the magic bullet

the magic has fizzled

2006-12-17T08:37:00.000-06:00

dear loyal readers,

the time has come. the magic bullet blog will be disappearing, permanently, after nearly a year of posts. to be honest, i don't use it much anymore. it's now off my counter and under the sink, taking up space. using it in the winter is rare, especially because it just doesn't do soup very well.

some highlights for me:

margaritas and daiquiries
grating cheese
easy omelette
easy cappuccino
white bean sammiches
fettuccine alfredo

some sad points:

blending soup
homemade salsa
chopping vegetables
cleaning it! and too-many attachments.

any feedback? please don't forget to remove your links to this blog.....and when i start up something new, i'll be sure to let you know ;-)

karmen

raspberry chocolate goodness

2006-11-08T11:58:00.000-06:00

two ice cubes
8 fresh raspberries
two long squeezes of chocolate syrup
fill cup with low-fat soy

using cross blade, pulse three times. (i know, i know, the bullet sucks at busting up ice cubes, so you may have to pulse a bit longer).

screw on the lip ring the colour of your choice and enjoy!

the grind

2006-11-04T07:43:00.000-06:00

just a quick entry:

bought some coffee beans and ground them up using the flat blade piece of the bullet.

result: not bad. i also tried to grind the beans with the regular blade and it seemed to work much better. the only annoying part was that grinding those coffee beans is so loud! the bullet is loud enough on its own, but coupled with rock hard coffee beans, the result is a little too much for the morning. you have to pulse several long times in order to get at all the beans.

mmmmmm coffee.

broccoli cheddar soup

2006-10-02T17:49:00.000-05:00

an open letter to the magic bullet:

dear magic bullet (aka:amazing bullet),

although your product is touted as being "magic" and "amazing" when it comes to making soup, i beg to differ.

recently, i wanted to make one of my favourite soup recipes to celebrate the fall season: broccoli cheddar soup.

after simmering an onion, broccoli, chicken broth, and rice, i added a little milk in order to prepare the broth for blending.

i poured the mixture into the tall cup, and proceeded to pulse pulse pulse.

everything seemed to be going well, until i tried to remove the blade. it was stuck. for nearly 30 minutes i was unable to unscrew the base from the cup. only after placing the cup in a bowl of cold water for 15 minutes was i able to separate the two pieces. this is unacceptable.

at this point, i took out my trusty blender which was always a loyal, trustworthy appliance for making soup.

unfortunately, i don't believe that i'll be using said bullet to make soup ever again. perhaps you should remove these erroneous tips for making soup from your infomercial as soon as possible.

sincerely,

karmen

p.s. i suffered wrist and forearm strain from trying to unscrew the two pieces.

put that baby on ice

2006-09-23T09:22:00.000-05:00

white bean sammiches

2006-08-21T12:19:00.000-05:00

haven't used the bullet in a while, mostly due to the fact that i've been eating out a lot this month. it's just too damn hot to be in the kitchen lately.

i'm off from work today, and decided to make a yummy, healthy lunch that included using the bullet in a new way.

according to the infomercial and recipe book, the bullet is supposed to be able to handle making hummus.

i took a can of white kidney beans, rinsed and drained, and added some olive oil and salt and pepper. placed it all in the bullet and tried to pulse away.

it got stuck several times while making this mixture into a paste. i had to mix it up with a spoon in order for the beans to get evenly mashed.

i spread this mixture onto some good multigrain bread, added red onion, avocado, broccoli sprouts, and cucumber, and made a double decker sammich. delicious!

in-a-jiffy flapjacks

2006-07-03T09:48:00.000-05:00

in-a-jiffy flapjacks

2006-07-03T09:46:00.000-05:00

mmmm pancakes.

the bullet recipe book advises: "most people skip breakfast not because they don't want it, but because they don't have time. finally, with the amazing bullet you can create a hearty, satisfying breakfast without fear of being late for work and without coming home to dirty dishes...cleanup is as simple as opening the dishwasher and popping in a few items."
I DON'T HAVE A DISHWASHER. and the bullet makes a mess.

i added all my wet ingredients to the tall cup, and then the pancake mix. i was hesitant when using the bullet, because as anyone that has made pancakes before knows, if you mix the batter too much, your pancakes aren't fluffy and they are tough. using a blender for pancakes goes against my better judgement.

after my ingredients were added, i pulsed three quick times. i poured the batter onto the grill.
final result: the pancakes were pretty good. the mess on my counter, not so good. i probably wouldn't use the bullet for pancakes again. mixing the batter in a bowl works just fine for me.
p.s. are flapjacks and pancakes the same thing?

nobody puts baby in the corner

2006-06-20T12:31:00.000-05:00

now that the bullet has made its home on my countertop, my former blending machine has been relegated to the back of the cupboard underneath the sink. i used to take out that big blender at least once a week to make soups, smoothies, etc.

*sniff sniff* i wonder if i'll ever use it again???? does it know that i've replaced it with a newer, younger, smaller item?

i'm not ready to freecycle the blender just yet. i have a feeling that it will do a nicer job on soups than the bullet will, but this remains to be seen.

for now, it will have to make friends with the giant container of vinegar and miscellaneous styrofoam containers that take up much space under the sink.

iced mocha

2006-06-13T10:04:00.000-05:00

by request: an iced coffee drink.

watch out starbucks! watch out timmy's! the bullet can make a chilly, refreshing iced coffee drink without your corporate fingers involved!

-fill the tall cup with some ice
-add chocolate syrup, milk, leftover coffee
-pulse till smooth
(the recipe book adds that you can also put whipped cream on top, but i didn't do that part)

result: not bad. maybe it's because the drink is in a plastic mug with a green lip ring that the experience of an iced coffee isn't there. maybe if i were sitting downtown in a snotty starbucks with their logo stamped all over the place it would feel....you know...more "special". perhaps this is what starbucks wants me to think.

regardless, i also posted my "sexy" pic on here with my iced coffee. i was feeling kind of "sex and the city" with the iced mocha and my counter full of dirty dishes.

chocolate mousse

2006-05-30T20:07:00.000-05:00

chocolate mousse

2006-05-30T19:59:00.000-05:00

the recipe reads: add a quarter cup heavy cream and two tablespoons of chocolate syrup. well, i don't have heavy cream, but we do have homo milk, which was close enough for us to try and make the mousse.

didn't work out so well. the milk didn't thicken up quite like it should, so we added some ice and bullet-ed it again. tasted like thick chocolate milk and it did the trick. let's face it- you add chocolate syrup to anything and it's not going to turn out badly.

easy cappuccino

2006-05-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

this may be my favourite task for the bullet yet.

1. make coffee
2. fill the short cup 2/3 full of soy milk
3. pulse for 15 seconds
4. pop on the steamer lid
5. microwave for 40 seconds until frothy
6. fill mug half way with coffee
7. slowly pour in heated milk, spooning the froth on top
8. sprinkle cinnamon

delicious! i'm doing this every morning.

a million little pieces

2006-05-19T09:31:00.000-05:00

the bullet comes with approximately 23 separate pieces...i say approximately because i kept losing count. i don't have a big kitchen with a lot of cupboard space, so when i received the magic bullet i had to buy a bin for all of its pieces and shove it under the sink. on the infomercial, the happy couple had a HUGE kitchen, so i guess storing the bullet wasn't an issue.

as you can see, the bullet also came with a juicer-thing that i haven't yet used. i'm not a big juice person, at least not concerning juice that i have to make myself. perhaps i'll try to juice something soon after i consult the bullet recipe book.

the easy omelet

2006-05-08T18:44:00.000-05:00

the easy omelet

2006-05-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

i figured that making eggs with the bullet may result in a perfect fluffy omelet- pulsing it would allow for lots of air bubbles in the mixture. martha stewart says that this is the secret to great eggs and pancakes.

the amazing bullet handbook states that "every forkful is simply bursting with flavor....you'll be eating like a king in no time at all, with virtually no cleanup."

i grated up some cheese to start in the tall cup. then i added two eggs, some paprika, salt and pepper. next i poured it into my heated, margarine-ed pan and cooked it until golden brown. they really were good! and very fluffy.

clean-up was the same as if i had used a simple bowl and fork to beat the eggs. in place of that, i filled the dirty cup with warm water and some dish soap and pulsed. this cleans up the blades very well, and much more safely than by hand.

final result: i would use the bullet again for omelets. however, if any vegetables were to be added, i'd chop those by hand.

easy frozen daiquiri

2006-05-06T15:00:00.000-05:00

easy frozen daiquiri

2006-05-06T14:56:00.000-05:00

as quoted from the amazing bullet 10 second recipe handbook:

"Bring a little of Vegas' Flamingo Hotel into your own back yard- nothing says "kick up your heels, Vegas-style" more than a strawberry daiquiri."

we added daiquiri mix (strawberry), ciclon (a fantastic mix of light rum and tequila), some fresh lime juice, and ice. it didn't feel much like vegas, but the drinks were delicious. bullet, you are truly amazing! wayne was thinking "outside of the box" and suggested adding some orange sherbert. it turned out great!

he's full of ideas, that wayne.

(as an aside, the bullet does tend to make a sticky mess after making three or four drinks- the blade piece becomes full of liquid and when you flip it over it drips out. didn't see that on the infomercial.)

the bullet travelled to argyle street in windsor for this trip away from home.

easy frozen margaritas

2006-05-01T08:05:00.000-05:00

i packed up the bullet for a road trip to burlington to see some good friends. the plan was to make some adult drinks and to see how the bullet handled chopping up ice.

easy frozen margaritas are fun to make, especially with an eager assistant like lisa.

you can make each in their own party mug and then just screw on the colourful lip rings. this way, when things become distorted from the margaritas, at least you can see which glass is yours.

we added margarita mix for a count of three, added tequila for a long count of three (or was it four?) and then filled the glass 3/4 full with ice. blend until smooth.

the bullet pulverized the ice. no problem there.

i think it was safe to say that lisa was "amazed" at the bullet.

the margaritas were delicious!

fruit smoothies

2006-04-25T18:49:00.000-05:00

add some fresh/frozen fruit....three tablespoons of vanilla yogurt, and fill with soy. pulse for 30 seconds. amazing! see how you can drink it right out of the cup?

fettuccine alfredo

2006-04-04T14:52:00.000-05:00

this was a breeze to make with the bullet.
if you can get over how much fat that you are throwing into the cup to make the sauce, it's very simple.

all you need is some cream, butter, garlic, parmesan cheese and parsley. put it all in the tall cup (for two servings of sauce) and blend until smooth.

then put the steamer/shaker lid on and place it in the microwave for two minutes.

pulse three times more....and pour over hot fettuccine noodles.

voila! more fat than your body will need for a week! all in one sitting.

garlic

2006-03-26T21:12:00.000-06:00

the bullet did a magic job chopping up garlic- in just three pulses!

here you can see it in the pan.

thumbs up to the magic bullet when it comes to chopping garlic fast.

the salsa attempt

2006-03-17T15:11:00.000-06:00

upon receiving the bullet, i had virtually no experience with it being amazing or magic. however, i did know that the bullet made some damn good "adult" blender drinks that i experienced one night last summer, and on new year's eve a few months ago. both times, i can say that the drinks tasted amazing and things began to seem quite magical as the night progressed.

the informercial was in high rotation around xmas time, go figure. the happy, bubbly couple that were behind the immense counter in a huge kitchen made numerous dishes and drinks that looked too good to be true! and their eclectic group of friends that sat on the other side of the counter watching in awe seemed equally impressed with the bullet.

at one point in the infomercial, the two people made homemade salsa and jalapeno cheese for nachos. wow! healthy, homemade salsa that was easy to make without getting a knife dirty! i was sold. the jalapeno cheese dip was also a key point in the demonstration, because you could pulse, and then pop the cup in the microwave for melting! brilliant! my partner and i thought we'd try these two dishes first. it looked easy.

as you can see from the above picture, you still need to use a knife for the salsa ingredients- my little onions needed to be peeled.

the salsa attempt

2006-03-17T15:09:00.000-06:00

i tossed in the little onions once they were peeled, added 9-10 tomatoes, garlic, and some jalapeno pepper, and then twisted on the base.

the salsa attempt

2006-03-17T15:08:00.000-06:00

and pulse...one - two - three!
(as an aside...the bullet is much louder than on tv)

the salsa attempt

2006-03-17T15:04:00.000-06:00

well, as you can see, i was a little skeptical about the salsa. i was careful not to pulse too much, lest the veggies turned into mush. the bullet guide book recommended 7 quick pulses to make salsa.

the salsa attempt

2006-03-17T15:03:00.000-06:00

the final result: it didn't look like salsa. and it vaguely tasted like salsa.
as well, you can see that my counter was still a bit of a mess afterward.

the cheese dip

2006-03-17T15:00:00.000-06:00

our hopes were high for the jalapeno cheese dip. maybe this would make that salsa palatable!
we cut up some cubes of cheddar, threw in some jalapeno pepper, and pulsed away until the cheese was all grated up. the bullet did its magic. we then put the "steamer/shaker" lid on the cup and placed this in the microwave for just over a minute.

well, it melted the cheese, but not as nicely as ordinary cheese whiz would have. next time, i may use the bullet to grate the cheese in a jiffy, but won't be using the cup to "pour" it on the nachos. what a mess.

slicing the green onion was a bit of a letdown too- as you can see. not quite chopped, but shredded.

so, the nacho attempt didn't go so well, but i'm looking forward to trying other things with the bullet now that i have some experience.

performance:
salsa: no
jalapeno cheese dip: no
grating cheese: yes!
chopping green onion: no