Friday, November 6, 2015

The Vitamix Cookbook Review

We drink a lot of green smoothies. For years, we had a pretty affordable blender that worked fine. I always said I didn’t need a Vitamix and that I couldn’t imagine spending that much money on a blender. But then our trusty blender broke one day, and we were in the market for a new blender. I did quite a bit of research and kept coming back to the Vitamix. After all, we use our blender almost every day for green smoothies and sometimes for pureed soups. And I read that there was a real difference in the texture of smoothies and soups made in a Vitamix. We therefore decided to bite the bullet and get Vitamix.

We got the more affordable model without all the bells and whistles, but it works great! It was an investment I never regretted as the smoothies and soups are just so much creamier. Plus, the Vitamix can handle all the ice and harder, frozen veggies & fruits you put in it. In the past, I had to always partially defrost most veggies and fruits; looking back that was quite a hassle. I am happy that I chose a quality product that will work for many years to come.

While I love our Vitamix, we have really only been using it for smoothies lately. I was therefore excited when I was contacted to see if I wanted to review The Vitamix Cookbook. The book is written by the president and CEO of Vitamix, Jodi Berg. It sounded like the perfect book to put the Vitamix to use more. And the book did not disappoint.


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Berg starts the book with a little background on the fourth-generation family company, her family, as well as her food philosophy. She discusses why it’s important to choose whole foods and includes handy information like a list of the dirty dozen and the clean fifteen as well as conversion charts from Fahrenheit to Celsius and cups to milliliters.

Here is a look at the chapters in the book. As you can see, the recipes go far beyond green smoothies & pureed soups!

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I looked through the book when I got it and was immediately drawn to a wide variety of recipes and the beautiful pictures that accompany some of the recipes (I wish every recipe came with a photo, but that would have probably made the book too long as it is already very substantial with 380 pages). And in the end, more recipes are more useful than more photos!

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The kid and Andy also looked through the book on their own because I left it on the coffee table. Both told me a long list of recipes they wanted me to make. I also picked out some. Everything I have made so far has turned out great. In the next weeks, I will share one of our favorite recipes from the book with you.

Finally, I really like the index of The Vitamix Cookbook as it is organized by ingredients (but also by breakfast. entrees, etc.), something I wish all cookbooks would do as it is so convenient! For example, if I have way too many bananas on my counter, I can see what recipes in the book use bananas.

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Questions: Do you have a blender? If so, how often, and for what recipes, do you use it? Do you have a Vitamix? If so, what do you use it for? 

Be well,
Andrea

[Disclosures: 1. I was provided a free copy of The Vitamix Cookbook: 250 Delicious Whole Food Recipes to Make in Your Blender. No other compensation was provided for this post. As always, all opinions are my own. 2. Links in this post are affiliate links and may generate a commission for Andrea’s Wellness Notes if you make a purchase using them.]