Hardware

Here is a list of all the hardware that I use to make my smoothies.  Note that I am not being paid to promote any of these items, nor did I get any of them for free.  These are things I bought myself, and I will give you my honest opinion of them.

Cuisinart SmartPower Duet Blender/Food Processor (BFP-703CH)

Link to Cuisinart product site: http://www.cuisinart.com/products/blenders/bfp-703.html

Link to Amazon.com product site: http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-BFP-703CH-SmartPower-Blender-Processor/dp/B00004WKI7/

We actually have two of these, since both I and my boyfriend had one when we moved in together!  This is a great little blender.  Excellent for starting out, since it has both a blender and a food processor.  As a blender it works well.  It crushes ice like a pro, and makes very smooth smoothies.  I do sometimes have to pick it up and shake it to get the ingredients to settle a bit so it will continue blending, though.  When I’m not using pulse, the speed tends to not be very even, so it will speed up and slow down seemingly at random – haven’t really figured out why it does that yet.  Also, it is very loud.  This is possibly unavoidable when it comes to blenders, but I sometimes feel bad for my neighbors when I’m up at 7:30 in the morning with this thing wailing away!

All in all, I think this is an excellent inexpensive small appliance to have.  However, I am hoping to upgrade to a nicer (quieter?) model in the future.

 

Kitrics Digital Nutrition Scale

Link to Kitrics product site: http://www.kitrics.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=kitrics_flypage&category_id=9&product_id=18&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

Link to Amazon.com product site: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QE6O88

I am of the strong opinion that no kitchen is complete without a good scale.  Then again, I do bake, and bakers tend to be obsessive about that sort of thing.  This scale is not only great at being a scale (accurate to the gram or the .05 ounce), but it gives you extra information about the food you’re weighing, too!  This is what I use to get most of the nutrition information for my recipes.  It’s great, because when you eat as much non-packaged food as we do, it can sometimes be difficult to tell just how healthy a meal is.  Yes, homemade mac and cheese is probably healthier than the store-bought packaged kind, but by how much?  Keeping track of the nutrition information of the foods I make has really helped me understand just how each ingredient affects my health.

The only bad part is that the scale doesn’t go up high enough for me to put my blender on it and measure the ingredients directly into that.  I have to use a different, lighter container.  Not a huge deal, but sometimes slightly annoying.