A Good Blender is a Good Investment

14 Written by Keith on February 4, 2010 – 12:17 pm

It’s the ingredients that matter the most, but it helps to have a great blender. A few years ago I invested in a Vita-Mix blender and, considering the use it gets, it’s been worth every penny. Vita-Mix gave me a fancy recipe book along with the blender; I use it occasionally. But, a Vita-Mix is so versatile that I can quite seriously put almost anything I want into it and it’ll get blended perfectly. With all the potentially fancy things I can make now, it’s the simplest recipes that sustain me. I thought today would make as good a time as any to post one of my standard concoctions for the Vita-Mix. I serve this to my kids for breakfast. It takes a grand total of 2 minutes to make and it’s ultra healthy and filling. It’s also not terribly expensive which it’s always a bonus. Here it is:

Ingredients:

Milk: Milk has a ton of health benefits. It’s good for bones, protein and losing weight. Read the science if you don’t believe it.

Wild Blueberries: Don’t substitute conventional blueberries. The wild ones are infinitely more nutritious. In fact there are twice as many antioxidants in wild blueberries as there are in cranberries or regular blueberries. Also remember frozen fruits are just as good or better than non frozen.

Bananas: If you eat them when they’re further along in the ripening process they’re more of a sweetener than a starch.

Cinnamon: Cinnamon has the second highest concentration of antioxidants of any of the common herbs and spices. (Oregano is the first)

Dry Oatmeal: Read my article on rolled oats vs. steel cut and you’ll see there is no nutritional difference between the two. Oatmeal is also good for controlling your cholesterol.

Honey: Honey has little nutritional value apart from its sugar content. But, it has other benefits. Natural medicine doctors say it helps with digestion and boosts the immune system.

Here is a video of me preparing my concoction.

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14 Responses to “A Good Blender is a Good Investment”

I need a better blender that’s for sure.

By Bob on February 4, 2010 | Reply
Very cool! I would substitute rice milk for milk….the hormones in dairy are not good for us at all….even organic….too many cancer studies link hormones from dairy and meats to many of our deadly diseases…..just fyi!

By Znette Milligan Blakeman on February 5, 2010 | Reply
Well, I appreciate the input. Rice milk really is a good option for people who are intolerant to milk (it’s quite nutritious in it’s own right). I’m just not going to switch from milk though as I’ve done quite a bit of study on my own. I must be reading different article about it because I’ve seen the exact opposite conclusions about milk. I’ve written two articles on the subject of milk too. It’s a drink that we’ve been drinking for thousands of years. Humans have evolved to drink it (at least those who aren’t intolerant).

By Keith on February 5, 2010 | Reply
Yummy! I like unsweetened almond milk as opposed to rice milk, less sugary. (My bod hates dairy-makes me sick.) But I’ve been thinking about getting a Vita Mix, so it’s nice to see it Keith-approved ha ha. Do you use it for more than smoothies though? What else have you done with it?

By MitziB on February 5, 2010 | Reply
I want a Vita Mix soooo bad. I’m saving up my allowance to get one. I’ve been assembling my morning smoothie at night in my blender carafe and mixing it in the morning while I make my son’s breakfast. I have a Cuisinart right now, but it just isn’t cutting it. Between that and wanting a home sous vide machine I think I might need to start a paper route.
PJ Mullen´s last blog ..Things to consider when naming a child

By PJ Mullen on February 5, 2010 | Reply
Mitzi: The vita-mix can be used for tons of stuff, but I usually use it for liquid recipes like smoothies. A somewhat surprising use for it is for soup which I do once in a while when I’ve feeling in a vita-mix mood. Yeah, you can put the soup ingredients right into it and just blend it for about 5 minutes. It’s a 2 HP motor so it produces enough heat to make hot soup! Isn’t that awesome Oh, and I agree about Almond milk being yummy. You can make almond milk with the vitamix actually.

By Keith on February 5, 2010 | Reply
PJ: The Vita-Mix has been one of the best kitchen investments I’ve ever made. I’ve had it for 2 years and It’s as good as new. It blends absolutely everything and leaves zero chunks. You can throw nuts, whole carrots or whatever into it and it’ll just liquefy it. I had a fancy juicer a while ago which was made completely irrelevant by the vita-mix. Yeah, definitely a good investment when you get the chance.

By Keith on February 5, 2010 | Reply
My Vita-Mix is hands down my fave kitchen tool… even over pots and pans and utensils! Great product and great company.
Tiffany´s last blog ..The Soda Stream for Homemade Soda

By Tiffany on February 6, 2010 | Reply
I love my Vita-Mix too. I’ve been using one for about 15 years. One of my favs is broccoli cheese soup.

Now that I’m living la vida low carb, I find that a most of the Vita-Mix recipes don’t apply in that they use fruit juice as a base. I’ve even modified my protein shake to use half the amount of carbs and more fat.

12 oz Half & Half Milk
1/2 cup Fage Total Yogurt (full fat, not 2% or 0%)
1 scoop of whey protein powder
1/2 banana
1/2 cup of frozen organic wild blueberries

Fat-Protein-Carbs ratio is 54-32-13

By MIke in Arizona on February 6, 2010 | Reply
Tiffany: We’re in complete agreement on this one. People who don’t have one have no idea what they’re missing and how crappy their current blender is by comparison. One use and I was hooked. Thanks for visiting!

By Keith on February 6, 2010 | Reply
Mike: Thanks so much for adding a recipe here! I buy the vanilla whey protein from GNC. It makes for a nice added flavor. Excellent recipe suggestion! Thanks for the comment

By Keith on February 6, 2010 | Reply
I use the Dymantize Elite Vanilla Whey Isolate. I’m going to switch to a concentrate due to a recent post from Mark’s Daily Apple:

marksdailyapple.com/whey-isolate-concentrate-hydrolysate/

This morning I replaced 6 oz of the half & half with heavy cream. It thickened it up a little and made it even yummier. FitDay shows the Fat-Protein-Carbs ratio as 73-14-13.

By MIke in Arizona on February 6, 2010 | Reply
We have a KitchenAid blender and it is terrific. I make smoothies for breakfast several times a week in the summer…and throughout the rest of the year.

I’m curious about the cinnamon. Does it make the smoothie very cinammon-y?

My favorite “go-to” smoothie consists of frozen strawberries, a banana, and vanilla yogurt.
Stephanie´s last blog ..Make Someone’s Day — Give…Baked Goods

By Stephanie on February 8, 2010 | Reply
P.S. I enjoyed the video. It’s always nice to “see” a recipe in-action.

Cool shirt too, by the way. Are you a big fan of Google?
Stephanie´s last blog ..Make Someone’s Day — Give…Baked Goods

By Stephanie on February 8, 2010 | Reply