Vitamix Usage Report – February 2017

Wondering how much we actually use our Vitamix? Us, too!

Here’s this month’s Vitamix Usage Report from the headquarters of Life is NOYOKE (this month: our Hawaii Airbnb!).

But first, let’s assess our Vitamix usage at a high level.

February 2017 Recap

February was one of our best new-recipe months ever. So many good ones.

We’ll list all the things we made and updated in a second.

But first, some thoughts on living in Hawaii.

February was our second month in Hawaii. It’s the most beautiful place.

Even when we needed to do computer work after sunset, the view was worth it.

But we’ve begun to miss the mainland. Here are three things that we miss the most:

1. Big-city food

Don’t get us wrong. We’ve found some good food in Honolulu. Except for a few standouts, though, the restaurant food here is pretty stam. We miss our neighborhood Chinese takeout, taco joint, and BYOB sushi spot the most.

2. Our Vitamix setup in Chicago

We’ve been using the A3500 exclusively while here in Honolulu. Do we like it? Yes. But we miss our narrow 32-ounce container, something that’s not yet available on the Ascent Series. And, we also miss the classic switches on our Pro 750. And so while we love the look of the best-in-class Ascent (pics here, here, and here), we might spend Q2 using the A2500 instead.

3. Our family (especially the little niece and nephew)

Without any distractions, we’ve been quite productive this month. (We wrote a book!) But we miss the distractions. FaceTime calls are nice, but not the same. These faces need squishing.

We head back to the mainland at the end of March (about a week after this will publish). Our goal is to cherish every last minute here.

But we are excited to get back to our “real” life in Chicago.

Vitamix Usage

All of the following were made in our Vitamix, an A3500 (as pictured above).

Note 1: Obviously, our lifestyle is extremely conducive to heavy use. Work from home, make a living as Vitamix affiliates. But full transparency is the goal here. What do we actually do with our Vitamix?

Note 2: I realize some of these items have an ordered list that begins with “1” but stops there. No “2” or “3” or so on. Well, until I figure out a better way to deliver this information, we’re just going to have to live with ordered lists that end at 1. And yes, I tried unordered list format (bullet points), but that makes it more difficult to tally everything up and a single bullet point is almost just as bad a single item in an ordered list. Okay, moving on.

Summary: 45 Runs

Vitamix runs: 45

Total Vitamix runs (including self-cleaning): 90

Details: All the thing we made

Almond milk  »»

1. 2/9 (attempt with cheese cloth — fail!)
2. 2/22 (made with filtration bag* — success!)

Artichoke Dip »»

1. 2/2

Beer Cheese Soup »»

1. 2/7

Beet Hummus »»

1. 2/16

Cashew Queso »»

1. 2/7 (post grocery shopping, with popcorn)
2. 2/14
3. 2/22

Coconut Curry Dressing »»

1. 2/28

French Toast »»

1. 2/23

French Onion Dip »»

1. 2/2

Green Juice

1. 2/7 (out at Leahi Health)

Hula Bites »»

1. 2/23

Lower Back Pain Relief Juice »»

1. 2/16 (first attempt)
2. 2/22 (perfection)

Mexican Hot Chocolate »»

1. 2/15

Peanut Butter (with dates!) »»

1. 2/7

New NOYOKE Shake »»

1. 2/1
   
2. 2/2
   
3. 2/3 (blueberry banana)
   
4. 2/5
   
5. 2/6 (blueberry banana)
6. 2/9 (pb&j after the peanut butter with dates run)
7. 2/17
   
8. 2/28
   
9. 2/27 (strawberry banana)
   
10. 2/24 (strawberry banana)
    
11. 2/23 (strawberry banana)
    
12. 2/22 (strawberry banana)
    
13. 2/13
    
14. 2/14
    
15. 2/15

Smoothie Bowl

1. 2/4 (farmer’s market)
2. 2/5
3. 2/6
4. 2/7
5. 2/8
6. 2/9
7. 2/10
8. 2/12
9. 2/18 (late night!)
10. 2/19 (late night again!)
11. 2/23 (late night bowl for one)
12. 2/26 (pre-hike!)
13. 2/28 (thick ones, for two)

February Learnings

Remembering to write down all our Vitamix usage was difficult. So the listed usage above may have some errors or omissions.

But here’s what we found.

When we did record our Vitamix usage, we were more likely to blend again that day. It was kind of like self-inspiration.

Most of you won’t be making Vitamix usage reports like this.

But Instagramming works just as well. And when you do, you’ll get lots of immediate praise (especially when you use #vegan #vitamix and #lifeisnoyoke).

Going forward, we’re going to make recording our Vitamix usage part of the routine. Kind of like running the cleaning cycle, writing down what you made is something you should never skip.

Because once you do, it will probably be a while before you do it again. Kind of like flossing.

The other big learning this month? Smoothie bowls.

Smoothie bowls are the greatest thing ever. They’re like cereal, but tastier and better for you.

Did you notice how many we made? Dozens!

Here’s one of my favorite smoothie bowls we made this month. (Leave a comment if you’d like to see an in-depth rundown on how to make perfect smoothie bowls.)

Smoothie Bowl Sunday!

A post shared by Life is NOYOKE (@lifeisnoyoke) on Feb 5, 2017 at 2:10pm PST

Final thoughts

That concludes our Vitamix usage report for February 2017. Hopefully you’re inspired to try some of the things we made.

We loved making them and hopefully you will, too.

Thanks for reading,
Shalva and Lenny

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