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I killed my Vitamix.
I had a feeling it would happen eventually and this past week that feeling came to fruition. You see, I have this special gift of pushing my kitchen appliances to their limit and my Vitamix, sadly, couldn't escape. Let me share with you what NOT to do if you own a Vitamix:
While we were traveling in Thailand, Brett discovered Mighty Maple Peanut Butter and kept giving me little hints that I should add maple syrup to the next batch of homemade peanut butter I made once we got home. He's got quite the sweet tooth! I thought it would make for a fun, simple recipe and decided to try add in some maple syrup to my roasted peanuts before blending in my blender. I heard that adding oil makes making homemade peanut butter easier, so I figured a liquid like maple syrup would be perfectly fine to add as well.
Nope.
Not long after I turned my Vitamix up to full power it started sounding slightly more labored than when I normally make peanut butter. Then all of a sudden it stopped. I've actually overheated my Vitamix before, so I tried not to freak out and figured it just needed to cool down and then it would work again. I cleaned out the half-peanuts/half-peanut butter mixture and waited a few hours to turn it on again.
Zilch.
That's when I officially deemed adding-maple-syrup-to-peanut-butter-in-a-vitamix a BAD idea. Please, just let me be your guinea pig and tell you that if you too have the desire to make maple peanut butter in your Vitamix, just don't. Thank goodness I have a 7 year warranty AND Vitamix will pay for the shipping both ways! Knowing I can get it fixed for free has given me lots of peace. This isn't the first time I've broken a nice kitchen appliance (yes, I'm thinking about you food processor blades...) and being the frugal girl I am, I always feel a little bit sick when I think about the time, and often money, that I'm going to have to spend to fix what I broke. Especially when cooking in China has enough challenges of it's own, I'm so glad that I'll still be able to use my beautiful blender once I get it fixed. I'll just look on the bright side and see that my timing in breaking my blender was spot on. It's still too cold here in China to be craving smoothies everyday, so hopefully it will be back and working before the warm weather arrived.
BUT, sometimes it doesn't matter how cold it is outside and I still want a creamy, delicious, sweet smoothie. Are you the same way? You're probably wondering how I was able to make this delicious and oh, so, creamy looking Vanilla Tahini Smoothie if my blender isn't working. Well, I have wonderful friends here in China and one of my friends has lent me her blender until I get mine fixed. YAY! Now I can make this smoothie everyday if I want. It really is a unique and amazing smoothie. Speckled with vanilla bean and cinnamon and made thick and creamy from frozen bananas, milk and tahini, this Vanilla Tahini Smoothie is a must try!
I absolutely love tahini and will often drizzle it on my vegetables or even put it in sweet dishes like my Chocolate Tahini Brownie Bites (which you should try btw). If you love tahini too, feel free to up the amount of tahini in this smoothie like I recommend in the notes. If you're not as big of a tahini fan, don't worry! The one tablespoon amount that this recipe calls for is not overpowering at all and just adds a beautiful richness to the smoothie.
I really hope you try out this healthy and unique smoothie! If you do, please let me know what you think in the comments or take a picture and tag #theconscientiouseater on Instagram so I can see your creation!
📖 Recipe
Vanilla Tahini Smoothie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 frozen bananas chopped and thawed for five minutes
- 1 tablespoon tahini*
- 4 large pitted dates or 6 small
- 2 cups non-diary milk
- Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- After your bananas have thawed for a few minutes, place them along with the remaining ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth. Taste and add more tahini, dates or cinnamon if desired.
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
I was about to lament about your poor Vitamix, but you said it started working again?? That is awesome! The magical reset button 😀 I've overheated mine many times, always scary, but I'm honestly too scared to nut butter in it. I always use my food processor if I make nut butter (which I rarely do) because i am not as attached to it haha 😀 Well I'm glad you can smoothie again! Now you just need some better smoothie weather. This is a gorgeous combination you have here! I'm not the biggest tahini fan, but it's not very much and I love all the other ingredients so much I think I would still love this smoothie! It looks so rich and creamy <3
Faith says
I know, it's a miracle!! I probably will be to scared to make but butter in it again for a while, but I'm so excited it's up and running again. Yeah, the tahini is so subtle but adds lots of depth. You should try it out!!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
I could totally give you one of my blenders...I have 6...every brand out there BUT a Vitamix....and I don't use any of them 😛
Hahaha!
And I would SO be adding in...like the entire jar of tahini!
Faith says
Really?! That's hilarious! Why six?! Thankfully mine started working again just this morning!! I'll share with you all the story soon, but for now I'm all set. Yay!
And definitely try out tahini in your next smoothie!
Alyssa @ renaissancerunnergirl says
There are a lot of unusual things that will kill a blender...syrup and other sticky stuff are major, but sunflower seeds did a number on mine. It didn't even crush them at all, the blender just died. But it wasn't as good as a Vitamix so it could have been it wasn't meant to really process more than blend.
Faith says
Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking, but I'll never try such a sticky recipe again!! Hope you've found a replacement for yours!!
Leah M @ love me, feed me says
So much love for this smoothie! I haven't tried tahini in a smoothie thinking the flavour would just disappear, but I'm convinced!! Looks amazing.
Would be delicious with one of those chocolate tahini cookies crumbled on top 😉
Faith says
Exactly!! I've gotta try that soon before Brett eats all the cookies!
Liz @ I Heart Vegetables says
Thank goodness for the warranty!!! And really, I feel like a vitamix should be able to handle that! (Can't it like, blend concrete? haha) I loooove mine and I use it almost every day so I know I'd be sad if it broke! Hope it gets fixed soon!
This smoothie sounds delicious though! 🙂
Faith says
News as of today...it started working!! I'll have to write a new update on it, but it was such a blessing to have it start without me having to send it in. Since I bought from the UK I would have had to ship it there (from CHINA!)...basically it would have been a lot of time and money. BUT there's a reset button on the bottom that they finally told me about and it's revived! Couldn't be happier! Can't wait to make some smoothies!