Oh, Happy Vitamix Day!

A long awaited dream finally delivered itself into my reality. A Vitamix blender. How wonderful! Not sure why someone should be so excited about a blender? Well then, you have never encountered a Vitamix. It is one of the best inventions for making a whole food diet simple, and I now have the distinct pleasure of owning one. As if that wasn't joy enough, I was able to devote a whole day to playing with my new super food machine!

Oatmeal Cranberry Pancakes

As a new Vitamix owner, I was incredibly responsible and read the owner's manual. *Yes, if you're one of my family members you can sigh and laugh now.* One recommendation mentioned in the literature on more than one occasion is to start by following some of the recipes in the accompanying Whole Food Recipes cookbook to help develop a feel for the proportions of ingredients and the operation of the machine. Ever interested in doing the best job I can do, I agreed this would be a wise approach. Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I figured it would be a great place to start. Enter Oatmeal Cranberry Pancakes...made in a blender. Okay, well not totally, I did have to cook them on a nice hot griddle, but consider my enthusiasm growing as I embarked on my first Vitamix culinary adventure! Topping the hot and hearty pancakes with some honey and banana slices was a totally inspired decision that made my taste buds very happy. Let's call this one blissful breakfast.

Garden Fresh Cocktail

One of the amazing things about a Vitamix is its ability to juice whole foods. There is no loss of fiber- it gets pulverized so that your body can easily digest it. By the time lunch rolled around I thought some vegetables would be appropriate and so I pulled out tomatoes, spinach, carrot, onion, red bell pepper and parsley for a delicious "cocktail." Maybe the thought of V-8 juice is coming to mind right now? Well let those thoughts, along with all that sodium, flow right back out of your mind because V-8 juice does not hold a candle to this refreshing drink. While I sat enjoying my drink and coming up with the weekly dinner menu, an idea for making my new favorite beverage even better popped into my head- add pea shoots! Pea shoots have a fresh, crisp flavor that would complement the other veggies nicely; they are like spring in a beautiful edible package. If you  haven't tried them, toss some into your next salad and taste for yourself.

Chicken Potato Spinach Soup

When dinner finally rolled around I was ready to test out another amazing Vitamix feature- the ability to cook hot soups. Yes, this time the cooking really did take place right in my blender. The blades generate enough friction to create cooking heat. I know, it's amazing. I decided to try Chicken Potato Spinach Soup because such a gray, rainy day called for something warm and comforting. The soup base, potatoes, onion, chicken broth, milk and rosemary, is blended to smooth, steamy perfection and then other ingredients are added in at a slower speed so they retain some texture. The book advised chicken and spinach, which I was more than happy to try. BUT, since my earlier experiments were so successful I was feeling bold and threw in some additional ingredients- red bell pepper, mushrooms and green onions. Delightful! What a pleasant way to make soup, and cleaning up the kitchen was ridiculously easy. The Vitamix is like its own dishwasher. Rinse out what's left clinging to the sides of the container, fill halfway with warm water, add two drops of dish soap and blend for 30-60 seconds. Clean! A satisfying end to a wonderful day for this food lover.