To me, Christmas is the busiest time of the year. Aside from having an increased workload to be completed before the end of the year, including my gargantuan Holiday Gift Guides, I love to celebrate the season by cooking special homemade meals. The problem is I’m always short of time, and I end up with a lot of unwanted stress that somehow reflects on my holiday mood.
This year, and as I will have some friends coming over to celebrate the festivities with me, I wanted to try something different: Spending less time cooking so I could enjoy their visit more. So when the guys at Nutri Ninja sent me a sample of their Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO with Auto-iQ Boost to try, I decided to experiment and see what I could come up with.
{Spoiler alert: You can create Homemade Nutella and I’m telling you how step-by-step. Merry Xmas!}
The Product
If you own a TV, chances are you’ll have seen Ninja’s advertisements more than once. I have to confess I was very curious about the brand, but since I owned a small appliance to make smoothies I thought I wouldn’t make much use of it—until I encountered THE blender (or should I say my new kitchen BFF?)
Every Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO ($139.99) includes:
– A 1200-watt motor base with Auto-iQ Boost: This powerful base features intelligent programs that combine specifically timed pulsing, blending, and pausing patterns that do the work for you.
– 4 cup Nutri Bowl with a Prep Blade and a Dough Blade: The Bowl allows you to mix and match fresh ingredients to make flavorful meals, snacks and desserts from proteins, vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts, and your favorite cooking and baking ingredients – it even makes dough!
– 2 24 oz. Tritan Nutri Ninja Cups with lids: These cups are designed to blend and take your favorite smoothies on the go. I find it’s genius to include two of these as when the lazy days hit, I can pop the dirty one on the dishwasher and use the other.
– Pro Extractor Blades: This is where the magic happens. They easily break down whole foods, seeds, ice, and nuts to celebrate nutritious ingredients in unique forms like smoothies, shots, pops, and purees.
– Recipe Book: With 75 recipes, it is a complete cookbook filled to the brim with examples of how to use the Nutri Bowl DUO.
My Experience
Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO is a Crazy Juice Lady’s dream come true. A 1600-watt smoothie superhero, this two-in-one blender/bff allows me to switch between two modes: the Nutrient and Vitamin Extraction technology to create superfood blended concoctions, and the Nutrient Fusion technology to amp up my cooking game with new protein and vegetarian dishes I would never have dreamed of conceiving. Plus, the Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO is able to fully break down whole foods, ice, and seeds to really unlock the potential of fruits and veggies.
In my opinion, Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO can take the place of a blender and a food processor if you have a teeny kitchen with virtually zero countertop space like mine. The Nutri Bowl in itself provides amazing value; aside from chopping anything to perfection, it has an extra dough special blade that mixes cookie and pizza dough with no mess!
To make things easier, the Nutri Bowl DUO comes with the advanced Auto-iQ™ Technology with One-Touch intelligence, which means you can select from different pre-programmed settings to achieve perfect results each time with zero guesswork. You just need to toss the ingredients in the machine; the Ninja blender takes care of the rest while you answer a few emails. What’s more, each program can switch between BOOST YES and NO so you can customize the texture of any recipe.
Finally, what I like most is that I’m able to prepare all sorts of foods with just one blender. The only thing to keep in mind is that it is designed to be used with cold or room-temperature ingredients, so if you want to do a winter soup you can crush the vegetables first and then cook them. The flavor turns out to be more interesting than the one obtained with my previous methods (pressure cook the veggies for ten minutes and then blend them), and it really brings out the deliciousness of the veggies.
On a side note, I called their customer service number to understand what I could and what I couldn’t do with the blender. After the shortest wait ever (mine was less than 60 seconds), they were extremely professional and answered all my questions.
My Verdict: The Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO Actually Saves Money
To me, the Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO is totally worth its price after a few uses. I have been able to cut in half my meal prep time on several occasions, and the Auto-iQ boost function is a mess-free, super intuitive way to ensure that my recipes will turn out all right every single time. Just being able to make my own pizza dough with wholesome ingredients and without contorting in my teeny weeny kitchen is priceless. Plus, cooking with fresh ingredients has also helped me to save money: I’m now serving restaurant-quality pesto in the comfort of my own home for a fraction of what it costs me to go to an Italian restaurant, and taking homemade foods for my lunch break.
I have to admit that I was very positively surprised when I realized I could literally prepare a complete meal using the Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks for my friends visiting, the Nutri Bowl DUO makes just about anything. My favorite recipes from the book are the easy Basil Pesto sauce, the Winter Pea Soup, and the Pear Rosemary Flatbread (you can access them for free by clicking on the pink links.)
Finally, I believe the Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO is a terrific companion if you want to start a healthier life as part of your New Year’s good resolutions. I personally do not like leafy veggies that much; however, being able to mix them with nuts, proteins, and virtually anything that I can think of has helped me increase my green intake very easily.
My Recipes
I love going off the beaten path, so I came up with two recipes of my own that I wanted to share with you two of them:
{Homemade Vegetarian Nutella Recipe using the Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO }
You’ll need:
– 1 1/2 cup of raw hazelnuts
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 1 cup of pure, unsweetened cocoa (I use Ghirardelli’s)
– 1/8 tsp salt
– 1 cup of almond milk
– 2.5 oz coconut sugar
– 2 tbsp agave
– 2 tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions: Roast the raw hazelnuts in the oven for 12-14 minutes at 380 F. Let them cool off and remove the skins (you can rub them with your fingers until the shell comes off.)
In the microwave, melt the butter for 30 seconds. Add the sugar, salt, and agave. Once this mix has tempered, put it in the Nutri Bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and top them off with the hazelnuts.
Close the lid, select the Auto-iQ BOOST YES FUSION MIX program, and let it work its magic!
I personally love to be able to make my own hazelnut spread with a handful of ingredients. If you want to go the vegan route, you can substitute the butter for margarine. I like to keep this spread in the fridge and eat it in the following 5 days as it has no preservatives.
{PLUS The Best Tomato Bacon Pasta Sauce using the Nutri Ninja Nutri Bowl DUO}
Ingredients:
– 2 cups of organic tomato passata
– 3 medium carrots, chopped
– 3 cooked bacon slices, chopped and cooled down
– 2 basil leaves
– Spanish olive oil
Instructions: Toss the passata, the carrots, and the bacon in the Nutri Bowl. Select the Auto-iQ BOOST YES FUSION MIX program, and let it work its magic. In the meantime, coat a pan with 1 tsp of Spanish olive oil and put it over medium heat. Once the mixture is ready, pour it in the pan along with the basil leaves and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Cook the pasta following the packet directions and add it to the pan with the sauce, heating it up for another 2 minutes. Dinner is ready!
Disclosure level 1: The author received NO compensation to write this post. The author received a sample of the product featured for editorial consideration. Receiving a sample didn’t influence the decision to feature a brand nor the opinions expressed by the author. All links provided in the article are for information only and are not part of any affiliate marketing program.
