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Originally Posted by Lucas  I have been looking at the site for a while, but it seems to be an awful lot of money for a blender. Does anyone here have one, and what can they say about it? |
I don't own one personally (although I have one on my "maybe" list of appliance purchases for later on), but last time I was in a shopping centre I happened to notice that the
Boost Juice Bar I was buying a shake from had several blenders with a VitaMix label on them that they used for processing their beverages.
They looked nothing like the VitaMix on the page that Erin linked to above (I assumed that's because these particular VitaMix's were made for commercial usage), but I did notice that they were extremely efficient in the blending process (a rough estimate would be less then 30 seconds to blend a shake) and they looked reasonably sturdy/well constructed.
Incidentally, I wouldn’t recommend buying shakes from a Boost Juice Bar unless it’s your last resort for sustenance. They’re pretty expensive, they aren’t all that good, they lack nutritional value, and you can make better, more flavourful and nutritious shakes yourself with just about any bamix or blender (I will give them points for their customer service though –- it’s pretty decent).
Looking for a shake recipe? Here’s one of Steve’s shake recipes that I happen to like:
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Here’s my own banana shake recipe: Blend 2 frozen bananas (quartered), a handful of walnuts (about 10 walnut halves), 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and about 1 cup of cold water in a Vitamix for 30-45 seconds. Delicious!
You could try a regular blender, but I’m not sure how well it will work. The Vitamix can turn a block of wood into sawdust without breaking a sweat.
Variations: use rice or soy milk instead of water; use almonds, cashews, pecans, peanut butter, or almond butter instead of walnuts; use 4-5 dates or 1/2 cup of raisins instead of maple syrup; add 1-2 tablespoons cocoa or carob powder.
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Bruce’s shake tips - Fruit alternatives:
To add some variety to the above recipie, you can substitute one reasonably sized (unfrozen or frozen) mango for the 2 frozen bananas, and add a few ice cubes to the ingredients if you’d like your beverage reasonably chilled (unlike bananas, freezing mangos can be pretty messy). 3-5 ice cubes usually do the job for me, but you can always add more if you want your beverage cool like a mountain stream (10 points to anyone who can tell me where that reference is from
).
And for the record, I prefer Kensington mangos for their flavour, although they may not be available in your area (I live in New South Wales, Australia). Organic mangos are also a good choice if you can find them/are prepared to pay for them (although they are usually about the same price as non-organic, just a bit smaller in size). I find the organic mangos are much sweeter and slightly juicier then non-organic produce.
A mango/banana fruit mix goes pretty well, as does a few peaches (instead of, or as well as the banana and/or mango... the peaches add a rather subtle, mellow taste, from my experience).
Other ideas/tips:
As for other additives, I would personally advise against the use of cocoa powder (haven’t tried carob powder yet) as it seems to overpower the other flavours and make the shake somewhat bitter (although it would come down to your personal preference -- give it a try at least once to see if you like it).
Oh and while I used to freeze the bananas I used for this recipe, I’ve stopped doing that now since A) it’s easier to just add in a few ice cubes rather then putting the bananas in the freezer (your mileage may vary), and B) apparently freezing certain foods (such as fruit and vegetables) can have a negative effect on the nutrients. I don’t know how credible that claim is, but the ice cube solution works well enough for me to not have any problems going along with it (it would seem to make sense, since I've read severe temperature changes can alter the state of many foods/destroy nutrients).
If you have any decent shake recipes (or variations to the above recipe), I’d love to hear them! (Although you may want to start a new thread a put them in there rather then de-rail this thread any more then I have.
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