The machine they offer (the Aspire) has a smaller jug supplied than standard, and only a 5 year guarantee instead of hte 7 year guarantee available on the next model up. Other than that, the spec looked the same. I emailed Customer Services at Vitamix to check, and they confirmed this.
When the machine arrived, I left it in the box on the worktop: I wasn't sure I had done the right thing. (Mind you, I did the same with the Magimix, and that turned out to be a good investment). Eventually, I unpacked it. I read the recipe book that came with it.
I felt foolish.
I started by making a smoothie with a couple of ripe nectarines. Just nectarines and a bit of ice. Success! Delicious.(Mind you, nectarines are delicious, so no surprise).
Cleaning the container really was as easy as suggested.
Making dinner and needing a chopped onion, I used the Vitamix. If I'm only chopping one onion, I do it by hand as it's too much hassle cleaning the processor. Very good, especially as I also used it to chop carrot and chop a courgette.
Cleaning the container really was as easy as suggested.
Making dinner and needing a chopped onion, I used the Vitamix. If I'm only chopping one onion, I do it by hand as it's too much hassle cleaning the processor. Very good, especially as I also used it to chop carrot and chop a courgette.
I thought I'd try the recipe book's "Vanilla Pudding", which looked like custard to me. Disaster.
On a trip to Costco, I bought a bag of frozen fuit (peaches etc). I made a frozen fruit sorbet. Very tasty, but gave me brain freeze.
Carrot soup... qualified success. In the recipe book, they cook the carrot first. I felt that if I did this, I wouldn't really be getting that much benefit from the Vitamix, so I tried it with raw carrot. It worked reasonably well, but wasn't as smooth as I would like. (I later discovered the Vitamix Lady's website, and she explained a bit about bittiness and how to stop it).
Hot chocolate. Success! (Although I could have got equally good results by switching on the coffee machine and using the milk frother)
Fresh tomato sauce (Marinara Sauce). Oh. My. God. This tasted fantastic when I made it and it was cold. Really fresh, really bright. Super Success! It was remiscent of the best tomato we'd had for bruschetta at our local Italian restaurant. Then I added it to meatballs and baked in the oven for 30 mins. Qualified Success. It tasted OK, but it had lost a lot of its freshness.
Angel Delight. Success! I hadn't eaten Angel Delight for years, then my step daughter mentioned it (we used to eat a packet between us when she was younger). The blitzclean didn't entirely work on Angel Delight though, I had to use my fingers to loosen the stuff at the top of the conainer. (And, to be fair, Angel Delight is so eay to whip up that I could have done it with a fork).
"Grated" cheese: Success!
Grated Parmesan - not so great. Because the V. only chops, rather than grates, I ended up with little pieces of parmesan instead of fluffy gratings. Magimix (or hand grater) wins on that.
Yorkshire pudding batter: Success! I blitzed the egg, milk, water, salt, pepper, for a few seconds, and then added the (unsifted) flour. I was hoping this would work because it would be slightly easier to clean up than using a bowl and whisk, and if I could use unsifted flour that was an added advantage. I left it to stand so it idn't have too much air in it.
And yesterday we had Roast Pork again, finishing our last pork joint before we collect the next half-pig on Friday. It took about 5 seconds to do the gravy. In fact, it was overly thick, more like soup (which, I suppose, it was). Next time I'll use fewer vegetables in the processing, which has the added benefit of leaving more for me to eat with my dinner), or I'll add more liquid. I froze some of this to have as soup, and some of it to use as a base for gravy next time we have something like Toad in the Hole.
Pureed Cauliflower - hmmm. Not a success, but I don't think the fault lies with the Vitamix. It did a fnatastic job of puree-ing ny cauiflower and whipping it up to a silky consistency. However, I didn't like the taste (and I love cauliflower), and the texture was just too weird.
I've used the Vitamix more than once a day. For the roast dinner I used it for three things.
There wasn't enough room on my main worktop for this AND the Magimix AND the Mixer. I've moved the Magimix over to another worktop, so it's still accessible. The Magimix won't be used for chopping or blending any more, but it will still be used when I have lots of stuff to slice.
It's still too early to say whether it was a good investment, but I am pleased with it. I won't be making use of Lakeland's no quibble return facility.
Carrot soup... qualified success. In the recipe book, they cook the carrot first. I felt that if I did this, I wouldn't really be getting that much benefit from the Vitamix, so I tried it with raw carrot. It worked reasonably well, but wasn't as smooth as I would like. (I later discovered the Vitamix Lady's website, and she explained a bit about bittiness and how to stop it).
Hot chocolate. Success! (Although I could have got equally good results by switching on the coffee machine and using the milk frother)
Fresh tomato sauce (Marinara Sauce). Oh. My. God. This tasted fantastic when I made it and it was cold. Really fresh, really bright. Super Success! It was remiscent of the best tomato we'd had for bruschetta at our local Italian restaurant. Then I added it to meatballs and baked in the oven for 30 mins. Qualified Success. It tasted OK, but it had lost a lot of its freshness.
Angel Delight. Success! I hadn't eaten Angel Delight for years, then my step daughter mentioned it (we used to eat a packet between us when she was younger). The blitzclean didn't entirely work on Angel Delight though, I had to use my fingers to loosen the stuff at the top of the conainer. (And, to be fair, Angel Delight is so eay to whip up that I could have done it with a fork).
"Grated" cheese: Success!
Grated Parmesan - not so great. Because the V. only chops, rather than grates, I ended up with little pieces of parmesan instead of fluffy gratings. Magimix (or hand grater) wins on that.
Yorkshire pudding batter: Success! I blitzed the egg, milk, water, salt, pepper, for a few seconds, and then added the (unsifted) flour. I was hoping this would work because it would be slightly easier to clean up than using a bowl and whisk, and if I could use unsifted flour that was an added advantage. I left it to stand so it idn't have too much air in it.
And yesterday we had Roast Pork again, finishing our last pork joint before we collect the next half-pig on Friday. It took about 5 seconds to do the gravy. In fact, it was overly thick, more like soup (which, I suppose, it was). Next time I'll use fewer vegetables in the processing, which has the added benefit of leaving more for me to eat with my dinner), or I'll add more liquid. I froze some of this to have as soup, and some of it to use as a base for gravy next time we have something like Toad in the Hole.
Pureed Cauliflower - hmmm. Not a success, but I don't think the fault lies with the Vitamix. It did a fnatastic job of puree-ing ny cauiflower and whipping it up to a silky consistency. However, I didn't like the taste (and I love cauliflower), and the texture was just too weird.
I've used the Vitamix more than once a day. For the roast dinner I used it for three things.
There wasn't enough room on my main worktop for this AND the Magimix AND the Mixer. I've moved the Magimix over to another worktop, so it's still accessible. The Magimix won't be used for chopping or blending any more, but it will still be used when I have lots of stuff to slice.
It's still too early to say whether it was a good investment, but I am pleased with it. I won't be making use of Lakeland's no quibble return facility.
