New toys are always fun

This week I got two new toys from Amazon that are helping the weight-loss fight.

Cuisinart CSB-76 SmartStick 

200-Watt Immersion Hand Blender

First I received my Cuisinart immersion blender, shown at the right. I bought this model on the recommendation of Bariatric Foodie. I’ve always wanted one, but they were too expensive. This one was less than $30 on Amazon. I can make my morning shakes much more easily. Previously I used a Blender Bottle, but that took LOTS of shaking since I put so many extras in my shakes. I’ve also used the blender stick to chop up the rosemary apricot chicken salad from Trader Joe’s. I simply sank the stick into the bowl. It left a few pieces bigger than I’d like, but I much prefer washing one piece of equipment than dissembling a food processor. I look forward to pureeing my soups. The only thing it doesn’t do well is chop ice. The instructions tell you to blend only crushed ice.

PB2 powdered peanut butter,
and with chocolate, right.

My next purchase was also at Bariatric Foodie’s suggestion, PB2. I tried to buy this a few weeks ago but the supplier wasn’t able to come through and the order was canceled. This time I ordered the peanut butter and chocolate peanut butter flavors. This is powdered peanut butter with 85% of the fat removed, so there are only 1.5g of fat (1g in the chocolate flavor) in a 2 tablespoon serving—compare that to the 16g found in most brands. So far I’ve used the chocolate in my morning protein shake and it gives it a nice nutty flavor. You also can reconstitute it with water to make peanut butter. Discovering fresh-made peanut butter at one of the stores where I shop was the beginning of the end of my previous weight-loss efforts post band. But this peanut butter looks like it’ll be a helper.

See you next week.