Peanutbutter + Kale // Ninja Ultima Review

Y'all. If eating too much kale was criminal. You might find David and I behind bars.  Or, alternatively, if they were re-doing the Bubba Shrimp part of Forest Gump and replacing it with ways to eat Kale, I would be a good variety consultant.  I'm nearly in the connoisseur ranking of kale eaters.  And one of my recent favorite ways to eat kale, is with peanut butter.  Yup.  Kale and Peanut Butter smoothies. 

I first came across this recipe when a friend (who does happen to be pregnant) posted to facebook that this was her number one food craving.  I wanted to try it because it sounded so hilariously disgusting.  Here's what's in it (roughly):

1 cup almond milk

1 cup frozen kale

2 tbs. peanut butter

1 small banana

5 or 6 pieces of ice

*squeeze of honey or agave nectar optional

(creates one 16oz. serving)

And you know what I found?  It's not hilarious or disgusting.  It is in fact very seriously delicious.  And here is what I like about it.  It's green, yes.  You can taste that it is green.  And you get all that healthy yumminess.  But the peanut butter just does it!  I love this smoothie because it packs some needed calories if you've been working out and it just tastes like you are treating yourself.  We use natural unsweetened peanut butter so it really isn't unhealthy and provide some good fats and protein.  So, I call this my "ungreen green smoothie," because I get giddy excited like it is ice cream and it doesn't have any, what I like to call, "dirt undertones to the flavor. :)  (My tip is watch the amount of banana you use depending on your taste.  The flavor can really take over.)

I have this several times a day.  When I first started making it, it was such a commitment.  We still had our ancient wedding registry blender -- it took so long to actually get the smoothie smooth and so long to clean.  Ugh.  Buuuutttt.... then I got my hands on a new little pretty called the Ninja Ultima Blender (seen in the picture above).

With my old rinky dink blender it was always a two handed process if you had any hopes of grinding ice without it shaking of the counter.  This blender is really hands free.  It even has little suction cups on the bottom that keep it in place during blending.  And again, comparing it to my old blender -- you don't have to take off the canister, give it a shake, put it back on to blend, take off shake, repeat and so on to make sure it blends every piece throughout.    The Ninja has what is called dual stage blending with cyclonic blades, which basically means that with a series of blades positioned and spinning correctly (not just at the way bottom and in one direction), it gets the job done for an extra smooth finish the first time and super fast.

Other things I love about this The Ninja are the safety settings.  It is a professional grade blender and packs some serious power (2.5 horsepower), so I appreciate all the locks and seals that it has in place.  For example, if the lid isn't on and sealed, the blades won't run.  No accidentally chopping your spoon in half, or worse yet, making a knuckle smoothie.  Also, all the detachable pieces are dishwasher safe so you don't have to worry about hand scrubbing the blades if you have a fear of knives in the sink like me.

And my most favorite bonus about this The Ninja is that, yes, it has a large 8 cup capacity processor bowl, but it also comes with individual 16oz. sip & seal cups.  So if you are just blending for yourself, you don't have to pull out the big guns.  And y'all -- even using the small cup and the single serving blade set, it is still way more efficient than our own blender.  We love using these cups to make salad dressings and even creaming cashews and other nuts.  

This thing is a keeper.  It is big and it is heavy, but with how efficiently it works and how good of a consistency it creates, I can't help but love it.  I can't wait to explore more all that we can create with it

...and pssstt -- you can find lot of great smoothie and other blender recipes on the ninja website or by following Ninja Kitchen on pinterest & twitter.  

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I was provided The Ninja Ultima for purpose of review, however, all opinions are my own.

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