Continuing in the spirit of the holidays, I would like to give you yet another gift idea for the vegan in your life. Perhaps this year, you are on a strict budget and are looking for something a bit more economical? Perhaps this year, you have all your shopping done and just need an awesome stocking stuffer? Perhaps this year, you are going to a gift exchange and want to impress everyone without breaking the bank? Or perhaps this year, the vegan in your life has been naughty and deserves just a bit more than coal?

Whatever the reason, I have an idea that any vegan or cook for that matter would love to add to their kitchen arsenal. This one is more economical and compact than the VitaMix Blender; however, it is a wonderful tool capable of performing numerous tasks. This amazing gadget (and remember I don’t like a lot of gadgets) is the immersion or stick blender. Inexpensive and efficient, the immersion blender is the younger, yet assertive, brother of the VitaMix.

“But why an Immersion Blender, Bob?” Well, let me paint a picture for you if I may. Say you have a large pot of potato soup cooking on the stove. It is January and you have vowed to eat a bit healthier in 2014, but the recipe calls for heavy cream in order to produce a silky, rich, and creamy soup. You don’t want cream, you want vegan goodness. What will you do? Well, what if I said there was a way to produce creaminess without the cream? Would you believe me?

All you have to do is puree the cooked potatoes because the starch in these tubers will thicken your soup and give you a beautiful creamy consistency without the heavy cream. Now you could puree the scalding hot soup in batches using your VitaMix, but this could get messy and a bit dangerous. So the smarter, safer option would be to break out the immersion blender. It looks like a boat propeller on the end of a long wand. Just plug it in, place the propeller in the soup and puree… and voila, cream of potato soup. But that’s not all this appliance can do, wait there’s more…

For less than $40.00, the Immersion Blender can:

–          Make gallons of pesto sauce in mere minutes

–          Whip buckets of coconut cream into a vegan dessert topping

–          Produce vats of creamy sauces and gravies

–          Emulsify endless amounts of salad dressings

–          Create jar upon jar of homemade vegan mayonnaise

–          Puree mountains of vegetables to be hidden in sauces for the kids

–          Fashion countless single-serve smoothies in a pinch

–          Trim your forest of Bonsai trees

–          Cut the family’s hair when the Flow-Bee isn’t working

Okay, the Immersion Bender can’t really do those last two things. I mean it might, but let’s be reasonable here. Don’t try this at home, just leave the family hairstyles to the manufacturers of the “suck-n-cut.” But with all that being said, this blender is a great addition to anyone’s kitchen. And while I am still not getting paid for making these endorsements, I do highly recommend this product. Bowls of creamy, healthy potato soup are just a phone call away. Order now while supplies last. Longer Letter Later.

Love, Bob aka The Grassfed Carnivore