It Was a Day of Cooking - I Still LOVE My Blender - LOL

I'm getting a slow start to my day today, although I got in my meditation, worked up the energy to do my 2-1/4 miles on the treadmill, took my shower, made my cups of tea and had a fruit smoothie. So now I'm settling down for a few minutes to write my blog, then I'll eat a quick breakfast and head out to the shop. If all goes well, I can get started on the envelopes for my holiday cards early today since I received the supplies I was waiting for in an Amazon package on Thursday afternoon. 

I really love my 13-bean Chili recipe. It's hearty and warm 
and perfect for our colder (and cooler) temperatures. I 
enjoy a hearty soup that can be a complete meal. 

Yesterday I worked my blender to the max and it performed like a dream. I started by working on my chili - it takes an hour of soaking/simmering the beans before everything else can be added to them, so I got those soaking, then started the meat portion in another pan. After those were done and had a chance to breathe, I brought the blender out and settled down to make another batch of the Roasted Red Peppers and Tomato Soup recipe I had made earlier in the week. 

This time I flattened out the peppers so that 
more of the skin was exposed to the broiler. It worked 
out really well, and the skin peeled off pretty easily. 
The soup, which has quickly turned into one of my 
favorites, tastes amazing! 

I decided to change it slightly - flattening the red peppers as much as I could. They took more room on the baking sheet that way, but I devoted one sheet to the peppers and used a different, smaller one for the tomatoes and onion. I increased the number of tomatoes because I had four that had to be used before they went bad. After broiling the peppers, I put the tomatoes and onion pan into the broiler and worked on the chili until they were also ready. By that time I had the chili in a single pan simmering for an hour, and the red peppers had cooled enough that I wasn't going to crisp my fingers peeling them. 

I've ended up using the last two setting on the right 
far more than I'd ever thought I would. I use Puree 
quite often, and the Soup setting is getting quite a 
lot of use lately as I've been exploring blender soup 
recipes. I also use Manual a lot for my normal 
everyday use. I do LOVE my Wolf blender.  

The tomatoes cooled while I worked on the peppers, tossing them into the base I had already prepared in the blender. After the peppers, I added the peeled tomatoes (which peeled like a dream) and the onion and put the blender onto "soup" setting. That's an automatic 6+ minute cycle so I had a chance to clean up and put that set of cookware away before starting the next item. The soup finished, I put it into containers and washed and dried the blender. 

Alkagizer recipes include a BUNCH of green things (but 
I've never had it come out of the blender looking as 
green as the bowl in the center here. I suspect that's 
some photoshopping and maybe some green dye as well. 

The second task was a batch of my alkagizers for my upcoming week. Back to the blender with a bunch of assorted veggies, odds and ends, different spices and flavors, shredded garlic, chopped green onions and, for a change, some cinnamon and a large dollop of raw honey. I haven't added any sweet to my alkagizers in the past, but it seemed like it would be a nice change. After a puree, it filled the four storage containers I have reserved for this mix, and they were in the fridge. 

I bought a fresh pineapple before my last 
Orthodontic appointment, not realizing that 
spacers would be put between my back 
teeth and that I would have my eating patterns 
altered for two weeks. I wasn't going to waste 
a good pineapple, so I whipped it into a smoothie, 
along with two apples that were nearing 
their "eat by" date. 

Looking at my kitchen, I realized I had a pineapple that needed to be cut up and used, I also had two apples that were on their last legs. So, I cut all of those up, put them in the cleaned blender, and made a batch of fruit smoothies. I just had one of these for a quick liquid breakfast and it's excellent. It does separate a bit in the refrigerator, so I did a quick whip with my immersion blender's whip attachment and it was perfect!. 

I haven't used my immersion blender very much, but 
it's a handy tool to have in my kitchen. I've mostly 
been using the whisk attachment. It moves at a 
much greater velocity than I can produce by 
hand-whipping. 

By the time DH came home, the kitchen was pristine, the soups and chili were in containers in the refrigerator, everything was back in its appropriate location, and I had a feeling of accomplishment which lasted for about five minutes - but at least I had a good day, so I was pleased. I hope your Friday was a good one, and that your Saturday is also great. I'll be back on Monday, so be good, stay safe and spread kindness. Slava Ukraini.