“Not ‘As Seen on TV’”
Raise your hand if you secretly love infomercials. Not that you TiVo them or anything, but if the show you’re watching ends and you forget to change the channel, sometimes you’ll catch a minute…. or thirty. My absolute favorite is the Magic Bullet infomercial – I like watching the actors make omelets, concoct dip recipes, mix alcoholic beverages, and whip up smoothies all without an ounce of cleanup. I love it because it makes me believe that I could really make a whole day’s worth of food using only one kitchen gadget. I’ll even admit to watching the infomercial all the way through more than once, but less than three times.
When I saw that Dex Products made an Electric Baby Food Processor, I couldn’t contain my excitement. It’s like a Magic Bullet paired with quality construction and the result was the best baby gadget ever. The Dex Food Processor is simple in design, with a removable food processing cup that attaches to the screw-on blade and then flips upside down to rest on the motorized base. You operate it by lining up the plastic tabs on the food processor cup with the base and pressing down to activate the motor. That’s it – no speeds to adjust, no dials to turn, just press down until fully blended and voila! you have baby food.
But, it’s the quality of the Dex that really makes me excited. The base of the Dex is sturdy and sleek with a seamless plastic design that has no crevasses for liquids to pool or food to collect, which means that cleanup is simple and easy, with no need to scrub the base after each use. The high quality removable blending cup is microwave and dishwasher safe and has a flattened top (or bottom, depending on how you look at it) that makes for a stable base when mixing ingredients, microwaving, or when used for feeding.
The fact that it is microwave safe means that you can actually cook the food in the removable blending cup and then just attach the blades and blend. When the food is pureed to your liking, you just turn the blending cup upright and feed directly from the cup. If baby doesn’t finish all her peas, you can screw on the lid for storing and pop it in the fridge. In case you’re not following, that means only one tool to wash (which, in turn, makes for happier parents). Random Rave: For even easier cleanup, you can add water to the dirty cup and put it back on the base, blending it for just a few seconds before dumping the water. This process helps remove any food residue before tossing in the dishwasher, making everyone’s life easier.
Now that we make baby food in such large quantities, I am absolutely in love with the Dex Electric Baby Food Processor. The blending cup holds a good deal of food and does a great job of handling everything we have thrown at it in a fraction of the time a handcrank baby food processor would take and is roughly 1000 times more fun. That’s math even I can get behind. After baby’s menu was set for the month, we found ourselves looking for more things to puree and even used the Dex to concoct dips and sauces that, to baby’s distress, we did not share with her.
The one thing I do wish is that Dex offered two blade options, one for blending soft foods and one for firmer items. Although the Dex does fine with squishable foods and medium textures, it does take a bit longer to fully puree firm fruits and vegetables. I found that adding a little liquid of some kind helps the blending process immensely. Most recipes call for adding water to baby purees, so if you make sure you add the liquids in before blending, you will have even greater success. The extra powerful Dex motor is capable of handling just about anything you can imagine that is also ingestible, but the blades provided really are better suited for softer foods. Which makes sense, because it is for baby food, and not marketed towards adults at all. But, I would urge them to consider expanding to include another more aggressive blade and they might have the best kitchen gadget of 2009 on their hands.
Things I’m Raving About:
• Good size blending cup is perfect for most foods and just the right height for stirring all the way to the bottom.
• Big, powerful motor in an unobtrusive small package, all with an unbelievably small footprint so it doesn’t overwhelm a countertop or cupboard.
• Fresh yellow color is neither pastel-y nor boring.
• Comes with 3 separate kid sized storage containers for holding extra servings.
• Makes baby food creation quick, simple and most importantly, makes it more likely to happen when there’s a fun little gadget calling your name.
• Easy to clean and care for.
• Saving on dishes means saving precious sanity.
I’m in love with this little blending beauty and think you will be, too. The price is right, it’s fun to use, and it’s pretty much the only baby kitchen gadget... ever. All of which makes it one of my new favorite baby items, and something I am looking forward to using well after our pears need to be pureed. Then, baby and I will enjoy omelets, dips and smoothies together – all with minimum cleanup.
Price: $31.99, which is a fraction of the cost of other food processors
Looks: Can food processors be adorable? The answer, clearly, is yes. But, do they need to be adorable? Well, it certainly doesn’t hurt, especially if it’s going to be sitting on my counter.
Overall: If there was an infomercial for Dex make, store & serve baby food processors, I might even TiVo it.
