Two years ago marked the point in my life when I first laid my eyes on a Vitamix. It wasn’t love at first sight. In fact, it was quite the opposite. 500 bucks for a blender… really?? My mother in law lugged that baby all the way from the U.S. to Taiwan. That thing weighs 15 pounds. 50 pounds is the max for one luggage. That means 1/3 capacity is gone just for ONE blender. I wanted to believe it was worth it.
I didn’t.
The only thing I saw it doing was saying ‘hell yeah’ to a smoothie. That and sitting in the cabinet singing its rendition of ‘All By Myself’.
Ok, fine. The smoothie thing… I’ll admit that it was pretty darn impressive. Drop a pear and a couple of other stuff in and in less than a minute, I was downing a no chunk, no fuss, pure delicious creamy pear smoothie right before my eyes.
But was that it? What else was it capable of doing?
One year later, I started Curious Nut and I needed ideas. Looking back at my first month of posts, I realize two things. One, my pictures are cringe worthy (the recipes are top notch though). Two, and more importantly, out of nine posts, five were Vitamix related.
I suppose subconsciously, ideas meant exploring Vitamix. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until I made the ultimate thing, the life changing thing… in a fraction of time that I was totally swept off my feet by it.
I guess I can say that in the beginning, I was the clueless one. It wasn’t the Vitamix’s fault. It was mine. You WERE worth it. All 15 pounds of you. But you were never mine. So I got a new you. Sorry, old you.
And so, now my life has Vanilla Cashew Almond Butter. Wait till I show you what I do with this butter. Just you wait…. in another post. Soon.
Quick Recipe Makes a little less than 2 cups butter
what you need:
1 1/2 cup roasted & unsalted almonds
1 1/2 cup roasted & unsalted cashews
1 1/2 tbs vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
directions:
1. Add the nuts, vanilla and salt into your Vitamix blender.
2. Secure the lid along with the tamper. Turn on the blender and immediately increase the speed to ‘10’ and change to HIGH.
3. Use the tamper to press the nuts down on the edges. Do so for 1 minute until the butter becomes creamy and starts to flow.
4. Switch to LOW and decrease the speed to ‘1’.
5. Transfer butter to an airtight glass jar/bottle, let cool and refrigerate. (It should keep for up to 6 months although it usually finishes within weeks days).
6. Spread on toast or use as a dip or just eat it straight up.
Notes:
1. For more in-depth information (eg. dry vs wet container, raw vs roasted nuts) and a video on making nut butter in a Vitamix, check it out here. The post is on almond but any nuts apply.
2. If you want the consistency of the butter thinner, blend the butter a couple more times with each blending not exceeding 1 minute.
3. Do not let the Vitamix run continuously for more than 1 minute without resting in between especially once it reaches the state where it’s ‘liquid’ or you’ll risk overheating your motor.
P/S: Of course smoothie and nut butter are not the only things a Vitamix can do. Perhaps one day I shall write a post solely on all its capabilities. But for now, you guys are just going to get chunks of it.
My last post: Bulgogi Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich
What 15 pound machine is worth it for you?
