Product Review- Blendtec

Kayleigh here. Now, since the breadmaker deserved its own post, I feel like it's time to spotlight another weapon in our anti-gluten arsenal- the Blendtec. Yes, a blender. But hear us out- it's a big up-front cost, but it'll save you LOADS in the long run.

Jason has been dreaming of buying a Blendtec for years now, since the creation of those ridiculous “Will it Blend” videos. If it can pulverize cubic zirconia, then it must be able to make a decent frozen drink! So, with dreams of Strawberry Daquiris and homemade milkshakes tantalizing our mental tastebuds, we took the plunge as our first major apartment purchase.

When it first arrived, I was surprised to find a rather large cookbook amidst the packing paper and blender parts. Even more surprised when the majority of the book was NOT drinks. No sir, this fancy machine can blend, grind, mill, pulverize, and even clean itself! From mixing pancake batter, to processing peanuts into butter, to grinding coffee beans, you can do almost any task that requires a bit of horsepower. And believe me, this last month has seen MANY batches of homemade nut butters, and the blades are not any worse for wear.

Now, why does this belong on Gluten Free Singularity? Well, because gluten free flours are expensive! And what are they, really? Finely ground versions of a lot of common household staples. So far, we have used the Blendtec to make several different rice flours, buckwheat flour, and even coconut flour, all with a single press of a button! Sure, some flours and starches (like corn) are still cheaper and easier to just buy pre-ground, but being able to do this with the harder to find varieties has been a HUGE boon to us.

Jason here. Like Kayleigh mentioned, I have wanted a Blendtec for a long long time. I have never liked beer, and most other alcohol, but I have always loved frozen daiquiris. For at least the first 2 weeks we had the blender I would say we made strawberry daiquiris every other night. I have used a few blenders in the past and seen some struggle with ice, and some even completely fail to blend ice at all. Not the blendtec- this thing makes perfect frozen drinks everytime, exactly to my taste.

But there is one more reason I have always wanted a Blendtec, and this is because of a homemade recipe my Dad and I came up a long time ago when I was still in elementary school. We knew a popular frozen drink was taking Kool-aid packets and dumping those in with some ice, and a little bit of water, to make frozen Kool-aid drinks. We began thinking, why not use other powders, and finally settled on using iced tea mix powder. Wow did we settle on something delicious. It is very sweet, sugary. The basic recipe is to add about 4oz of ice tea mix, 2 oz of water (or Mountain Dew), and about 10 ice cubes. You can add more or less of the various ingredients to suit your tastes. I have found this to be a cheap summer frozen drink, since ice tea mix is fairly inexpensive.

Now, the model we purchased is the Wildside 120V from Amazon here. Different suppliers will have different models, so be careful to do your research before making a decision. Warantees can also vary, since only official Blentec vendors can actually be held responsible for it. If you want the blender mainly for milling your own flours, or plan on using it commercially, then they do actually offer a kitchen mill for purchase at a lower price than the blender. But for our needs, the two-in-one has been working just wonderfully.