My last blender died a few years ago, and I vowed not to replace it.  Too much counter space, too much money, blah blah blah.  But this weekend I ran across an awesome blender on sale and snapped it up.  Naturally I swore to myself that I would really use this one, really really, and make it worthwhile.

The obvious use for a blender (for me anyway) is for smoothies.  I have trouble getting enough fresh produce, and as a vegetarian I felt like I could use a protein supplement.  Enter the smoothie!  Every morning I blend half a cup of fat free plain yogurt, a quarter cup of fruit, a tablespoon of protein powder, and a whole banana.  Delicious, nutritious, and thanks to the protein powder, surprisingly filling!

But aside from smoothies, what will I use my blender for?  I went online to find some great blender usage tips.  This thing is really handy!

Bread Crumbs

I used to make bread crumbs the old fashioned way: by sitting down with a stale end of bread loaf and a TV show, and crumbling it up by hand.  Boring, and usually requires vacuuming the floor afterwards.  Next time I'll use the blender, which can quickly reduce stale bread to crumbs with the Pulse setting.

Chopping Nuts And Grating Stuff

This is something else I've always done the old-fashioned way.  You know; with a knife.  Turns out the Pulse setting is great for this, too!  (Just don't blend too long, or you'll end up with nut butter.  Unless that's what you wanted.  In which case, carry on!)

You can also use Pulse or Grate to handily reduce coffee beans, spices like whole cloves, and hard cheeses to smithereens.

Salsa

I always make hand cut chunky style salsa fresca.  Last night I dropped all the ingredients into the blender instead of painstakingly mincing everything.  It tasted great, and the pureed salsa was much easier to chip up.  

Down side: it was NOT the color I expected.  I guess salsa mixes must use food coloring or something, because mine turned out a sort of greenish-yellow from the pureed onion and cilantro.  Next time I might use the puree as just a base for my regular chunky salsa.

Baby Food

If you have a baby (I don't) you can just drop regular food into your blender and puree it into a fine paste.  (I guess babies like paste.  The only thing I know about baby food is that cats really like the meat flavors.)

Olive Tapenade

This is basically the Italian version of salsa, served over bruschetta instead of tortilla chips.  Make it in the blender, and save yourself all that insane time spent mincing it up with a knife!  I found a great recipe on the Betty Crocker website.

Pesto

There's no way you can make your own pesto by hand.  Trust me,  I've tried.  But you can whizz up this delicious topping in just a few minutes with a blender!

Creative Commons-licensed image courtesy of Flickr user colin_n