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: 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: 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’d like to do our kielbasa with maple syrup because it’s one less pan, and we could start it in the “oven” and switch to the crock pot. Mmm.
I follow you on Twitter as Quirky Fusion.
I follow you on Pinterest as Quirky Fusion.
I would love to try beef stew! It is definitely a family favorite!
Wow, Jenn! I am SO glad you chose to review the Ninja – the lack of ability to sear meat in a normal slow cooker has ALWAYS been my hang-up in really getting on-board with the slow-cooking movement. When I have to use extra pans to saute or sear, well, I might as well just cook it in my big dutch oven, and be done with it!
I would LOVE to try my chili (http://thewholekitchen.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/falling-for-a-bowl-of-chili/) made with blade steak in the Ninja…prepping the pot of chili takes about an hour and a half between butchery, chopping, searing and sauteeing, and even though I use a slow cooker, I still end up dirtying a whole sinkful of pans. The Ninja would be the perfect solution!
Love Stew Recipes. I don’t have a website. I like Frugal Update.
I would love to try to make chicken pot pie in the Ninja
I follow you on twitter @Craftymamaof4
I follow you on Pinterest
I would love to try a pot roast. My MIL makes pot roast using an old slow cooker type of thing that can sear like this one does and I have always wanted one to do it the way she does – it’s the best!
Already follow your blog…Love it!
I subscribe to Frugal Upstate via Google Reader
I would love to try to make a chicken tortilla soup!!!
Following you on Pinterest….
I would love to fix and eat the yummy looking beef stew!
I subscribe to your RSS !!!
I follow you on Twitter!
Posted the giveaway on my facebook page!
What an interesting kitchen tool. I’d probably try beef stew or a beef roast first.
I subscribe to your rss.
I posted about your giveaway on Facebook!
I already follow you on Twitter
I’m following you on Pinterest and Twitter as well! (And liked the Ninja page, because I want to know what people are doing with their cookers!)
I already follow you on Pinterest
Posted on fb tagged you
I follow you on facebook. Love the fact it first browns the meat. Would love to see what a roasted chicken looks like after being cooked in the Ninja. And I wonder how well it bakes brownies?
Hi there! With the Ninja, I would definitely try my pot roast recipe first. it is such a hassle to sear the roast beforehand in a pan and then I’m washing more dishes, which kind of defeats the point of no-hassle crock pot cooking. Thanks for the review 🙂
I follow Frugal Upstate on facebook, but I don’t have a Twitter account.
Oh, and I just posted this article on my fb page 🙂
I just Liked the Ninja fb page and can’t believe I’ve never heard of it. I think I’ve been missing out on some slow cooker fun!
I’d like to try chicken and dumplings.
Also following on Twitter as Samoq
And Pinterest, too… as Samoq.
Very cool. My husband and I just saw their commercial and were joking about the cheesy info-mercial aspect of it, but the product itself actually seemed pretty cool and I’m in the market for a new slow cooker. Usually if a recipe calls for pan-searing, I just skip that step. Doesn’t bother me any, but to be able to do it in one pan would be great.
The Banana Lime Coconut Bread and the Apricot & Country Mustard Salmon both sound very tasty. Thanks for the chance!
Subscribed via email: blondredhead at mac dot com
I’d love to make a good stew with the ninja.
posted on fb: http://on.fb.me/UI3FBM
I follow Frugal Upstate via google reader.
Followed on twitter: lilmamak77
Followed you on pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lilmamak77/
I follow you on pinterest.
This looks amazing! I would make my Italian Wedding crock pot soup in this, wouldn’t have to worry about cooking the rice ahead of time, plus we have alot of venison recipes I wanted to try out!
I frequently make soup, and I’d enjoy not having to use a pan to saute the vegetables before making soup in a crockpot. Fewer dishes to wash = always a plus:-) . I’d also try the steam roasting. It would be terrific to cook a roast faster and without heating up the large oven.
I follow you on twitter (1lora).
Hi! I’d like to try baking bread in the NINJA! Any flavor will do!
Oh, I liked it on FB and I read your blog–love it!
I’m following you now on pinterest. Before figuring out how to do that, I sent you a friend invite there. I’m a pinterest novice.
Hi Jenn!
I followed you on Twitter!
Hi again!
If I were to win this cooking system, which I have seen the infomercial for, I would be most interested in making a truly amazing pot roast. It’s one of our favourite cool weather suppers.
Hi again, Jenn!
You’re followed on Pinterest – cool boards!