Ninja blender, juicing, shakes, and a learning curve

 So I just couldn't spend the money on a Vitamix, or at least just yet.  Just picked up the Ninja System 1100 to give it a whirl.  The deciding factor ended up being Sam's Club- they had it for $119.98, compared to $160.00 everywhere else.  

My first attempt was my shake this morning.  I bought the Ninja to get rid of the little ice chunks that clog the straw and I end up chewing.  Only problem was I used the wrong setting so I still had the exact same problem.  Dang it.  I am too cheap to just throw it out and start over, so tomorrow I will have to see or pehaps later tonight.  I am embarrased to admit that it took me too long to figure out I was using the wrong lid too.  Needless to say I will not be switching to an engineering position anytime soon!

Second attempt- juicing.  I just cannot seem to get my iron up, and I am always struggling to get fiber in.  This is billed as being able to just dump in the veggies and you keep it fiber and all.  But, I really should have followed some type of recipe.  I threw in 1 celery stalk, a handful of baby carrots, 1/2 cucumber, and handful of spinach, half a tomato, and 2 mango spears.  The Ninja had no problem pureeing it, but dang it came out thick and a little nasty.  Added 32 ounces of water and two cyrstal lite lemonade packets and it was very drinkable.  Not for everyone though, because it was very pulpy.  Still, I am happy because for sure I can tolerate doing this once a day, but make a MUCH smaller batch.  With my old juicer you threw out the pulp (fiber) so I was way, way off on quantity.  That's cool though, much cheaper in the long run.  

But, if it doesn't take the ice chunks out of my shakes it will go back.  That is a deal breaker!  Overall, good to go though and a really great price for the product.  

I have a vitamix, I do mostly spinach, some kale and occasionally a bit of other veggie. I add a little water, blend, then I mix with my vanilla premier protein shake. It sounds gross but actually really good. Without the shake it just tastes like freshly mowed grass! You could add fruit but I prefer to just eat fruit not blended.

 Thanks for the post- I will give that a try with some spinach tomorrow- 

Used the right setting and it did a good job on the smoothie- no more large ice chunks.  :)  Not as velveety as the vitamix though...