NEW LIFE

I understand that not all things last forever. My blender of almost 40 years, for one. So I did a thorough research of all blenders and my new Ninja 1200 came out on top with reviews from people who own the Ninja 1100. The Ninja 1200 just came out and I got it from Bed, Bath & Beyond. I went there with my 20% coupon they send through the mail from time to time, but then I mentioned that HSN or QVC shopping networks had it cheaper and would they price match? Yes, they said, but couldn't honor the 20% coupon. So I still got it cheaper than with the coupon and less than HSN or QVC because they charged for shipping.

I unpacked it that day and the next day I experimented with it by something simple to make. I just blended in the large 72 oz. pitcher some dry milk into cold water. Wow! How I love the large opening of the pitcher where I can just dump the large box of dry milk into the top without first measuring it into a two cup measuring cup. I read which setting to put it on and the 1100 horsepower did it's thing very nicely. The six blades is nice too. With such a large pitcher, it really is needed. It's a bit noisier than my little Oster, but I believe this is what I really needed, if they were around back in the 1970s.

I then made my Belgian waffles recipe. How great it was to sift the dry ingredients directly into the pitcher; that's how large the opening is. I then poured directly into my Belgian waffle maker's sections without the worry of a leaking bottom. The bottom is completely closed so no worry of that anymore. The lid to the pitcher is also very nice where it locks in so I don't have to keep my hand on top to make sure nothing either spurts out or the lid flying off while blending. I highly recommend this blender. I'm looking forward to blending fruits and veggies to a liquid juicing without loosing any pulp. Smoothies and Margaritas are also on the agenda.

OK. Nothing is perfect. This morning I made banana, nut and cranberries muffins batter from scratch (I don't do boxes). Although I was able to again pour large portions of the dry ingredients directly into the pitcher, I would have been better off with my food processor or my Kitchen Aid mixer. Because this recipe is quite thick, when I could no longer just pour the batter into the muffin pan papers and got to the bottom of the batter in the pitcher, I had to scrape the rest out with a rubber spatula. The bottom of the pitcher is pretty large, a lot larger than my old blender, but if it were in a bowl, it would have been a lot easier. So a new life has entered my life, for the better or batter, whichever you prefer.

The recipe where you could make pizza dough in the smaller bowl with a small dough hook is another no for me. You could only put up to 2 1/2 cups of dry ingredients (flour). My pizza dough recipes have over three cups of flour. I like my recipe for a thicker crust.

Another bittersweet ending.