Smooth Move!

Last month, my mom bought me an Oster Personal Blender for my birthday.  This is the coolest kitchen product ever.  This statement holds a lot of merit because I am somewhat of a kitchen-gadget-connoisseur.  I have more kitchen tools than Williams-Sonoma. So the other day my son requests an ICEE.  The snack area in Target was closed so I couldn't purchase him one.  We compromised and instead I bought some raspberry flavored shaved ice juice and promised him a blue snowcone once we arrived home.  Unfortunately, once we were home I realized I had misplaced our snowcone machine.  I went through every cabinet in the kitchen while listening to the whimpers and whines of an impatient 3-year-old.  Suddenly, I had an idea.  Why not try out the blender.  I know it's made for smoothies, but who cares...Anyways, I added ice about 3/4ths of the way to the top and added about 1/3rd of the bottle of juice and blended away! To my surprise, it was PERFECT! It was the exact taste and texture of a blue ICEE. As much as I LOVE ICEE's I felt guilty, like I had cheated them out of their product.  But it was so perfect, I made a second one and we both enjoyed them out on the patio.

So yesterday I hopped back on my diet because I'm getting ready for a big event (it's a secret, you'll have to wait to find out).  So I thought, why not have a smoothie for a mid-afternoon snack.  So I busted out my personal blender and added the ingredients and in minutes, my smoothie was ready and the blender was cleaned and back in the cabinet.  One of my favorite things about this blender is that unlike a traditional blender the cleanup of this thing is super easy! I also love the price! Around $25-$30, after about 10 smoothies, it's paid for itself.

It comes in 4 colors: green, pink, blue, and orange...of course mine is pink :)

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

Add 5 Strawberries (cleaned and sliced)

Add 1 banana (peeled and sliced)

Fill Ice to the top

Add skim milk to approximately the top of the strawberries 

(Optional: Add tablespoon of sugar)

Add the bladed lid and flip over and place on the base.  Twist the bottle and let the magic begin :) Blend well for about a minute, you may have to move the blender around a bit to get all the ice blended.  

Flip the lid over and pour into a glass and add a strawberry for cuteness.  Or just replace the bladed lid with the drinking lid and enjoy on the go.

Update: I've read recent reviews and discovered many complaints that the lid is terrible to drink from.  I've never used the lid, I always pour it into a glass, so I have no idea how accurate these statements are.  Just be warned, if you intend on taking it with you, make sure to bring some paper towels.