The big Christmas prezzie that I got myself this year is a BlendTec Blender . It's a geek blender if such a thing is possible. Aside from the normal blend functions, it has presets for a bunch of different things, and goes through these nifty computer-controlled cycles. And it's square instead of round, which as it turns out is a nifty fluid-dynamics design that helps keep pockets from forming. It comes with a cookbook. One of the sections is on making ice cream, and has lovely places for susbstitutions-- for instance, instead of cream, I used almond milk and whey powder, and instead of sugar I used Splenda. 30 seconds later, I have a quart of blueberry ice cream, low-fat and low-calorie, high protein, healthy, made with real blueberries. And oh, it's good. As I'm heading into a funky place with weight loss and food, it's turned out to be a really good investment. It gives me a lot more control over the content of things like soups, sauces, any kind of batters, cream sauces, and the like. I can do things like make my own hot sauce with fresh ingredients with no salts or preservatives or sugar. I'm more impressed with it than I thought I would be. For all the comic relief of the Will It Blend videos, it turns out to be a really effective kitchen appliance. Gotta give kudos to barda for making it possible, and for pointing me toward the nifty.