Vitamix

"Vitamix," says the young lady on the introductory DVD, "is not just an appliance, but a way of life."

I hope so. I bought my very expensive Vitamix a couple of weeks ago when I came across a demo at Whole Foods. It was not an impulse buy, however, because I have been mulling the purchase for years. The idea of having a blender powerful enough to liquefy whole, raw vegetables has had an appeal for me that I think is due in part at least to my body's yearning for real nutrition.

My first vegetable smoothie -- a kind of V8 with fresh vegetables that is the first entry in the "Getting Started" booklet -- gave me truly a physical jolt, almost like caffeine. The concoction -- with tomatoes, spinach, carrots and Bloody Mary condiments -- was not exactly to my taste, but it bowled me over with its sheer vitality.

I'm finding that I like drinks with fewer ingredients better. So, for instance, a tomato-carrot-red pepper smoothie tasted better to me than that first drink. I'm still experimenting with how much water and ice to add to get the right thickness. Kale and banana, oddly enough, was quite tasty, with the sweet banana tempering the bitter kale. In the demo, the guy made quite a point of combining vegetables and fruit -- for instance, putting grapes in a green smoothie with cabbage and cucumber.

Andrea teases me about my "vegematic" because she's convinced this will be a passing fancy. There's a good chance she's right, but I hope not. My first goal is simply to wean myself off of diet soda by substituting tea or smoothies for my soda and/or snacks.

Beyond that, I do believe breaking down raw, fresh food like this is a huge boost to nutrition and more balanced eating habits. My hope is it will give me more energy and help me lose weight.

Cauliflower and fennel cazuela

This dish is delicious but that has as little to do with the vegetables as lobster bisque has to do with crustaceans. Chefs joke that restaurant patrons love bisques because they're 95% cream. The authors of The Barcelona Cookbook disingenuously claim that cauliflower is surprisingly popular because this dish flies out of the kitchen. You'll see why.

You blanche a cauliflower cut into florets for 7 min., plunge in icewater and drain, then blanche a fennel bulb, trimmed of its fronds and cut in half, in the same pot of water, icewater, drain. Then you rub the fennel bulb halves with olive oil, salt and pepper and put under the broiler (or grill, weather permitting) for 5 to 7 min., then cut into 1/8 to 1/4-in. strips. Heat 1/4 c. olive oil in a large skillet and saute a thinly sliced onion for 10 min., add 4 cloves chopped garlic and cook slowly another 8 to 10 min. Add the blanched vegetables, salt and pepper, and cook slowly 15 to 20 min. Then add 1-1/2 c. heavy cream (!), 3/4 c. panko bread crumbs, 2 tsp. lemon juice, 3/4 c. grated Manchego cheese (!), 2 tsp. chopped parsley, 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme, check seasoning, then set aside.

Then you make a bread crumb topping warming 1/2 c. olive oil in a saute pan, then add 10 cloves of sliced garlic (my cloves were so big I used 5), and cook 5 to 7 min. until garlic is "honey-colored." Then add 3 c. panko crumbs, salt and pepper, and cook for 7 to 10 min., taking care not to scorch the bread crumbs. Add 3/4 c. grated parmesan, 2 Tbl. chopped parsley, and 2 tsp. chopped thyme. Spread topping over vegetable mixture in a casserole (or individual cazuelas) and put in 400-degree oven for 15 to 20 min. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle chopped chives over top and serve.

Now this was really scrumptious, but what you taste is the cream and cheese and oil. The fennel and cauliflower I sampled during cooking were quite good, and presumably those flavors are somewhere in there. But this could have been macaroni and cheese. I served a couple of slices of cold ham with it and it was a delicious dinner. I had planned to use my big cazuela for the final assembly, but it was too big, so I just used a regular oval casserole. I would do it again for company, but it's too much work for a weekday meal and there are presumably ways to cook vegetables where you taste the vegetables.