Blog / VitaMix Variable Speed (VS)

I had the ingredients for this so I figured I'd make it on Friday. I was going to make the raw enchiladas for our Thanksgiving dinner but we were invited over at a friend's house so I didn't have to make a lot of food after all! (I still ended up making enough: raw cauliflower whip, raw parsnip whip, raw stuffing, spinach/fennel/orange salad with a mustard vinaigrette, delicious and the best cranberry sauce ever, and a coconut raw ice cream with cranberry persimmon sauce and ginger orange crisp topping. I found various recipes online and then modified the hell out of them. I'm sorry to say that I hardly ever follow a recipe just the way it is. Everything was delicious and very flavorful. anyway, onto the enchilada recipe... the enchilada tortilla shell part • 5 cups corn (corn from the summer that has been shaved off and frozen) • 3/4 cup golden flax, ground into a fine meal • 1 tsp cumin • 3 cloves garlic, peeled • 1 1/2 oranges, peeled • 1 tsp Celtic or Himalayan salt • a good pinch of cayenne pepper • 3/4 cup fresh water First grind the whole flax in the Vitamix to turn into flax meal and pour into a bowl. You have to make sure the pitcher is dry and the flax is dry in order for it to grind well and not stick on the side of the pitcher. Then put the remaining ingredients into the Vitamix and blend until smooth. (The Vitamix VS is great for everything but especially when grinding nuts/seeds into flours and meals. The variable speed setting makes it so you ease into the grinding. Very nice.) Pour into the bowl and stir around, mixing well. Pour onto a paraflexx sheet and spread evenly onto one sheet/tray. Cut in half and dehydrate at 105º for about 4 hours. While that is dehydrating, you can making the filling: • 1 small container of crimini mushrooms • 1 small-medium zucchini • 1 red bell pepper • 1 cup packed baby spinach • 1 tsp cumin • a pinch tsp salt (optional) • 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice • a good pinch of cayenne Add the veggies in the food processor and pulse chop until finely cut. The spinach doesn't have to be added if you don't want to. Scrape into a big bowl and add remaining spices and vinegar. Stir and let stand. The spices and vinegar/lemon juice will start to really soften the veggies and they will reduce in size. Adjust the cumin and the cayenne to your liking. Feel free to add chipotle or other mexican seasonings that you like. You can pick whatever vegetable filling you prefer. Assembling the enchiladas: Flip the trays of the enchiladas and gently pull off the paraflexx sheets. The bottom part of the enchilada will be somewhat stiff and the side you just flipped will be sticky. Add half of the filling down the center of the enchilada, long ways. Carefully fold up the two sides and pinch them together. Repeat with the other enchilada. Stick back in the dehydrator and dehydrate for several more hours. If dehydrating overnight, put on a very low temperature so that it doesn't over dry. When you come back to it it will be ready to eat! I served this on a bed of red leaf lettuce and made a tomato/almond cheesy sauce to drizzle a bit on top (like sour creme) and then made a simple salsa to add to the top. Everyone loved this meal and devoured it pretty quickly! The corn is sweet, the veggies have nice spice, the onions in the cheesy sauce and salsa tasted great together. YAY! I love when everyone loves their raw meals! Tip: Just because something is raw and made from whole food doesn't mean that you can't overdo it when you are eating it. So many places say it's ok to eat whatever you want whenever you want it because it's raw and that is just not so. To fill yourself up, add lots of greens to your plate and enjoy all the flavors. Chew slowly and think grateful thoughts while you eat. Enjoy!

There's a great vegan recipe book out called Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook. I've made several recipes from it and while some of the recipes are tofu- or seitan- heavy, all the recipes I've tried so far have been tasty and it's really nice to have a cookbook like this to make things to switch things up a bit in the food department. Tonight I had some zucchini and wanted to do something new with it so I did their zucchini fritter recipe. They suggested to make the cucumber dip to go with it and serve it with a salad. The dip recipe is a raw vegan recipe and I made it and it is VERY tasty. It goes without saying that when I make a recipe from a book, I change lots of things and I hardly ever do the recipe the way the book recommends. This recipe is no exception. Mainly I don't do the recipe as follows because I'm a rebel at heart and because I can't be bothered to do all the many steps that the recipe lists. I love making food, love being in the kitchen but I never want recipes to rule my time there. I just want to make the food and go. So even with the fritter recipe, I did it altogether differently and I changed many of the ingredients. I typically just use the ingredients as a guideline. LOL So here's the recipe. This can be found on page 66 of the Veganomicon book but please realize that I'm writing what I did so I don't forget for the next time. This would make an EXCELLENT dressing or sandwich spread as well as the dip that it suggests. It's creamy and smooth and very tasty.

• 1 euro cuke, cut in half and then chopped (I used a little more than 1/2 of the cuke)
• 1 cup raw cashews
• 2 super large cloves garlic
• 1 drizzle olive oil (I just drizzled)
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 large drizzles of lemon juice
• good pinch of cayenne
• 2-3 sprigs of fresh dill

I just literally put everything into the VitaMix and blended until smooth and creamy. I didn't bother with grating and straining and whatever else they recommend. It would be nice to do if you were making it a chunky dip but this was such a creamy smooth and thick enough sauce that it just made the whole dinner so lovely. For dinner, we had:

• the zucchini fritters from page 51 of the book although I followed the directions even less than the above recipe. I didn't deep fry them either.
• lots of local greens which were washed, chopped and put in a bowl
• local carrots which were spiral sliced to look like carrot pasta
• sauerkraut that I made a long time ago from locally grown cabbage
• cucumber dip recipe from above

Here's how I put it all together: I put a whole bunch of lettuce on the plate, added some carrots, sauerkraut and added a fritter on top with a couple dollops of the dip. Everything tasted so good together. It was a great meal that was fast to make and easy to clean up. I'm excited to have leftovers! Enjoy and please let me know what if you make this or other recipes. I love to hear what people do in the kitchen. xoxo

Question: what vitamix model should I buy? — S. Answer: Thanks for your question! I want to start by saying that I've been using my VitaMix blender since 2001 and I still have the same one I bought back then. It works great. I've been using the 4500 from day one and thought for sure that this would be the only model for me. It has an on/off switch and a high/low switch. It's a powerful blender and it blends everything like a dream. You just turn the machine on and its 2+ horse power blends anything and everything super fast and creamy. I haven't had any problems grinding grains/nuts/seeds with it, nor with making juices, smoothies, soups, pates, spreads, ice creams, puddings, and everything else in between. For me, the 4500 was going to be my one and only blender that I was going to carry. I've just recently tried the VitaMix Turboblend VS, the one with the variable speed. I received this as a gift for submitting some of my recipes to VitaMix for their new recipe book. I received the blender in December so it's a new experience for me to use the variable speed. Because of that, I'd say it was a little difficult for me to get used to in the beginning. I think because I was so used to the 4500, I saw the variable speed initially as adding another step to the process and I wasn't quite "getting" the real use for it. Now that's it's been a coupla months since using the variable speed, I can say honestly that I do enjoy using it daily. I think it does an even better job of grinding nuts/seeds/grains. I think it makes quicker work of making creamy dips and spreads. It's less messy (and therefore easier/faster to clean) to use the VS when blending smoothies because the ingredients don't go shooting up to the top of the lid like in the 4500. I also think that it means not needing to use the tamper tool as much. So, I now love both the 4500 and the VS. I have never tried the 5200 but just from looking at it and reading it, it says that people should use the 5200 if they DON'T plan to grind their own grains. (Why on earth would you not grind your own grains?!?!) :-) There's also a grippy black handle vs. the other blenders that just have regular plastic handles. I'm sure it's a great blender, but I DO enjoy having the versatility of grinding my own nuts/seeds/grains as well as making ice creams and soups, smoothies, juices, creams, dressings, pates, spreads, etc. So my recommendations would be to save your pennies and get yourself a VitaMix - it doesn't really matter which one as you'll love it as soon as you blend your first smoothie in it. Get the 4500 if you want the base model (which is a really kickass model) - you'll save about $50 between the 4500 and the next model up. The VS and 5200 cost $449.00 and it's definitely has it's perks to using that variable speed. I don't want to discourage anyone from trying it at all. I love both models now and I think it's just a matter of preference. Make up your mind based on your budget and needs. I will end by saying that for $50 additional (for the VS), you'll not only get the blender with the variable speed, but you'll receive one of our hemp 12 x 12 nut milk bags AND the amazing recipe BINDER that has really awesome recipes in it. (All raw vegan recipes) - I really think that's special. So many people ask me what to do and how to get started and this really is a great kit to get you started on eating more health-fully. So that's that! Thanks for the questions! Please email me back and tell me what you end up getting. xoxo, Linda +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ask Linda! Please feel free to submit your questions to linda AT vt-fiddle.com. Questions don’t have to be completely raw food related but please bring questions on health, recipes, diet, weight issues, nutrition, parenting, nursing, pregnancy, spirituality or whatever it is you’d like to ask. I’ll do my best to answer and will most certainly learn from this as much as I can give.