Blender drinks are all the rage

In case you haven't heard, blender drinks are fashionable again. I'm sure this comes as a surprise to many of you out there who never gave up on blender drinks. But I'll bet you're still working with your old blender....the one you got as a wedding present.

Well, do I have a blender for you. Hamilton Beach recently introduced their Dual Wave™ blender, which has an amazing feature: It has two motors. What this means is that you can choose either to use it with two smaller, single-serving (16-ounce) blender jars, or with one giant 80-ounce pitcher, which sits over both motors. This gives you the option of using the small jars--which are also travel mugs, by the way--to make individual smoothies or the large jar to make big batches of frozen drinks for a party.

The large party-sized jar also has a spigot so it can double as a dispenser. (Just think of the horrible mess you make as you pour people's drinks straight out of a traditional blender jar.) What's more, if the drink you've made starts to separate, you can quickly reblend it because the jar is still in place over the motors.

The stainless steel version (shown here) has a 1000-watt motor and retails for about $70; it also comes in black. A nice bonus: The little single-serving jars store inside the large party pitcher.

Now, what to put in the blender? Hamilton Beach has kindly provided some ideas on their website. They have regulation frozen drinks (margaritas, et.al.) and smoothies, but they also have a number of ice cream-based drinks with intriguing names like Crash a Van with Cow Juice or Fuzzy Chicago Bottom.