tikidoc

I have a couple of Ninja products that I use a lot and love, the Creami, and a 16 oz personal-sized blender. Both are well-made and do their job well, and the Creami is unique to the market, at least at a price for a regular consumer (as opposed to the PacoJet). Looking at the rest of their products, I have yet to see anything that appeals to me, including the new grill. I suppose I might go for one of their reasonably priced blenders for the vacation house - if renters lift it I won’t be out a lot. I could maybe see the new grill as something useful for a person with limited space (small balcony) but I think there are better alternatives. It also seems super pricey for a small table-top grill/smoker. For that price, if I wanted to smoke and grill, and had limited space, I’d rather get a small kamado-style grill.

It’s worth it. I use this thing almost every day. I add 1/4 tsp guar gum to all recipes. These are always in the freezer, ready to spin: Chocolate (made with Fairlife chocolate shake, cocoa, powdered espresso, almond milk to make a pint). This one is pretty dark chocolate flavored, so many would want a little more sweetener. Passion fruit (half of a 14 oz. Bag of passion fruit purée, half a 14 oz. Fairlife vanilla shake, 1 tsp vanilla, allulose to taste, a little almond milk to make a pint) Mango (16 ounce can unsweetened mango purée from Lidl) Pineapple (16 ounce jar of pineapple chunks in juice from Trader Joe’s, blended) Newest fave - I peeled and sectioned (and took membranes off the sections) two pink grapefruit. Throw sections in the blender. Add 1/4 tsp guar gum, a couple TB Campari, and allulose (or sugar) to taste. I like it tart, so I didn’t use much. I suppose you could just as easily use grapefruit juice, but I wanted to use the fruit and have the fiber in it. Freeze and spin on sorbet. I also recently made a sorbet of just honeydew melon, blended. It was a really sweet one but I’m the only one in the family who was eating it. The last quarter was a little soft, so I just blended and froze it. Super good, with nothing added but a little guar gum. My husband also likes vanilla Fairlife shake with some frozen tart cherries and a little syrup from Amarena cherries on top. A bit sweet for my taste but I can see the appeal. For someone trying to eat healthy/lose some (more) weight, this thing has been really wonderful. No matter what you put into it, the texture is decadent, so it feels indulgent even if it’s just straight fruit or a slightly doctored up protein shake (caveat - Fairlife is the only brand that I do not find nasty). Absolutely worth every penny.

Amazon Prime Early Access sale has the 7 function Creami with 1 pint container for $129.99 (new - not refurbished). Today is the last day. They also have extra pints for sale, but not shipping for a while. There is another company, Sophico, that sells knock-off pints with silicone lids (which I like better than the Ninja lids) that sells 2 pints with lids for $20, with 2 day shipping. I have a couple - jars are pretty much identical. If they start selling the lids separately, I’l probably replace my Ninja-brand lids. You can also often get a good deal on pints at Kohl’s.

Another healthy recipe, makes 2 pints. I cannot believe how creamy and rich this stuff is. Super tart but decadent. One Fairlife Core Power vanilla protein drink (14 oz) One 14 oz bag of frozen passion fruit pulp 1/2 tsp guar gum 4 scoops Vital Proteins collagen protein (unflavored) 2 tsp vanilla paste Erythritol/monk fruit sweetener to taste (I used around 1/3 cup, I think) Top off with almond milk to make 2 full pints. Freeze, then spin on light ice cream. If it needs a re-spin, add a little almond milk. I like my passion fruit stuff quite tart - I think most would probably like it a little sweeter. I have found that the Fairlife shakes taste pretty good, none of the off flavors that other protein shakes have, and they make a pretty creamy base for ice cream. They are OK as a meal replacement drink, but doctored up with strong flavors like cocoa, coffee, or intense fruits like passion fruit, they make a really respectable ice cream, and the only added sugar in this recipe was the trivial amount of sugar in the vanilla paste.

My understanding is that it is supposed to improve texture. I have not tried it but I would assume a small amount of corn starch would do the same thing. They seem to add it to recipes other than protein shake ones as well.

https://m.ninjakitchen.com/exclusive-offer/NC501WBKT/ninja-creami-deluxe-11-in-1-ice-cream-and-frozen-treat-maker/

3 cups is awkward. I love the 2 cup capacity. That way I can keep a bunch of different flavors in my freezer. And I always have at least 1 container of my go-to healthy chocolate (Fairlife chocolate, plus cocoa and espresso powder).

Does not look to me like it adds much useful. Much more expensive, and uses different containers, so those of use who have several pint containers could not use them if we upgrade. My recipe of the day - mango sorbet. Lidl had a special on 16 ounce cans of Alfonso mango purée, no sugar added, for $1.99. I mixed a can with 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum, and the result was delicious - no sweetener needed, and super creamy texture. Yum.

Ninja Creami Community. There IS a lot of repetition. That said, I don’t think I would have ever considered buying protein drinks to make ice cream, or specifically tried Fairlife, which, in my opinion, is dramatically better than other brands. I would say that now, probably 90% of what I make in the Creami is either all or almost all fruit, or based on a Fairlife drink, because I can enjoy them without guilt. I’ve lost a little over 30# this year (and want to lose a bit more), and this allows me to eat things that feel like cheating but aren’t. For example, I used fresh figs from the garden, a vanilla Fairlife, a splash of balsamic for acid, a pinch of xanthan gum, and a smallish chunk of chèvre, blended then frozen, and it was delicious. The kids hated it (“that’s so wrong!!!”), and I didn’t even offer it to DH because he is not a fan of goat cheese or figs. I’m sure it would have been even better with cream or half and half, but it still tasted pretty indulgent, and the only “cheat”, if you can even call it that, was a little goat cheese. I would say that I use this thread on eGullet more for inspiration for flavor combinations, then adapt them to try to keep them healthier using tips I picked up on the FB group. The other thing that the FB group has been helpful for is finding sources for extra pints (Kohl’s!!).

I joined a group on Facebook for fans of the Creami. There appears to be a fairly large number of people who follow low carb diets (including quite a few who have had bariatric surgery), and a favorite base for ice creams is the Fairlife brand protein shakes. My store was out of Fairlife initially, so I tried the Premier vanilla flavor - my husband likes it as ice cream when I add other flavoring (like enough some black raspberry and peach preserves that we made earlier in the summer), but I think it’s kinda nasty. Then I stumbled on some Fairlife, and they are quite good. None of the strange aftertaste that most protein drinks have. The vanilla is quite neutral, so makes a good base for fruit ice creams, coffee, etc. My current favorite is a bottle of the chocolate Fairlife, a couple big spoonfuls of good cocoa, 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum, and about a TB of instant espresso powder. It’s not overly sweet, and the flavor is very much dark chocolate. I usually have to do a re-spin, and I generally add a few TB of almond milk. Is it as luxurious as a lot of the ice creams I see posted here? No, but it’s still pretty darn yummy, and I can have a bowl of it several nights a week without any guilt. The whole pint has 26-30 grams of protein, no sugar and under 200 calories.

Piña colada: Juice of a couple limes. A few heaping spoonfuls of Philippine coconut jam. Pinch of xantham gum. Fill the rest of the way with almond milk. Mix up in the smoothie maker to break up the jam. Oops, edified to add, a spoon of powdered pineapple juice (source: King Arthur). Freeze, then spin on sorbet. So. Good.

Also, I noted that the max capacity for the Ninja smoothie maker, which I got a while back so I can drink a relatively healthy breakfast on the way to work, is 16 oz, same as the Creami. So if using fruit or something else that benefits from a quick blend before freezing, it’s just the right size to blend a batch, it serves as a measuring cup, and it’s much faster and easier to clean than the full sized blender.

Just got my Creami (Woot, thanks Kerry and Curls!) earlier in the week, and gave it a try. I had some jarred mango in light syrup from Costco and some fresh peaches that were starting to get too soft. Peeled the peaches, added mango to get to the fill line, then mango syrup to cover. It was really delicious. I topped with a little syrup from a jar of Fabbri Amarena wild cherries in syrup, and it was even better. My husband, who is usually not much of a fruit eater said he would rather eat that than ice cream. I have some fresh cherries in the fridge that need to be eaten, so I’m going to try them in the Creami next. And another batch of the mango/peach. I can’t remember who got the frozen mamey- did you ever do anything with it? When I lived in Central America, I used to make a simple sorbet with fresh mamey and other fruits. I was a poor grad student, so I would just mix up fresh fruit in the blender, freeze, and re-blend. Mamey has a sort of creamy texture - kind of like a firmer and less fatty avocado. It sort of looks like a dark magenta-colored avocado on the inside when fresh. It definitely needs acid - I would either mix with a more acidic fruit, or add lime juice (since lime was the easiest citrus to get). One of the things I miss the most about Panama is the fruit and vegetable market. Probably 1/3 of my diet was fresh fruit from the market. Regarding the passion fruit, how did you make it? It is VERY intense unless you dilute it, and very tart. I really like it. Again, back to living in the tropics, they sold passion fruit juice (maracuya) in the grocery, just like we drink OJ here in the US. I think it was sweetened and diluted fruit pulp. You might want to try mixing it with a less intense fruit like peach or mango next time. Both of those combine well with maracuya.

My Cuisinart FP is starting to die, so I am looking for a replacement. The old one has started randomly overheating and stopping when performing tasks that should really not be too strenuous. It died yesterday when pulsing flour and butter to make Serious Eats pie dough (after about 15 pulses), so I had to toss the work bowl into the fridge to keep the butter cold. It worked when I went back to the task an hour later. This has been happening intermittently for a few months, so I’m looking for a replacement. When I use the food processor, I often make extra food to freeze so I’d like a larger (12-16 cup) machine. Have been looking at another Cuisinart and also at the Breville Sous Chef. Thoughts?

Do they address Chicago thin crust at all? I’m from Illinois, and love my deep dish, but it’s sort of in a category of it’s own. And the best thin crust pizza I have had is Chicago-style. The bottom of the crust is crispy and almost fried, and it is always cut into squares, not slices.

America’s Test Kitchen Simple Weeknight Favorites: More Than 200 No-Fuss, Fullproof Meals (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) $1.99

For the Great British Baking Show fans out there, (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) - The Great British Baking Show - Love to Bake, $1.99.

I have the Paprika app on my iPad, and it’s super helpful, especially with recipes imported from the internet. You can import a web address into the app and it will automatically download and format the recipe for the vast majority of sites. For people who compile a lot of recipes from the internet, it is a fantastic tool. You can also type recipes in directly or cut and paste from other documents. They sell it for every platform - you have to buy them separately. I just have iOS, and that works for me. $4.99 for the iOS version, and I have gotten my money’s worth many times over.

So I gave it a try and it worked pretty well. Rinsed the rice, pre-soaked overnight. Drained and spread on a pan, then 100C 100% humidity, sous vide off, 30 minutes. Might go a few minutes longer next time but acceptable.

Has anyone made sticky rice in the Anova? I would think it would be a good way to do it, but the rice recipes (other kinds of rice) I have seen all involve covering the rice with water, which would likely make for gooey rice rather than sticky. I’ll experiment and post if I figure it out, but if anyone has already tried this, let me know. I’m thinking of soaking the rice then putting in a colander and setting on a baking sheet and steaming until done...

I did it with sous vide mode off and it worked well. No difference in the bagels, a lot less waiting to get up to temp. It looked a bit less steamy in there, but the result was the same. Unfortunately, if you use the pre-programmed recipe, you can’t alter it - I could not just use their settings then turn off sous vide. I had to re-program using the same settings but without the sous vide function on. Minor annoyance. Has anyone else noticed a little bit of condensation in between the two layers of glass in the door?

Anybody had issues with preheating taking FOREVER with 100% sous vide at 100C? I am trying to steam bagels and the last 10 degrees takes forever, and the temp, although trending up, goes up and down...

Day 2 bagel also softer than a regular bagel.

No, it’s a bit softer than a proper boiled bagel. I only at one the day I made them, will update on a day 2 bagel today. I think the addition of the bicarbonate solution made the flavor pretty close. I also added a couple tsp of diastolic malt to the dough. So if regular bagels are too much for your teeth, these may be just right for you.

First recipe, everything bagels. The only thing I would change in the recipe is that the bagels don’t have the flavor and browning that boiling in an alkaline produces. When I made them, I made a solution of baking soda and water and brushed it on half of the bagels after the steam but before baking. It made a big difference, and they tasted more like bagels.