Bean there, done that!

Let me introduce a friend of mine, the Bamix:

We've known each other a while now. It started a year or so ago, when I went through a phase of making cakes which replaced flour and butter with ground nuts. My mum kindly lent me her own Bamix but, after I'd stolen borrowed it a few times, she got so sick of it was so keen to spread the joy, she bought me one for Christmas.

Since then, I've used it A LOT. The sharp blade fits on a spike in the mill, then you slot in the handset and away you go; it grinds those nuts, ahem, like no one's business! Then, I started using it to blend more and more different things and all was rosy.

But all relationships have their downsides and my only slight issue was the small capacity of the mill. Whenever I wanted to blend larger quantities, I had to burrow deep into the cupboard and haul out my old "food processor", handed down from my mum, HUGE and very heavy : (

Then, the other day, I realised I'd been having a very long-standing blonde moment. I was at my mum's and she was using hers - but without the mill! It turns out *confession time* it's actually intended as a hand blender. The mill/blade is only for grinding and had I looked in the box and read the manual, I would have realised there are loads of different attachments, perfect for blending, pureeeing, you name it! So when my mum stopped laughing at me, I got back home, found the attachments and have since been mixin' with the best of them.

It was perfect timing too. A thought had floated into my head a while ago that blended beans would make a great porridge. As I've got a head like a sieve and couldn't be bothered with the prehistoric blender, the thought floated straight back out again but Katie's recent recipe reminded me of it. She's also currently running a giveaway of Larabars, for anyone who's interested : )

So... Into the blender went:

60g cannelini beans
Splash of vanilla extract
Splash of milk.
Half a mashed, microwaved banana
Tiny pinch salt

I blended away and then stuck my finger in. And it was really nice! Creamy, smooth and banana-y but the beans give it a great texture and kind of depth (if that doesn't sound too poncy!)

I mixed in 1tsp almond butter and a drizzle of maple syrup and it made the perfect breakfast! would have made the perfect breakfast if I had been less greedy : )

Thanks Katie!