stacking up).