*drumroll please*

I am now the proud new owner of this gorgeous Vitamix!

I’ve been using my faithful Ninja blender (which I never had any complaints about!) for a couple of years now

But, I always had a twinge of the “i-want’s” whenever I saw recipes that used a Vitamix

For probably a little over a year I’ve been coveting this beast of a machine, but I always told myself that it was way more machine than I needed and I don’t use a blender near enough to justify the cost, blah, blah, blah.

You know, all the responsible stuff you’re supposed to tell yourself when debating a big purchase

*insert Amex rewards fairies*

My American Express points had recently been burning a serious hole in my pocket and after drooling over the Vitamix for the millionth time, it suddenly dawned on me that I might have enough points to buy one!

Turns out I had just enough! While researching different models, I ran across a blogger who said that everything taste better when blended with her Vitamix.  I laughed and thought it was a bit overkill, but that didn’t keep me from using it as an example of why I needed one when telling my husband that I was going to order it (even though he didn’t care what I bought).

7-10 days later, my new BFF arrived on my doorstep!

Let me tell you, I am definitely drinking the kool-aid! The first thing I made was almond milk.  My husband uses it in his cereal in the morning and I use it in my smoothies so I was excited to make my own. Holy cow.  The Vitamix was scary powerful and grinded the shiz out of those almonds!  However, as much fun as it was to pulverize some almonds, I came to the realization that for me, it was too much work to do for the milk to expire in a few days. Plus, my husband prefers the consistency of the store bought milk. A fact that almost had him sleeping on the couch!

I mean, “hello, I just soaked premium almonds for 8hrs, blended the bajeezies out of ’em, separated the “milk” from the almond meal by squeezing it through a specially bought nut sack (yes, a nut sack!) and you’re telling me that you prefer the store bought processed crap over my freshly-squeezed-made-with-love almond milk?! You take it back right now mister!”

After I calmed down though, I accepted that the store bought and homemade did indeed taste a little different and deep down, I’m kinda glad he didn’t like the fresh one better. Otherwise he would have had me making this stuff every few days and then it would have resembled work and taken all the fun out of it! 😛

I haven’t used the blender a ton yet.  I need to tackle a soup or something big, but last week I made my first smoothie in her (yep, she’s a her. That may be a little sexist of me, but she just seems like a her). Um, all I can say is…that blogger chick was NOT lying when she said EVERYTHING tastes better in a Vitamix!  I used to love the consistency of the smoothies in my Ninja.  I never had a problem with big chunks or anything and I still think it did a decent job, but, wow, the smoothness and melding of flavors from the Vitamix was uh-mazing!

I know it doesn’t look very appealing, but here it is before blending.  Before you ask, YES, it was delicious!  Tasted like an orange creamsicle!

I threw in…1/2 avocado, 1-1.5 cups orange juice, 1/2 frozen banana, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder and a dash of honey

As if you needed more of a reason to own a Vitamix…during my research of the different models I found the holy grail of selling points. Did you know that to clean the blender, you just put warm water with a few drops of dish soap and blend it for 60sec?! What?! Yes, my friends, it is indeed as awesome as you are imagining. If you ever thought about buying one, DO IT! You won’t regret it!

And just because it’s half “OMG” and half “Whoa, I can’t believe it blended that”, check out one thing that may taste better in a Vitamix, but you probably shouldn’t drink it.  😉