[mommychem]

Originally Posted by passthemanna

a cheap blender or processor should work. if you're blending dried fruit it helps to soak it if you can.

Thanks! I'll need to try with my blender. It's a little weird though (got it from same friend who gave us the mixer). It is a West Bend that is supposed to come with two bases - one for making smoothies, and the other for blending. Well, friend only had the smoothie base so I've been leary about using it for anything other than that. I once ruined the gasket on a blender trying to make hummus.

Originally Posted by Katigre

I our food processor and use it all the time - even moreso now that we're doing more paleo. I use it to make smoothies (we don't have a blender) and have done so for years. I use it to blend dates to make desserts, I use it to grate vegetables (love the attachment for that - I could easily make spaghetti 'noodles' out of various veggies if I wanted), etc...

Definitely my favorite kitchen gadget . Look for them used at garage sales by KitchenAid or Cuisenart with a 9-12 cup capacity.

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So yesterday's experiment with overly stuffing myself with excessive paleo food is not something I'll repeat . My stomach was so sore by the end of the day from being over filled. I will try to do the more moderate route of adding 1-2 additional high fat items each day and see what my weight looks like in 3 weeks. I also am trying to do the self-talk with my body that it needs to gain weight and should hold onto fat/calories and not burn them off - I have found that self-talk with other things (labor, anxiety) makes a difference so why not metabolism. At the least it won't hurt anything .

Garage sales - great idea! The mixer was one of their wedding gifts; it's 20 years old. Runs beautifully. Or pawn shop . The friend who has given us these small appliances owns one .