Hamilton Beach

Hamilton Beach Blender Giveaway

I’ve been a bad blogger; can you ever forgive me?!?

To soften the blow I’m bringing you a fantastic chance to win a spankin’ new Hamilton Beach Wave-Action blender!

What I love about this blender is it’s size. It’s compact, meaning it fits perfectly on your counter without being in the way. The blade is powerful, dicing it’s way through foods to make perfectly smooth smoothies and soups.. The design of the blade helps get all those bits and pieces, as does the provided stir spoon that helps with extra thick mixtures. The blender is loud, but this is to be expected from something blitzing food!

The design of the unit has a great pour spout, and the glass jar is dishwasher safe. I recommend washing the rest of the pieces immediately after use to help prolong the life of your blender.

I own a Vitamix blender which is wonderful, but a kitchen investment piece. For occasional blender users or those looking to come it at a lower price point, the Wave Action Blender is a well priced alternative.

I tried out my blender by making the most delicious summer soup. If you’ve never tried cold soups before you need this recipe in your life! It’s light and highlights the amazing tastes of summer produce. This is an adaptation from Jamie Oliver’s Red Pepper Summer Soup.

Red Pepper Summer Soup

serves 4-6

2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped (alternatively use jarred crushed garlic)

4 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped

1 fresh red chile, seeded and chopped (if you cannot find a fresh chile in stores you can use ground red pepper)

olive oil

1 quart chick broth

1 small bunch of basil leaves

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

salt and pepper

1 stalk celery

1/2 cucumber

cayenne pepper

Place the chopped onion, garlic, red peppers and chile in a large soup pan with olive oil and sauté for about 20 minutes; medium heat and covered. Stir every few minutes until all the ingredients have softened. Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Pour the mixture into your blender and add the red wine vinegar and basil leaves. Blend the soup (you may need to do this in batches) to your desired texture. Taste the mix and correct the seasonings to your preference with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl you can cover or container and refrigerate to chill.

Prepare your garnish when you are ready to serve by dicing the cucumber and celery. Pour the soup into bowls and top each with a mixture of veggies, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

Enjoy!

Enter below for a chance to win your own new Hamilton Beach Wave Action Blender!

The details:

-This giveaway will run from Wednesday, August 19th (12 AM) to Friday, August 21st (11:59 PM).

-To clarify, you are entering to win a brand new Hamilton Beach Wave Action Blender. I will coordinate with the winner and Hamilton Beach to have the blender shipped directly to you from their distribution center.

-Using the Rafflecopter box below, log in and leave me a comment below. Tell me what you love to make with a blender!

-You can also follow me on Twitter (@loganmer) and tweet out about your entry for extra points to win!

-Make sure you have clicked the link for this particular post so that the comment box shows up.

-Rafflecopter will randomly select the winner, who I will reach out to next week.

Good luck!

Update: this giveaway has ended and a winner has been announced. Thank you all for participating and reading Sage & Serendipity!

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Note: I received a complementary Wave Action Blender from Hamilton Beach to review. All opinions are my own.

Dreamy Iced Coffee and a Hamilton Beach Coffee Maker Giveaway

I’m very excited to talk coffee here on Sage & Serendipity with a product review of the Hamilton Beach FlexBrew 2-Way Coffee Maker, carried exclusively at Wal-Mart stores. As a brand ambassador I received this product to review, as well as run a giveaway for my readers which is at the end of this post!

This coffee maker is unique because it allows you to make both standard drip coffee as well as a k-cup; it truly is a flex-brewing system! As someone who usually brews for one, it’s nice to have the flexibility to make a pot for leftovers or when guests are over. What I love is that the unit is lightweight and its footprint is small considering that it brews both pots of coffee and single cups. As with all of Hamilton Beach’s products, the dials and buttons are clearly marked and easy to navigate.

The design of the water compartment on the top is wide enough so it does not cause drips onto the counter when pouring water in; this is a problem I have encountered with other coffee pot makers. The unit uses basket filters and the water gauge on the side helps determine how many cups you want to make. I was happy with the pots of coffee I brewed with this coffee maker.

The compartment for the k-cups is a bit tough to remove and insert at first, but this improved after a few uses. You also have to make sure to press down before brewing, otherwise the k-cup will not puncture and you’ll just run through a hot cup of water! To be completely honest, I struggled a bit the first time to load my k-cup despite the quick use diagram included with the brewer.

My k-cup mug of joe was dispensed a bit inconsistently, and the distance between the dispenser and the cup led to a few splashes outside the cup. This could have been rectified by flipping the metal piece to shorten the distance; chalk that one up to user error! The coffee itself tasted fab.

The other thing to mention is that the k-cup side can also make ground coffee using the handy included reusable single filter!

I recently visited Seattle (recap posts to come!) and picked up a few bags of coffee from my favorite coffee houses. I decided to test out the coffee maker with my favorite iced coffee mix!

Dreamy Iced Coffee

Prepare coffee by flash brewing; brew a concentrated cup of coffee with 10 ounces of water and 1 ounce of coffee grounds. Prior to combining over ice stir in 2 tablespoons of agave nectar; this will meld better with the hot coffee versus chilled. Filter the mix over 7 ounces of ice to yield two cups of coffee.

Fill a glass 1/3 of the way with ice and pour over approximately 2 ounces of coconut milk (Trader Joe’s light version is the bomb). Top with the sweetened coffee and stir to mix.

Flash brewing avoids the flavor breakdown that occurs when sticking a hot mug of coffee in the fridge to cool. Plus this is a quick way to get an iced glass of java!

Now for the best part; enter to win your own brand new Hamilton Beach FlexBrew! Simply follow the prompts in the Rafflecopter widget below and you’ll be entered to win!

The details:

-This giveaway will run from Wednesday, May 6th (12 AM) to Saturday, May 9th (11:59 PM).

-To clarify, you are entering to win a brand new Hamilton Beach Flex Brew 2-Way Coffee Maker. I will coordinate with the winner and Hamilton Beach to have the coffee maker shipped directly to you from their distribution center.

-Using the Rafflecopter box below, log in and leave me a comment below. Tell me your favorite way to get caffeinated in the mornings!

-You can also follow me on Twitter (@loganmer) for extra points to win!

-Make sure you have clicked the link for this particular post so that the comment box shows up.

-Rafflecopter will randomly select the winner, who I will reach out to next week.

Good luck!

Update: this giveaway is now closed and a winner has been randomly selected. Thank you to all who entered and for checking out Sage & Serendipity!

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Hamilton Beach Food Processor Giveaway

I have a special giveaway post to help ease the sadness of Christmas being over. I’m teaming up with Hamilton Beach as a part of their Brand Ambassador program to check out the Stack & Snap Food Processor!

Immediately what struck me was that this food processor is SO easy to maneuver! All of the pieces fit together without the normal struggles of putting together a food processor. The bowl is 10 cups allowing versatility in what you whip up and how much.

This food processor has tons of options for prepping food, all clearly marked on the front. It comes with two blades: an “S” blade for chopping and mixing and a reversible blade for slicing/shredding. And the lid snaps firmly in place which prevents food from leaking out during use.

I tested out the food processor by making mashed cauliflower, one of my favorite ways to sneak more vegetables into a meal! Simply steam the cauliflower until soft and puree with some olive oil, salt and pepper.

I served up my mashed cauliflower with strip steak and an olive/onion mix.

Now it’s giveaway time! Simply comment below with a 2015 food resolution you have and you’ll be entered to win your own Hamilton Beach Stack and Snap Food Processor!

The details:

-This giveaway will run from Wednesday, December 31st (12 AM) to Friday, January 2nd (11:59 PM).

-To clarify, you are entering to win a brand new Hamilton Beach Stack and Snap Food Processor. I will coordinate with the winner and Hamilton Beach to have the mixer shipped directly to you from their distribution center.

-Using the Rafflecopter box below, log in and leave me a comment below. Tell me what one of your food resolutions is for 2015! Mine is to try two new recipes a week.

-You can also follow me on Twitter (@loganmer) for extra points to win!

-Make sure you have clicked the link for this particular post so that the comment box shows up!

-Rafflecopter will randomly select the winner, who I will reach out to over the weekend.

Good luck!

Update: This giveaway has ended and a winner has been selected at random by Rafflecopter. Thank you to all who entered and I appreciate you checking out Sage & Serendipity!

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World’s Best Cookies-Chocolate Chip with Sea Salt {Giveaway}

I told you it was going to be a foodie week : )

I’m so excited to share the news: I’ve recently partnered up with Hamilton Beach to become a Brand Ambassador! I’m extremely thankful to Hamilton Beach for reaching out to me and I’m looking forward to being able to bring you detailed and honest product reviews. But the best part? I’ll be offering a giveaway with the chance to win the same products I am reviewing!

We’re going to kick things off with two of Hamilton Beach’s most iconic products: the SoftScrape 6 Speed Hand Mixer, reviewed below and the 6 Speed Stand Mixer that I will cover tomorrow. Each post will contain a separate entry form for the featured appliance; see the bottom of this post.

I consider a hand mixer a staple product in the kitchen: they eliminate lumps much better than hand mixing and can be used for a multitude of recipes. The cool thing about the SoftScrape mixer is that it comes with a snap-on storage case. All of the attachments can be placed inside the case with the unit set on top. Then the whole thing can easily be stored in your cabinet.

It’s a minor thing, but I love that the marketing sticker on the storage case is comparable to a window cling, and peels right off! Nothing is worse than buying a new product with a sticker on it and having to obsessively scrape the sticker off.

The mixer comes with two sets of beaters, plus a whisk attachment. The red coated beaters are the SoftScrape ones; they claim to thoroughly incorporate the ingredients as you mix. The design also will prevent scratching bowls/nonstick pans and they are dishwasher safe. The other set of beaters are traditional metal ones. And the whisk is also considered to be the SoftScrape technology.

Now let me tell you: anytime I make a recipe involving a hand mixer, I have the hand mixer in one hand and a spatula in the other to constantly scrape the sides of the bowl. I didn’t realize until well into the baking process that I was barely having to reach for a spatula! And even then, it was mostly to scrape all of the dough together to prep for placing on the cookie sheets. The SoftScrape design definitely is not a gimmick!

As for the other set of beaters: I’m not sure why you would need the two different sets. Maybe if you were making multiple items at once that needed to be mixed you could easily transition without needing to wash the beaters first? Honestly with the SoftScrape technology, I will always choose to use that set versus the regular metal ones. I have not used the whisk attachment but I like having it as an option.

Now this is a 6 speed mixer, however I didn’t go past the first speed! This is definitely a powerful mixer. It is not a negative; just something that you should keep in mind when reading a recipe. For example, my cookie recipe originally stated to mix the sugar and butter for 3 minutes. With the SoftScape mixer, I really only needed to mix this for half of that time. Any in-tune cook can easily assess when something has been properly mixed, and with this mixer you’ll be able to get it done quicker!

It’s also important to note that the mixer is quiet. Unlike some appliances that are obnoxiously loud, this mixer simply has a gentle hum as it works.

Overall I would highly recommend this mixer. Prior to trying this product, Hamilton Beach was not the first brand that comes to mind when I think about mixers. But in using this to make my cookies I was truly impressed by the SoftScrape technology. I also think that the storage case is genius, especially for someone obsessed with keeping their cabinets neat!

While this post is all about the mixer, I must draw attention to the recipe I used to test it out. I pulled it from a magazine article on the best cookies, made a few lazy girl adaptations (aka removing the step to transfer the cookie sheet from a high rack to a low one midway through baking) and brought a batch to work where I knew my coworkers would be honest. Considering they seriously raved all afternoon and asked for the recipe, I would consider the title “world’s best” justified : )

World’s Best Cookies: Chocolate Chip with Sea Salt-makes about 45 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

12 ounce bag of chocolate chips

1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Sea salt flakes (I prefer Maldon)

Heat your oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, salt and baking soda.

With a mixer, beat together butter and sugars for a few minutes until well blended. Beat in vanilla. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds or so after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated. By hand, stir in chocolate and nuts.

Spoon dough in slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each.

Sprinkle with a generous pinch of sea salt.

Bake cookies for about 10 and a half minutes or until golden brown. (Note: DO NOT overcook your cookies! They will be soft in the middle when you remove the sheets and probably look not done…however they will firm up once they are out of the oven).

Allow cookies to rest 1-2 minutes, then carefully transfer them to racks to cool.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

Cookies can be kept in a sealed container for about 4 days or wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months.

Whew, that was a long post! Now, FINALLY, for the giveaway!

The details:

-This giveaway will run from Tuesday, May 6th (12 AM) to Friday, May 9th (11:59 PM).

-To clarify, you are entering to win a brand new Hamilton Beach SoftScrape 6 Speed Hand Mixer. I will coordinate with the winner and Hamilton Beach to have the mixer shipped directly to you from their distribution center.

-Using the Rafflecopter box below, log in and leave me a comment below telling me what your favorite dessert is!

-You can also follow me on Twitter (@loganmer) for extra points to win!

-Make sure you have clicked the link for this particular post so that the comment box shows up!

-Rafflecopter will randomly select the winner, who I will reach out to over the weekend.

Good luck!

Update: This giveaway has ended and a winner has been selected at random by Rafflecopter. Thank you to all who entered and I appreciate you checking out Sage & Serendipity!

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This post may contain links that are sponsored or provided by an affiliate company. All opinions stated in this post are my own. Products reviewed were received for free, however I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for readers. Read the full Disclosure Policy here.