Should You Buy A Vitamix?

Tip matters: vitamix + watermelon + mint = the best watermelon margaritas you've ever had.

If you like to cook or you love to cook, chances are you have wondered about the Vitamix blender and why anybody would spend so much money on a blender. Could it really be worth it? 

I never thought I would invest (and that is really what it is) in a Vitamix. I bought a good quality blender and called it a day. When that one died, I replaced it with another one—a little bit better in quality. When that one died, I did the same thing. 

As my cooking skills advanced over the years, my desire for the best cooking products advanced as well. After all, if you invest in quality products, and take care of them, they last. Take knives for example. I admit I have a bit of a knife fetish, I love each and every knife in my wooden drawer knife “block.” Some of my knives cost over $100, but guess what? I have had them for two decades and they are still awesome. 

Back to blenders. It was during the lifespan of that third blender when I began to seriously ponder getting a Vitamix. After much thought, lots of research, and a little bit of pleading with my husband, I took the plunge and bought the $500 plus machine. As I took it out of the box, I noticed a few things. First, that it wasn’t made of gold or studded with diamonds. Second, how light the plastic carafe is. Last, how heavy the base of the blender is—i.e. it’s motor is super strong. 

So, what was my verdict? Yes, it was definitely worth it. Folks, a Vitamix can blend ANYTHING. Raw nuts? No problem. Toss in some raw cashews with a little lemon juice and some water and in just a minute you have cashew cream—a wonderful substitute for heavy cream , sour cream or mayonnaise in soups and dips. Want some cream of broccoli and cheddar soup? Toss in some steamed broccoli with some shredded cheddar, milk and seasonings and in a few minutes it won’t just be creamy, it will be HOT. Don’t even get me started on the best frozen margaritas you have ever had in your life. No ice chunks—just a perfectly smooth frozen concoction. 

At the end of the day, would I say getting a Vitamix is life changing? Well, no I wouldn’t. But if you like or love to cook, I can say that once you use a Vitamix, you can never go back to the lowly blender. It’s probably the same feeling that person who drives a Ferrari has—there is no way they are ever going back to a Prius.

Be a Better Cook

“The only real stumbling block is the fear of failure. In cooking, you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”

— Julia Child

Have you ever tasted a dish made by someone else and loved it, but when you tried to recreate it, even using their recipe, found that it was not as good? Before accusing them of trying to sabotage you by leaving out the “secret” ingredient, read on for some tried and true advice to help you elevate your cooking status. 

Invest in good quality kitchen equipment. I don’t mean you need an entire set of high end pots and pans, which can set you back 400$ or more. Instead, get a good quality stock pot and a cast iron skillet. Cast iron, when seasoned properly, is very similar to a non-stick skillet. Nothing beats a cast iron skillet for searing a steak, cooking the perfect hamburger, or cooking pretty much anything. If you take good care of your cookware, it will last you a LONG time. Cast iron lasts forever. Of course never put your quality pots and pans in the dishwasher, and soap is not a friend to cast iron. 

Another thing worth investing in are knives. Don’t bother buying an entire set of knives—you really only need three: a chef’s knife (8 or 10 inch), a paring knife, and a serrated knife. If you purchase good ones and take care of them, you will have them for decades. How do you take care of knives? Of course don’t put them in the dishwasher, only cut on a wooden surface (not plastic), don’t leave them in a stainless steel sink, and have them professionally sharpened a few times a year. 

Use the best quality ingredients you can afford. I am a big fan of buying local when you can. I love supporting local farmers who are raising their animals humanely and properly—cows should eat grass, pigs should forage in the woods, and chickens should be outside roaming, pecking on worms and insects. If you cannot find local farmers to supply you with meat, consider ordering online. A good place to start is by visiting www.eatwild.com and click on your home state. Many farms will ship directly to you or have a farm store on site. Besides tasting better, quality protein is much healthier for you. 

Don’t be afraid of butter. Seek out butter that comes from grass fed cows—it tastes infinitely better than butter from industrial farms. 

Ditto for salt. Look for the beautiful pink Himalayan sea salt—from the Himalayan mountains. The salt tastes “clean” and is loaded with important minerals you won’t find in other salts. 

Fresh herbs make just about any dish taste better. In the summer, try growing some in your back yard or in pots on your deck or patio. They are super easy to grow—as long as they get plenty of sunshine. 

Good quality olive oil. This is something that makes me crazy. Most of that olive oil in the grocery store is not even good for you. Seek out imported varieties—a little drizzle of good olive oil at the end of cooking can really elevate a dish. I cook with lots of avocado oil and coconut oil as well—often saving my expensive olive oil for a final drizzle or for salad dressing. For the past year or so, I have been a member of an olive oil club (yes, there are such things). The owner visits small olive oil vineyards all around the world, samples their product, then ships bottles to members every quarter. The olive oil has been incredible! The owner includes information about each vineyard and suggestions for food pairings. The club is called Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club and you can find out more here.

Taste. Taste. And then taste again—while you are cooking. So many times when diagnosing a cooking problem for a home cook, I find their main problem is not tasting while cooking. If you salt a dish at the end, it tastes salty. If you salt during the cooking, it will taste seasoned. Big difference. 

Read a new recipe several times before trying it. Get your mise en place ready before you begin cooking—that means have everything chopped up and in little bowls or piles on your cutting board. If you change the recipe by adding more butter or herbs, make a note of it—that way, if the recipe is a keeper, you will know what changes you made. 

Lastly, relax. After all, you are just cooking dinner. Pour a glass of wine, turn on some music, and enjoy the process. 

Some of my favorite tips by the late and much missed Julia Child include:

“People who love to eat are always the best people.” 

“A party without cake is really just a meeting.” 

“With enough butter, anything is good.” 

“Everything in moderation…including moderation.” 

Essential Tools For The Kitchen

Even if cooking is not your passion, chances are you have plenty of kitchen gadgets and tools—many of which you might rarely use. I love buying things for my kitchen—in fact, I get giddy with excitement when I walk into Williams Sonoma or even Bed, Bath and Beyond. 

Coming up with a short list of some essential kitchen tools and gadgets was really easy—I just thought about things I use almost everyday or weekly. Here is the list! 

*Slow cookers—small, medium and large. The small size is perfect for keeping queso warm at parties. The medium size is great for a weeknight soup or chili. The large is essential for cooking a whole chicken, a large roast, or for making homemade stock and bone broths. 

*Good quality knives. Granted, I have a rather large collection of knives which is unnecessary to be a good cook. I just happen to love knives. You really only need a few—a paring knife, an 8-inch chef knife, a carving knife and a bread knife. Take care of your knives and they will last for decades. Don’t ever put them in the dishwasher, don’t leave them on a stainless steel sink, and only cut on wood, not plastic. Get your knives professionally sharpened once a year or so. 

*Whisks and tongs. These are tools I reach for on a daily basis—I truly cannot imagine a kitchen without whisks and tongs of several sizes. 

*Citrus zester.  Citrus zest is a fantastic ingredient that many home cooks forget about. Zest some onto pasta or fish. Try putting zest in a pan sauce. Zest adds zing to your homemade salad dressings. Stir some zest into mayonnaise. You can even mix citrus zest with sea salt and dip your margarita glass into it for an awesome salty rim. 

*Nutmeg grater. Freshly grated nutmeg is far superior in flavor to store bought ground nutmeg. Grate some in all of your favorite spinach dishes—creamed spinach, hot spinach dip. Of course nutmeg is wonderful in many baked goods and even on your latte or hot apple cider. 

*Cast iron skillet. I love my cast iron skillets and use them pretty much daily. I love that they go from the stove top to the oven and that you can get such a great sear with them. Season your skillet before using and never put it in the dishwasher or use soap on it. When properly seasoned, cast iron is also non-stick. 

*Food processor. Once you make pie dough in the food processor, you will realize what an indispensable tool it really is. Pie dough comes together in minutes when you let your food processor do the work. Need to grate a big block of cheese? The food processor does it in about a minute. 

*Immersion blender. Before I bought one of these, I used to make such a mess when it came to pureeing soup in the blender. Now, I just stick my immersion blender right in the soup pot and voila! 

*Handheld mandolin. I do have a professional grade mandolin that is wonderful when cooking for a crowd—think homemade potato chips or sweet potato chips for a party of eight. But on weeknights when it is just the two of us, a small, plastic hand held mandolin is amazing. No matter how good your knife skills are, you could never slice vegetables as thin and as even as a mandolin does. 

*Electric citrus juicer. Sure I use a handheld juice press for my morning lemon water, but when you want to make fresh citrus margaritas, there is no tool more welcome than my electric citrus juicer. In just minutes you can juice limes, lemons, oranges and grapefruits—and this tool truly gets ALL the juice out of the citrus. 

Of course there are other tools and gadgets I love, but these are some of my top picks. What tool and gadget can you not live without?

Buying Safe Pet Food

If you are like most people, you probably think that if pet food can be sold at stores, the food is perfectly safe for your pet. But is that really true? 

I was surprised to learn that the FDA doesn’t regulate pet foods—it just makes sure the ingredients are “generally recognized as safe,” (GRAS), and makes sure pet foods are labeled properly. That doesn’t reassure me at all! 

When our little dog began having skin problems which were making her miserable, we took her to the Vet. After taking antibiotics and steroids, her skin cleared up, only to break out again. That’s when I began investigating dog food and what I could try to help heal her naturally without drugs. 

I learned so much and most of it was alarming. For one thing, I learned that chicken is often the culprit when it comes to food allergies in dogs, and guess what the most common protein in dog foods is? Yep. Chicken. When we made that simple switch for our big dog, going from chicken to a fish based food, her problematic ear problem cleared up within weeks and she never had any ear issues again. 

Our little dog took much more experimentation before we found a food that worked for her. It’s organic, and made by a small company who prides itself in making pet foods that are made with quality ingredients. I have never seen a dog like its food as much as she does. No, it’s not cheap—in fact, it’s quite pricey. But when you add up what I was spending every time I took her to the Vet, not to mention how worried I was about what the meds were doing to her insides, the price of her food is worth it to me. 

As with human food, it is important to read the ingredient labels on your pets’ food. If there are lots of fillers (think corn, which is not supposed to be good for pets) and chemicals and other things you have no idea what they are, maybe you should re-think your choice. My advice is to find a good pet store that has knowledgeable staff. I am lucky enough to live in an area that has an excellent, family owned and operated pet store. They are not only knowledgeable, they also truly love and care about animals. They don’t even stock pet foods that contain harmful ingredients. If you don’t live near such a store, do your own research and order food for your pet online if you cannot find it in a store. 

The same goes for pet treats. Remember back in 2007 when so many pets died after eating treats made in another country? One way to avoid that is to make homemade pet treats with human-grade ingredients. Here is an easy recipe for dog treats:

Banana and Peanut Butter Bites

1 banana, mashed

1 cup oat flour

2/3 cup rolled oats

½ cup dried parsley

3 tablespoons peanut butter

1 egg

Preheat oven to 300-degrees. In a bowl, combine mashed bananas, oat flour, rolled oats, dried parsley, peanut butter and egg. Roll into small balls and place on parchment lined baking sheets. Press each ball a little to flatten it. Bake for 40 minutes. Cool and then store in a plastic container in the refrigerator. 

For most of us, our pets are truly family members. Although it might seem like one more thing to do, check out your pet’s food ingredient label and make sure you know what your pet is consuming. 

What do you feed your pet? Our little dog Indigo absolutely loves Honest Kitchen’s Grain Free Cage Free Turkey food.