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Dear kitchen fiends,
I'm not embarrassed to say I love my Vitamix. I've been yearning for one for years, and it was the fulfillment of many hours of longing when my husband bought me one as a gift! It now graces my counter where it is used daily, usually several times a day. Based on this expert evaluation, I added it to my list of the 25 best gifts for an urban homesteader last Christmas!
As I was flipping through my vintage Versatile Vita-Mix cookbook (this is the one we had growing up ... I had to have it and found a used copy online), I thought it would be fun to compile a list of things one can do with a Vitamix, and even a list of tools the Vitamix could replace in the kitchen.
The Vitamix has a two-horsepower engine, and the blades travel at a speed of 400 revolutions per second. This means that food in the blender, being hit with the four blades, is chopped 1600 times per second! This power means things that normally can't be done in a regular blender - freezing ice cream, cooking soup, grinding flour - can be done with ease in a Vitamix (although if you run it too hard, you can overheat the engine, which will automatically shut off until it cools down. This happens sometimes when I puree very dense nut mixtures).
This is not a comprehensive list of tasks; these are just the ones I could think of. Vitamix is not paying me, advocating for me or suggesting that I do this; in fact, they don't even know I'm doing it. I just love this tool, and think everybody should hear about it!
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| Self-washing Vitamix; then drop in the tamper, and wash that at the same time! |
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| Whipping up a batch of banana bread |
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| Fresh mayonnaise |
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| Nut Milk |
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| Pureeing pumpkin for pie |
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| Chopped cabbage for slaw |
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| Berry Freeze |
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| Processing cracker dough |
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| Hearty breakfast smoothie |
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| Frozen Ice Cream |
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| Cooking and pureeing soups |
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| Blending dehydrated peppers into powder |
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| Breakfast in a cup |
66 Awesome Things to Do With Your Vitamix (and the tools you may be spared)
1. Churn and freeze ice cream (ice cream churn)
2. Cook milk for yogurt (stove)
3. Make sorbets and sherbets
4. Blend smoothies (weak-sauce blender)
5. Chop carrots and cabbage for slaw, kraut or choucroute (mandolin)
6. Chop onions for stew (Slap-Chop or a knife and tears)
7. Shred potatoes for hash browns (shredder)
8. Cook blended or chunky soups (pot)
9. Puree batter for crepes (immersion blender)
10. Mix cold puddings (whisk)
11. Mix and cook hot puddings or custard (eons standing and stirring at the stove)
12. Crush ice for cold drinks (ice-crusher)
13. Crush ice for snow cones (ice-shaver)
14. Crush and blend slurpees (7-11)
15. Grind meat, such as hamburger (meat grinder)
16. Puree meat for spreads like deviled ham or chicken spread
17. Shred cheese (time)
18. Grind bread crumbs (processing attachment)
19. Grind quinoa, wheat, rice and other grains into flour (grain mill)
20. Grind wheat, oatmeal, cornmeal and other grains for hot cereal and porridge
21. Grind coffee beans (coffee grinder) Read a tutorial at day2day's blog!
22. Powder beans and other legumes for smoothies or soup
23. Blend large quantities of spices or herbs
24. Coarsely chop beans for faster cooking
25. Hyper-rupture fruit and vegetables with skins for cheesecloth pressing or pouring into a juicer for maximum extraction and nutrients, impossible to achieve with a simple triturator/centrifigal juicer alone (commercial hydraulic press)
26. Blend vegetable drinks and cocktails
27. Blend yogurt with fruits and other flavorings
28. Blend breakfast shakes
29. Fully homogenize cocktail drinks (drink shaker)
30. Blend homemade powdered drinks like cocoa, especially involving chocolate chunks for richness
31. Knead bread dough, pizza crust, doughnuts, English muffins ... (stand mixer)
32. Blend batters like muffins, biscuits, quick-breads such as banana or pumpkin loaf, popovers (hand mixer)
33. Blend pancakes and waffles, cakes
34. Whip and cook frostings (double-boiler)
35. Process pasta dough (food processor)
36. Mix cookie dough (wooden spoon)
37. Whip pie fillings like lemon meringue or pumpkin
38. Process pie crusts, both flour and graham variety (pastry blender)
39. Blend and cook baby foods (baby-food maker)
40. Mix dips and spreads like guacamole, blue cheese and more
41. Make pureed bean spreads for sandwiches (a fork!)
42. Whip cream cheese, plain or with flavors
43. Blend fruit whips
44. Emulsify salad dressings and dipping sauces like cocktail sauce, ketchup, sweet and sour
45. Make mayonnaise and herbed or seasoned mayonnaise (tedious drizzling)
46. Mix Russian dressing for Reuben sandwiches!!
47. Mix and cook ice cream toppings like butterscotch
48. Blend and cook fruit syrups and mock maple syrup
49. Whip cream (Isi whipper)
50. Make finger paint!!
51. Puree nut butters and homemade Nutella (store-bought butters)
52. Blend powdered seasoning mixes (mortar and pestle)
53. Grind dehydrated fruit or vegetables into chunks for trail mixes or oatmeal
54. Grind dehydrated fruit or vegetables into powder, such as peppers (magic)
55. Blend granolas
56. Make delicious basil, kale or other unique pestos
57. Make nut milks like almond or cashew milk
58. Froth milk for cappuccinos or steamers (milk frother)
59. Melt cheese for queso dip or chocolate for strawberries or fondue (fondue pot)
60. Blend perfect lump-free gravy (your broken arm)
61. Powder sugar so you can stop buying expensive confectioners' sugar packets (mo money)
62. Shred chicken or other meat for Mexican potato salad, chicken salad, tacos (two forks and dexterity)
63. Blend fruit into puree for fruit leathers.
64. Blend the same fruit into puree for butters and sauces, like apple butter or apple sauce!
65. Make brown sugar.
66. Blend soap and hot water to be its own dishwasher! Pour hot soap into the sink and wash the rest of your utensils ... (dishwasher)
67. Make raw or just homemade butter (dazey churn, butter churn, tedious hours shaking a jar)
68. Make whipped, herbed, honeyed, berried or other blended butter spreads.
I know that's more than 66, but the list is growing as I use my Vitamix and I can't stop it!!!
As a new mommy, what's the best feature of all, you may ask? Even when my baby is clinging to me and not in the mood to be put down, I have chopped cabbage for kraut, blended smoothies, made mayonnaise and washed the Vitamix - all with one hand!
This is the blender I got, and (perhaps needless to say), I highly recommend it! (This is an Amazon affiliate link! That means I get a bonus for referring some customers.) All Vitamix blenders have the same engine, and I chose this specific blender because I felt it would give me the most options when it came to speeds and processing times.
What else do you do with your Vitamix? Is there a tool or technique I'm missing here? If you have any recipes, share your blog link or just type a recipe or tip into a comment!
More than smoothies,
Mrs H
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Recent Recipes we made, using the Vitamix
Mayonnaise (official Vitamix recipe)
