Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for all of the ideas. I tried to make a sauce posted on another thread (pureed tomatoes, peppers and garlic). The immersion blender didn't seem to work very well (or I wasn't using it properly). I ended up throwing it all in the Cuisinart.

I forgot to ask. Did you like the sauce? I've used it as both a sauce and a soup. For soup, I usually chiffonade (chop) a small amount of fresh basil to garnish. And goes well with garlic crostini.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for all of the ideas. I tried to make a sauce posted on another thread (pureed tomatoes, peppers and garlic). The immersion blender didn't seem to work very well (or I wasn't using it properly). I ended up throwing it all in the Cuisinart.

I'm the PP who posted the recipe. A few tips that I didn't mention. If you plan to use an immersion blender, you want to roast the peppers and tomatoes longer to make them softer. If you use the food processor you can roast them less since the fp will will blend them up. I'm sorry that I didn't mention that when I posted the recipe.

I also use the immersion blender to finish off my mashed potatoes. You can't use them for mashing because you'll end up with gluey potatoes. But I use an old fashioned hand masher, mash up the potatoes, add milk, butter, shredded cheese, salt, pepper and them mash with the masher. Then, I take the immersion blender and just use it for about 30-45 seconds. It makes it creamy without being gluey. If you like chunky mashed potatoes, don't do this, but I like them smooth with just a little bit of chunkiness.

When my kids were in the pureed food stages, I used the momtastic recipes for cooking veggies and then used the immersion blender to puree them.

The stick blender is also good for making very fluffy scrambled eggs and omelets. Gets a lot of air into the eggs.

Useful for making a small amount of whipped cream when I don't really feel like getting out the bigger hand mixer or moving the Kitchenaid from the corner and then cleaning all of that up.

For the PP who said that it seemed to duplicate other devices, yes it does, but I find that the immersion blender is much easier to get ready and clean up. I keep the blender and FP in the pantry on the shelf. I keep the immersion blender in a drawer by my prep area. Easier to take out, clean and put back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't make a lot of pureed food, so I use mine very rarely, and I sort of find it a pain to clean!

Why? I run it briefly in water and put the blade assembly through the dishwasher. Never a problem.

You can take the blades apart? Well, that would have been good to know LOL!!

Smoothies and soups mostly. There's a great pureed root veggie recipe in Joy of Cooking that I used to make all the time too... I need to do that again!

The Cuisinart-like attachment is great for making small batches of salad dressing too.

Op here. Thanks for all of the ideas. I tried to make a sauce posted on another thread (pureed tomatoes, peppers and garlic). The immersion blender didn't seem to work very well (or I wasn't using it properly). I ended up throwing it all in the Cuisinart.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of the uses are redundant if you already have a mixer, mini or regular Cuisinart, and/or blender.

Not if you're using it for soups. Who wants to pour steaming hot liquid into a blender. For this, you stick it in and voila!

+1

I don't even have a regular blender anymore, and my Cuisinart is only used when necessary, because it's a pain to get out of where it's stored. The immersion blender is used most of the time.

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of the uses are redundant if you already have a mixer, mini or regular Cuisinart, and/or blender.

Not if you're using it for soups. Who wants to pour steaming hot liquid into a blender. For this, you stick it in and voila!

Smoothies with yogurt, wheat germ, honey and frozen fruit (usually blueberries). We use it almost every day!

Seems like a lot of the uses are redundant if you already have a mixer, mini or regular Cuisinart, and/or blender.

What do you use a blender for? Use it for that (with a very few exceptions).

I also run the blade section through the dishwasher. Top rack, as with all plastics.