Favorite Equipment: I Love my Immersion Blender

Not my model, but similar. Courtesy of Braun.com

One of my favorite kitchen tools is immersion blender, sometimes also called a hand blender. We have a standard blender somewhere, but we rarely use it since this can do pretty much everything a regular blender can, plus it's not as big and clunky. 

I have an older model Braun Multiquick 3 that they don't make anymore. It has three removable heads/functions - a blender attachment, a chopper cup attachment, and a whisk attachment.

The blender is the piece I use the most, you can use it to make pesto, smoothies, whiz up soups, etc. I would say that I use it most to blend hot soups while they're still on the stove in the pot.  When I make creamy tomato-basil soup, I stick it right in the pot and blend it up, with only the blender stick to clean.  If you did that in a standard blender, you would need to clean the blender up, plus when you blend hot food in a blender, you can only do a small amount at a time and vent the lid to make sure the food doesn't come popping out. 

The whisk is nice for whipping cream or mixing up a cream cheese frosting.  It's not as strong as a standard mixer, but for small amounts it's perfect. 

The chopper cup is nice for things where you only want to chop things like nuts or mix up ingredients for a salad dressing. I use this least, mainly because I buy most things pre-chopped, but I have used it as a mini food processor to mince things like veggies and ginger.