What am I doing wrong with my Vitamix?

[homeschoolingmama]

I just got it yesterday and it isn't impressing me yet. :(  What am I doing wrong?  I tried making the broccoli soup and the flavor of the broccoli was VERY strong.  Way too strong.  I also tried making the cold coffee drink and it tasted very strong as well.  Is this normal?  Should I just be putting less of the dominant ingredient?  Do you find your recipes overly strong?

What recipes do you suggest?  I want to make this something we will use everyday but it hasn't done anything for me yet.  I have waited 3 yrs for this.  I plan on making the bread soon.  Hopefully that tastes good.  In your experience, what should I do and what shouldn't I do?  I watched the video and read the books but experience sometimes is better.

Also, at Costco they put the garlic in with the peel on it but on the video they peel it.  Do you peel your garlic?

Thanks. :)

[jtbuko]

We got ours as a gift and it was so heavy and took up so much space that I almost sold it the first year. I eventually gave away our blender instead. Now I cannot imagine our kitchen without it. When we finally embraced it, it was without leaning on the recipe book that came with it. We use it over and over again for the same few things:

WET

smoothies

hummus (Betty Crocker recipe, easy to vary by tossing in olives, basil, dried tomato, leftover lentils, etc.)

asian pesto (Eric Gower, Breakaway Chef recipe - hands down our favorite meal)

salad/ coleslaw dressing - stays mixed better than when we shake

soup - we were also unimpressed with the soup you make in there, but we use it to change texture of soup we cook on stove

DRY

grinding nuts & flax seed to put in bread, oatmeal bars, etc

grinding quinoa to replace flour

A lot of this you could do with any good blender, probably. I never had a good blender before the Vitamix though :)

[happy1nluv]

i used to have a blendtec, am waiting on a vitamix (blendtec died).

hands down best use for green smoothies:

1 banana

1 bag frozen org strawberries

1/2 - 3/4 bag frozen org chopped spinach (whatever fills blender)

1 box choc almond milk

the boys and i could drink this every day... im determined to add to our repertoire once i get the new vitamix...  but this ones so good, its hard to make anything else!

[homeschoolingmama]

Mmmmm those sound good.  I found out what I did wrong with the soup.  I didn't steam the broccoli before I made it.  It makes it a lot stronger.

I tried out the Orange, Blueberry and Banana smoothie yesterday and it was good.  

I tried to make bread yesterday and it was terrible.  It wasn't the Vitamix's fault though.  I used Buckwheat flour that I made in it and even the smell of the flour set me off.  I also used yeast that was expired by a year and half.  It didn't rise. lol  The Vitamix sure did its job though!    It made the flour and kneaded the dough.

Thank you and I will try those recipes!

[SundayCrepes]

I just got a new-to-me vitamix with a stainless steel canister. I don't know how their power compares to the new ones.

Tonight we made ice cream. We did half batches so they took a bit of tampering. Next time I'll know to just do a full batch. I added raw honey, but it all clumped on the bottom, see no need to add it again. So...

1 cup regular coconut milk

1 pound frozen strawberries.

Blend in vitamix for a minute or less. Eat really good ice cream.

I've also been making smoothies in the morning. In time I'll add more greens, but I'm slowly building up.

1 fresh banana

1 tbsp flax seed, freshly ground (which equals about 2 tbsp ground flax)

1 tbsp raw honey

3 leaves kale

3 leaves collards

1/2 cup frozen spinach

1/4 to 1/3 cup frozen blueberries

2 cups almond milk

frozen mango chunks. I put them in and squash everything down with my hand. I add enough mango to have them a bit above the milk line when it's all squashed.

1 tbsp chia seed

Blend. Drink right away. If it sets and gets thick from chia, just add more almond milk and stir.