Vitamix Magic

Here's a post dedicated to my lovely new blender which my parents gave us for Christmas.  While the girls may not have been as excited about a new blender as say, a new remote control car, they have definitely benefited from it, and actually do really enjoy it more than they thought they would--it makes some great treats along with some awesome healthy drinks and such.  I, however, immediately recognized its greatness and was thrilled with my new appliance.  I still can't believe my mother spent so much on us--she better hold off on birthday and Christmas gifts this next year--but, I am really, really happy she did.  I don't really think I would have bought one for myself because I didn't know how much I would LOVE it!

Here is my first "raw food" attempt.  I never did (and still don't) have a problem with cooking my food, but raw food is certainly healthy and has benefits.  You see here zuccinni, carrots, tomatoes, maybe onion or garlic, I can't remember--it's been a while since I made it.  Blend those for 5-6 minutes (in broth), and voila! soup.  Heated and ready to eat.  Okay, actually, I added green pepper and chicken (that wasn't raw), and  pulsed for a few seconds. 

 Here is the finished product with tortilla chips sprinkled in.  It was really, really delicious!  On the side there are some little cornbread balls.  My sister in law, Chari, gave us a cake pop maker for Christmas.  We made some cake pops in it, but we've also made cornbread and "waffles" in it.  Wouldn't you love to eat cornbread in a sphere?

 Along with the Vitamix, my mom gave me a book called The Green Smoothies Diet by Robyn Openshaw.  I've made green smoothies with spinach and kale before, but stopped quite a while ago.  I also had never branched out to other greens, but golly, look at me now!  After going to the temple in Twin Falls, I stopped at Winco to check out their prices/selection of greens (Stokes and Smiths have some, but they are pretty limited).  The selection was great and the prices were lower than they are here, so I stocked up.

Here we have kale, collards, mustard greens, red swiss chard, beet greens, plus some limes.  All have been featured in our smoothies.  Have you ever eaten those things?  I had never had most of them, at least not very often.  FYI, limes can be thrown in the smoothie, peel and all.  They are quite tasty.

 (The day I bought these, it was 5 below, and some of the greens froze in the trunk of my car!  Luckily, you can freeze greens for smoothies and still use them!) 

If you're interested, Robyn has a pretty good website, as well, www.greensmoothiegirl.com.  Some of her videos have been pretty informative.

 All of my girls--these four, plus Eliza and Mari, though they are not pictured, (and Kevin, too) drink up a glass of green smoothie every day.  Natalia is usually the only one who has to be persuaded.  She drinks it well if it tastes pretty good, but some concoctions are a little less than desirable, and it takes some convincing.  In the spring when I can start growing my own greens, we'll drink a little bigger glass, but for now we limit it  a bit.  Everyone gets three cheers when they finish their glass, and that's more motivating than you might think!

I've begun to find great deals on produce and stock up!  I found this 25 lb bag of carrots at Winco and just couldn't resist!  Ususally I buy 5 lb bags for $4-5, but this giant one was only about $7.50.  I probably couldn't keep it in the summer, but it has been nicely stored in a cooler in my garage this month.  I've had it for three weeks and we're probably about half way through it.

 This picture was supposed to be first, but apparently the Vitamix is modest and didn't want to be quite so prominent.

A sideways picture of the 4 lbs of spinach I bought on sale at Albertsons.  I need to stock up on this stuff at Costco next time I visit my mom.  It's way cheaper there.  The checker was surprised at how much I was buying.  But really, 4 bags isn't that much.  A few weeks later I found bagged mesclun mix lettuce at Smiths on clearance for $.49.  I bought 17 :).

Orange sorbet has been one of our favorite snacks/treats.  Mixed berry is, of course, way more delicious, but doesn't fit as well in the budget.  I guess I need to grow a berry patch.  

 It's my month to teach preschool, so I have been making them "orange ice cream" almost every time.  It's a hit with them, too!

 Day-O!  Daaaay-O!  This stack of bananas on clearance at Smiths had Natalia singing along with Harry Belefonte!  She said we were stacking bananas just like the guy in the song!

 We bought 5 pineapple for $.57 cents/lb.  They only wanted to hold two.  I'm sure after all the stuff is cut off, the cost is closer to double that, but since apples are also about double that, it's a pretty decent buy.

 These two pictures are out of chronological order.  Here are the panfuls of banana peels AFTER we peeled them.  I carried both pans out to the compost pile and didn't even slip (on the snow or the peels).

 These girls were beyond thrilled to be able to peel banana after banana.  Eliza was thankful she made it home from kindergarten before we were done!  I have to admit, it was a roaring good time!  I've actually never been a banana fan, myself, but I do prefer it when my blended lettuce to tastes more like bananas than lettuce.  

 

We ended up with 5 1/2 gallon bags of banana chunks when all was said and done!  Might have had a full 6 if the monkeys didn't eat while they worked!

Since Grandma Kathy is the founder of the feast (or at least the provider of the instrument to make the feast), let's give her three cheers:

Hip-hip-hooray!

Hip-hip-hooray!

Hip-hip-hooray Grandma Kathy!