A blending apparatus comprising a blender base, a container for receiving food for blending, and a blade assembly, the blade assembly comprising: a base portion that is removably coupleable to the blender base; an aperture extending through the base portion; a drive shaft rotatably coupled to the base portion, the drive shaft extending through the aperture and rotatable about a rotational axis; one or more blades fixedly coupled to the drive shaft such that rotation of the drive shaft rotates the one or more blades; and a coupling member for removably coupling the container to the blade assembly, characterized in that the blade assembly further comprises a guard member extending axially from the base portion such that the guard member circumscribes the one or more blades and the coupling member about the rotational axis, wherein the guard member circumscribes a portion of the container about the rotational axis when the container is removably coupled to the coupling member, and characterized in that the guard member extends axially from the base portion past a blade plane of the one or more blades by a distance, said plane being the plane farthest from the base portion along rotational axis and generally perpendicular to the rotational axis that the blades pass through during rotation, and wherein the container comprises an end portion and a wall portion that extends from the end portion to define a space within the container for receiving the food for blending, the container further comprising an opening portion that defines an opening for food to be delivered into the space, wherein the opening portion can be removably coupled to the blade assembly such that when the opening portion is coupled thereto, the space within the container will be enclosed by the blade assembly. a base portion that is removably coupleable to the blender base; an aperture extending through the base portion; a drive shaft rotatably coupled to the base portion, the drive shaft extending through the aperture and rotatable about a rotational axis; one or more blades fixedly coupled to the drive shaft such that rotation of the drive shaft rotates the one or more blades; and a coupling member for removably coupling the container to the blade assembly, characterized in that the blade assembly further comprises a guard member extending axially from the base portion such that the guard member circumscribes the one or more blades and the coupling member about the rotational axis, wherein the guard member circumscribes a portion of the container about the rotational axis when the container is removably coupled to the coupling member, and characterized in that the guard member extends axially from the base portion past a blade plane of the one or more blades by a distance, said plane being the plane farthest from the base portion along rotational axis and generally perpendicular to the rotational axis that the blades pass through during rotation, and wherein the container comprises an end portion and a wall portion that extends from the end portion to define a space within the container for receiving the food for blending, the container further comprising an opening portion that defines an opening for food to be delivered into the space, wherein the opening portion can be removably coupled to the blade assembly such that when the opening portion is coupled thereto, the space within the container will be enclosed by the blade assembly.