I know, seemingly odd way to start a Monday right? An immersion blender? When I first started the ‘tools of the trade’ section on the site I had visions of asking many different creatives about their ‘secret-have to have’ tools, because whenever I found out about one that would work in my life I knew I wanted to share. This here immersion blender was one of those awesome ‘tools of the trade’ secrets from a professional chef friend who swore by it for soup puree’s. I kept meaning to write about it but it never felt like a good fit, or I’d see something shiny and forget. Last night when I made a batch of the silkiest  hummus this side of the Mississippi I knew that enough was enough, I had to share.I actually use the immersion blender now instead of a food processor or stand-up blender for almost all our blending needs (no not smoothie’s). It is truly a chef secret, it makes the best puree’s (as noted), but you can easily make pesto’s, sauces, vinaigrette’s, dips, baby food, the list goes on and on. If you are looking for a smooth and silky consistency you can achieve it or if you want a more chunky, ‘rustico’ sauce that’s doable as well. I have since upgraded to a commercial immersion blender (I got it at a restaurant supply store at a great discount), but if you get a mid-level one you should have pretty great results. Besides being super fast in the blending department, I think it helps that you can move it around your bowl to get an even blend, it’s super fast clean-up (remove the stick blender attachment and soak), and it has such a slim profile it will slip into a drawer keeping clutter off your counter. Why isn’t every food blogger talking about this amazing contraption?  I don’t know!

And for that hummus, it was ridiculously easy, Trader’s Joe’s didn’t have tahini but they do have something called ‘tahini sauce’ which has everything you need for a good hummus base-tahini, salt, garlic and lemon juice. I just blended 2 cans of organic garbanzo beans (I didn’t even remove the skins) and added the tahini sauce to taste and about two minutes later I had a silky, creamy, delicious concoction. Hummus is such a great item to keep in the kitchen–high in protein, with fat to easily satisfy grumbling tummies, great on most veggies, a super easy grab & go food, perfect for everyone from this busy mommy to her busy baby.