Ninja Makes a Smooth Smoothie

New Kitchen Toy

I bought another kitchen novelty this week. I’ve been wanting a small, but sturdy blender, mainly for smoothies. My food processor works fine for most things. But it struggled with the frozen ingredients used in smoothies.

Besides, as warm weather comes on, concocting a fruity mixture will be a lot healthier than making a chocolate malt.

“Ninja Man” to the Rescue

My new device is called a Nutri Ninja, undoubtedly a reference to its skillful, whizzing blades. When it arrived, I was elated. (In these COVID-trying-times, simple things excite us more.)

It took awhile, but I finally worked my way through three layers of packaging. (Maybe I’m not as nimble fingered as I used to be, but have you noticed how over-packaged everything comes today?)

Once I uncovered my new blender, hidden between cardboard, bubble wrap, and Gorilla Tape, I was ready to pulverize every leftover in the fridge.

Advice from the Pros

It took me nearly a half hour to read the manual, complete the assembly, ready the fruit, and clean up the mess I’d made. Clearly, I needed blending advice. I turned to my daughter, a longtime smoothie enthusiast.

“Freeze the bananas and strawberries and you won’t need to use ice in the blender,” she said.

I threw a few bananas and berries into the freezer and pulled them out the next morning. They were rock solid! Have you ever tried to peel a frozen banana or decapitate an icy strawberry?

When I told my friend, Anne, of my frosty frenzy, she advised me to leave bananas unpeeled and then run them under hot water when needed. It worked. The skin slid right off.