Today I’ve got a fun review and giveaway for you all! It’s the Ninja Cooking System:
Yup, I know. It sort of looks like a basic slow cooker–but it’s not. Sure, the Ninja Cooking System is a slow cooker (and a programmable one at that). What makes it different is that it also has both a “stovetop” option and a “Steam Baking” option!
Those additional options interested me and were the main reason I accepted Ninja’s offer of both a unit to review and one to give away. You see a lot of slow cooker recipes call for browning the meat or caramelizing the onions before putting everything in the cooker. That means you either have to pull out another pot and sear things on the stovetop, or you skip that step and loose some texture and flavor in the dish. The idea of being able to use what is essentially an “electric frying pan” option and then just switch the whole thing over to slow cooker mode. . . well, that seems a whole lot easier!
The baking/steam baking option also was intriguing. Sometimes it just seems like such a waste to heat up the whole oven for something small–and this summer I barely used the oven at all because of our unseasonable heat. If I could stick the Ninja Cooking System out in the barn or on the back deck to bake a pan of brownies or a cake without heating up the whole kitchen–well that would be very useful indeed!
In order to test the unit I decided to make some Irish Stew. Stew is just one of those meals where the meat is so much more appealing (and the broth more tasty) if you sear the meat. I took a look in the little cookbook that came with the cooking system and saw that they had beef stew–so I knew that my Irish Stew recipe should work just fine.
The controls on the front of the cooker let you choose stovetop, slow cooker or oven temperatures:
The liner or pan for the cooker itself is a coated metal, not crockery like your traditional slow cooker. It comes with a special baking pan and a steaming rack–but I didn’t need either of those for my beef stew:
For the stew I just started out by setting it for the stovetop option. I just had to turn the dial left to “High”. The digital display showed the message “on”.
Per the directions I gave the pan two or three minutes to warm up then tossed in my meat:
The venison started bubbling and sizzling right away. When it was partially done I added in my onions:
To change it over to slow cooking I just rotated the dial to the right–I choose the “low” setting:
The rest of the ingredients for my recipe were added and we were good to go:
On the Ninja Cooking System you set the time for how long you want your dish to cook. I choose 6 1/2 hours:
When it was done I had a thick rich stew:
Tasty!
I can’t wait to try out some of the steam functions–when I do I will come back and add a few notes to this post.
I like the fact that this unit serves multiple functions and cuts down on the number of dishes needed. I especially can see this being useful when the family goes camping. No, really! We RV camp and typically do our cooking outside of the camper out on the picnic table. This would be handy for everything from scrambling eggs to cooking a dish like this stew while we were off having fun for the day (it’s nice to come back to the campsite and have dinner ready–mom doesn’t really get a break when you are camping, she still has to cook!). My good friend who does tent camping said that many of the sites they use do have electric hook up–and she could see getting dinner together in the Ninja system then tucking it into the front of her husband’s truck with the extension cord running out of a window and over to the power hookup.
All in all it’s an interesting appliance that I’m glad to add to my cooking collection!
Approximate Retail Price: $159
Available: September 2012
Web Site: www.ninjacookingsystem.com
Now for the fun part-the giveaway!
This giveaway runs from today-Thursday October 25th, 2012 through midnight EST Wednesday October 31st, 2012.
To enter, just leave a comment telling me which recipe or type of recipe you are most interested in trying in the Ninja Cooking System
Do you want some extra entries? You can do each of the below once-remember, you have to come back here and leave a separate comment for each action to have it count.
Extra Entry One: Subscribe to Frugal Upstate (or let me know if you already have). Come back and comment telling me.
Extra Entry Two: Follow me, Jenn Fowler, on twitter. Come back and comment telling me.
Extra Entry Three:Â Post on facebook about this giveaway using the link: http://www.frugalupstate.com/?p=11439 Come back and comment telling me.
Extra Entry Four: Follow me on Pinterest:Â http://pinterest.com/jennfowler/ Come back and comment telling me.
Good luck! You can also “like†the Kitchen Ninja Facebook page (keep your eye on them for other giveaways!) or follow them on Twitter. And of course I’d always love you to join in the great conversations over on the Frugal Upstate Facebook Page as well!
****This is a sponsored post****
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. Ninja has provided me with the Ninja Cooking System for Review. My participation is voluntary and opinions, as always are my own.
I’m following you on twitter!
I am following you on pinterest. (rusthawk)
I posted on my facebook wall https://www.facebook.com/rusthawk/posts/361435430614252
A roast chicken sounds good.
I subscribe to your email.
I also, follow you on twitter.
I love stews, so any method to make me own, easier, and more healthy, is for me! Here’s hoping I win!
Followed on twitter!
And now….Facebooked!
Finally….followed on Pintrest! Whew!
Following you from Virginia. Thanks
pot roast with potatoes
I follow you on pinterest
google reader subscriber
I like the idea of being able to sear the meat first. I would try the stew then a roast.
I’d like to try beef stew recipe.
Subscribe to Frugal Upstate
https://www.facebook.com/tcarolinep/posts/503513536334709
follow you on Pinterest
Because we have a gas stove and gas is so expensive, we have used creative ways to cook for the past year. I would use the Ninja Cooking System for literally EVERYTHING! I could also get rid of the electric “burner eye” we have been using for the past year!
Following you on Facebook!
Following on Twitter! And shared the contest!
Following you on Pinterest!
Subscribed to you by email! 🙂
I am most interested in making large portions of meats, with onions and mushrooms…and soups/stews/chili ,am back on my high protein diet and stove top cooking does not do any justice since I’ve gotten rid of my nonstick electric skillet and slow cooker! This would help me tremendously, Thank You!
I am subscribed to your emails with the email givenmay@yahoo.com.
I follow you on twitter with the name Courtney Tucker @Gothlyric .
I shared on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/courtney.tucker.96/posts/385478338197236
I follow you on Pinterest under the name Courtney Tucker username gothlyric!
givenmay@yahoo.com
I also follow Ninja on Facebook and twitter as well as your Facebook.
I want to try out the beef stew recipe.
I’m subscribe through Google Reader.
I want to try a beef roast or pork roast in it.
Debating between my popular stuffing balls or Italian Beef! Both would turn out awesome and in ONE POT!! Being a kitchen person, love to try new things, and a very thorough shopper, I excitedly researched via internet and in stores for the perfect slow cooker for my 26 year old daughter for Christmas. I was so intrigued by the Ninja I stopped dead in my in-store shopping tracks and came home to research more before making purchasing a “perfect slow cooker”. The reviews on this Ninja 3-in-1 “Kitchen Magician” were amazing. Now I not only want to buy one for my daughter, I want one for ME. I am already planning to take it to Pennsylvania for our Thanksgiving dinner!
Just followed you on Twitter! Want to try your recipes!
Would like to try Japanese curry
I’d like to try making any beef dish since they would (like your stew) involve some searing and then slow cooking. Or my root beer pork which tastes better when seared, but I often skip that in the name of quicker time and fewer dishes!
I’ve followed you in my reader forever!