Vitamix Giveaway—Plus a Berry (and Vegetable) Smoothie for Kids - Remodelista
Photography by Liesa Johannssen. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone refer to a Vitamix as their “someday” blender–including Julie (see The Last Blender You’ll Ever Buy). She uses a Vitamix to cover her tracks, and her picky eater is none the wiser. The inspiration for our kid-approved vegetable smoothie is this Black Forest Cake Smoothie, variations of which my friend swears by as a vegetable vehicle for her son. I used the Vitamix 5200 Standard Getting Started machine in red; $449 at Vitamix.com. The recipe’s basic stock is dark red fruits that kids love: Here, I added a small handful each of frozen cherries, blueberries, and blackberries, plus mango as a thickener. If you’re aiming for a vegan version, adding a dense fruit like bananas or frozen mango works well to make the smoothie more substantial. Pecans lend great flavor, but use any nuts you want. Raw oats are optional and will also thicken the drink. Vanilla goes far in making smoothies more palatable for kids. (Widely available in specialty or health-food grocery stores, vanilla paste is more expensive than extract, but it’s far more concentrated and a little goes a long way.) Next, add vegetables and lemon juice. Adding a splash of lemon juice is critical if you’re adding vegetables and want the color of your smoothie to stay bright–I learned this the hard way. Looking good enough to drink? We will choose a winner at random from all the comments left on this post before 10:00 am Pacific time on March 4, 2014 and will contact the winner by email via the address you leave when you register with our Disqus commenting system below.