…This post is going to sound like an infomercial…
I just can’t help it.
I made this WHOLE meal (excluding the lettuce, olives, and tomato) using one appliance!
…and what would that appliance be?
Meet the Vita-Mix.
When our old blender finally kicked the bucket, I had hopes that we could get this one. Every one that I know who has one loves (like LOVES) theirs. It’s wonderful for smoothies, which I drink every morning, and for a host of other things… since getting the Vita-Mix, we have made: pesto from garden-fresh basil, all of the items on the plate shown above (potato spinach soup – cooked IN the blender in 7 minutes!, whole grain bread – even ground our own whole wheat flour!, and zesty tomato salad dressing), cinnamon rolls, apple spice cake, strawberry sorbet, about 20 green smoothies (spinach, kale, wheat grass + fruits and veggies), hummus, coffee… and a handful of other things that I am sure I am forgetting. (I would be happy to share some recipes, but I am not entirely sure how they would translate without the machine itself… I guess it could be an experiment…)
Apple Spice Cake
Simply put, it is amazing. You do pay for the amazingness of it, but considering that it is about 5 appliances in one, I felt like it was justified. Luckily, Kris agreed with me. He likes to cook as much as I do. And since you make every thing right in the mixer, you know each ingredient going in. So, it is ideal for vegans or for people with food allergies. We got two canisters for ours – a wet and a dry – the wet is used the most for the soups, dressings, and obviously the smoothies, but the dry is essentially a bread maker… it mixes and kneads the dough pretty effortlessly, and as mentioned before, you can make all of your own flours. We made whole wheat, rye, and buckwheat flour, as well as flaxseed meal. If you have gluten sensitivity, it is perfect for making your own chickpea or soy flours with raw beans. I am planning to try this very soon. Also planning to make a whole batch of my own nut-butters and nut milks. I *love* almond and macadamia butter, and use it often in smoothies, but I often balk at the price of the nut butters at the market. I use almond milk everyday for smoothies and in place of regular milk. Making my own is the key! 
It’s so interesting to me how supposedly “restricting” my diet to vegetables (I don’t see it as restriction in any way though!) has awakened this intense love of cooking. For me, I see it as the same creative platform as knitting or sewing, or any other craft or art.
We saw the Vita-Mix guy at Costco and tried some of the soup. It was really amazing! I’m mildly sad that we just invested in a food processor last Christmas.
All your goodies look…good! And yummy!
I screamed with pure joy when my boyfriend gave me a VitaMix for Christmas last year!
I had been wanting one since I was 12 years old, when my mom & I used to visit the demo at the Iowa State Fair every year and drool over them.
I think the money we’ve been saving on hummus alone will pay for the machine in a couple of years!
We just bought a vitamix a month ago and we’ve been using it two or three times a day since we bought it. We went with the wet and dry containers and have been grinding spelt from a local farm to make flour for bread. The machine is amazing! It definitely is hard not to talk about it without sounding like an infomercial
friends of mine have been raving about a product called the Thermo-mix. It sounds like the same deal – a mix of appliances in one product. How clever!
This is really good to know because eventually my own blender will die and I want to replace it with something better. Recommendations for kitchen gadets are *always* welcome! And making your own flour? Wow, I so want to try that.
you are definitely doing a good job of singing the praises. pity i already have a blender and a food processor, so not likely to get one of these soon. very intrigued though, very intrigued.
This has been on my list for quite a while, and one of these days I’ll simply cave in and get one! Have fun playing with yours!
Thanks for the tip for the blender Lolly. I’m currently doing a cleanse and need to make more smoothies but my blender isn’t quite cutting it. I’m trying to focus on making more of my own smoothies this time, esp the veggie smoothies. Your food is looking wonderful too! Yum!
Well now I want my blender to kick the bucket too….!
We LOVE our vitamix too! We’ve made bread and currently using it a lot for homemade baby food. I still can’t believe you can make hot soup in it!…which is delicious!
Excellent! Thanks for the infomercial. I have had this site bookmarked at home for quite a while & just haven’t taken the plunge. I’m fed up with my crappy blender. It’s nice to read that a real person I “know” (well, from the blogosphere) loves the Vita-Mix.
you’re so inspiring! I would love to see, if not recipes, then ideas for how to make a green smoothie. I had never heard about them before yesterday, and now in two blogs in two days – obviously something I have to try!
I’ve heard so many people say how awesome the Vita-Mix is, I soooo want one!
Oooh, the Vita-Mix! I think I need to get one of these someday.
i’m so glad you love it, lolly! i’ve had one for years, but it really doesn’t get enough use, which is a shame
unfortunately, i didn’t get the dry canister, but maybe eventually i will have to!
wow! that blender (well, appliance seems more the word!) is amazing! i was all set to click on the buy now, until i saw the price…this might have to wait to be a gift for a holiday or something…but definitely added to my wishlist!
When the page was loading slowly so I read “made with one appliance” and I could just see your husband’s head, I thought you were going to say “my husband”.
Love our vitamix – I mostly use it for smoothies and to grind wheat, but would love some more ideas about soups, etc .. . . (we’ve had ours for 11 years & it’s still going strong).
I adore my Vitamix. It makes smoothies like nobody’s business
Yay!! My Vitamix is the number one most-used appliance in my kitchen. I’ve had it for 12 years and it is still going strong! It has been more than worth the money in that amount of time. I use it primarily for my daily smoothies and for the occasional soup puree, but it is very cool that I have the option of using it in so many other ways. Your meal looks amazing!!
Ha, you’re so funny. It sounds great to have such an all-around useful tool in the kitchen, especially one that can help you make delicious, fresh food and help you rely less on processed products. Yay diy! I’ll be excited to check this out next time I visit. xoxo
I have an old vitamix that I’ve been using since 1993. It is all metal and I can use the same container for both wet and dry uses. It makes a lot of noise, but I use it all the time. I recently bought a second older one on ebay for a second home as I wasn’t sure about the plastic containers and couldn’t spring for a new one. I love getting red wheat kernels and grinding it into flour and making dough all in the same container my son uses for protein shakes! Truly an amazing product!
Welcome to the club! I purchased my Vita-Mix several months ago and I love it! I’m always on the look out for new recipes, so please share. Enjoy.
[...] has 5 ingredients and doesn’t require cook/cool time. I pour the ingredients into my blender (VitaMix) and then pour them into the maker. Easy as … ice cream. This recipe cuts the time down and [...]