Cuisinart Blender - Smartstick Hand Single-Speed Blender Review

After reading a delicious-sounding recipe for Butternut Squash, Apple, and Pear soup this fall, I decided that I wanted a stick blender aka immersion blender.  I wanted to be able to make yummy soups and also be able to use a blender without having to dig out the giant jar one from our filled-to-bursting cabinets.  For Christmas, Santa brought me the Cuisinart SmartStick Hand Blender.

This immersion blender comes with 3 attachments: a whisk, a blending blade, and a chopping attachment.  It is very to add and remove the attachments and there is only one button to press to turn the thing on.  This is the kind of appliance that you can just take out of the box and use without reading the owner's manual from cover to cover.

I've used the Cuisinart Smart Stick to scramble eggs, blend Bernaise sauce, make homemade cilantro-lime mayonnaise, and prepare "mashed" cauliflower.  Everything has turned out wonderfully and the whole process was simple.  Best of all, the attachments are dishwasher-safe so you don't have to worry about hand-washing them.  If the top part (motor housing) of the blender gets dirty, you can just wipe it down with a damp cloth. 

At about $70, the Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender isn't cheap, but I think it is well worth the expense.  I hate digging and dragging out our jar blender, so I tend to avoid recipes that require blending.  This product is small, easy to use, easy to clean, and is easy to get in and out of storage.  Because it is more convenient to use, I find myself blending things more often and producing new and better meals.  Recommended!