Yup! You guessed it! Tonight’s gadget is our handy-dandy, amazingly powerful, super-shiny Cuisinart blender!
I’ve been a blender snob for years now. Working as a barista at Starbucks (Store #246!) for 6 years (on and off) and being employed there the summer after the Frappuccino was introduced, I experienced many different blenders. Eventually, Starbucks moved away from the smaller blenders to the higher-power, higher-tech BlendTec electronic blenders that I fell in love with. I know many bloggers love their VitaMix blenders due to their high capacity and high power and well, their general fabulousness, but when registering for wedding gifts, I had a hard enough time asking people for specific things, let alone a $400 blender! Upon researching, I found that Cuisinart made a very powerful, high-capacity digital push-button blender that just happened to match the rice cooker… so we registered for it. Adam’s cousin and her husband were nice enough to give it to us, and tonight, we broke it in.
See? It’s shiny, and has a super wide mouth which is great for savory dishes that need blending, such as tonight’s Split Pea Soup. My issue with other blenders I’ve had is that the narrow base and wider top were deceptive. They were tall, and I always overestimated what I thought they could hold. This one though doesn’t cause that illusion, and the super-clear glass allowed for easy measuring. I absolutely can’t wait to make a smoothie, or better yet, a piña colada or other mixed drink in it, because I have this feeling that it will crush ice like a champ!
On to what I made with this lovely blender after much prep and a great conversation with a certain macaroon-making friend:
Split Pea Soup with Bacon and Homemade Croutons
Ingredients
For the soup:
2 c. dry split peas, picked over for pebbles
4 slices center cut bacon, diced
2 medium onions, cut into chunks
3 carrots, cut into chunks
2 ribs of celery, cut into chunks
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
salt
water
For the croutons*:
3 slices Italian bread, cut into bite-sized pieces
olive oil for drizzling
parmesan cheese
garlic powder
Directions
In a large pot, cook the bacon until crispy and the fat is rendered. Drain the bacon and set aside, saving about 1 Tbsp. fat for cooking. Add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic and cook a few minutes until onions are softened. Add the split peas, and then enough water to cover by about 2 inches. Generously salt the water, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and check every so often, adding more water as the peas cook. Once the peas are cooked and veggies are soft, puree in the blender one batch at a time until very smooth. Top with reserved bacon and croutons (recipe below).
Croutons*:
Pre-heat the oven to 375*. Place the bread chunks onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Stir to coat. Sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese and garlic powder, and bake until browned and dry.
*Please note, the word “crouton” must be pronounced “crowten” a-la Bud from The Cosby Show.
OH WAS THIS GOOD! It’s cold here and I’m getting a cold, so soup was what I wanted… and did this ever hit the spot! I wish I’d salted the original pot of soup more, because I ended up salting my bowl, but whatever! It was great!
In other news: I’ve been given TWO blogger awards! The amazing (and a role-model of mine) Roni of Roni’s Weigh and other fabulous blogs gave me the Happy 101 Award, and Melissa of Melissa Likes To Eat gave me the Beautiful Blogger Award!
Both of these awards require that I share formerly unknown facts about myself (10 and 7 respectively), and then pass them on to other bloggers (also 10 and 7 respectively). I’m not going to do 17 things… I’m just not that interesting! BUT I’m going to do 8.5 things, which means 8 interesting/formerly known things and one notsointeresting thing. Here goes:
- I watch way too much TV. Really.
- I have a MOUNTAIN of clothes in our 2nd bedroom from various stages of weight loss and gain, yet I can never find anything to wear, because honestly, nothing looks right.
- If I ever have under $5 left on a gift card for anywhere besides Starbucks, I pass it on to the person behind me. At Starbucks, if it’s under $2 I pass it on. Someone once did that for me, and I thought it was the nicest thing!
- I used to have exercise-induced asthma for which I took an inhaler. To this day, any time I get a bad cold, that tightening in my chest comes back and I am terrified that I’ll have to take an inhaler.
- Anything having to do with my eyeball freaks me out. It’s a miracle I can get my contacts in and out!
- I begged my mom for a perm from the time I was about 10 until I was about 13. Then, magically, one time I showered and didn’t dry my hair and BAM, it was curly. Now I flat iron it most of the winter.
- I have no idea what color my hair really is (speaking of hair). I started dying it when I was about 12, and I have no clue what it would be if I let it grow. I’m thinking of dying it chocolate brown though, just for fun. (thoughts?)
- At one point growing up, we had 6 cats, a dog, 14 fish, and a frog. The cats were of varying ages from about 2 years old to about 20, and they were all strange in some way. Timmy had extra toes, Roger looked like he’d swallowed a watermelon, Casey thought the couch was his mother, Pico played fetch… yeah, they were fun
- (no, 8.5, remember?) I have a canker sore under my tongue and it hurts to talk
And I honestly have no idea who has gotten any of these awards, so I’m going to take the boring way out and give them to YOU…yes YOU, all of you, my glorious and wonderful readers. So, in the comments, leave me one interesting fact about you!
You’re the reason I blog each night, and the reason I have a (in the words of my Bostonian friends) wicked awesome giveaway coming your way this weekend. Seriously, it’s a great one!!! Might even be better than the cheese party giveaway from this past fall! But you’ll have to wait and see…
There might be other big news too… maybe 
Have a wonderful night!
Technorati Tags: awards, bacon, dinner, food, fun, gadgets, simple recipe, soup
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I have the same blender….love it too…works really great!….not that this is an interesting fact….Is collecting majolica interesting?!
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Those croutons look so amazing!!!
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Enough with the fancy Cuisinart goodies! It’s slowly becoming my favorite kitchen brand as well–after we got our pots and pans set and coffee maker.
I am actually in the market for a new blender, so I would love to hear from you after you make your first smoothie in this. That would be its primary function for me. I haven’t had a smoothie in months so I hope to buy one soon, but I can’t spend the $400 on a Vitamix either! If you wouldn’t mind giving us/me your thoughts after you make a smoothie, I’d love to hear them! I trust your opinion!
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We love all the Cuisinart small appliances, too! I think everything is Cuisinart except the slow cooker and the waffle maker! It works out since it all ends up matching.
Yummm we had split pea soup last week. It made tons so I froze half of it to enjoy later. Maybe this week if this horrible icy/windy weather stays! Brrr
Love that gift card trick!
Hmm one interesting fact about me? Well, since you talked so much about hair I’ll add one about MY hair! I’ve only dyed it twice in my entire life and both times were wash outs! I’m so chicken to get “stuck” w/ a color and then have horrible roots and not be able to get back to my original color!
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frog?
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That soup looks outrageously good! Love the giant croutons!
LOL @ the eyeball !
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Those croutons look huge! I thought they were cornbread. Love the blender. I need a good one BAD.
Interesting fact… I’ve lost more weight than most women weigh (200 pounds).
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Those croutons look amazing!
One fact about me…. hmmmmm….. a friend told me that I was selfless, then pointed out my selfless actions to prove her point. It dawned on me that my selfless actions were totally selfish and that I was not nearly as great a person as she believed me to be. I thought that those selfish actions, in the end, would get ME what I wanted. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way. Selflessness is done for the good of the recipient and nothing else. Sometimes, being slammed back down into reality is the best thing for us.
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Believe it or not, the SAME EXACT THING happened with my hair! From about 11-15 years old, I got perms and then one day, it just stayed that way! I wish I’d never gotten a perm to begin with
Hope you feel better, hon!
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I have a Cuisinart blender as well and LOVE it! You are right, it crushes ice like a demon!
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Hmmmm……I cannot eat anything with peanut butter on it without a glass of milk!!
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i want the big news NOW!
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Yum..that soup looks great! But would you believe my husband hates peas! I know?!? Seriously how can you hate peas?? haha!
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homemade croutons are SO good!
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Your soup reminded me that I have a ham hock in my deep freeze – now I need to make pea soup!!
Love your fun facts!!
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Love the 8.5 facts! In regards to the clothes, what female doesn’t have a ton of clothes and yet NOTHING to wear?! Every morning I think, “GAH! I have nothing to wear!!”
In regards to the hair, could be fun! I was thinking the other day how brown might look on me (I’ve been blonde my whole life) because a lot of blondes look good as brunettes in the winter. If you do it, I want to see pics!
K´s last blog ..Take a Seat in the Klassroom
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I should check out that blender. It would match my kitchen actually!
I love reading these getting to know you facts. I also love how you pay it forward with giftcards. That’s a great idea!
Random fact about me: I absolutely hate when people aren’t nice enough to hold doors open for others. Especially when they are RIGHT by the door and the person coming up to the door has arms full of bags or books. UGH!
Amanda (Two Boos Who Eat)´s last blog ..Ramblings and such
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I love the giftcard thing! That’s awesome. And I’m not normally a huge fan of split pea soup but all of a sudden it sounds AWESOME. I’m on a big soup kick lately.
Oddly enough, I had a post random things about myself on my blog day today. One – if I could only eat one type of food for the rest of my life, it would be sandwiches. They are so versatile!
Quix´s last blog ..Ask The Audience
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I’m going to make that soup for sure!!!! I think I’m all out of interesting facts about me after leaving the 7 on my site.
Melissa (MelissaLikesToEat)´s last blog ..137.8 continued
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I bought this blender for a friend, so I’m so glad to read about it here.
Also, I thought of you today while talking to the inner city youth. I have no idea how you are a teacher, and I commend you for it. That takes a special kind of person!
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i loved our chat!
that soup and the croutons look AMAZING
xoxo
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