A couple weeks ago, Ryan over at VegBlog wrote a review of our Vegan Success cookbook.
Triple Cookbook Review
In general, he seemed to like the recipes. The only troubling thing is that he wrote that making our Blender Hummus recipe actually broke his food processor. I can't quite imagine how cooked, canned chickpeas could break a food processor. But I felt kinda bad. The good news is that it gave Ryan an excuse to buy a new "14-cup behemoth" to replace it.
Realistically, for recipes like Blender Hummus we always use our Vita-Mix. For those who don't know a Vita-Mix is like a blender on serious steroids. It's expensive and loud, but the thing is industrial strength. We got ours in 1994 or so and have never regretted it. It's one of the ones with the steel container. Sometimes you see (or hear) them at bars, since they are great for making mixed drinks or smoothies.
In any case, yesterday, I used the Vita-Mix as part of my final canning adventure of the season. A friend gave us a big paper grocery sack filled with small organically grown apples, so I decided to make applesauce.
The recipe I opted to use is one where you leave the apple peels on. You basically cut the apples into quarters and cook them in water. (It took ages to quarter the apples even with both James and me working on them; I'd still be peeling if we'd had to peel them!) We used virtually every available pot to cook apples; they were everywhere.
The recipe said to use a food mill to pulverize the cooked apples. I don't have a food mill, but as noted I do have a Vita-Mix. With a Vita-Mix, you can put boiling hot stuff into it and it still works great. The cooked apples, peels etc. all went in and I have to say, a few moments later, the Vita-Mix created the BEST applesauce I have ever tasted. It's absolutely incredible.
It's a good thing the applesauce is good because all those apples ended up working out to 8 quarts of applesauce once all the canning was done. The kitchen may be a complete disaster area now, but it was all worth it.