A friend told me a blender changed her life. Seriously. With the Vita-Mix (which is like an industrial smoothie blender) she could make breakfast smoothies and post-workout shakes in seconds – with the whole fruit, like apples with the skin, core and all. She also uses it to make soup.

Soup for me is the best thing to eat before physical activity. One summer, I logged what I ate before a game and how well I played soccer: broccoli gave me cramps, chicken on whole-wheat made me feel sluggish, pasta only gave me enough energy for the first half, and soup kept my energy levels even-keeled. With that in mind, I wanted to try the Vita-Mix to make a hot bowl full of goodness. Yes, hot!

How it works: The blades spin at 240 miles per hour (that’s 386 km), which heats up the soup as it spins. So no cooking required. Genius. And it comes with a cookbook of delicious recipes of smoothies, soups, salad dressings, appetizers and sauces. The price is steep though, as the different packages start at $580.

Kat and I went to the grocery store and picked up some veggies and threw them in the blender. The result: totally tasty and totally healthy. Here’s our recipe:

Ingredients

2 (540 mL) cans tomatoes with spices
2 cups fresh spinach
1 bunch tarragon
1 red pepper, chopped

Method

Place ingredients in Vita-Mix, turn it on, select “variable” dial and quickly turn the speed dial up to 10. Blend for 4 to 5 min. and serve.

Makes 3 servings. Per serving: 313 calories, 0 g cholesterol, 2820 g sodium, 71 g carbohydrates, 16 g fibre, 45 g sugars, 2 g fat, .4 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 17 g protein

For lower sodium, pick a salt-free brand of tomatoes. Also, you may want to spoon off the top, as we found blending the veggies made it frothy.

For more info on the Vita-Mix, go to vita-mix.com.

Plus, check out our collection of healthy soup recipes.

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