Welcome to the big leagues

I’m officially a foodie now.  I own a vitamix.

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Birthday present from Kyle.  He knows me so well.

So this may sound weird but I was kinda scared to use it.  And for a solid week it sat untouched because I was too intimidated.  I didn’t want to initiate it into my kitchen arsenal with a lame recipe or anything so-so.  It had to be epic.  Why?  Who knows.  It’s all in my head.

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In the end, I chose a cheesy pumpkin sauce.  Because blending nuts to creamy dreamy bliss (in seconds!!) was too fun to pass up.

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So. Cool.

Pumpkin Sage Cashew Sauce [vegan, gluten free, fodmaps friendly]

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups pumpkin
  • 4 sage leaves
  • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 cup cashews (raw, roasted, whatever)
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 tbsp tamari
  • 1/2 lemon, juiced (~2 tbsp)

Directions:

Pulse everything in high powered blender until smooth.

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I can’t get over how fast this blended into such a silky texture.  Even faster than the food processor!

I used the plunger to help things move, which was great, but I feel like some of the sauce was wasted on the stick.  Is there a good way to get the food off it (not counting my tongue?).  Because I’m not always going to want to do that, even though this time I definitely did.

What to do with this stuff?  More like what NOT to do with it…

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First I used it in a quinoa dish.

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With steamed kale, it hit. the. spot.  Warm and cozy.

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The next day I had a salad version.  Chilled with raw spinach, carrots, and quinoa.

I also ate it as a dip – it’s good on anything and everything.

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I also sauced up some scrambled eggs and paired it with crackers and carrots.

Yum!

I could see this being a great sauce for steamed broccoli too.  Or baked potatoes.

The options are endless!

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Comments (18)

  1. Alexis @ Hummusapien

    Congrats on the Vitamix!! I’m dying to own one…what a dream!

  2. Crystal

    You’re going to love it!!! I broke down and bought one 2 years ago and I use it constantly…you’re going to love making your own nut butters!!!

  3. Jill in Chicago

    Awww, what a great gift! I’m so jealous! (Though I did just see that refurbished ones are down to $299….maybe Santa will bring me one :))

  4. Livi

    pumpkin sage….sounds SO good! I’ll have to try this!

  5. Missy

    Oh Happy Day!
    Am jealous.

    That sauce/dip deliciousness looks and sounds so good.
    I bet we are in for an arsenal of dip and sauce recipes now! yay!

    And your little PacMan (can I call him that?) is gonna love it, too.

  6. Miss Polkadot

    ” I didn’t want to initiate it into my kitchen arsenal with a lame recipe or anything so-so.” That was SO me, too. While I didn’t buy a Vitamix I got one to review one for my blog for six weeks – half-time now, boo. So no, you’re not alone on insisting the first recipe to be special. Mine was homemade coconut butter.
    Anyway, congrats on joining the foodie Olymp :D. Convince me to make the purchase myself! I’d hoped to make my own nut butters aside from coconut but it doesn’t seem to work [unless adding extra oil and that’s not what I’d hoped for] so I’m as of yet undecided.
    Your Pumpkin Cashew Sauce sounds great. I was super impressed by how smooth the Vitamix blended the cashews for a raw cheesecake recipe I tried. Maybe that alone is worth buying it :).

  7. Katie @ Peace Love & Oats

    YAY VITAMIX!!!! Welcome to the club! Can’t wait to see what you do with it so I can copy. I feel like mine is such a waste on me because I just make “ice cream” with frozen fruit…

  8. Elise (Post author)

    Of course you can call him that! His initials are PAC so that’s our nickname for him 🙂

  9. Courtney

    Yay for the VitaMix! Don’t you love it?!? I usually use my tongue to clean the plunger, but when I am trying to control myself and/or I have guests over and they are watching me (damn them!), then I use a silicone spoonula thingy to scrape whatever it is off of the plunger and into the container/dish/etc. It works, but it is very rare…my tongue usually wins out over that 🙂 Anyway, I am excited for you to have the VitaMix and to have fun experimenting with it in the kitchen!

    Courtney

  10. Gail

    You’re too funny! But I guess I can relate……have a juicer awaiting initiation. I’ve had my Vita for 13 yrs(one jar replacement over that period) & love it, love it, love it…….couldn’t do w/o it. I have a variable speed & got fed up with using the plunger a long time ago. I start it on low & gradually crank it up, stopping & starting as needed, using a spatula around the edges & pushing it down. Might sound a bit onerous but it’s really not. I don’t use it for nut butters as I think one would need to add too much oil to get it going-find the food processor a better tool. Happy Vita-mixing!

  11. Nicole @ FruitnFitness

    Oh congrats on the vitamix! Now I really a wish I had one so I could copy this. I have loved the recipes of yours that I have tried. Simple, healthy and full of flavor!

  12. elaine c.

    this sauce looks great! i’ve heard/read such good things about vitamix, but it’s so dang expensive. i’m gonna work on justifying it more before i fully commit 🙂 so keep the recipes coming so i can justify it, ha!

  13. Chilled Onions

    Me in an envy mode:) My stick blender died, my food processor+blender is on its way out (makes more and more sad noises when I use it) and I am ready for something new and shiny. Vitamix is definitely on my wish list, but then I want a stick blender and a food processor as well, preferably everything in one! Too many choices:) But congratulations, thats one good birthday present:)))

  14. Jen

    Congrats! I did a similar thing with my Vitamix when I first got it. I wanted to keep it looking pretty and new. Now I use it almost everyday. I love it! Can’t wait to try your recipes!

  15. Annabell

    I’m not sure how this will work with the plunger, but with my food processor I usually will get most of my sauce/hummus/whatever out, then run it again with just the blade in there, and what ever is on the blade usually flies to the walls of the bowl where I can then scrape them out. Hope that helps!

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  17. Kathleen

    What model do you have?

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