When I think of a Vitamix blender, I immediately think of an infomercial–“but wait, there’s more! It slices, it dices, and it will babysit your children!” That’s because from creating delicious soups to creamy nut butter to beauty products, the possibilities of what you can do with a Vitamix are seemingly endless. Here are of some of my favourites:
Soup
You really can’t go wrong with homemade soup, especially in the cooler months; but all that dicing and sautéing and simmering can be time consuming. A Vitamix takes the hassle out all that prep work and instead lets you whip up a delicious soup in a matter of minutes. Simply toss your ingredients in the container, and then blend to your desired consistency. Perhaps best of all is that the blades in the Vitamix container reach speeds that create enough friction heat to bring cold ingredients to steaming hot in about six minutes. That means that you can prep your soups in the Vitamix and serve them warm straight from the container. I’m dying to try this Tortilla Soup recipe from the Vitamix website.
Kneading Dough
To me, this is by far one of the coolest things you can do with a Vitamix–mixing and kneading dough. No need to cover your counter top with flour and make a giant mess. Nope, the Vitamix will take care of the mixing and kneading for all your bread, pizza, or cookie dough creations.
Nut Butter
Making nut butter with a Vitamix couldn’t be easier, and costs a fraction of what you would pay for store-bought products. Simply choose your favourite nuts–almonds, peanuts, pecans, cashews, or a combination of them all–and then use the Vitamix tamper attachment to process it until all that’s left is fresh, natural, delicious nut butter. You can even mix it up and create a creamier butter by adding coconut or flax seed oil, or a sweeter butter by tossing in a touch of honey or maple syrup.
Ice Cream and Sorbet
If you’re a fan of ice cream and sorbet, you’ll be pleased to know that you don’t need a separate ice cream maker to create your own at home, because once again, the Vitamix has you covered. I did a quick online search and there are literally thousands of different Vitamix ice cream and sorbet recipes out there for you to try, with one that requires only two ingredients: bananas and ice. Vitamix has a list of recipes on their website as well, like this drool-worthy raspberry ice cream made with milk, sugar, vanilla extract and frozen raspberries.
Grinding Spices
Why spend a fortune on pre-packaged, store bought spices when you can make your own in the Vitamix dry grains container? Instead, you can purchase whole cumin seed or coriander, or dry some fresh basil, oregano, or chili peppers, and grind small amounts as you need them. Your spices will stay fresh, enhance your dishes much more than dehydrated spices, and leave a lovely aroma in your kitchen.
Beauty Products
If you’ve read the back of your creams, cleansers, or lately, you may have noticed that they likely contain harsh chemicals and unnecessary perfumes, which can ultimately cause damage to the skin. So if you are looking for a more organic approach to beauty, you can start by making your own products in a Vitamix. Again, a quick online search or sift through Pinterest will reveal hundreds of quick and easy “recipes” for you to try, like this natural face mask made from a banana, some yogurt and an avocado. Hey, you can even eat the mask when you’re done! Ok maybe not, that’s gross.
Dog Food & Treats
Fur babies deserve healthy delicious food just as much as humans do, I mean, they are family! The good news is that you can use a Vitamix to easily whip them up delicious meals and treats in seconds that are free of by-products, additives and preservatives. Just remember to never include items like chocolate, onions, grapes, avocado, cheese, and coffee as these can all be harmful to pets.
Compost
Composting is a great way to create nutrient-rich soil for your garden, and to keep organic materials out of our landfills. You can use a Vitamix to speed up the process by tossing all your food scraps into the container after cooking or eating, adding some newspaper, coffee grounds, and anything else compostable, adding some water and blending to a puree. Work that puree directly into your garden soil, or add to your compost bin to use later on.
Finger Paint
My last surprising use for a Vitamix is to make chemical-free finger paint for the kidlets in your life. With just 2 cups of water, some cornstarch, sugar and food colouring, you can whip up enough finger paint to keep your children occupied for hours. This finger paint recipe from the Vitamix website suggests you divide your paint into four equal portions and stir in different colours of food colouring to produce your desired shade. Then store in jars until the next surge of creativity hits.
As you can see, there is no shortage of things you can do or make with a Vitamix blender. In fact, they are so versatile that they can effectively eliminate the need for kitchen appliances like a food processor, standard blender and juicer, and if you’re not sure where to start, most Vitamix models come with a comprehensive booklet filled with hundreds of recipes.
Tortilla soup, nut butter, and raspberry ice cream images courtesy of Vitamix.com.
