VitaMix!

Gotta love eBay. I had to do it in the last 30 seconds, but I was able to win myself a VitaMix for about $200 less than it would have cost to get a new one at retail. I am trying to do much better with healthy eating; it really is the key to feeling better and doing better. One of the ways I can do that is with smoothies and homemade soups.

While regular blenders are ok, they just don't cut it when it comes to making up really good smoothies. The VitaMix is superior because it is able to "rupture the cell walls of raw foods to make the enzymes more bioavailable." In other words, you're going to get the maximum nutrition you can get when you mix up that smoothie. Score!

Today, I decided to make a green smoothie for breakfast. Never made one before? Well VitaMix offers this handy chart to help you choose ingredients:

COLUMN A:
2 cups spinach
1 cup kale
1/2 head of romaine
1 romaine heart
3/4 cup raw broccoli
1 small head of bibb or Boston lettuce

COLUMN B:
1 cup grapes
1 apple
1 orange, peeled
1 cup melon, peeled
1 cup pineapple
1 cup berries
1 banana, peeled
1/2 cup cucumber, peeled or unpeeled
1 kiwi, peeled
1 carrot
1 cup peaches
1 cup mango, peeled
1/2 cup papaya, peeled
2 stalks celery
1 pear

COLUMN C:
1 cup soy milk (plain or vanilla)
1 cup yogurt (plain or flavored)
1 cup fruit juice
1 cup water

DIRECTIONS: Pick 1 from Column A, 2 from Column B, 1 from Column C, and add 1 cup of ice. Blend accordingly.

Now - I can't guarantee that this will work on a regular blender, but for the Vitamix it was no problem. This morning I used 2 cups baby spinach, 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1 cup frozen peaches, and 1 cup of orange-peach-mango juice. I also added some Chia fiber and a scoop of Amazing Grass Green SuperFood. You don't need those, but they were on sale at my local store and I picked them up yesterday, so I just thought I'd add them.

I forgot to add the ice, but I didn't really need it. The VitaMix blended all of this up to a smooth mixture. I used the tamper a bit to push everything down, but it made quick work of the frozen fruit.

It is most definitely green. Like, baby food strained peas. Actually, it was a little darker than that. So, if you are squeamish about how food LOOKS, this probably isn't for you. The taste was great! I just tasted the fruit and the fruit juice, and probably the lemon/lime flavoring from the SuperFood supplement. Didn't taste any spinach at all. If it wasn't for the color, I wouldn't have known it was there.

I have some kale and some broccoli at home. I think the next smoothie will have kale, and some blueberries. I believe with that chart above you have over 300 options (it's been so long since I did a factorial multiplication - who knew you'd need that as an adult? LOL!).

If you decide to give it a whirl, let me know how it goes.