The Ultimate Blender Cookbook Reveals More Than 100 Recipes

Rebecca Miller Ffrench first became enamored with using a blender in her childhood. “I remember that my neighbor would make salsa in her blender. She’d crack open a can of tomatoes, pour it in with some other ingredients, and then she’d serve it with Tostitos. I thought it was so cool.” In middle school, when she had to write a “how-to” paper and do a demonstration for her English class, “I took my blender into school and made milkshakes for the class.”

Ffrench, a journalist who lives with her husband and two children in Phoenicia, says that the type of blender and the way she uses it have certainly changed over the years — from milkshakes to crushing ice for cocktails in college to crafting homemade baby food. And she, too, was happy to jump on the bandwagon and put her favorite appliance to use when smoothies became all the rage a few years back. “But there is so much more you can do with it,” says Ffrench, who shares more than 100 recipes for everything from drinks to soups to salads to burgers in The Ultimate Blender Cookbook (The Countryman Press, $24.95). “Why not really harness everything your blender can do?” she asks. 

Ffrench’s cookbook includes recipes for nine varieties of nut butter and fruit spreads

While some of the recipes are dishes that Ffrench has been making in the blender for many years (take her salmon burger, for example), “a lot of them developed as I was working on the book,” she notes. “Chopping kale using the water method — that was something that was new to me,” she explains. ”You fill the blender a third or half the way with water; it chops it and then you just drain it. You need a sturdy vegetable, like cabbage, kale, or carrots, because parsley or spinach would just disintegrate.”

Ffrench says that while people are often initially surprised by the extent to which she uses her blender, it simply makes good sense. First of all, it’s an easy way to add greens, nuts, and other superfoods to your daily diet. And then there’s the ease factor. “In seconds you can have a marinade or a soup. If you are a busy mom, you don’t need to spend your time mincing garlic,” she says. “You use only one bowl, so cleanup is easy. All in all it’s a big timesaver.”  

Ffrench’s current passion is a Vitamix Professional Series 750, which she refers to as the Bentley of blenders. She acknowledges the hefty price tag — $639 — but believes it should be looked at as an important investment in your health, future, and happiness. While smoothies and salad dressings will work with conventional blenders, some of the dishes do require a power blender. “People are so surprised at what you can do,” she says. “It’s making them think outside the box.”   

Ready to take your own blender out for a spin? Try these two recipes: