Vitamix REAL Nacho Cheese

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup light butter spread
1 cup 1% milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
Jalapenos to taste
1 cup cubed cheddar cheese (add a little more for a thicker sauce)

1. Place the first 4 ingredients into the blender. 
2. Select Variable 1. Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to Variable 10, then to HIGH. 
3. Blend for 3-4 minutes until steam begins to escape from the vented lid. 
4. Turn blender speed down to Variable 5. 
5. Remove the lid plug and add jalapenos to taste. I add a little less than 1/4 cup. 
6. Add the cubed cheese. 
7. Increase speed to Variable 10, then to HIGH. 
8. Blend until smooth. 

Serve immediately.

TIPS
Keep this nacho cheese warm in a small slow cooker.
Add more cheese for a thicker nacho cheese sauce.
If the cheese starts to get cool, just microwave it on 50% power until it is warm (about 30 seconds- 1 minute).


One of the first things I asked when I was watching the Vitamix demonstration at a local department store was, "Hey, can you make nacho cheese in that thing?" I was told that it probably could. I figured if it could make hot soup it should be able to make nacho cheese. I noticed there was no recipe for nacho cheese sauce in the 300+ page recipe book that came with the blender.

When I got home with my new blender I searched the internet for two things: Vitamix frozen cocktails and Vitamix nacho cheese. I knew the Vitamix could already make healthy soups, sauces, dips, salad dressings, and smoothies. The recipe book had dozens of those types of recipes. The book even had some cocktail recipes. However, I couldn't find a real nacho cheese recipe anywhere. I could only find vegan versions of nacho cheese.

Sunday night, I decided to create my own recipe. Here it is. Enjoy.

Fresh Salsa in the Vitamix Blender

This is a shorter, edited version of the same recipe if you just want highlights.

I made some salsa in the Vitamix blender because I had some friends coming over to watch Game of Thrones. I started with the recipe for California Salsa that was in the Vitamix Whole Food Recipes book. I modified it to suit my taste. I prefer lime juice and Serrano peppers (when available). I also enjoy my salsa a little on the hot side, so I'm sure to add some of the pepper seeds to the salsa.

INGREDIENTS
6 tomatoes, quartered
1 small onion, halved
1/4 cup of cilantro leaves
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 jalapeno or Serrano pepper with some seeds (to taste)
Salt to taste

OPTIONAL: Throw in a husked, quartered tomatillo in step 1 and add fewer tomatoes at that time.

1. Place onion, cilantro leaves, lime juice, and 1-2 tomatoes in the blender. Secure the lid. 
2. Select variable 1. 
3. Turn the machine on and quickly increase to variable 5. 
4. Blend about 20 seconds. Use tamper as needed. 
5. Reduce speed to variable 3 and add the remaining tomatoes. Use tamper as needed.
6. Blend approximately 10 seconds or until tomatoes are chopped but still chunky. 
7. Refrigerate to let flavors blend. 

TIPS

• If you like mild salsa, do not use seeds.
• Keep extra tomatoes on hand in case you make the salsa too hot. They can be used to water the salsa down. 
• Roma tomatoes with seeds removed seem to make the salsa less foamy. 
• If you salsa is foamy, just chill for an hour or so before serving.

Mudslides in the Vitamix

Tonight I made Mudslides in the Vitamix. It's the first frozen cocktail I have tried in there, and it's delicious! The Vitamix blends frozen cocktails perfectly, and I look forward to making many more in this machine. 

Fill Vitamix with ice (if you only want half a blender, fill half way)
Then pour alcohol to the top of the ice in the following ratios:
1 part vodka (I like 42 Below, Opulent, or Grey Goose)
2 parts Kahlua
2 parts Bailey's Irish Cream

Select Variable 1.
Turn machine on and quickly increase to Variable 10, then to High. 
Blend 30-45 seconds, or until smooth, but still frozen. 

Rob's Mai Tai Recipe

Rob mixing a Mai Tai New Year's Eve 2008

Many people ask me for Rob's Mai Tai recipe. Here it is:

Mai Tai Recipe

2 parts rum (Meyer's Legend)

1 1/4 parts mix
1 1/2 - 2 parts lime juice

Pour the ingredients into a glass in the order listed above. 

Mix
2 parts Orange Curacao (Marie Brizard is the best!)
2 parts Orgeat Syrup
1 part simple syrup

Simple Syrup
2 parts Sugar in the Raw
1 part water
boil until sugar dissolves

Chocolate Martini

My favorite cocktail in the world is a crystal clear chocolate martini. I first tried one over at Holokai Grill in Waikiki. That restaurant closed back in 2008. We asked the waitress what was in the drink, and she told us it had equal parts of Three Olives Chocolate Vodka and Stoli Vanil. We had friends and relatives visiting at the time, and we all ran out to the liquor store to get the ingredients to enjoy a night of chocolate martinis for everyone.

That was the night I decided I didn't like Stoli Vanil or Stoli Vodka in general. The martinis we made at home were horrible, probably because Stoli Vanil is horrible. We went back to the liquor store and bought every kind of chocolate liquor we could get our hands on. We mixed, tasted, and mixed again. It was an arduous task. We finally created what I think is the perfect chocolate martini. It's crystal clear, and it's the perfect cocktail and dessert all in one.

Ingredients

Three Olives Chocolate Vodka

Dekuyper Crème de Cocoa (the clear one)

Pour equal parts in a shaker with lots of ice. Shake. Pour into a martini glass.

Optional 

Garnish with fresh or frozen raspberries or cherries. 

Garnish with fancy chocolates, if you can find them. Be careful with this though. Some make the drink cloudy, and some just look kinda gross sitting there on the bottom. The best ones have white and milk/dark chocolate. For example, Hershey Hugs work alright. Hershey Kisses just don't look right.

VARIATIONS

Chocolate Peppermint Martini

Same as above

Add ¼ part Dekuyper Peppermint Schnapps

Optional: garnish with a tiny candy cane

Chocolate Cherry Martini

Same as above

Add ¼ part Three Olives Cherry Vodka

Optional: garnish with a maraschino cherry

Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup: Before

Tortilla Soup: After

 

Tortilla soup was one of the first things I made in the Vitamix. I tried it during the product demonstration, and I wanted to see if it was just as easy to make as it seemed in the store. It was!

I think it's crazy the way you just throw whole foods in the blender along with some broth, and in a few minutes you have HOT soup!

Below is the recipe can be found on the website and in the Vitamix Whole Foods cook book.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

3 cups (720 ml) low sodium chicken, beef, or vegetable stock

1 Roma tomato, halved

1 carrot, halved

1 rib celery, halved

1 thin slice of onion, peeled

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 thin slice of yellow squash

1 thin slice of red bell pepper

1 thin slice of cabbage

1 mushroom

1 teaspoon taco seasoning (I used chili powder and Fiesta Lime Mrs. Dash instead)

Dash cumin

Salt and pepper, to taste  

OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup (70 g) cooked chicken, breast meat; 1/2 fresh jalapeno; 1/4 cup pitted olives; 1/4 cup (50 g) canned corn, unsalted; 2 ounces (60 g) tortilla chips  

I also added about a ¼ cup of black beans and a whole jalapeno.

(The bold optional ingredients are the ones I chose to use.)

1. Place all soup base ingredients into the Vitamix container in order listed and secure lid.
2. Select Variable 1.
3. Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to Variable 10, then to High.
4. Blend for 5-6 minutes or until steam escapes from the vented lid.
5. If adding optional ingredients, reduce speed to Variable 2. Remove the lid plug.
6. Drop in chicken, jalapenos, olives, corn and chips. Blend for an additional 10 seconds.

TIPS:

More jalapeno seeds make the soup spicier.

Microwave the soup stock if you want to spend less time blending.

I added about an ounce of cheese to the soup. Delicious!
Don't add too much cheese if you like spicier soup. 

Toast a corn tortilla instead of using tortilla chips. 

Don't worry too much about exact measurements for ingredients.

 I like to add more than ½ cup of chicken. Just don't get too crazy, or the soup will get too thick.

New Vitamix Blender

I got my Vitamix blender at a local department store early May 2011. There was a live product demonstration going on that day, and I decided to hang out and taste samples for about 40 minutes.  I was running errands after work, I was hungry, and I really wanted a snack. That's why I was there. I had no intention of buying a blender.  However,  the whole setting had an infomercial feel, and I got sucked in. I love infomercials.

I got to sample tortilla soup, a frozen chocolate banana treat, and two different types of whole fruit/vegetable smoothies. I also found out that the Vitamix for sale in the store came with a full-sized cookbook. It was over 300 pages. I browsed through the cookbook, and there were a ton of great recipes (most of which I have since found out are on the official Vitamix website). Most of the recipes include primarily healthy whole foods. The recipes seemed easy enough for me to make. I'm not exactly a skilled cook.

After seeing all the amazing things the Vitamix could do, I walked out of the store with one. It was a total impulse buy. I don't usually do that kind of thing, but I'm so glad I did!

I will continue to add recipes, photos, and videos of food prepared in the Vitamix, so be sure to stop by and visit my blog again soon!