Cooking with Vitamix blenders

[stephen129]

I realise I am years late to the party, but I was always put off by the price. Recently found one for £180, supposedly only used 12 times. What shall I cook?

 

I have a loads of frozen peas in the fridge, wanted to make a nice clean pea soup (no added ham or bacon). If anyone has a decent recipe, I'm all ears.

 

Aside from that, what are your favourite things to make in your Vitamix and any general advice when using it? 

[Okanagancook]

This is a useful site.  Keep it on the counter so it is used.  Soup in the Vitamix will never need straining.

 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Okanagancook (log)

[ElsieD]

Agree with @Okanagancook.   It does a wonderful job on soups and anything else you want liquified.  If you don't have an ice crusher, it works well for that.

[Kim Shook]

I would love to know how folks get sticky, goopy (think peanut butter or hummus) stuff out of the bottom of it?  My first blender had a removable bottom and you could unscrew it and get all of the blended stuff off the blades.  With the VitaMix, I feel like I waste so much.  

[Vapre]

51 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I would love to know how folks get sticky, goopy (think peanut butter or hummus) stuff out of the bottom of it?  My first blender had a removable bottom and you could unscrew it and get all of the blended stuff off the blades.  With the VitaMix, I feel like I waste so much.  

 

It's not cheap (nothing by Vitamix is) but I recently got their scraper after tearing up a few spatulas on the blades trying to get the last bits scraped out. It won't get everything but it works pretty well, better than regular spatulas.

https://www.vitamix.com/us/en_us/shop/blade-scraper

[blue_dolphin]

9 hours ago, stephen129 said:

I have a loads of frozen peas in the fridge, wanted to make a nice clean pea soup (no added ham or bacon). If anyone has a decent recipe, I'm all ears.

 

I don't have a Vitamin but I've used my Blendtec to make the classic Gordon Ramsay broccoli soup recipe as written and with various other vegetables.  It absolutely lets beautiful vegetables shine. Fresh sugar snap peas were particularly nice.  If you've got lovely peas, I'm sure this would make a lovely soup of them, too. I wouldn't try it with any veg that are old, tired or otherwise sub par.

[Kim Shook]

9 hours ago, Vapre said:

 

It's not cheap (nothing by Vitamix is) but I recently got their scraper after tearing up a few spatulas on the blades trying to get the last bits scraped out. It won't get everything but it works pretty well, better than regular spatulas.

https://www.vitamix.com/us/en_us/shop/blade-scraper

Thank you!  I just put it on my wishlist - it is the perfect size for a stocking stuffer!  

 

I just noticed that you are in Bridgewater.  Do you ever get over to the Richmond area?  If you do and you'd like to get together, let me know.  We've had awfully good luck meeting my eG friends in person.  

[paulraphael]

This Isi spatula is especially good at getting goo out of the bottom of a Vitamix. It's great for other things too. 

 

I don't use the Vitamix as often as our friends who think smoothies are a lifestyle, but I depend on it for quite a few things. In no particular order:

 

-Nut butters (people say you can't get them perfectly smooth in a blender, but I find it makes them as smooth as anything from the store. Just make sure the nuts are oily enough ... 60% plus)

-Ice cream

-Soups

-Some sauces (anything you want velvety smooth, and don't want to have to strain; anything you need to disperse hydrocolloids into but have more more than your stick blender can handle)

-Vegetable purees (almost anything besides potatoes)

-Things that will be foamed in a whipping siphon

-Frozen drinks

-Hummus

 

Edited October 23, 2019 by paulraphael (log)

[scubadoo97]

20 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

I would love to know how folks get sticky, goopy (think peanut butter or hummus) stuff out of the bottom of it?  My first blender had a removable bottom and you could unscrew it and get all of the blended stuff off the blades.  With the VitaMix, I feel like I waste so much.  

I use a silicone spatula to tease out the last bit.  Run the blades to move the last bit to the sides of the container 

[Vapre]

11 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Thank you!  I just put it on my wishlist - it is the perfect size for a stocking stuffer!  

 

I just noticed that you are in Bridgewater.  Do you ever get over to the Richmond area?  If you do and you'd like to get together, let me know.  We've had awfully good luck meeting my eG friends in person.  

 

I'm in C'ville more than Richmond but I will let you know next time I'm over your way.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Take out the spatula before you run the motor.

 

[gfweb]

I got a  blendtech on sale years ago.  I make soup twice a year. 

 

Expensive soup. 

[blue_dolphin]

7 hours ago, gfweb said:

I got a  blendtech on sale years ago.  I make soup twice a year. 

 

Expensive soup. 

 

I use my blendtec quite often.  Getting the smaller and ridiculously overpriced Twister jars certainly increased my usage.  I got this one and a smaller one they're not currently offering on some kind of a deal.  Those jars and the spatula that comes with should be part of the original equip.

[chromedome]

I can't help much, because I basically only ever use mine to crush ice. Mind you, mine is one of the vintage stainless-steel variety and I got it for $25 at the thrift store, so I'm fine with that.

A former co-worker who was an evangelist for the brand (imagine sharing a small office with someone who's a vegan, an insurance salesperson and a member of a cult, all at one and the same time...) told me that there's basically nothing you can't clean out of a Vitamix by pouring in a drop or two of dish soap and some boiling water, and then just letting it run and clean itself. YMMV, depending on levels of goopiness.

[Anna N]

50 minutes ago, chromedome said:

A former co-worker who was an evangelist for the brand (imagine sharing a small office with someone who's a vegan, an insurance salesperson and a member of a cult, all at one and the same time...) told me that there's basically nothing you can't clean out of a Vitamix by pouring in a drop or two of dish soap and some boiling water, and then just letting it run and clean itself. YMMV, depending on levels of goopiness.

Yes but it’s not very tasty —not even if you’re a vegan. 

[paulraphael]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

... there's basically nothing you can't clean out of a Vitamix by pouring in a drop or two of dish soap and some boiling water, and then just letting it run and clean itself. YMMV, depending on levels of goopiness.

 

That's definitely how you clean it. The challenge is scraping it out beforehand, so as much food as possible makes it into your belly rather than into a detergent smoothie. 

[jedovaty]

I've used my vitamix for making flours from grains/seeds.  It works very well, just make sure to freeze the grains/seeds if you want a finer flour.  Wheat berries, oats, buckwheat, rice, quinoa, etc.  I've made breads, pancakes, waffles, noodles, etc, with all these.  I've since repurposed my big coffee grinder for this, because I can no longer drink coffee, but the vitamix works just fine and you don't need a fancy flour grinder.

 

You can also make your own powdered sugar (1-5% starch to sugar)**, pulverize caramel, or break up toasted sugar.  Helps to chill/freeze ingredients first to allow slightly longer blending time for consistently smoother end product, but make sure it's very dry.  Pulverize salt to make a lifetime batch of pickling or popcorn salt.

 

Pulverize various herbs and spices with salt and dried mushrooms to make costco-sized batches of "umami powder". 

 

Note that blending salt and dried herbs/spices may slightly fog-up the container in long term.

 

As others have mentioned, you can make soups.  Additionally, you can make "vegan cream" soups by slowly pouring in olive oil with the blender on max - of course, do this after the soup has already been blended.  This creates an emulsification, and is actually quite good (works fantastic for tomato or asparagus or cauliflower soups).  Other soups that work well are squash soups.  Blend half your soup if doing vege or bean soups.

 

Make cauliflower "rice": fill vitamix with water and drop in your cauliflower, and pulse a bit, then strain.  Make "whipped" cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes by using steamed cauliflower and garlic with a little steaming water and butter to blend into a mash.

 

Nut butters work "okay" with the vitamix, but you'll never get them as smooth as with an indian wet grinder.  You can also make stuff like dosa batter, but again, indian wet grinder will work better for this.

 

It works for hummus and baba ganoush, especially if you are like me and despise cleaning the food processor.  Olive oil emulsifies well in this, too

 

I use my washed hands to get stuff out from around the blades.. very careful not to cut myself.  I've got tiny spatulas from C&B that work well to clean up the sides.

 

I have both dry and regular containers, and am happy to share test results I did with wheat berries if you are interested.. my conclusion was that the dry container is really not necessary.

 

As you can see, the vitamix has gotten quite a workout with me!  Hope this is helpful.

 

** powdered sugar is cheap, but, I do this because the "organic" powdered sugar here contains tapioca starch instead of cornstarch, and I've found it to behave strangely in baked goods...

Edited October 23, 2019 by jedovaty (log)

[Okanagancook]

@jedovaty Thanks for sharing the above information.  I have wheat berries in the freezer at the moment and want to make some pitas in the next few days.  Can you share your grinding technique for making the berries into flour for pitas?  Thanks.

[jedovaty]

33 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

@jedovaty Thanks for sharing the above information.  I have wheat berries in the freezer at the moment and want to make some pitas in the next few days.  Can you share your grinding technique for making the berries into flour for pitas?  Thanks.

I used to only grind about a cup of berries at a time (150-200g), since I hadn't had a need for more.  You just put the frozen berries in, start on low, rotate to max.  Let it run maybe 45-60 seconds.  If you have the dry container, you may need to let it run a little longer.  You can sift if you like; using the #40 from breadtopia will give you about 80-85% extraction.  My vitamix is a ~9 year old 5200, looks like the new models are a bit different cosemtically, so results may be different?

Edited October 23, 2019 by jedovaty (log)

[teonzo]

If you don't have an ice-cream machine then you can make a fake ice-cream: freeze the ice-cream / sorbet base (ice cube trays are the better choice for this), then run the frozen base in the Vitamix. Not exactly ice-cream (overrun is almost null) but a good substitute.

 

If you like Nutella then you can make your own version starting from quality ingredients you like. There's not a real single recipe, everything depends on personal tastes, so you need some tries to find the ingredient balance you prefer.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[chromedome]

Oh...the mention of (wheat) berries in proximity to ice cream reminded me, you can also use the Vitamix to make instant sorbet. It's a pretty good party trick (and always a winner with kids/grandkids on a hot day). Drop frozen fruit or berries into the blender, and slowly drizzle in just enough simple syrup to make the fruit blend smoothly. Badda boom, done.

 

If you plan to freeze it for later you'll need to fuss more over the details, and get the proportions of fruit and sugar within the usual ranges. This is the quick & dirty, "immediate use" version.

[stephen129]

On 10/23/2019 at 3:15 PM, jedovaty said:

I've used my vitamix for making flours from grains/seeds.  It works very well, just make sure to freeze the grains/seeds if you want a finer flour.  Wheat berries, oats, buckwheat, rice, quinoa, etc.  I've made breads, pancakes, waffles, noodles, etc, with all these.  I've since repurposed my big coffee grinder for this, because I can no longer drink coffee, but the vitamix works just fine and you don't need a fancy flour grinder.

 

You can also make your own powdered sugar (1-5% starch to sugar)**, pulverize caramel, or break up toasted sugar.  Helps to chill/freeze ingredients first to allow slightly longer blending time for consistently smoother end product, but make sure it's very dry.  Pulverize salt to make a lifetime batch of pickling or popcorn salt.

 

Pulverize various herbs and spices with salt and dried mushrooms to make costco-sized batches of "umami powder". 

 

Note that blending salt and dried herbs/spices may slightly fog-up the container in long term.

 

As others have mentioned, you can make soups.  Additionally, you can make "vegan cream" soups by slowly pouring in olive oil with the blender on max - of course, do this after the soup has already been blended.  This creates an emulsification, and is actually quite good (works fantastic for tomato or asparagus or cauliflower soups).  Other soups that work well are squash soups.  Blend half your soup if doing vege or bean soups.

 

Make cauliflower "rice": fill vitamix with water and drop in your cauliflower, and pulse a bit, then strain.  Make "whipped" cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes by using steamed cauliflower and garlic with a little steaming water and butter to blend into a mash.

 

Nut butters work "okay" with the vitamix, but you'll never get them as smooth as with an indian wet grinder.  You can also make stuff like dosa batter, but again, indian wet grinder will work better for this.

 

It works for hummus and baba ganoush, especially if you are like me and despise cleaning the food processor.  Olive oil emulsifies well in this, too

 

I use my washed hands to get stuff out from around the blades.. very careful not to cut myself.  I've got tiny spatulas from C&B that work well to clean up the sides.

 

I have both dry and regular containers, and am happy to share test results I did with wheat berries if you are interested.. my conclusion was that the dry container is really not necessary.

 

As you can see, the vitamix has gotten quite a workout with me!  Hope this is helpful.

 

** powdered sugar is cheap, but, I do this because the "organic" powdered sugar here contains tapioca starch instead of cornstarch, and I've found it to behave strangely in baked goods...

 

 

What are the benefits of making your own flour compared to just buying some from the supermarket? It's never something I've considered doing myself. (Possibly because I rarely use flour anyway). Is there a big difference in flavour?

[stephen129]

Here's the pea soup I made. It was lovely. Got given a butternut squash, so going to make soup with that next. Then might try some vegetable purees to go with some proteins. I like the sound of the cauliflower one.

 

 

[jedovaty]

3 hours ago, stephen129 said:

 

What are the benefits of making your own flour compared to just buying some from the supermarket? It's never something I've considered doing myself. (Possibly because I rarely use flour anyway). Is there a big difference in flavour?

Flavor, variety, and bragging rights. 

 

You won't get white flour/all purpose/bread/etc, however, you'll be able to play with other variables such as milling/grinding coarseness, freshness, etc.  For bread, hydration will be a little different when compared to using whole wheat or rye flours.

Some people might benefit having whole berries from standpoint of long-term storage, the berries don't go bad as quickly as the milled flours.

Most of the places where I get wheat berries from also offer ground flours.  I just prefer saying I milled my own, vs having it already bought I guess.

You can always dip your toe in it and see if it's for you: some grocery stores will sell wheat berries in bulk, take a couple cups and try it.  A friend of mine tried this, bought some hard red winter wheat, ground it, made bread, alongside a second loaf using King Arthur brand whole wheat.  Any difference she attributed to imagined, and decided it wasn't worth the noise.  She's got access to variety, though, SF Bay area has some great sources for both berries and flour.

 

Slight tangent: I went through a "gluten free" phase a few years back, and ate buckwheat/soba noodles on a regular basis.  The 100% soba noodles were stupid expensive, so I simply bought buckwheat groats and made my own flour from the groats in the vitamix, way way cheaper.  But cost isn't always the case, it actually may end up more expensive depending on what type of grains/seeds you buy.

 

Nice pea soup, by the way, yum!!

[stephen129]

I mentioned to my friend that I bought a Vitamix, he mentioned it was dangerous to blend hot food? Any truth to this?

 

He linked me to this:

 

https://jenniferskitchen.com/2011/11/blending-hot-foods-in-a-blender.html

Edited October 25, 2019 by stephen129 (log)