Vitamix: The Beginning of a Lovestory :)

 

I've been pining over a Vitamix for months now. Years, even. And yesterday, my cooking dreams came true when my dad and step-mom surprised me with an early Christmas present :)

I was stoked, to say the least.

As soon as I took it out of the box, my mind was whirring with dozens of recipes I was aching to try. Recipes that had not previously been possible with my outdated Hamilton Beach blender.

I made 6 distinctly separate recipes in less than 24 hours.

First on the docket: Tortilla Soup :)

The v-mix...doin it's thing. See all the steam?!

This recipe is a Vitamix class and is in all the V-mix sponsored cookbooks, but, me being me, I had to put my own twist on it.

This recipe utilizes soycurls, and the edamame 'soycutash' blend from Trader Joes.

Tortilla Soup
Serves 2 very hungry monkeys

• 2 large carrots
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 2 cups veggie broth
• Taco seasoning of choice
• 2 tsp Sriracha or other hot sauce
• 1 large handful soycurls (reconstituted)
• 1 cup 'soycutash' or other frozen veggie blend
• Scant 1/4 cup chopped olives
• Small handful spicy flaxseed tortilla chips

Place first 7 ingredients in the Vitamix. Select variable 1, turn on and then quickly raise up through Variable 10 and then to High.  Allow the mixture to blend on high for about 6-7 minutes or until near boiling.

Meanwhile, nuke the soy curls and frozen veggies in the microwave for a minute or so. They don't have to be totally cooked (the hot soup will cook them) but they shouldn't be totally frozen either.

Once the soup is done heating, add the remaining ingredients and top with tortilla chips, avocado or tofutti sour cream if you have it!


See why the Vitamix is so amazing? Soup! From scratch! In less than 10 minutes. Colin said it was 'one of the best things he'd had in a long time.' He says that about a lot of the food I make. But still :)

Next on the list: Edamame Hummus.

I was too big of a piglet to take a picture of this one, but the general idea was:

• 1/2 bag frozen, shelled edamame
• 1/4 cup Tahini
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Sriracha
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp (or more) water

Blend together a voila! Edamame Hummus. Serve with veggies and delicious crackers.

Next (again, not pictured) was applesauce.

This one is reeeeal easy. Take 3-4 cored apples. Place them in the Vitamix. Add a Tbsp of lemon juice and sweetener of choice, blend until apple sauce. Use a lower setting for chunky and a higher setting for smooth.

Then, this morning I made a green smoothie (tasted just like Jamba Juice!)

And, finally, I took a stab at some almond butter.

Almond butter is one of the trickier things to make in the Vitamix because you have to make sure you don't overhear the engine. I did it in several stages, adding almond mild periodically to help it smooth down. I'm glad the almond butter turned out so creamy, but I might just do it in the food processor next time to avoid the scare of engine overheating in my amazing new toy.

For Almond Butter: Simply add raw almonds and a splash of almond milk and turn the Vitamix from Variable setting 1 through 10 and then to High as quickly as possible. Blend for a couple of minutes, using the tamper to constantly scrape down the sides.

Use that technique for about 3-4 cycles of several minutes on, several minutes to let the engine cool off and you will have almond butter!
 

Sooo creamy and smooth and good! And much more affordable than buying it at the store.

I used raw almonds but you could use roasted or flavored as well.

After my trail run yesterday I made an almond butter, banana and jam (Trader Joe's reduced sugar raspberry preserves) sandwich and thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Seriously, this stuff is that good.


Major props again to my awesome family for this beautiful surprise.

I don't know that I have ever loved a material possession so much :)

So begins my lovestory...



Live long and prosper, fellow blenders!