So a while ago I started making smoothies. I was attempting to make the kind you buy at Jamba Juice, or a smoothie place, and I was pretty dang good at it. I wasn’t making any specific flavor, just something to enjoy that had fruit in it and was sweet and tasty. Then I came across some info on green smoothies and I attempted to make one of those. It didn’t go so well. The taste was fine, but the texture, ugh, gag me. I made a green smoothie in Sam’s Vitamix and was sold that that was the blender I needed if I ever was going to do the green smoothie thing. So my green smoothie making died, but my fruit smoothie making lived on.
Then my blender started making weird noises, and I decided I needed a new one and it had to be a Vitamix.
Truthfully, we did a little research on other blenders that were cheaper, still costly, but only 1/4 the cost of the Vitamix. Since I only wanted the Vitamix to make smoothies, Jon wasn’t too hot on spending a small fortune, partially because he wasn’t sure I would use it for a long time, and the smoothie making would probably die out, like my Wii work-outs. (In my defense I am healthier overall, so even though I’m not working out I’m doing other things, and the fact that I’m not in shape for the Waltz is also because no one is in shape to do the Waltz except those who do it regularly.)
Wait, where was I? Oh yes, blenders.
We read some reviews on different blenders, but they were all mixed and the one we wanted to buy actually got some bad consumer reviews and we would have to go to an actual department store, not just Target, to buy it. So a part of it was laziness. Then I told Jon we could grind wheat with the Vitamix, though it needed a different blade and container, which would cost extra, but we could also make our own peanut butter and my smoothies would be so much better, and made in much less time. Plus. it had a tamper, which is specifically made to push food into the blades, and I wouldn’t accidentally slice any of our spatulas while making my smoothies and being too impatient to wait for the blades to stop spinning before stirring the smoothie contents.
Eventually he was sold on the Vitamix, mostly for the wheat thing and consumer happiness, and we decided we’d get one, but they’re expensive and not something we wanted to be too hasty about.
Then I heard they sold them at Costco at different times throughout the year, and it’s the cheapest my friends said I could buy it, and where they got theirs.
So I waited and waited to see them at Costco, but I rarely went to Costco and I worried I had missed them.
Then in April a friend said they’d be there in May, so I asked a worker what day, and they told me May 7th.
May 7th, it was about 3 weeks away, but I had a date to look forward too.
So put it on my calendar and I waited.
And waited, and then May 7th came, but it was the day before we left for Disneyland, and I had a messy house, laundry, and a long list of stuff to do. Plus showering was not on my list, so instead, I stayed home on May 7th, went to rehearsal all day on May 8th, left for Disneyland in the evening of May 8th, and did not return home till May 11th.
So May 12th was the fateful day for me to buy my Vitamix.
I went and ate/drank some of the recipes the gentleman, Vitamix seller had prepared at his little stand at Costco. A few of us had a small conversation about the machine, all the while the seller was talking through his microphone headset, and then I picked out a nice, black Vitamix and a dry mix blade/ container. I also bought a huge bag of spinach to make green smoothies.
I opened it up once at home, five hours later since I had gone grocery shopping, rehearsal, and had two girls to get to bed. It was so pretty and nice. It’s my Birthday/ Mother’s Day present, but mostly birthday.
I’ve used it a handful of times and as I look through the recipe book I know I can easily integrate it into my life more than I had planned as long as I’m conscious of what I’m cooking and actually cook. It sits on my counter so I can easily access it and use it for mixing, cutting, and making things. It doesn’t go in the dishwasher, and cleans easily, so I can use it over and over in one day.
Tonight, I made some Minestrone Soup, in the Vitamix because it heats it up food, not to boiling, but hot enough to cook when left on long enough. It was delicious and had a fresh taste to it, not like any other soup I’ve had. Then for dessert I made Strawberry Lime Sorbet. It was sweet and tangy and it’s consistency was close to what I make my smoothies, but most homemade ice cream/ sorbet is very soft unless frozen after it’s made. (Funny note: They do a demonstration on how you can flip the ice cream or sorbet upside down once it’s made and the four hills appear, so Lilah took it to Jon, who was in the living room, while I rinsed the lid off, and flipped it upside down so he could see it was frozen too. I’m so happy it didn’t slide out of the container because it was melting and would have two minutes later and then I would have had Strawberry Lime Sorbet all over my rug. )
Tomorrow, I think I will use it to make some pancakes and whatever else floats my boat.
So I’m in love with my Vitamix. It really is a wonderful machine, costly, but so worth it.
Also if you’d like to make tasty fruit smoothies here’s what I do in no particular amount or order, but these are my smoothie making rules:
Use Frozen fruit. You can buy fresh fruit and then freeze, or just buy frozen. This is important for the consistency and then you don’t have to add ice. I usually use strawberries, mangos, blueberries, pineapple, or whatever I want. Banana’s being the one exception to the frozen rule, unless you want a very banana smoothie, then I would freeze them.
Use sorbet to sweeten, but it’s not necessary if you have pineapple juice.
Use Orange juice or pineapple juice for your liquid. Orange juice does not sweeten, but pineapple juice does. If you want the flavor of the fruit or if you have sorbet to add, use orange juice. If you don’t have sorbet, use pineapple juice to sweeten, but if you don’t want it to taste to much like pineapple, use both orange juice and pineapple.
So basically throw in your fruit, a little sorbet, and your liquid. I know pineapple and banana’s sweeten, so I don’t need to sweeten as much with the juice or sorbet when I add those. Go easy on the liquid, you can always add more, and I usually do, and blend till smooth. Since I don’t use ice, but frozen fruit, I find that most blenders can make it a smooth consistency like what you get at smoothie store. My old blender is still working after many smoothie making afternoons, I think it just can be temper-mental, so I will be donating it to DI.