<p>OK—this is nowhere near as healthy, but tastes great! </p>
<p>Several tablespoons of plain non-fat yogurt, six or seven bananas, and a giant cup of ice for a minute or so in the Vitamix. Serves four to five. I wash and freeze raspberries and will add some of those also. Fresh, unfrozen raspberries result in too watery a drink.</p>
<p>I have the Vitamix but it’s too large to make just one smoothie with - when you poured it out I think half the smoothie would remain on the walls of the blender. It is an amazing blender but I agree that it is unattractive. I store mine rather than leave it on the counter. I use the bullet for making one smoothie. Perfect size and good quality.</p>
<p>DH makes one smoothie in his Vitamix every day with no problem.</p>
<p>I do love my Blendtec, but it does not grind up raspberry seeds. OTOH, it fits on my counter top, under the cupboard. A friend who recently lost a Vitamix in a divorce, now has a Blendtec. He thinks it is far inferior to the Vitamix, the loss of which he, apparently, is still grieving. In my case, ignorance is bliss. I have not experienced a Vitamix, am saving my pennies for a kitchen renovation, and those pesky college expenses for S2. </p>
<p>I’ve had a Viking professional immersion blender for about 10 years. I do smoothies for breakfast about 9 months out of the year. It’s held up perfectly to frequent use and is easy to clean and store. Takes about 30 seconds to blend a smoothie.</p>
<p>Counter space is at a premium in my house, so a full blender for daily use isn’t in the cards.</p>
<p>It is so sad that people fight over the ownership of blenders during divorce… I park my Vitamix in the “appliance garage” on the countertop, so aesthetics is not an issue. </p>
<p>I wish I had an appliance garage, BB!</p>
<p>I don’t care about small seeds being pulverized; in fact, I prefer that they remain intact. I would like to be able to easily blend frozen fruit (takes forever with my immersion blender) and ice cubes (wouldn’t even try this with the immersion blender). </p>
<p>Our smoothie recipe: 1 8 oz container of honey yogurt, 8 oz. plain kefir (fill to 2 cup mark on Vitamix), 1/2 of a 16 oz bag of frozen mixed berries, 3-4 packets of Emergen-C (I use Cranberry or Raspberry); blend 1 minute to pulverize seeds. Yield 3-4 smoothies that a straw stands up straight in. You could add a few ice cubes to this to thin and make icy. I usually don’t, as I like to save the leftovers in the fridge.</p>
<p>Something new from Consumer Reports supporting the Nutri Ninja Pro if your goal is smoothies <a href=“Vitamix vs. Nutri Ninja Personal Blender Comparison - Consumer Reports News”>Vitamix vs. Nutri Ninja Personal Blender Comparison - Consumer Reports News;
<p>My standard smoothie recipe: 1 cup plain and unsweetened almond milk, 1/8 banana (quest to drastically cut carbs), 1 tablespoon coconut oil, 2 tablespoons of ground flax, 1/3 cup berries, handful of spinach, dash of vanilla, unsweetened protein powder (usually vegetarian such as hemp or pea protein mixture) or hemp hearts. </p>