Santa visited a tad early this year!

     Who wants a smoothie? Hummus? Hot Soup?? Stop by! I've been wanting a really nice blender for awhile and have been researching the heck out of them! My friend Kim has a Vitamix - having just spent a few days with her I was asking her a thousand questions about her mixer - the pros and cons.  I tend to stop by Target and pick out whatever happens to be on sale but this year I decided I wanted to splurge and get one that will last.  After all my research (Blendtec? Vitamix? Breville?)  and numerous trips to the mall and scouring the internet, I knew I was going to get a Vitamix...but holy cow! they have so many options... when I got back from my Thanksgiving holiday I had a Williams-Sonoma catalog in the mail and I just happen to open to the blender page - I'll take that as a sign...so today I ran to the mall and continued to research and ask every employee what they thought was the best! Thanks Mom and Dad...or should I say Santa! I'll make sure to wrap up the box to I can unwrap it on Christmas! Check out the soup I made... I made up the recipe and it was delicious and really easy!

I went with the Vitamix Professional Series 750

The pictures on the side of the box are everything it can make! Hot soup, hummus, smoothies and dressings....

This is more for my parents so they feel as though they are opening it with me on Christmas! 

I had to capture this - just liked the packaging - lift here for Welcome kit and lift here to be creative (cookbook)

Ta-Da! Not sure what I expected as I'd touched the store model and played with the buttons and knobs. I like how clean it looks, simple to use!

A few ingredients to make French Onion soup with mushrooms. Onions, Swiss Cheese, Beef Broth, Fireside Nut Brown Ale, French Bread and butter!!!
Recipe: 4 cups broth (I used Beef but it would be Veggie too), 2 sweet onions, 1 package of sliced mushrooms, 1 small loaf of French Bread, package of sliced Swiss Cheese, 1 bottle of beer (Ale or even a Stout would work) and butter for sauteeing.  I sauteed the veggies in butter and added beer - threw all of it into the blender and added the broth and salt/pepper to taste. 
Bread: I sliced the bread and broiled with a slice of cheese on top...you can get grated cheese and sprinkle that on top of soup and broil too.  

It comes with a terrific cookbook - I can see what I 'll be doing over the next few weeks during down time.

Sauteed the onions in butter and beer. You can cut the onions in chunks as you will throw this all into the blender.

Did the same withe mushrooms - purchases sliced and cooked until tender.

Threw the onions and mushrooms + 4 cups of low sodium beef broth into the blender.  Since I'm new to this blender I did turn to #4 and blended the ingredients... then turned it to the soup icon and hit starts. It's all programmed so once it's done cooking it will shut itself off!! Amazing and HOT!  

I broiled Swiss cheese on slices of french bread but you could make it the way my mom does and broil after the soup is poured into bowl. 

Next time I will add more cheese and broil like my mom does - this was HOT and delicious! The flavor was so tasty and the onions mixed with mushroom gave it the perfect texture. 

This is quite the feature - fill half way with water and drop in 2 drops of liquid soap...turn to clean icon and hit start... once the cycle is done (3 minutes) you remove the jar and rinse with hot water! It's clean and ready to use!!

After all my research I'm beyond happy with the decision to spend a little more and buy the Vitamix 750!! I'm going to be doing Dr Oz's 3 day cleanse starting tomorrow so I stocked up with supplies, food and vitamins and ready for my smoothie adventure! Stay tuned as I'll be writing all 3 days to share the day and progress!

Thanks Santa! I love you both. xo