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If you’ve ever been able to buy a high-speed blender, you probably adore it to the ends of the earth. After all, one machine that can do so many things and make one thick, completely blended smoothie without spilling everywhere or turning your drink into a watery mess is something to be appreciated. But the mistake most people make who own a high-speed blender (or the mistake that those who don’t have one make in believing is that they’re only good for making smoothies.
Don’t get us wrong, we love our smoothies and most of us here have one or more daily; however, that’s not all we use them for, and not just what they’re made for. Those hefty price tags DO come with a reason, ya know! If you’re able to swing getting yourself a kitchen appliance this year, don’t go for another food processor, pancake or waffle maker, or even that shiny new coffee contraption that’s caught your eye. Instead, go for a high-speed blender that will actually keep you from having to cut on the stove, pull out the food processor, and possibly even save you from buying some premade options at the store.
Here are 10 incredible things that the high-speed blender can do. Here are the latest high-speed blenders with glass jars.
Whether you’re a Vitamix lover, Blendtec fan, or Nutribullet nut, you can do all of these things with a high-speed machine. Of course, some other high-performance blender models out there will likely work, but that old Oster your parents gave you? Yeh … it’s not gonna work here. We’re talking high RPMs and serious top-performance blades for the ultimate blending power here!
1. Ice Cream
Let’s just cut to the chase here. Most everyone wants to try something fancy when they get a high-speed blender, and one of the best dishes to try, aside from your first smoothie in your new machine, is homemade ice cream! Skip the dairy and go for some easy plant-based ingredients instead. Ice cream can be made either with the ever-popular frozen banana method, or you can just use frozen milk cubes (such as almond milk or coconut milk) or even whole raw nuts. Blend with just a little liquid and process until you get ice cream. If you have a Vitamix, start on low, then progress to high and use the tamper. If you have a Blendtec, just use the frozen dessert button with the ice cream icon. If you have a Nutribullet, then just click, turn, and blend!
Try making ice creams with cocoa (or cacao) powder, goji berries, plant-based protein powders for flavor and a filling factor, cinnamon, vanilla, or whatever other flavors you think would be fun. Toss in some shredded coconut, frozen or dried berries, nuts, seeds, and even some non-dairy chocolate chips and turn it into a flavor-packed dessert!
2. Tacos
Think we’re joking here? Not so, friends. Add some walnut taco meat ingredients to your blender, give it a few pulses, add the sauce, and pulse again. Put the mix in your favorite taco shells and you’ve just made tacos without turning on the stove or oven at all!
3. Muffins and…
Yep, your blender can even make you a batch of muffins. Put all the ingredients called for in the blender, give it a whirl, pour into a muffin pan, and in 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees, you’ll have muffins to enjoy! And why stop at muffins? Feel free to make cupcakes, waffles, pancakes, and while you’re at it, cookies too!
4. Nut Butter
Nut butter is just as much a necessity as broccoli as far as we’re concerned (okay, almost!) so why not keep some homemade nut butter on hand? All you have to do is put some soaked, raw nuts of choice, or even some seeds like pumpkin and sunflower, into you blender, and add a touch of cold water or a tablespoon of coconut oil if you want it thinner. Process with a tamper if using a Vitamix (hold your ears, it’s loud!) or use the Blendtec Twister jar and turn on for 30 seconds and you’re done. The Nutribullet can also make nut butter, but you will need to add a touch of liquid or oil to get it going. Click in place and blend and you’ll have nut butter in about 10 seconds. Forget those $15 jars of organic raw nut butter, just make your own at home!
5. Veggie Burgers
We like to enjoy “real food” veggie burgers, versus those processed at the store with added ingredients. And while you can mix up the ingredients in a bowl, keep things easy and just toss everything in your high speed blender. Try different veggie burgers whether it be Mexican Black Bean Burgers, The Ultimate Vegan Burger, or a Black Bean, Corn and Walnut Burger. Also try all of our other favorite veggie burger options. After processing, just shape into patties and bake or pan-fry.
6. A Smoothie Ice Cream Bowl
Give yourself permission to eat ice cream for breakfast if you want because this dish is so nutritious and one of the best ways to enjoy a smoothie that tastes like dessert. You don’t always have to drink your smoothies with a straw. Give them a thicker texture, scrape into a bowl, and eat with a spoon! To do this, use your regular ingredients, but half the liquid you would use to make a smoothie. Also see our tips to make smoothies thicker (and even do it without bananas).
Generally, for one serving, you’ll want no more than 1 cup of liquid to make a smoothie bowl. Add 2 cups of ice before blending and then process just like you would ice cream. You can do this with green smoothies, superfood smoothies, or dessert-like smoothies of your choice. Scrape into a bowl, freeze for 5-10 minutes to thicken even more, and come back and dive in with a spoon! Garnish with goji berries, cacao nibs, or whatever else you enjoy and see some other tips to create maximum flavor in your superfood smoothie bowls.
7. Spaghetti Sauce
Spaghetti is one of the best dishes for ultimate comfort, and you don’t need to buy the jarred variety or even cut on your stove to make your own. Grab 3-4 fresh tomatoes (or 2 cans of diced, fire-roasted organic varieties in BPA-free cans), some Italian herb seasoning, some mushrooms, 1/2 an onion, 1/2 clove garlic, 1 tsp. black pepper, and a pinch of pink sea salt. Blend on the highest speed possible until it starts to heat up. In a Vitamix this might take longer, but in a Blendtec, you can just mash the soup icon button and in a Nutribullet Rx model, the light will turn red when your mix is done. These actually cook your sauce for you, so you needn’t worry about making it on the stove. Put atop your favorite noodles, and you’ve got spaghetti in just minutes! See more sauce recipes you can make in your blender to enjoy as well.
8. Homemade Granola Bars
Granola bars are something we all love, but those store bought options all have added sugars and come with price tags we’d rather not face. Why pay money for someone to add unnecessary cheap sugars to our diets? Let’s make our own at home in just seconds. Grab 3 cups of rolled oats, 3-4 tablespoons your choice nut butter, 1/2 cup dried fruit of choice, 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, vanilla flavoring, and a splash of non-dairy milk. Add seeds of choice like sunflower, pumpkin chia, flax, or hemp, give it a few pulses, and shape into bars. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees, let cool on the pan, and wrap into individual bars. Or, don’t bake them at all and just freeze for long term storage!
9. Oatmeal
Not only can you cook spaghetti sauce in your blender, but you can even make oatmeal- we’re not kidding. Add 1/3 cup rolled oats that you’ve soaked overnight and then either add 1/3 cup hot water or non-dairy milk, sweetener of choice such as stevia or maple syrup, or you can add fruit (like a banana, apple sauce, dried figs or dates, raisins, apples, etc.), vanilla extract, some ground flax for extra fiber. Feel free to add chia or nut butter if you want, or even superfoods that you enjoy. Blend on high until it starts to warm up. If using the Vitamix, go full speed for several minutes, and if using the Blendtec, use the soup button icon and process for a minute. The Nutribullet Rx will also do this since it cooks your food and will indicate when your oatmeal is done when the red light comes on. Once it’s done, add your oatmeal to a bowl and add in any other ingredients for texture. Since this processes it down more finely, be sure you add some thickeners like chia, flax, or even coconut flour so it doesn’t get watery, or you can reduce the liquid by a couple tablespoons.
10. Satisfying Soups of All Kind
Obviously, soup is a great dish to enjoy and it’s one of the best to use your blender to make. Put whatever you want in there (pumpkin, tomato, basil, sweet potato, onion, garlic, black pepper, spinach, and kale is a great combo by the way), and process until it starts to heat up. The Vitamix will do this in a couple minutes at high speed and you’ll just need to use the soup icon button on the Blendtec. If using a regular Nutribullet model or the Nutrbullet 900 Pro model, blend for 10 seconds, and then heat on the stove, or you can use Nutribullet Rx model and cook it yourself by mashing the heat button until it turns red.
Don’t forget to also make: homemade non-dairy milk, homemade non-dairy yogurt or kefir, homemade baby food, fruit puree, and feel free to make your own energy bars, bites, raw desserts, and whatever else you want in your blender. There’s really almost nothing you can’t do with such a fabulous machine!
Learn How to Cook Plant-Based Meals at Home
Reducing your meat intake and eating more plant-based foods is known to help with chronic inflammation, heart health, mental well-being, fitness goals, nutritional needs, allergies, gut health, and more! Dairy consumption also has been linked to many health problems, including acne, hormonal imbalance, cancer, and prostate cancer, and has many side effects.
For those of you interested in eating more plant-based we highly recommend grabbing our favorite plant-based cookbooks and downloading the Food Monster App — with over 20,000 delicious recipes it is the largest plant-based recipe resource to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals, and get healthy! And, while you are at it, we encourage you to also learn about the environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet.
Here are some great resources to get you started:
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