OT - Broke down, bought a Blendtec

Thatgrimguy

My magic bullet is on the fritz and I figured it was finally time to get a real blender. With Mother's day this coming Sunday and my Birthday just a week later we got ourselves a Refurbished Blendtec Total Blender w/ Wildside Jar, a Mini Wildside Jar and a Twister jar.


Any recommendations for stuff to try when it comes in?  I know I want to make morning smoothies and baby food as that's all I used my Bullet for.

Mopar_Mike

Pretty good selection of things at their site http://www.blendtec.com/recipes

texaswig

We use Vitamix to make salsa all the time. 
1 large can of peeled tomatoes 
1 small can of fire roasted tomatoes 
2 jalapeño 
1 bunch of cilantro
2 clove of garlic
1 onion 
Then salt, pepper, cumin, sugar, red pepper flakes, squeeze of lime. 
Make as chunky or as smooth as you like. 

Thatgrimguy

I'm thinking it will make short work of my SV Mashed potatoes.

kl8ton

They would end up quite "soupy" in the blend tec for the amount of liquid you would have to put in there to get it to cycle through.  I think we have a bout 5,000 cycles on ours. . . we use it all the time.  Mostly for smoothies.  We make almond milk with it as well.  Congrats on the purchase.  Ours has given us years of service.  We would like to get some of the additional jars/containers you speak of.

HeavyG

Thatgrimguy said:

I'm thinking it will make short work of my SV Mashed potatoes.

I think they will end up as paste in the Blendtec.

GregW

texaswig said:

We use Vitamix to make salsa all the time. 
1 large can of peeled tomatoes 
1 small can of fire roasted tomatoes 
2 jalapeño 
1 bunch of cilantro
2 clove of garlic
1 onion 
Then salt, pepper, cumin, sugar, red pepper flakes, squeeze of lime. 
Make as chunky or as smooth as you like. 

I make a similar salsa in my Vitamix.
I use pickled Jalapeno peppers with carrots/onions.
Makes for a very good salsa 

Ozzie_Isaac

Is blendtec the one with the guy who puts all sorts of crazy stuff in it to show "it will blend" ... i said that in the tone the guy from Forged in Fire uses.

SkinnyV

Just a smoothie vessel here since my kids are a little older. Neither one of my 2 kids ever ate a jar of store baby food thanks to the blendtec.

I will be sure to try the salsa recipes posted.

tarheelmatt

Should be all the blender you'd need buddy!

blasting

Nope on the mashed spuds.  ( I use a ricer)

Congrats on the new blender.   Ive got a vitamix and use it 5-6 days a week.

Smoothies, guacamole,  salsa, sauces,, grinding spices and mixing rubs.

Lit

Thatgrimguy said:

I'm thinking it will make short work of my SV Mashed potatoes.

As others have said not good it over whips them and them become almost a paste. We tried this at the GA mountain eggfest a couple years back and ended up scraping them.

bgebrent

Also a big fan of the ricer Scott.  You should try it brother.

Thatgrimguy

Ok, so the potatoes are a no/go... How about making soups using just the blender? Anyone do that?

YukonRon

Don't have the blend tec but I have done some serious tomato basil cream soup with our WS?

Trixie_Belle

I'm in the vitamix camp. I make soup often.  Check out YouTube for good ideas.  Enjoy.

bgebrent

Thatgrimguy said:

Ok, so the potatoes are a no/go... How about making soups using just the blender? Anyone do that?

Soups work great!  Roasted tomato soup!

Thatgrimguy

So I see lots of videos where people throw in whole apples, like core and all. Is that just to show off the blender? Or is there really just no point in trimming it down? Or maybe an actual health benefit?

Legume

bgebrent said:

Also a big fan of the ricer Scott.  You should try it brother.

This is exactly right.  Ricer is the only way to go for mashed potatoes, but get a good one so you can lean into it.

cookingdude555

love our blendtec.  over 2000 blends so far.  still going strong.

theyolksonyou

So you guys are hiring a dude with a hopped up Honda to mash your taters?  Genius!

bgebrent

theyolksonyou said:

So you guys are hiring a dude with a hopped up Honda to mash your taters?  Genius!

Drops mic and walks off stage...yes, genius.

blasting

The blendtec thread that turned ricer... been using this one for a year or so.


http://www.amazon.com/Browne-746192-Stainless-Steel-Potato/dp/B00004SU1J?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00

dougcrann

Ernie has had hers for a few years...she loves the thing.  Bit noisy....

nolaegghead

Doesn't take much to over-work potatoes in the mashing process.  They get gooey - like warm toffee, and dense. 

Blenders are great.  Blend up some eggs for a great frittata.  Crepe batter.  Soups, bla bla bla.  Cell phones are fun. Make sure you charge the battery first.   

blasting

The powerful blenders take a little practice on the things you want to leave a little chunky.  Once you master it, it can do a lot of tasks.

Tonight I used the Vitamix tonight to make some marinara sauce.  Tried my hand at homemade pasta.  Turned out great, but some smoked meatballs would have put it over the top.

Phatchris

I just ordered a vitamix for my wife, Mother's Day sale... Only cost me $550 for smoothies 

YukonRon

Um, BGE Forum and saving money are diametrically opposed. $550.00 for three smoothies, will be a bargain compared to the other items mentioned in here.
This should not be a surprise to anyone by now.
Drink the smoothies.

Thatgrimguy

Phatchris said:

I just ordered a vitamix for my wife, Mother's Day sale... Only cost me $550 for smoothies 

I spent the same for bourbon slushies! 

HeavyG

blasting said:

The powerful blenders take a little practice on the things you want to leave a little chunky.  Once you master it, it can do a lot of tasks.

Tonight I used the Vitamix tonight to make some marinara sauce.  Tried my hand at homemade pasta.  Turned out great, but some smoked meatballs would have put it over the top.

When I first got my Blendtec I put a batch of my marinara in it thinking it would really "smooth it out".

My fault, but the Blendtec whipped it so well it turned into a foamy kind of thing. It might have made an interesting thing for some wild molecular gastronomy kind of dish but just wasn't any good on pasta.

After that experience I decided to stay with the stick blender in the future if I wanted my marinara a bit less chunky. 

pescadorzih

Legume said:

bgebrent said:

Also a big fan of the ricer Scott.  You should try it brother.

This is exactly right.  Ricer is the only way to go for mashed potatoes, but get a good one so you can lean into it.

You're supposed to cook the potatoes first.