In this Wednesday’s Let’s Eat, reporter Harry Jackson Jr. writes an ode to his immersible blender. He’s using it daily to make smoothies, soups, vegetable purees and other dishes — most of them healthful, a few of them ultra-indulgent. He says it changed his life, and after talking with him, I believe it.

In fact, his passion convinced me to pull my own never-used immersible blender off the basement shelf. I used it Saturday to make a low-fat brownie recipe published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

My husband, son and I didn’t like the brownies all that much (my son’s girlfriend enjoyed them, however, so we gave the rest of the batch to her), but thanks to the immersion blender, they were a cinch to make. I simply poured a can of beans and their liquid into the plastic cup that came with the blender, inserted the blender, and turned it on. The beans turned into a puree in less than 30 seconds.

If you’d like to try the recipe, pour the bean puree into a mixing bowl, then stir in ground cinnamon. The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon, but I thought that was way too much. I’d use a teaspoon or a teaspoon and a half. Then add a box of low-fat brownie mix. The recipe recommends No Pudge! Original, which I bought at Trader Joe’s. Stir until shiny, then bake in a greased 8-inch pan at 350 degrees (or whatever temperature the mix specifies) until done, about 25 to 30 minutes. If you cut the pan into 16 brownies, each will have about 98 calories, 1 gram fat, 21 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams protein, no cholesterol, 146 milligrams sodium and 2 grams dietary fiber.

Now that I have the immersion blender out, I plan to use it for smoothies. (It will be much easier to clean than my regular blender.) For an evening snack, I like to combine skim milk, frozen bananas and maybe a dash of nutmeg or cinnamon. Here’s a similar recipe from “Slurp,” by Nina Dreyer Hensley, Jim Hensley and Paul Lowe ($16.99/Andrews McMeel Publishing). This slurpy is a little more elaborate than my two-ingredient version, but it’s still simple. Omit the ice cubes if you use frozen bananas, and if you don’t have a vanilla bean, use extract to taste.

Blueberry and Vanilla Smoothie
Serves 2

2/3 cup blueberries, preferably frozen, plus extra blueberries, for garnish
1/2 large banana
1 2/3 cups plain yogurt
Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean
1 tablespoon sugar, optional
6 ice cubes

Place all ingredients except the garnish in a blender and mix until smooth. Pour the
smoothie into glasses and garnish with blueberries.

Photo from “Slurp.”