I'm In Love With My Vita-Mix 5200-Health, Nutrition, and Delicious Foods Are Here To Stay

I recently acquired the Vita-Mix 5200 super duper blender machine and I have fallen in love with it. This is no ordinary blender (it is like the Rolls Royce of blenders or if a blender could be a superhero this would be it) as it can grind grains, beans, soybeans, peels of fruit and even chop carrots, olives, onions, eggs, cheese, you name it. I can make soups, fondues, whole food ice creams, you name it-really I have never seen anything like it. It sits on my counter and I must admit to being a little in awe of this machine that has changed the eating habits of my family for the better. You know you like something when your friends come over and you ask them if they noticed your Vita-Mix 5200 (either that or you are just nuts like me).

Basically, I can make all kinds of things and get the nutrients contained in whole foods that my family has been missing. The Vita-Mix can break through cell walls, seeds and pulp to give you the nutrients that you are probably not getting right now. An example of the benefits this super hero machine can bring are in blackberries and raspberries. “No other fruits can boast of so much disease fighting fiber (a ¾ cup serving gives you 6 grams of fiber-that is more than a cup of oat bran flakes). And the real bonus is that both raspberries and blackberries contain soluble fiber to whisk bad cholesterol from your body and insoluble fiber to help your heart and fight carcinogens that cause cancer. The ellagic acid found in the seeds of both berries is such a powerful cancer-preventive substance that a team of researchers at Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center have recently reclassified them as the first ever, “fruitaceutical”. Unfortunately, our teeth can’t break down berry seeds, so they pass through the body undigested. What the Vita-Mix 5200 does is pulverize berries-skins, seeds and all-and give you every bit of their disease preventive power”. I never realized that I was missing out on so much whole food nutrition until I started researching and got my Vita-Mix 5200.

Now what is even better than just having the Vita-Mix is the cookbook that came with it because I am absolutely, certainly and without a doubt the least domestic cooking type of person I have met to date. The cookbook provides recipes of soups, sauces, muffins, fondues, salsas, waffles, and on and on and it gives all the nutritional information as well as telling you how many calories are protein and carbs. I found the below chart interesting:

Vita Mix Whole Food Recipes, the Phytonutrient and what it fights against

Blueberry Kiss recipe has Anthocyanin that fights against Memory Loss
Flaxseed Bread recipe has Lignans that fight against Osteoporosis
Hummus has Tannins that fights against Diabetes
Lentil Soup recipe has Folate that fights against Heart Disease
Strawberry Grape Juice recipe has Reservatrol that fights against Breast Cancer
Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo recipe has Beta-Carotene that fights against Cataracts

These are just a few and to be honest there are so many incredible recipes with different health benefits that I really feel like I am just hitting the tip of the iceberg. Below are only a very few of the recipes that I have made (okay these are the easy ones because I am so not domestic so it has to be healthy, quick and easy-not an easy task but I can do it with the vita-mix). For me the bottom line is that I can take whole foods but them in my Vita-Mix, make delicious foods that are healthy and easy for my entire family. I love knowing that I am making a difference and my kids love all the smoothies cleverly disguised as milkshakes. Check out http://www.vita-mix.com/ for more benefits, recipes and videos. Here are a few of my favs:


Cream of Potato Soup

2 Yukon Gold potatoes
1 small onion
1 carrot
1 rib celery
1 cup cauliflower, cut in pieces
2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
¼ cup skim or lowfat milk

-cook potatoes in microwave for 8 minutes
-place onion, carrot, celery and cauliflower in a 2 quart saucepan. Cover with water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cook until tender. Set aside 1 heaping cup of cooked vegetables.
-place remaining vegetables, broth, potatoes and milk in Vita-Mix container.
-run on speed #10, variable 1 for 3 minutes
-Reduce speed to variable speed 2, add reserved vegetable and run for 5 seconds. Serve immediately.
(my kids love this and I leave out the cauliflower and add organic cheese on top).

Purple People Eater

1 ¼ cups vanilla nonfat frozen yogurt or ice cream
¼ cup of blueberries

-Place all ingredients in Vita-Mix container in order listed
-Select variable, speed 1
-Turn on machine and quickly increase speed to 10, then to high and run for 30 seconds or until smooth.

Garnish : Whipped topping, purple sugar crystals and gummy dinosaurs!

The kids go wild for this and we add gummy worms too. They are getting all the benefits of the blueberries-super.

Tofu Pancakes

¼ block (3 oz) tofu
1 cup soy milk
2 egg white or 1 whole egg
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking soda

-Place tofu, milk, egg white, sugar, oil and salt in container.
-Select variable, speed 1
-Turn on machine and quickly increase speed to 6. Run for 10 to 15 seconds
-Reduce speed to variable, speed 5. Add flour and baking soda through lid opening. Replace lid plug. Run for 15 seconds until mixed.
-pour ¼ cup batter onto hot, prepared griddle and bake.

I really cannot say enough wonderful things about my Vita-Mix and hope you will check out their website for more recipes and fun information.
www.vita-mix.com.