How funny that Emily has blenders on the mind as I logged in to do a write up on them. Bicycle powered blenders sound awesome but if you can't fit one in your kitchen I have a suggestion for you.
Last night I made potato leek soup and to get it creamy I ladled about half of it into the food processor to puree it before rejoining it back to the pot. This makes a nice soup that is creamy without the necessity for any cream. Food processing hot soup on the other hand can get very messy. It is not exactly the right tool for the job. We went to Wal-Mart last night (shame) to get candy for the movie Valkyrie (so dull) and while Brian picked up some shells for shooting trap I picked up an Oster hand blender and chopper for $24 (it's $42 on amazon so it's economically difficult to boycott wal-mart).
Lona is a big fan of the immersion blender for smoothies so I knew it was just what I needed for tidy soup blending. They create this odd suction towards the blade which is at the bottom so nothing splatters. I am not sure how the chopper attachment works but it it does look exciting!
Since my resolution is to cook more/eat out less I intend to start giving my appliances more use. Some other appliances which are very clever and convenient are my kitchenaid mixer which is wonderful for kneading dough (I have a hard time kneading by hand because the counters are too tall and I have a ganglia in my wrist).
I received Kohls giftcards from Brian's Grandmom and Aunt so I got a large pot that came with two different sized strainers that can sit inside to make pasta and steam veggies without needing to pour out boiling water. It's pretty neat but I need to perfect the amount of water I add so as not to make a mess.
Guy also got a pressure cooker and canner recently so I'd be curious to hear if it is transforming his cooking.
