Review of the Cuisinart Blend and Cook Soupmaker and Spiced Carrot Soup

“Good soup is one of the prime ingredients of good living.  For soup can do more to lift the spirits and stimulate the appetite than any other one dish.” – Louis P. De Gouy, ‘The Soup Book’ (1949)

Soups make a pretty regular appearance at our home.  We adore a bowl of steaming hot soup on a chilly day.  There is nothing quite as comforting as a pot of homemade soup simmering away on the stove.  This is especially true when temperatures drop more than 40 degrees in one evening and you wake up to a cold, dark and rainy day.

That is what happened this week in Atlanta.  It was quite the shock after mid 80’s one afternoon and temps in the 40’s the next morning.  So, what is a girl to do in this kind of weather?  Why, make a pot of soup, of course!  However, this time, I prepared and cooked my soup in a blender.  Say what?!

This amazing Spiced Carrot Soup was made entirely in the blender!

I have a confession to make.  I am very a little obsessed with kitchen gadgets.  Yes, anything that has to do with cooking and the kitchen gets me as excited as a purchasing a new pair of Manolo Blaniks shoes…well, maybe not that excited…but almost.  Normally, my kitchen gadget purchases are more traditional items like Le Creuset pots, whisks and sauté pans.

However, when I received an email about a sale at Williams-Sonoma on this nifty Blend and Cook Soupmaker by Cuisinart, I was all about that and decided we should pack up the car and head out to the mall and take a look at this gadget.  After all, we were in the market for a new blender and just hadn’t taken the time to look for one.

I was a bit skeptical about the whole soup making process in a blender thing, but was definitely intrigued after watching the video on the Williams-Sonoma website.  I really enjoy the long and sometimes arduous process of soup making on the stove.  I love the aroma while it cooks and the depth of flavor that is created by deglazing the pot and the long simmering process.  I am pretty old fashioned traditional when it comes to these things.

You heat and stir the vegetables right in the glass “pot”

On the other hand, if I could make soup quicker and with less mess, I knew that I would be more inclined to make it more often and have soup for lunch on chilly days.  Besides, this gadget was a combined soup maker and regular blender, so it was not just about making soup.  It was a replacement for our current blender that no longer worked properly. 🙂

This blender in its soup making mode, heats the oil or butter, cooks the ingredients, stirs them and if it is a creamy soup, purees the ingredients to create a very smooth and fresh hot soup.

Bubbling away over a really hot heating element

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