Satisfy My Sweet Tooth

I have been enjoying a lot of smoothies this summer and with the increased use of my cheap old blender came the demise of the poor thing.  When investing in a piece of electrical kitchen equipment I am often plagued with a dilemma:  Should I buy the cheapest decent one that will probably last a few months or maybe a year?  Or should I buy the be-all end-all piece of equipment that is inevitably a larger investment up front, but may be the last (mixer, blender, pots and pans etc.) piece of that type of equipment I need to buy for 5, 10, or more years?  Now of course I do not have the luxury of choosing the latter option anytime I need a new kitchen item, but sometimes a splurge is in order.

So when my blender bit the dust, I headed to Williams-Sonoma to check out their selection.  I ended up leaving the store with a Vitamix and while I was convinced that this beast was way more machine that I needed, my husband, believe it or not, could not wait to get home and try blending things that we never even new could be blended before!

The Vitamix is endorsed by Iron Chef Michael Symon and is capable of performing pretty amazing tasks.  Among the more common uses such as making smoothies, dips and sauces, the Vitamix can mix your bread dough, make a finished hot soup by you simply adding the ingredients (I know this sounds crazy, right?  But according to the demonstration DVD that comes with the Vitamix, the heat from the friction of the blades actually heats the ingredients of the blender leaving you with a steamy, ready-to-eat soup!) and it can even make smooth and creamy nut butters from raw nuts.  I have not had a chance to try out all of this machine’s capabilities, but so far, I have used it to

MAKE SALSA,

PULSE INGREDIENTS FOR FROSTING,

MAKE FILLING FOR CUPCAKES,

AND MAKE PESTO.

I think the Vitamix could streamline the kitchen equipment you need and possibly replace many other small appliances such as your food processor, immersion blender and hand mixer.  Of course, I cannot say that you would never need those other items, but I also appreciate how easy the Vitamix is to clean (especially compared to the many parts of a food processor).    So, if you are looking for a new blender, registering for a wedding or need ideas for what to request for your birthday or Christmas, consider this multifunctional piece of equipment as a new addition to your kitchen.

I believe my next experiment with my Vitamix will be a nut butter of some kind……..