Singing for a smaller me

Yeah, I'd say awesome is pretty much one of my favorite words. Any given day, you'll hear me say "AWESOME" ten or fifteen times and chances are, at some point, you'd get pretty tired of hearing it. I regularly stop myself from saying it in Facebook or Twitter replies, but I'm going to subject anyone reading this to my awesome obsession with the word AWESOME.

Alright. I'm done now.

Seriously.

Alright once more: Awesome.

Now I'm done. >.<



Last week (or the week before, I'm not really sure), I mentioned that I got a BlendTec Blender for Christmas. Kirsten of Results Not Typical Girl asked for a review of said blender, and because this thing is so epic (okay I use epic a lot too!) I was more than happy to oblige. So here ya go as promised.

First, confession time: I knew I was getting my super fab awesomely awesome Blendtec Blender for Christmas (I don't think the DH would - out of his own volition and for fear of me flaying him alive - buy me any kind of kitchen gadget without my express approval). Actually, I was with him at Costco when we saw they were being demo'd/on sale (OMG!!! Something's on sale at Costco - say it ain't so!). After trying several of the absolutely delish demo foods, I was pretty well convinced. Going, going, SOLD! Oh happy day, caloo, calay!

Now, the hardest part was waiting until Christmas to start using the freaking thing. Yep, I wrapped it up so I could open it on Christmas Day and squee in front of my family. But knowing that this was waiting for me under the tree meant I planned part of Xmas Day dinner as blender friendly.

Christmas Day finally comes around (FINALLY!), and I get to unwrap it and laugh like mad crazy because I finally get to open it and USE IT. *Happy Dance*

Can't tell you how to set the thing up because the DH - knowing how super squee I was about this thing and knowing I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off prepping dinner - pre-empted me and set it all up. However, it did come with a nifty getting started guide, the blender (obviously!), and a recipe book. The recipe book, it is my precious and the keeper of such wonderful recipes as tortilla soup and banana chocolate soy milkshakes and fondue and - oh god, stop me now, I'm drooling!

None of the recipe book recipes were part of my Xmas dinner (because it was still wrapped when I was buying ingredients!), but I made the Spinach Parmesan dip I rattled on about in my Holiday Break Recap Post. Yummy. Verdict: super easy to use.

Next up: the fabulously, amazing Tortilla Soup. OMG, so tasty. Follow the recipe and directions for shoveling ingredients into the blender and you have Tortilla Soup of WIN. It's important to put ingredients in in the order specified for optimal blender use.

After that: Banana Bread. Yes, this thing made up the batter for banana bread. Hot Damn. Word of Caution: This is a high speed blender. DO NOT leave something like banana bread batter mixing for too long or it will start to cook in the blender. You don't want to spend $$$ on something like this then ruin it by not reading the instructions (well, you'll ruin the pitcher, but you get the picture).

Approaching New Year's Eve, I realized I had a whole mess of vegetables/herbs/etc that were going to go bad if I didn't use them, so I did what any sensible person with an awesome blender would do: looked up recipes and used all that fresh produce up before it went to waste. Made salsa and pesto and cream of broccoli soup. Oooo, baby, I'll never throw out produce again - not when I can make soups and sauces and dips, oh my!

Truthfully, though, I wanted a BlendTec Blender specifically for the purpose of making my Green Monster Smoothies in the morning. My old KitchenAid wasn't cutting it with my daily morning ritual and took forever to blend to the right consistency. Not this baby!! One button push and it's practically perfect in every way!!!

For now, the verdict is EPIC WIN! Of course, I haven't had it for long, but I have a feeling I'm going to love using this thing nearly every freaking day. I'll share further blending results and maybe some super cool and AWESOME recipes.


In other news, I finished C25K, Week One, Day Two today at the gym at work today (which is deserted at 7am. SCORE!). Feeling quite optimistic about my progress: went just a bit further than Day One, managed a steadier pace, and I feel like my endurance has increased. Really looking forward to Day Three - am I crazy?

Okay, I'll leave you on that note. See ya!