Blendtec 101

Well, we did receive the much awaited for and admired Blendtec Total blender right on schedule. We were eager to pull it out and start blending, but we did keep self control and watched the video that came with it, looked over the very nice and informative cook-book and scanned through the instruction manual.

So, It's time to start blending... We, of course, started by making a green smoothie.

I had not planned very well and was out of fresh bananas so I used frozen ones I had put up weeks before awaiting for this exact moment...drum roll please....

We did manage to easily place all the required ingredients into the very pretty and clear jar and hit "smoothie". It was like a small jet was taking off on my counter. My 5 year old takes off to the back of the house pretty scared and I am wondering if I had just broken it! My 7 year old has a look of "Is this Right Momma???" on her pale face...and I am wondering the same thing.

The blender does finish the cycle and shuts off on its on. (But I was carefully holding on to it to keep it from coming off the counter...really, it does sound like a jet taking off) Done, finally, I am shaking and I carefully pour the smoothie into glasses. I was expecting a completely liquefied smoothie, like a green juice with no lumps or bits to flow from the jar...then plump!...part of the frozen banana falls into the glass! I am pretty shaken up by now and am not doing a good job of hiding my disappointment.

My 5 yo is yelling from the back if I'm through blending yet (and after a week of having this blender, she takes to the back for blending). Yes! It's ready, but kinda lumpy. She does not taste it, I chug it because that's all I know to do.

I was not giving up. I have seen the videos and will not be defeated by this costly machine. We have seen it blend up golf balls, rake handles, surely it can blend a banana. On to hummus...

We try chick peas. I am waiting for a nice smooth consistency like what we get at Sams (but with out the added oil). I can't remember which button I pushed, but at the end of that 1 cycle it was a clumpy mass of chick peas...and some garlic bits.... Ugh...

What about wheat...I will persevere!!! At this point I am really trying to keep my composure and will not let this thing get the best of me. I have invested a lot of money in buying this machine and I want my money's worth!!!

"Grab the wheat, girls, we're going to see what this machine is made of!" Out comes the wheat and I follow the written directions for grinding wheat in the cook book. 50 seconds later...beautifully ground flour. It does work! Yeahhhh! So, I grind a couple more cups of wheat. Beautiful once again...

I add a cup of hot water to the empty wheat jar and a drop of soap to wash. Pulse for 5 seconds. Presto, clean...but not like the pretty, clear jar it once was. Again, my heart drops, my jar is beat up by the wheat grinding at...300 mph (or something like that). The polycarbonate jar could not take the (w)heat. It's branded for life.

Later, I find this is normal and wheat does scratch the jar; you have to kinda play with the controls until you get a feel for them and you really can't hurt the Blendtec by continuing to hit 'smoothie' again and again or 'speed up' to 9 and letting it run the cycle over and over until that frozen banana is smooth! It can be done! Don't give up.

It's been over a week and I am using my Blendtec Total blender every day...from 3-6 times a day. Our diet the first couple of days was pretty much liquids, but now I am using it mainly for smoothies, ice creams and hummus and of course grinding. Occasionally I will use it to blend soups, such as my sweet potato and lentil soups.

I have made pancakes and muffins using the blender and I really like that! Clean up is easy and it's just too simple to use anything else.

It has held up to its reputation this short time I have had it. It is quite loud so I keep ear plugs for all the ears that stick around while blending. I feel this purchase has been a wise investment for my family and our nutrition. We are having lots of fun experimenting with different kinds of fruits and veggies going into the blender. We found a papaya at the nearby produce store...wonder how that tastes in a smoothie...don't know yet, but it's cut up and freezing awaiting it's appointed time to be blended smooth and creamy...

I am looking forward to posting some of our most favorite Blendtec recipes.

If you have a great smoothie or blender recipe let me know and if I absolutely love it...I'll post it!

Quick Rice Dish for Dinner

This evening was a whirlwind of an evening. I had not done a good job at all for planning out dinner earlier in the day, but I got it together at the last minute and was pleasantly surprised at what I came up with.

I knew I had rice from last weeks red beans and rice. With my new rice cooker I had made extra rice for evening such as this. :)

I opened my fridge and pulled out the left over rice, had some fresh broccoli and a few cherry tomatoes. Hmmm, what to do with all this goodness...certainly something fantastic... and healthy.

I cut the broccoli into little bite sized pieces and cooked in a couple of teaspoons of Braggs Liquid Aminos. Then added the rice and a can of garbanzo beans (rinsed) and tomatoes with some seasoned salt and another splash of Braggs. I warmed some Naan I had in the freezer and BAM! dinner is served.


Quick Rice Dish

1 cup bite sized broccoli
1 cup cooked rice
1 can garbanzos
1/3 cup cherry tomatoes
1 TBSP Braggs Liquid Aminos
Seasoned Salt or seasoning you like

Banana Strawberry Yogurt...any one???

Well, my yogurt is still coming out great.

Today I blended some strawberries and banana with a cup of yogurt and made a wonderful creamy drink for the girls.


Yummy! And the best thing is I know everything that went into it.

Dairy-Free Yogurt Recipe

We were not big yogurt eaters until I tried my hand at making our own dairy-free yogurt. Dairy-free yogurt can get quite pricey, especially when you want soy-free yogurt too. It is possible to find some at the nearby health food stores, but again, you are paying highly for it. And, it comes with added sugar...

I searched and found a recipe that I like, but am still in the process of experimenting with other ingredients. The recipe I have used and like consists of: 1 can of coconut milk, almond milk (the amount of the coconut milk), gelatin and SoDelicious Coconut Milk Yogurt (as my starter).


The original recipe had 2 cans of coconut milk and that totaled to 28 grams of fat. I am not sure about how great the coconut fat is, but did not like the fact that we ate all of the yogurt in one day. Of course when the new wears off the homemade yogurt we will not eat it as often, I just didn't feel good feeding it to my family.

This time I substituted 1 can of coconut milk for almond milk. I have seen recipes that call for low fat coconut milk, but have not come across any in my grocery store.

Before beginning I plugged in my yogurt maker so it would be warming.

I poured my can of coconut milk into a bowl and sprinkled the gelatin all over the surface.

While that is setting I filled the empty coconut can with the Almond Milk and poured that into a microwavable bowl and heated for 45 seconds at a time until the temperature reached 108-112 degrees. If it gets too hot, just wait and let it cool. Once this temperature was reached I added my yogurt starter and stirred well.

At the same time I had my little helper (age 5) stirring my coconut and gelatin until it was dissolved.

I added my Almond Milk/starter into the coconut/gelatin mixture and stirred well. Then I immediately poured this mixture into my already warmed yogurt maker.


Directions for the automatic yogurt maker say 9-12 hours. I checked it after 12 hours and the taste was okay, but did not have much of that tart yogurty taste. So, I took most of the cups of yogurt out to refrigerate them and left one cup in to see what it would taste like in the morning.

I went to bed and slept late until it had nearly been in the warmer for 24 hours.

After 24 hours this last cup tasted more like yogurt and was liked best by the adults in the household and less by the little squirmies (which like the fruit and maple syrup more than the plain yogurt). So, next time I will try to time it for 18 hours of warming and see how that tastes. (Without having to set my alarm to get up in the middle of the night.)

I have read that in order for the bacteria to grow it must have something sweet to eat on. So, using unsweetened coconut milk and unsweetened almond milk might have been the reason it took so long to 'make'. I thought of adding some turbinado or honey or even maple syrup to the mixture at the beginning and see if that would shorten the incubation time.

By adding the gelatin the cold yogurt takes on a more yogurty look. I have also read, but have not tried yet, you can add tapioca also for this same effect.


We have mixed our yogurt with different frozen fruits and added granola, added it to (green) smoothies and have made a frozen yogurt (this was done by accident and was a great hit - even though it's so cold outside - but I can't seem to do it again!).

We really love and are looking forward to trying different kinds such as: 100% almond yogurt, 100% rice yogurt among a few.

My next batch will be using a free-dried yogurt starter I found at the health food store. The thing I don't like about his starter is that it does contain milk. I have found a site that sells a dairy-free yogurt starter and will most likely purchase this if the yogurt thing works out. But for now, I am going to perfect my yogurt using Yo'Gourmet starter.


I know I can use some of my yogurt as starter for my next batch...but it's usually already smoothied up before I think of taking some out! :)

Curried Pumpkin Soup

I have been wanting to try a pumpkin soup recipe this year. Every fall the girls and I choose several great pie sized pumpkins. This year, the last pie pumpkin has been designated for soup!!! Needless to say, the one who picked out this pumpkin was quite disappointed.
But, it is I who does the cooking!!! So, I get to say what goes in the pot and today it's the last of the pumpkins!!!

Some time back I tried a great recipe for Thai sweet potato soup. I found the recipe in a veggie cookbook from the library and was quite perturbed when I realized I had not copied the recipe before returning it! But, I will get it back and be sure to post it! I was fantastic...but that's for Sweet Potato Soup post... However, that soup had some ingredients I really liked together. Lime, coconut milk and curry. I know, what a combination! I would have never put that together...but it works.

So, when I found this Curried Pumpkin Soup recipe with those ingredients...I jumped on it.

I found this recipe in the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook. Special edition for Dillard's on page 151. I altered it very little...

1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper
1/8 tsp. ground cumin
2 (15-oz.) cans unsweetened pumpkin ( I used about 3 cups fresh pumpkin)
1 cup water
32-oz. container vegetable broth
1 (13.5-oz.) can lite coconut milk (I used regular coconut milk and it was fine,I guess calories are the difference between the two kinds)
Juice of 1 lime.
2 1/2 tsp. salt

If using fresh pumpkin: cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and stringy things, bake or microwave until pulp can be spooned out easily--all this should be done ahead of time.

Saute onion in hot soup pot over medium heat until tender. ( no oil is needed) Add garlic and next 4 ingredients; saute 1 minute. Add pumpkin, 1 cup water and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; add coconut milk, lime juice, and salt, and simmer, stirring often, 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and process mixture in blender or hand mixer/blender until smooth. Return to soup pot and heat until warmed.

I served with whole wheat Naan. Yummy!

Enjoy!

Our Favorite Green Smoothie Recipe

Just today it was mentioned that this was the absolute best way to eat spinach. Spinach was actually requested in her smoothie. All this came from our 7 year old!

Here's the recipe:

Start with blending some spinach and water
Add 2 bananas
some fresh ginger
juice of one lemon or lime
and apple cider to top it off.

Kale is also a green we have not yet tried in our smoothies, but the taste is mild enough to not have that 'green' taste. It's coming along nicely in the garden, so that's next. Arugula is another mild tasting green. Haven't tried that yet either.

This is the first time I have used fresh ginger and it could easily become a staple in my smoothie cabinet. A hint on peeling it: use the edge of a spoon to scrape off the peeling. I found that freezing then thawing makes it soft. Another hint is to keep it in dry scotch, for those who have that just lying around the house.

We are open to different ingredients to your green smoothies. Preferable with out scotch.

Saturday morning pancakes

Saturday mornings are my favorite! I love getting up late and moseying into the kitchen to fix breakfast for my family.

I am usually the last one up, and the first one to the coffee...rather the only to the coffee.

The kids and daddy are patiently awaiting mommy to get up and get moving, while passing the time playing games or snuggling together with a good book.

Here is my favorite pancake recipe. Some days I add more or less, but here is the basic recipe:

Whole Wheat Pancakes
1 cup whole wheat
1/4 cup milled flax
1/4 cup wheat germ
maybe some bran if you have
1 snack cup of apple sauce
1/4 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
dash of cinnamon
1 egg (or can use flax and water as a replacement)
1 cup water (or rice milk or OJ)
bluberries, pecans or choco chips

Mix all ingredients. Add more liquid as needed. Add berries, pecans or choco chips. It varies with the quantity of flour added so, I don't know how many pancakes it makes. I usually have to make several tiny cakes for the kids and normal size for us adults.