If any of you are part of the Vitamix club, please stand up. Great!! If you stood up go ahead and give yourself a huge pat on the back. Before 2012 I thought the almighty Vitamix was just some fancy pants blender that old rich people bought from infomercials late at night. That was before. Once my husband and I started dating in June of 2012, I discovered that the Vitamix is much, much more. The Vitamix represents a blender, but it performs so many tasks that calling it a "blender" doesn't do it justice. My husband received our Vitamix from his parents after he moved back to High Point following graduation. They have blessed us with so much and continue to do so, but this is one of our favorite gifts to this day! I would be here all day if I listed all the reasons why I love our Vitamix so let's not waste time with that when I can sum it all up into one sentence...I can cook a whole meal in 10 minutes. Let me break that down; I can cook. A whole meal. In ten minutes. I'm not sure about you, but I've been in drive-thrus longer than that.

I get to actually cook (well measure things out) good whole foods for my family and not slave away in the kitchen for a few hours. Which I do love by the way, let's just clear that up, but some days I don't feel up to baking hand crafted biscuits or preparing the finest deer roast around. I'll use tonight for an example, it's been a busy day for both Zak and I, I haven't had much energy today, there is a beautiful storm outside, and we were both in the mood for a good soup. So out comes the Vitamix cookbook. We chose the Easy Tortilla Soup. And let me say...I mean easy. I'm on my third bowl right now as I type this. I strongly encourage you to pull your machine out and give this recipe a try, you will love it!! Enjoy!

1 Roma tomato
1 celery stalk
6 baby carrots
1 garlic clove, unpeeled
1/2 vegetable bouillon cube
1 1/2 teaspoons taco seasoning
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 cup tortilla chips, lightly broken
1 cup packed fresh spinach

1. Place tomato, celery, carrots, garlic, bouillon, taco seasoning, and water into the Vitamix in that order
2. Select Variable 1
3. Turn machine on and increase speed to Variable 10, then to high
4. Blend for 7 minutes
5. Reduce speed to Variable 3 and remove the lid plug
6. Add corn, tortilla chips, and spinach
7. Replace lid plug and blend for 10 seconds
8. Soup is ready to serve!!

Bonus: I add crumbled tortilla strips on top of mine to give it a little edge

How easy?!? This recipe makes almost 5 cups of delicious soup! Also, this is a Vitamix recipe so all credit goes to them, maybe one day I'll venture out and create my own recipes!