After sitting outside and catching some summer rays, I decided that I needed something to cool me down. Then it hit me! I should make a blended ice drink. What better way to relax with a Big Train Fruit Tea Blast! Mix these tasty treats up into a party of flavor for your mouth to devour! Try the Wildberry Boost, Mango Madness, Pomegranate Blueberry, Lemon Cooler, Cranberry Raspberry, or my favorite Peach Pizazz.

The best way to mix these mouth-watering delights is to use one of our Vita-mix Blenders. Did you decide that you want one for home and at work? No problem, we carry both lines of Vita-mix machines. The Vita-mix Professional series is my favorite home unit, while the Vita-mix Bar Boss will get the job done at work or in your restaurant.

Here is a great recipe for making a tasty spring/summer drink.

Kool Kola

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups / 211 g vanilla nonfat frozen yogurt or ice cream
1/3 cup / 80 ml cola

Directions:
1. Place all the ingredients in the Professional Series Blender Container in order listed and secure the lid. Select VARIABLE 1. Turn on machine and quickly inrease speed to VARIABLE 10;then to HIGH.  Blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.  Serve immediately.

yield: 1 2/4 cups /420ml (1.75 servings)

Serving Idea: Garnish with light whipped topping, chocolate sprinkles and gummy cap bottles - kids will love this drink!


per serving - one serving equals 1 cup / 240 ml
183 calories | 0.1 g fat (0% calories from fat) | 6 g protein | 43 g carbohydrate | 0 g dietary fiber | 0.2 mg cholesterol | 92 mg sodium

Recipe from the Vitamix Create Cookbook.

Ingredients:

2 Cups/ 480ml whipping cream, cold

3 tablespoons sugar or other sweetener, to taste

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

Directions:

1. Cool your container.

2. Place cream, sugar and flavoring in the Professional Series container and secure the lid.  Select Variable 1.  Turn on mahine and quickly incease seed to Variable 2.  Blend for 10 to 15 seconds or until mixture stops circulating.  Serve within 2 hours.

yield: 2 cups / 480g (16 servings)

Serving ideas: Substitute other flavorings for vanilla or use 1 tablespoon flavored coffee creamer such as hazelnut, Irish cream, etc.

Recipe from the Vita-mix "Create' Full color cookbook.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup / 40 g fresh pineapple
1/4 cup / 60 ml tomatillo puree
juice of two limes
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped
1 teaspoon Hawaiian sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoo fresh mint, chopped
diced chile pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients, except cilantro, mint and chile pepper, in theProfessional Series container in order listed and secure the lid.  Select VARIABLE 1. Turn on machine and quickly increase speed to VARIABLE 10; then to HIGH.  Blend for 20 seconds or until smooth.

2. Decrease speed to VARIABLE 4.  Remove the lid plug and add cilantro, mint and chile pepper.  Replace the lid plug.  Blend for an additional 10 seconds.

Yield: 1 cup / 240 g (4 servings)

Serving Ideas:  Serve with tacos, dips or grilled chicken.

per serving - one serving equals 1/4 cup / 60 g
20 calories | trace fat (6% calories from fat) | 0 g protein | 6 g carbohydrate | 1 g dietary fiber + 0 mg choleterol | 577 mg sodium |

RECIPE FROM Vitamix CREATE Recipe Book

So I recently tried the Vita-Mix- The Quiet One Blending Station because I was curious how quiet it really was and how easy it was to use. The enclosure was really easy to open and close, but still had a snug fit. I usually make frozen beverages so I not only needed it to be quiet, but I needed it to be able to mix different ingredients well in a short period of time and also create a smooth mixture. Not only was the machine as quiet as advertised because we held a conversation to make sure that the description was accurate, but my iced coffee came out well in a short period of time. The preset settings made it easy to just chose an option and it pretty much did all the work for me. It was defintely quiet, quick, and efficient.

Ingredients

• One part Tequila
• 3 parts Sour Mix (Virgin strawberry or lemon)
• Limes
• Ice

Directions

1. Salt the rims of 2 large margarita glasses. To do so slice a lime into eights and use the lime to moisten the circumference of the glass
2. In a blender combine tequila,
   1. Frozen (for a 64oz pitcher):
      1. Add 32 oz of ice, sour mix and Tequila to the blending container blend for less 4 ½ mins or until smooth. Carefull not to over blend or it may be come foamy
      2. Pour and Serve
   2. On the rocks(for a 64oz pitcher)
      1. Fill Pitcher with ice cubes
      2.  Add  Sour mix and Tequila to the pitcher and serve

For a little better Ritta use “Twang lime salt”.  This has a larger texture and pieces of lime in the salt to add a little salt to the sour.

I own a simple little $20 blender. It has six buttons and it does not make very much, it does not even make things that I would imagine it could make very well. The drinks are foamy and the smoothies are chunky, and you can forget about solid foods. The Pro 500 on the other had puts my blender to shame. It is significantly more expensive but given the fact that they are warranted for 7 years and its phenomenal functionality, makes it a more practical purchase. To speak on Vita-mix’s behalf my grandmother had a Vita-mix when I was a child and she still uses today. I remember that thing from over 15 years ago!

The Pro 500 offers variable speed knob still offers the same signature Vita-mix versatility like many of their blenders with extreme consistency and smoothness, the slower settings being better for more course foods. Secondly, the feature that really sets it above the blenders in its class are its 3 preprogrammed buttons: hot soups, frozen desserts and smoothies. The Pro 500 and its functions make it so easy to follow the recipe book included with the blender. Simply select the recipe and walk away. Although it only has three preprogrammed settings, don’t be surprised at its flexibility such as when you are making peanut butter on your frozen drink setting. This machine has an all new pulse setting that allows for nice customization and is perfect for things like salsa. The recipe book that comes with the Pro 500 is so simple. Pick a recipe, pour in your ingredients and select the preprogram setting and it walk away. The three preprogram button times are 45sec for the frozen drinks, 60secs deserts, and 270secs for the soup. They continually ramp up from low speeds to high and offer the walk away convenience all while being quick, easy and delicious. I never thought you could make so many things in a blender! It will heat soups, literally produces enough entropy to heats the soup in the blender to a steaming point. Finally cleaning them is easy as well. One drop of dish liquid, fill it about half way with hot water and put it on the smoothie setting, 45 seconds later it’s clean.

Vita-Mix’s Vita Prep 3 is a very popular item with our home users. Why? They love having the added assurance of a 3 horsepower motor and they also know that it will be able to tackle any job since it was designed for a commercial kitchen.  At $485, this machine comes with a tamper, 54 page recipe manual, a 3 year warranty through Vita-Mix and a mail in rebate for a FREE case of Big Train Blended Ice Coffee! Like all Vita-Mix units, this one also comes standard with a wet blade. If you are rarely going to be doing dry chopping or grinding, you can use the wet blade, but only do a cup of dry ingredients at a time. If you are going to be doing dry chopping or grinding quite a bit with this unit, we recommend that you also purchase a dry blade assembly. Where can you find a Vita Prep 3 being used?  You won’t have to look to far, just change your television over to the Food Network and watch an episode of Iron Chef America. The blenders that they use are the Vita Prep 3’s. Now they have the old design, and recently Vita-Mix decided to update the look of a few of their units and the Vita Prep 3 was one of them. The Vita Prep 3 is the perfect blender for any setting.

I visited a Mexican restaurant for Cinco de Mayo and ordered a frozen margarita.  I was so enthralled by the wonderful consistency and taste I knew I needed to invest into a worth while blender.  The blender I owned prior to my Vita Prep was a cheap one I picked up from a Walmart.  It was not powerful enough to chop up ice so I needed to crush the ice and then blend it.  Even still, the consistency of the drinks it made was rather irregular and chunky with the ice.  This made the drinks hard to sip and next to impossible to pull through a straw.  At the Mexican restaurant I peeked over the bar and saw that the machine they were using was a Vita Mix Vita Prep.  After doing some research I found that there are many claims to its wonderful blending technology and its incredible durability.  The only down side I found was that the 64oz Jar height would not fit under my counter top.  I live in an apartment and the blender was just to high to fit and to wide to stay on the counter top effectively.  Fortunately JL Hufford also sold a 48oz version.  This had the same blending base and power as a Vita Prep but offered the smaller height requirement that I needed with out having to sacrifice a lot of carafe volume. I am very happy with my vita prep and thrilled with the drinks it makes!

*Please note that pictured above is the Vita-Mix Professional CIA

Which Vita-Mix unit should I go with? This is a common question that most of our customers ponder while looking at the many options that are available. What typically helps them find the perfect unit is the following breakdown.

• The Vita-Mix 5200 is Vita-Mix's roadshow blender. They travel to CostCo and Sam's Club to do demostrations with it. This unit offer three pacakge options; 5200, 5200 Super and the 5200 Deluxe. With each package they add more accessories to go with the unit. Now since this is their roadshow blender, you do have to purcahse the unit through Vita-Mix directly. They will charge you tax and more than likely, shipping.
• TheVita-Mix Professional 200 has the same exact motor base as the 5200 and the same standard 64 oz BPA-Free jar. You will get a different cookbook than the 5200. This unit is also only available in the standard onyx or black color. We will cover the standard ground shipping on this item since you are spending more than $75. As for tax, we can only charge you tax if you live in the state of Indiana, since that is where we are located.
• The Vita-Mix Professional CIA has the same exact motor base as the Professional 200 and the 5200 and it is also is equipped with the standard 64 oz BPA-Free jar. You will receive the same cookbook as the Professional 200, but you also get color options! You can choose from oynx, platinum, ruby, and brushed stainless. We will cover the standard ground shipping on this item since you will be spending more than $75. As for tax, we can only charge you tax if you live in the state of Indiana, since that is where we are located.
• The Vita-Mix Professional 500 has the same motor base and standard 64 oz jar as the 5200, Professional 200 and Professional CIA. It also comes with a slightly different cookbook than the Professional 200 and CIA come with. With this unit, you will not receive any color options, you can only get the standard brushed stainless look. It does have three pre-programmed cycles on the dial. You will have one for soups, one for frozen desserts and one for smoothies. We will cover the standard ground shipping on this item since ou are spending more than $75. As for tax, we can only charge you tax if you live in the state of Indiana, since that is where we are located.

Every try using your blender and it makes too much noise? The Vita-Mix the Quiet One Blending Station is a blender you won’t be afraid to use because it is not loud to use.  With the advanced sound dampening technology, you will be able to continue a conversation while you blend. The 3 HP motor will blast through anything you put in its way. The motor helps make a consistent blended product that will satisfy you no matter what you are making. A key feature in any machine is the ability to use it without any hassle and the Vita-Mix Blender does exactly that. There are 93 speeds and 34 pre-programmable recipes. The blender will run for what speed its set for and for how long and then automatically stop when your beverage is ready to enjoy. Anyone who tries this blender will fall in love with its speed and ability to make a delicious treat without the noise.

The Vita-Mix Professional Series CIA Blender can basically do everything! Juicing, soups, wet or dry chopping, smoothies, kneading, you name it the CIA does it. It is so great to have a blender that is strong enough to make everything I want. The 2+ Peak hp motor helps me make my favorite smoothies and soaps without chunks of ice or ingredients left behind. This model is also quieter than older models and I really like that I can blend something without making too much noise. I have the recipe book and user guide that came with this machine and have had explored some different recipes, all of which I enjoyed.