Ninja Professional Blender and Raspberry Coconut Smoothie

I had to admit that when I started my fitness journey over a year ago that I really had little appreciation for smoothies.  Sure, I had made them before but not very often.  It is possible to pack a lot of calories into a smoothie and if the focus is on fruit, a lot of carbohydrates as well.  As I worked my way up to a daily high calorie burn routine, smoothies became an appealing way to incorporate a high protein recovery meal.  They are an economical, easy to prepare post-exercise meal that can be tailored to individual needs.  I tend to boost the protein on the days I have a high exercise calorie burn but on the weekends when I take a break from the higher burns, I don't worry about boosting the protein.  I also pay attention to the carbohydrates content adjusting based on activity.

A blender is necessary to make smoothies.  While a regular blender works fine for the occasional blender, a heavy duty blender performs better for regular use.  There are specialized smoothie blenders (eg. Magic Bullet) but I have not seen good reviews on them.  At the same time, I didn't want to pay $600 for a Vitamix, the king of the blenders.  I simply wanted a heavy duty blender that would stand up to fairly regular use making smoothies.

Canadian Tire had a good sale on small kitchen appliances.  The Ninja Professional was reduced to $79.99.  This is a no frills, heavy duty blender that had good reviews so I bought one.

I've had the Osterizer blender for a number of years.  It is a 425 W, 8 speed blender with a glass pitcher.  The base fits a mason jar and a separate smaller blending jar that I use quite often for sauces and dressings.  This is not a feature available on most newer blenders so my Osterizer will not be going anywhere any time soon.

The Ninja is a 1,000 W blender with three settings - on, pulse and off.  It has a heavy 72 oz plastic blender.  The size is impressive, definitely larger and heavier than the Osterizer.  The lid has a locking feature that must be activated for the blender to work.  A mason jar cannot be used on the Ninja base.

The Osterizer blade sits in the black screw on base.  A rubber gasket sits on the blade then the assembled unit is screwed onto the pitcher.  The design of the Osterizer The Ninja blade has a completely different design than the Osterizer.  It is a one piece unit with three sets of curved blades that sits on a post in the pitcher.  A pin at the top centres the blade unit when the lid is locked on to the pitcher.  The design of the Ninja blade reduces the need to stop the blender to redistribute food for smooth blending.  It is designed to efficiently crush ice, The Ninja is reputed to blend ingredients smoother than any other blender.  I certain will be putting this blender through the paces!

Protein shakes made with water, milk or nut milk and protein powder are great by themselves.  They are the perfect base for smoothies.  My morning smoothies start with a base of protein powder and almond milk.  This gives a base calorie value of 165 to 195 depending on which protein powder I use.  I like to boost the protein content and nutritional value.  I made a tasty raspberry coconut smoothie inspired by a cookie recipe to test out the Ninja.  The carbs are a bit higher than I would like so will adjust to reduce that but overall I'm pleased with the taste.

The Ninja gives a thicker, frothier texture to the smoothie which is quite appealing.  It is nice and thick, similar to a milkshake without adding a thickener or crushed ice.  The volume was increased as well.  This is a definite improvement over the Osterizer.  The Osterizer makes a nice smoothie especially using unfrozen ingredients, ice or harder fruit but it is a thinner consistency than a smoothie made in the Ninja. 

Raspberry Coconut Smoothie
recipe by:  Garden Gnome

1 c Silk unsweetened almond milk
1/4 c (100 g) Greek yogurt, 0% MF, vanilla
1 scoop (33 g) Vega Sport Performance protein powder, vanilla
15 (50 g) raspberries

Measure ingredients into blender.  Blend until smooth.  Serve.

Yield: 500 ml (16 oz)

Nutritional value: 322 calories, 30 g carbohydrates, 6 g fat, 38 g protein, 452 mg sodium, 6 g fibre

Parmesan Ranch Chicken Wings

One of the ideas I had for a recipe to enter in the Hidden Valley Ranch^TM Ranchify Recipe Challenge was ranch dressing paired with chicken wings.  Ranch dressing is often served as a dip for carrot sticks served with buffalo wings.  I wanted to take that flavour one step further, right on the wings!  We usually visit Hooter's for wings each trip to our vacation home,  My husband loves their garlic Parmesan wings.  These wings are rich, gooey, messy and delightfully yummy.  I decided to go with that type wing using ranch dressing.

Hidden Valley Ranch^TM dressing is available in three yummy flavours - original, cheesy and spicy.  I tried all three combinations for the contest creation stage recipes.  Hands down the Hidden Valley Ranch^TM Ranchify spicy dressing was a sure fire taste winner when paired with chicken wings!  Although I did not submit this recipe as my entry, it is tantalizingly delicious and ever so easy to make.  They are rich, gooey and messy but oh so good!  I'm sure your family will enjoy them for your next wing night!


Parmesan Ranch Chicken Wings
recipe by:  Garden Gnome

Note:  I used 16 large wings, tips removed and cut at the joint to form 32 pieces.   The parmesan ranch sauce is enough to comfortably coat 8 to 10 large chicken wings.

chicken coating
1 c organic unbleached flour
½ c homemade breadcrumbs
1 tbsp garlic pepper

Mix well in large container.

Parmesan ranch sauce




½ c Hidden Valley Ranch^TM cheesy ranch dressing
1/3 c fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Reserve 2 tbsp of the grated cheese.  Mix the remaining cheese with the dressing in a bowl large enough to accommodate the chicken wings.

Prepare the desired number of wings.  Place in the flour mixture.  Shake to coat.  Let sit 5 minutes.  Leave the wings in the flour mixture until ready to deep fry.  Heat the deep fryer to 356°F.  Fry the chicken wings in small batches of 8 to 10 wings at a time until golden brown, about 7 minutes.  Remove from deep fryer and drain.  Place the wings into the sauce then use a flipping motion to coat the wings.  Remove wings to serving plate with tongs.  Sprinkle remaining Parmesan cheese on top of the wings.

Summertime Fun - Frozen Drinks

During our recent vacation in Aruba, we rediscovered frozen drinks.  They are usually referred to as slurpies or slushies if non-alcoholic and frozen drinks if alcoholic here but in Aruba they are simply frozen drinks.  They are a very popular way to cool down there.  Although there were fancy frozen drink makers in the bars, the timeshares were equipped with standard blenders.  We were gifted with a Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker so I was collecting ideas for summer drinks while sitting around the pool.  The beauty of the frozen drinks is just about any drink can be made into a frozen drink easily and inexpensively by adding ice and blending until smooth and slushy.  There's no need to leave the comforts of your home or change out of swimwear to head to the local variety store or ice cream shop to pay the high prices for a frozen drink when it only takes a couple of minutes to make one at home.  Oh, and you can use chilled coffee as well which is a good way to use up the left over coffee from the pot you made in the morning.

We used the blender in Aruba to make Pina Coladas to take down to the pool area and the beach.  This is a nice, cooling drink that just so nice with blue skies and sandy beaches!  Traditionally, it is an alcoholic drink but you could make it a virgin drink by omitting the rum and adding a light splash of rum extract.  The following recipe is written for the Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker but can be modified to use a standard blender.
  
Pina Colada
source: Margaritaville Cargo Recipes

1¾ oz White Rum
3½ oz Pineapple Juice
1¾ oz cream of coconut

Fill ice reservoir with ice cubes.  Pour ingredients in glass blending jar.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  Pour into a goblet glass. Garnish with a slice of pineapple and serve with a strawberry (optional).

Kids love frozen drinks as well.  When the grandkids (ages 5, 4, 3) last visited for a pool party I wanted to make special frozen drinks for them.  I made raspberry lemonade then Papa turned it into frozen drinks for the little ones.

Raspberry Lemonade Frozen Drink
source:  Garden Gnome

1 can frozen lemonade concentrate
water
1 c fresh raspberries
3 - 4 mint leaves (optional)

Mix the frozen lemonade concentrate with the amount of water specified on the container.  Pour 4 c lemonade into blender.  Add ½ c of the raspberries and mint leaves.  Blend until smooth.  Pour into a large pitcher.  Repeat with the remainder of the lemonade and raspberries.  Pour that into the same pitcher and stir well.  This will give you about 64 oz of raspberry lemonade.

to make frozen drinks:  [concoction maker] Fill ice reservoir with ice cubes.  Pour raspberry lemonade in glass blending jar.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  [blender] Pour about 2 c of raspberry lemonade into blender.  Add several ice cubes.  Blend adjusting to get the right consistency with either more ice cubes or lemonade.  Pour into plastic drinking cups.  Add a straw and long handled spoon.

The Blender

Note: I have added a new feature that you may have already noticed. At the end of each blog there are three pictures or three links of similar posts from this blog's archives. Clicking on one of them will take you directly to that post. I hope you find this feature useful.

Next to my slow cookers my blender is likely right up there as one of my least used on a regular basis kitchen appliances. Usage tends to be quite seasonal with higher use during the summer months, preserving or doing bulk canning sessions. A couple of weeks ago someone on one of the Yahoo!® groups I read mentioned using canning jars with the blender. It was as if a light bulb went off!

Blender & Jars

When I got my blender ages ago it came with two mini jars (red arrow) with lids that I used quite a bit for grinding coffee before getting a coffee grinder. I use the jars mainly for grinding herbs. The white lid shown in the picture is a Bernardin® storage lid for mason jars available where ever canning supplies are sold. The heavy plastic jars screw onto the blender fitting then are turned into the blender seating. Standard (70 mm) two piece mason jar lids fit these jars.

I did a bit of research after hearing about the mason jar tip. One source said that at one time a mason jar with lid was included with every new blender along with instructions for using it. Now it makes perfect sense to mix sauces and dips directly in the container you want to store them in. Many sauces and dips need to sit for a period before serving so the flavours meld together. Grinding herbs directly into storage jars eliminates that fine powder from going everywhere when the blender pitcher is opened. More importantly there is a lot less mess and clean-up using the smaller storage jars.

Method

I make a lovely vegetable dip for the Super Bowl party using the mason jar method. If you don't have a mason jar a recycled mayonnaise jar or any jar that a mason lid fits will work. I spooned the sour cream, herb blend (garlic & onion) and Miracle Whip® into a 500 ml (pint) mason jar leaving about an inch headspace (1). Then I screwed on the blender fitting (2) and inverted the jar with fitting onto the blender seating (3). I held the top of the jar while blending just as I would when using the regular blender pitcher. I stopped once mid through the blending to give the jar a good shake. When the dip was fully blended I removed the jar with the fitting from the blender and inverted it allowing the contents to settle for about 5 minutes (4).

Ready for Refrigerator

After the contents settles a little I removed the blender fitting and placed the plastic storage lid onto the jar. The jar went into the fridge while I did the clean-up of washing only the blender fitting and two spoons - no spatulas, no bowls, no large pitcher, no funnel. There was no mess or spills either. It was quick and convenient!

This really was a case of having the equipment but not using it to its potential until I was reminded of the possibilities. True I had been using the method for grinding coffee and herbs but there is so many more possibilities when it comes to sauces and dips. So check your blender to see if you can use this tip. It will save you time and ultimately money with less clean-up.