I am a firm believer that it doesn’t take infinite time, space or financial resources to eat healthfully, and therefore I found ways from day 1 to eat healthfully without spending a fortune. On that note, I spent well over 2 years when I first began my own journey to health using a simple Hamilton Beach blender to make basic smoothies and salad dressings that tasted great and were really healthy to boot.

All the while, though, there were whispers of a mystical appliance out there that would blend smoothies and make sorbets in the wink of an eye — the Vita-Mix — that sounded rather tantalizing. But tantalizing or not, at the time I lived in a Manhattan apartment that had a closet-sized kitchen with almost zero counter space, so I didn’t even dare to dream of adding even one much-recommended small appliance to my home.

In my heart of hearts, though, I secretly lusted for one of those supposedly magical kitchen devices that promised to make smoothie-making a dream and homemade fruit sorbets an instant reality whenever I wanted it. I’d heard rumors of another brand of blender that did almost the same job, but everyone who compared both said the Vita-Mix was the clear winner. And since I figured out that Jamba Juice trusts Vita-Mix with their professional smoothie making needs — using the professional model, of course, not the one that you or I would need for our own kitchens — I decided there must really be something to all this.

And then in spring of 2008 I did it. By then I’d finally moved to a much bigger apartment with a (not spacious, but not stamp-sized) kitchen that would accommodate the highly recommended Vita-Mix, so I placed my order.

Within a few days it arrived, and I was instantly in love. As in, totally, utterly. Where had this been all my life?!

My first attempt at sorbet worked out perfectly! Imagine that you could just throw some frozen fruit and a little soymilk or pomegranate juice into a blender, and less than a minute later, you have lovely, smooth sorbet to enjoy … I was hooked.

Now I use my Vita-Mix literally at least once a day, and often twice, to make everything from cold, creamy smoothies to sorbets to blended soups.

Yep, you read that right — you can literally place simple soup ingredients in the Vita-Mix canister, turn it on high and within minutes, you can have a boiling hot, delicious, creamy soup!

Likewise, I make my own hummus and salad dressings in it, grind grains for recipes requiring whole grain flour (sounds bizarrely rustic, I know, but the Vita-Mix works like a charm in about 45 seconds for the amounts of grains I make — for example, to make oat flour, which I sub for wheat flour due to a food allergy, you simply put oats in the Vita-Mix and blend a little!) and I’ve even been told you can make nut butters in it, though I’ve not tried beyond one cursory attempt.

Enjoying blueberry sorbet while relaxing this past weekend

One of my favorite secrets for making delicious soups with that “cream of” texture without any unhealthy ingredients is taking a pot of soup and blending it all (or part of it), which not only ensures a lovely smooth texture, but also makes even more nutrients available to your body from the veggies and beans in there! You see — the Vita-Mix literally blends foods into particles so tiny that you get more from the healthy foods you already love.

All right, all right. I’ll stop gushing.

I know I sound like a lovestruck fan, and I guess I am one.

But once you find a tool that lets you make healthy smoothies for yourself (and your kids! my son adores all smoothies, even ones I sneak lots of greens into) and all that other stuff, you want to spread the word.

The model I have is the Vita-Mix 5200 — and I opted for the Deluxe version because I wanted the extra canisters. I give the Vita-Mix 5200 my fullest recommendation, and in fact I talked my own mother into getting one as an incredible complement to her own healthy kitchen. It was the ability to make instant sorbets that convinced her!

And now, when you order a Vita-Mix through my blog, you’ll get free standard ground shipping. Click here to get yours!