Vitamix Adventures

Although Mikaden is ten years old, my cherished Down Syndrome child often acts more like a two year old, but with more strength, height and ingenuity. I'm not sure what put the idea into his head, but for the past several weeks he has shown quite a passion for cooking, or to be more precise, he is aspiring to be a Vitamix Chef. I have attempted to record his adventures, and since I'm accumulating quite a number of them, I decided to put them here in my sorely neglected blog. So here goes:

Aug. 23-24, 2014

            It was Saturday evening, and I was visiting with my daughter-in-law, Elise, and my cousin, Kathleen (who had stopped here to rest before continuing her journey to California).  Mikaden started fiddling with the DVD player.  He came to me and said, "plgrglmf smoovie."

            "Huh? You want to watch a movie?" I asked.

            "Yeah!"

            "Which one?"

            He showed me the Vitamix Instructional DVD.

            "Oh," I said, "Smoothie!" so I started the Vitamix movie for him.  He watched intently as the lady demonstrated how to make a Garden Fresh Cocktail, Chicken Potato Spinach Soup, and Peach Ice Cream. 

            Later, as I was visiting and not paying attention to Mikaden, it gradually dawned on me that Mikaden was in the kitchen doing something.  I went to investigate and found him in the act of dumping the Costco-sized container of oregano into the Vitamix.

            "Stop, stop, stop!" I exclaimed. 

            There were about a dozen other containers out on the counter.  I looked inside the Vitamix bowl and discovered water and a mound of herbs and spices.

            "You have to let me help you," I told him.

            "Okay, Mom," he said.

            I flushed the mess down the toilet and washed the Vitamix.  I didn't feel like making a smoothie right then, so I told him we'd make one "later" with no intention of later being tonight.

            After a while, my thirteen year old, Anali, got out some ice cream and served ice cream cones to Mikaden, Elise and Kathleen, so I didn't feel at all bad about not making smoothies.

            After Jason and Elise had gone home and Kathleen had gone to bed, Kim made a berry smoothie, but it was right as I was taking Mikaden up to bed, so Mikaden didn't get any of it.

            On Sunday evening, while Kim and I were watching a movie, Mikaden entertained himself.  As the movie ended, I went to see what Mikaden was up to.  He was back to "cooking" with the Vitamix, of course.   I looked into the Vitamix and found that he had piled it full of graham crackers, a marshmallow, leftover noodle salad, raw red potatoes and potatoes from the garden that were still caked with dirt.  Mm-m how appealing.  I pulled the potatoes out one by one, then dumped the rest of it in the trash.  The marshmallow clung to the side.

            "It sticky," Mikaden informed me.  He would know.

            I cleaned the Vitamix again.

            "Okay, Mikaden," I said.  "Go get the frozen peaches."

            He went out to the freezer and came back with peaches.  He helped me make peach milkshakes.  Very delicious, but for some strange reason the Vitamix still gives off a whiff of oregano.

September 11, 2014

CHEF MIKADEN STRIKES AGAIN

         (Sing ominously) Duh duh duh duhmmm!

            Mikaden, at 0'dark early, put on his creative chef hat and once again prepared a most wondrous Vitamix concoction.  This time he really outdid himself, as the following photos will attest.

            When we got up and discovered his work, he was snoozing on the couch.

            When he got up he proudly told me about making Puff Pancakes and demonstrated his skills with flour.

            After the photo shoot, he cheerfully helped Kim and I with the clean up.

Here's Mikaden's Recipe:

• A handful of baby carrots
• Some shredded cheddar cheese 
• All the milk that's left in the jug
• As much flour as you can successfully throw into the Vitamix
• Cold water (he specified that it was cold)
• Sour cream
• About a cup of baking soda
• Some shakes of Parmesan
• A couple large glugs of peppermint extract
• About 1/2 cup of ground black pepper

             I considered mixing it all to see how it would turn out, but the pepper put me off.  The mess went into the toilet.

            I was very glad that he couldn't get the lid off the container of xylitol.

            I said to Mikaden, "Next time you want to cook something, come and get me to help you."

            He said, "Oh-h-h! Okay, Mom."

            How can I be mad at him?

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

            Kim has renamed our aspiring chef The Phantom Menace.

            Well, The Phantom Menace struck this morning.  I knew right away by the ghostly footprints on the carpet as I entered the dining room.  Uh-oh.  I wonder how bad it is this time.  The menace was watching the loathsome "Wonder Pets" on Netflix while sporting the apparition look at least as far as his pajamas were concerned.  Peering around the corner, my eyes confirmed what I already knew, the kitchen was again covered in flour, though I think not as much as the last time, perhaps due to the fact that the flour bin had less flour in it than previously. 

               The sofa, on the other hand, had quite a bit more flour on it than last time.  He had obviously sat in several spots with his flour encased PJs.

            Ah, well, I'm super thrilled that it was just flour this morning.  No muxing with the Vitamix.(Knock on wood.)

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

            A day or two ago, a gift arrived from Sheena for Mikaden: a Vitamix DVD different than the one we already have.  (Are you insane, Sheena?  He doesn't need any more inspiration.)  I had the DVD sitting on my desk and hadn't given it to Mikaden, yet, but he spotted it and without me noticing, stole away with it.  Soon I heard the voice of the Vitamix instructor describing how to make some delicious foods.  Mikaden watched it intently while simultaneously looking through the Vitamix recipe book. 

            Honest! I do keep an eye on Mikaden (intermittently) and at least one ear is always tuned in, but sometimes I'm fooled into thinking I know where he is when he is actually somewhere else.  

            His ice cream concoction started off okay with milk and chocolate syrup, but it went awry when he dumped in the cup of baking soda.  Maybe I should have mixed it up and made him taste it.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

            Kim saw Mikaden reading the cook book, so he said, "No cooking!  NO Cooking!  NO COOKING!!"  Mikaden just laughed.

            When I started fixing supper, Mikaden was right there ready to help.  He enthusiastically, opened his book to Peach Ice Cream.  I told him, "First things first.  First we have to cook supper.  Let's cook noodles."  He wasn't thrilled about noodles, but I held him off from the Vitamix.

            A while after supper, I said, "Okay, Mikaden, go get the peaches."

            The recipe was simple: milk, sugar, frozen peaches and vanilla. 

            Mikaden grabbed the milk and was about to poor it in, but I stopped him and said, "Wait, I have some cream, let's use some of that."

            "Good idea, mom."

            I poured in 1/2 a cup of cream and 1/2 a cup of milk.  Then we measured the 1/4 cup of xylitol (instead of sugar) and Mikaden poured it into the Vitamix.  Next, I put the peaches in the microwave for a minute, so they wouldn't be a solid block.  Then, I rinsed my hands at the sink, and when I turned back around, there was Mikaden pouring mint extract into the Vitamix, glug, glug, glug.

            "STOP!" I yelled, and grabbed the bottle out of his hand.  "What are you doing?!"  I ranted a while to Mikaden's amusement.

            How did he get a hold of the mint so quickly?  And it doesn't help that most of my food stuffs are the jumbo size.

            Well, I thought, we could turn it into chocolate mint something.  I added some more milk and some chocolate syrup and mixed it up.  It smelled marvelous.  Then I stuck a spoon in and gave it a taste.  Anali thought the face I made was hilarious. 

            "Ble-e-e-eck!!" I was making all kinds of sounds and contortions, but maybe not real words.

            Watching me, Mikaden stood there, fascinated.  Then I got another spoonful and put it in his mouth.  His reaction mimicked mine, and we both laughed and Anali laughed.

            I worked on the concoction some more, gradually filling up the Vitamix bowl.  I got it to where it was almost drinkable and handed a cup of it to Kim.  He took a sip and made a face.

            I laughed and said, "It clears out your sinuses, doesn't it!"

            Kim stalwartly kept sipping until the whole cup was drained.  I, on the other hand, deciding not to torture myself, poured the rest of it into paper cups and put them in the freezer.  Later, I can use one cup at a time to make a batch of mint milkshakes.

            Mikaden must have poured in enough mint extract to make 4 gallons of ice cream.

            After that fiasco, neither of us had any interest in making peach ice cream, so the peaches went back to the freezer to be used another day.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

            Stealth Chef has created a new recipe--odd, yet tantalizing.  I almost want to try it.

• 4 cups milk
• all the sour cream that's left in the container
• Chocolate syrup
• Maple syrup (the real, expensive kind)
• Parmesan cheese
• Finely shredded cheddar/jack cheese
• Barbeque sauce
• 1 cup fresh whole cranberries

            The great thing about this recipe is that it does NOT call for flour.

            When Mikaden crawled into bed with me early this morning I was actually thinking, "Oh, good, he's not cooking this morning."  I was wrong.

            Well, I don't want my little chef to loose heart with nothing but failures, so I had him help me with one of his favorite recipes, Dutch Puff Pancakes. (He is part Dutch.)  We can claim it a roaring and puffy success.  Simple and delicious.

           

Dutch Puff Pancake

• 8 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 5 Tablespoons butter or coconut oil

            Beat eggs in mixing bowl.  Add flour, milk and salt.  Mix well.

            Preheat oven to 325° F.  Melt butter or coconut oil and pour into a 9"x13" cake pan or casserole.  Carefully tip pan to roll the butter around and coat the sides.  Pour batter into pan.  Bake for 17-20 minutes.  It will puff up high, then fall as it cools.  Eat with syrup, jam, honey, fresh fruit or yogurt.

            May I recommend you try the second recipe rather than the first.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

            I woke and struggled to extricate myself from the wedged position I was in, between Kim and Mikaden, then staggered to the bathroom.  There I found Mikaden's pajamas on the floor.  No-o-o-o-o.

            I am officially not smart.  Those pajamas are covered with FLOUR!  I can't believe I didn't see that one coming.  When we made Dutch Puff Pancakes yesterday, I refilled the empty flour bin with 10 pounds of flour.

            I looked into the kitchen.  Dang!  This was not cooking.  This was unadulterated, complete and absolute playing.  Oh, the thrill of the soft powdery stuff between your fingers and seeing how it falls like snow and piles up in drifts.  See how it clings to things and how you can leave footprints wherever you go.

            He emptied the entire ten pounds.   I am so dumb.  No need to give me your advice.  I know I should have put it out of his reach.  

Well, he's not going to find any flour tomorrow.