vitamix! YAY!!!!

so... i got some money from christmas and my birthday to use towards a vitamix... i didn't want to get one before korea because i was sure i would be thinking about it going unused for a month and it would TORTURE me!!!
so i finally have one and just 2 days ago, i finally used it!!!
first things first... a smoothie!

one of paul's favourites is matcha with frozen banana, almond milk and a bit of maple syrup (which i used) or dates. GLORIOUS. and wow, so quick to make AND ridiculously smooth.

i kept with the green theme... and put carrot, broccoli in with some filtered water and tahini, some garlic, red onion, salad booster, nutritional yeast, a pinch of himalayan salt, some lemon.... blended that for 5 minutes and it was nice and hot. tried it and it had TOO much taste. i added some macadamia nut cheese (which i found quite bland) and maybe it helped, maybe it didn't.
finally, i served it with some pieces of sesame gaufrette from organic lives.... i think that might be the key for me: adding texture to soup. making something so smooth is exciting but i think soup tastes better if it has chunks in it. i tried this soup with the strange carrot pulp stuff i made earlier too. except that got all soggy and i didn't like it so much. next time i think i'll add some finely chopped veggies.

i had some left over still the next day and so i tried it with fresh dill and zucchini and cauliflower on top.

 it was still not good. boo. i have to keep things simple i guess. i will use more veggies and less spices or pungents (ie onions, garlic) next time. i'm going to have to try some of the soup recipes from the sunny raw kitchen. i did manage to finish the strange soup tonight, however, when i added a million slices of carrots!
the real hit of last night was my old faithful marinara sauce ala ani phyo. you can get the recipe most similar to what i did here. i love how quick it is. throw it all in the blender and it's done! usually i use the spirooli to make zucchini noodles but tonight i rinsed and soaked some kelp noodles. and i mixed the sauce in with them and had them sit for awhile in the dehydrator. i don't know if that's the trick to getting the crunchiness out but wow, they were so soft and noodley! so awesome!!! oh yah and the 'parmesan' on top is brazil nuts and nutritional yeast that i crumbled in the food processor.

later that night, paul made rooibos tea and well, i couldn't resist using the blender yet again so i poured it in with a couple dates and some almond milk. YES FOAM!!!! paul said it tasted like perfume. but i liked it. so there.

 and finally... i made some ice cream, inspired by this. frozen banana with frozen blueberries, blended with a pinch of cardamon and a splash of almond milk.

i <3 my vitamix!!!