One of my favorite rooms in the house, no kidding, is the kitchen. I love to cook. Grocery shopping is my favorite errand. Since The Simple Year project started, I’ve been streamlining our overstuffed kitchen, as evidenced by a bunch of previous posts. There’s always this running commentary going on in the back of my mind whenever I’m in the kitchen. Do we use this regularly? Is this utensil/serving piece/gadget really necessary? Can something else serve its purpose?
Over spring break we headed to Costco to use the rebate from our Costco related American Express credit card. I’d heard through a friend on Facebook that they had the Vitamix for sale. I’ve been wanting one of those bad boys for years. And when I say years, I mean, like YEAAAAAAAARS. But I could never justify the price tag. The price on the Vitamix last week was the lowest I’d ever seen. So we pounced.
It’s so pretty. And works great. And I’m loving it.
And having the Vitamix means we don’t also need an ice cream maker, food processor or Ninja blender. So I’m in the process of selling those. I’ve unloaded the ice cream maker and the food processor and have two interested buyers for the Ninja. If that one comes through (I’m crossing my fingers!), the money from the sales added with the Costco rebate will cover the cost of the Vitamix.
And within one week, my kitchen has two fewer gadgets. Zero to complain about there. I’m having lots of fun trying different recipes for the Vitamix and my eating has gotten a lot cleaner since. I’m pretty much focusing my diet (meaning way of eating, not a temporary way of eating while you lose weight) on plant-based foods which makes meal prep a lot easier. And, score, so far I’ve lost 7 pounds without ever being hungry.
I’m still providing meat and dairy to Stephen and the kids, but I’ll be honest, the kids aren’t enormous meat eaters even when it’s provided. Stephen is eating less for whatever reason, but he still does eat some. We’ve been watching a lot of documentaries on plant based diets, which is having an impact on both of us.
I can’t complain about the increase in kitchen space, although to be honest, it’s not like we don’t have plenty of it. But I replaced three gadgets with one, which makes me happy.
Do any of you have a Vitamix? If so, please let me know if you have a favorite resource for recipes! Happy Wednesday everyone.
I have had a Vitamix for years. I used to use it a lot, especially making smoothies before smoothies became trendy. Now that everyone and their brother is into smoothies I no longer make them because I’m contrary like that. I’m especially contrary and cranky because winter just won’t go away so I probably shouldn’t be commenting on anything at all !!
This was a great comment!
Nothing wrong with being contrary!
Are you on a certain plant based lifestyle plan? My hubby and I are on the same boat. We mostly eat plant based and are still eating up a few things before hitting it hard core next week. I’m interested in Dr. Furhmans eat to live plan. The engine 2 diet is pretty similar I think but eat to live says no salt or refined/extracted oils. I have had the vitamix since 2001. I actually on he second one and when my oldest son got married we gifted them one also. I still have my food processor and would not get rid of it. The vitamix is a wonderful tool not to do without but for making raw/plant based cookies he food processor rules.
No, nothing specific, just gradually moving to more plant based foods.
Awesome! I have been drooling over a Vitamix myself and knowing that I can make my own ice cream is awesome and makes me want one even more. I have been making due with what we have a Cuisinart for blending and our own ice cream machine. I love the fact that you can blend a 2×4 with a Vitamix and it still keeps on. Not that I would do that but, it might be fun.
Enjoy your vitamix. We’ve had a Vitamix for over 10 years and use it at least once/day. However, I’d recommend keeping your food processor. I don’t use mine nearly as often as the vitamix, no more than once/week or less on average. But there are just some things that it works so much better for than the Vitamix for. (One comment above mentioned raw cookies/bars–that is my number one use. Also shredding veggies for coleslaw, etc. Mine has a slicing/grating blade that works great.) We use the vitamix for all the regular things, and then some, but I have two favorite healthy coffee drinks I make. One for winter, one for summer.
For winter, a pumpkin spice chia latte. I cook and freeze pumpkin/squash and I use about 1/2 cup or more of that, in a TALL mug, then fill it with about half milk and half extra strong cold brew decaf. I microwave it for about 3 minutes till super hot-almost boiling, then dump it in the vitamix with about 1/4 cup of really THICK chia gel and a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice and some honey. Then blend it till the pumpkin is totally smooth and the whole thing is frothy. Yummy and pretty healthy.
For summer, I make a frozen banana chia latte. 1 frozen banana, lots of chia gel, milk, really strong cold decaf and some ice cubes. Blend in vitamix. If you use enough ice, it is super thick and ice cream like.
I have a VitaMix, and I admit I don’t use it as often as I used to. When I was young and going to the gym, one or two smoothies a day went through the vitamix…now, not so much. I use it for soups this winter. In the past I explored the “overheat” feature when I triedto make hummus (need more oil). The machiine stopped, but recovered on its own after it cooled down.
I do not have a food processor. I find that chopping or slicing by hand is less tedious than cleaning the food processor, and having it jam when I feed it.
Roberta – I like to chop produce by hand as well. Do you have a good hummus recipe? I’m looking for one.
I think I just fell in love with you and your blog all over again. I have been doing the same thing, selling items to save for my desired Vitamix. Half way there, yay me! Still waiting for it to drop in price up here in the great white north. Anyways for weeks now as I started reading from the start I have been Amening Sister and following along as I have been working on the same simplification in our house as well. 2014 has been all about the great purge to help this family of 6 feel a tad less cozy in our 2000 sq ft home (total space). Keep up the good work, you are a great motivation!
Thank you for the super sweet comment! I hope you get your Vitamix soon — you’ll love it!
I cleared out two drawers in the kitchen. I had just gotten some new utensils and put one of a set in the donate box (duplicated) but keep the other three items (not duplicated). The donate box has been removed from the house (yea!) but guess what husband pulled out? Yup, the duplicated item.