How I love thee, let me count the ways.....

What you are looking at is a Vita-Mix. And if you have never heard of a Vita-Mix you are missing out. Don't make the mistake of thinking this is a blender. This is so much more!!!

Let me give you an idea of why I SO love mine. I'll do this by outlining my day for you.

First, you must understand that my kids are picky eaters. (Which they DIDN'T get from me, no matter what my mom says! She used to call me picky niki because I didn't like sweet and sour. Oh, if sweet and sour were the ONLY thing my kids didn't like.) Anyway, I have a hard time convincing them to eat fruit or vegetables. It's quite frustrating, to say the least. But, if I make them a milk shake they will drink it in two seconds flat. And here is the beauty of the Vita-Mix: it liquefies everything so I can throw in anything! This morning I threw in: An apple, seeds and all (the seeds have all the live enzymes that are SO good for your body!) Strawberries with the green stems still on. A handful of carrots. A little cabbage. Some spinach. A banana. And a little bit of protein powder for good luck. Try that with a regular blender! You'd have little chunks of apple and carrots floating in your drink. And I don't even want to think about putting spinach in a blender and trying to it homogeneous with the rest of the ingredients. But in my Vita-Mix, no problem. Everything is completely liquefied and you end up with a delicious and nutritious shake that my kids love!

After a quick rinse I filled it with wheat which I ground into flour so I could make a fresh loaf of bread.

For lunch I used it to whip me up a cup of Dr. Oz's Green drink. Which, by the way, tastes much better than you think it's going to. I actually enjoy it. Unlike green drinks I made in the past that I had to plug my nose to drink, all the while reminding myself that it was good for me.

After lunch it was onto fruit leather. I have Asian Pears rotting in my garage and I needed to do something with them. So, I pureed them in my Vita-Mix (once again, with seeds and skin) which is right now in my oven dehydrating. (post coming soon!)

As an afternoon snack we pulled out some frozen peaches and some fat free yougurt and the kids and I enjoyed a nice cold Peach Gelato. Yum!!!

And yes, I really REALLY did do all that just today! (and worked out, and went to Costco, and did laundry...wow!)

The point is that I'm NOT domestic and so if I did all this in one day you KNOW it's got to be easy, thanks to my Vita-Mix. Because there is no complicated clean up in between projects. And it just works so effortlessly. It's seriously the most used item in my kitchen.

Because that was just today. Tomorrow I may use it make fresh salsa and guacamole.

Or Pesto with fresh basil.

Or Pureed food for the baby because he still only has a handful of teeth.

Or Strawberry ice cream.

Or Tortilla soup.

Or a fat free vegetable dip with fresh garlic and dill.

Or fresh, homemade Peanut butter. (Choosy moms don't choose Jiff!!!!)

The list goes on and on and on.

And I'm not even getting paid to say this!

So, do yourself a favor if you haven't already. The next time the Vita-Mix guy or gal is at your local Costco go watch the demo. And after you've watched the demo and sampled all the yummy, fresh food do yourself a bigger favor and buy one. Yes, they are expensive, but YES it is SO worth it! Plus if you buy it at Costco it's cheaper and you get an extended warranty.

And I promise you will love it as much as I do.