I did a "Q-check" on QVC late last night and they were featuring a demo of the Creami. It is the "special value" of the day so I got caught up in the demonstration. Of course I ended up buying one. I am their target audience. So this morning I got up with a clear head and decided to cancel the purchase; unfortunately they reported that my order is in process and can't be canceled. So I need to start re-arranging my cabinets for the new addition. Something's gotta go. If anyone is interested... https://www.qvc.com/ninja-creami-de...treat-maker-w-extra-pints.product.K98772.html
I believe that you will enjoy your Ninja Creami, @Beth Gallagher . Even in this cold weather, we like having ice cream sometimes, although not as much as in the hot summer. It turns out that Bobby not only likes eggnog, he loves it ! I asked him why I have never seen him drink any , and he said it was because I only buy one quart every year, and have little bits at a time to make it last, and he would drink whole glasses of it at once; so he left it for me to enjoy. What a Sweetie Pie ! ! Anyway, we now have 4 pints of eggnog ice cream in the freezer chilling, so we can have the eggnog ice cream whenever we want some again. And I will, of course, now order a half gallon of eggnog, so that my darling husband can have his glass of eggnog when he wants one. I made the ice cream the usual way, almost a pint of cottage cheese, cinnamon and nutmeg, scoop of vanilla whey protein powder, packet of sugar-free vanilla pudding, and about a pint of the eggnog that I still had left from my quart, plus enough milk to make 4 pints of ice cream. Blend everything in the blender and put it in the Ninja containers to freeze.
How funny that after all this time you didn't know that Bobby likes eggnog! I hope the ice cream turns out yummy... sounds like it will. I need to look up a few beginner recipes and buy some ingredients so I can be ready when mine arrives.
@Yvonne Smith -- does your machine use the 16 oz cups or the 24 oz? Mine is coming with 4 cups but I was thinking I'd buy a couple more, but none on Amazon or Ninja website list the model number of the machine I bought for accessories that fit. I wonder if all the machines in the "500 series" use the same size cups. I guess I will contact them tomorrow.
Ours is the 16 oz size. It came from Sam’s Club and had 3 pint containers with it. I ordered a set of 4 from Amazon because I wanted to be able to have a set in the freezer and a set we were making into ice cream. Did it show on the QVC ad what size the cups were, or maybe it would say on the website. The picture that I found said it has the 24 oz cups. Sam’s says mine only fits the 299 and 300 series, not the 100,200, or 500 series; so if yours is in the 500 series that is probably what you need to look for to get more containers. The ones in the QVC pictures look a little different than mine and so does the machine.
Yes, the QVC one has 24 oz cups. What is puzzling is that the dimensions given on the QVC product description are different from the Ninja website and Amazon product descriptions (for the cups). So I'm hesitant to order in case there is a difference and they won't fit. Sometimes companies make a product model that is retailer-specific and slightly different from the standard retail model.
Yvonne--I'm waiting to hear how the eggnog ice cream turns out!! I just placed a grocery order and got several ingredients from Creami recipes to try. I didn't order eggnog but if yours turns out fabulous I will probably try it. I'm not sure when my machine will arrive since QVC isn't known for fast shipping and I don't want my ingredients spoiling before it arrives. I did order 2 more of the containers from Amazon. I bought the Ninja branded ones even though they cost twice as much as the generics. I had some rewards $$ so that brought the cost down. I could not verify that these 24 oz will fit my "XL" machine but if not I will just return them.
We just are having the eggnog ice cream, @Beth Gallagher , and ……OMG……. This is maybe the very best ice cream that we have made so far ! When we did the re-spin, I added a little more eggnog instead of the cream that I usually use for re-spin, and ai also used some of the DaVinci flavorings that are for coffee . I used the Buttered Rum to sweeten the ice cream when I made it in the blender. I am sure that they told you that the Ninja Creami is loud, and it definitely IS loud; so be expecting something that sounds like an airplane landing in your kitchen, and know that you did not get a defective model when that happens. I love to experiment, so making the ice cream desserts has just been so much fun for me.
Your eggnog ice cream sounds wonderful; I will definitely need to try that. I ordered some fresh strawberries with my groceries but I probably should have waited till I see what the ETA on my Creami is. I wonder if freezing strawberries would be OK? Would they need to be blended before adding them to the Creami, or just covered with liquid?
I have not tried making the frozen fruit desserts yet, but it looked like to me like people can take just a jar of fruit (the example was peaches in natural juice), pour it into the Creami container and freeze it, and the Creami blends it. I make all mine in the blender first, since I am adding cottage cheese and the powdered whey protein to the mix; but I think that you can follow a regular ice cream recipe and the ninja would blend in the frozen strawberries. We do the lite ice cream setting, plus extra cream in the re-spin, and then sometimes add in a cookie or mini-chocolate chips in the add-in spin. There is a book that comes with it, and also lots of YT videos. I am just looking on amazon, and discovered that they have sleeves (some with handles) that go on the containers for when you are eating the ice cream right out of the container, like we do. They have the larger ones for the 24 oz containers, too. Update: I ordered a 4-pack of the neoprene sleeves for our Creami containers. I have been putting mine in a little plastic bowl instead of holding the cold plastic container, so these should make it much easier to have ice cream.
I ordered the 2 extra containers from Amazon this morning and they just delivered them! And wow, I wasn't expecting them to be so big... but I should have considered that 24 oz is 3 full cups. One container will make more than enough for the 2 of us. Those sleeves are a good idea, but I don't expect I will eat out of the large containers. I saw some sets on Amazon that are the containers plus sleeves to go on them, but they are the smaller size and won't fit my machine. ETA--I moved my old bread machine out to the garage overflow cabinet so I have a spot ready for the Creami!
Finally, my Creami has shipped; it's supposed to be here on Friday. Now I'm thinking I might "create" a couple of mixtures in the extra containers I bought so they will be ready to try it out right away.
That is an excellent idea, @Beth Gallagher ! Waiting for the ice cream to freeze is the hard part, so if you have some already made and frozen, you can have ice cream as fast as you can unbox the Creami . What flavors are you going to try first ?
I have been stocking up on all the common ingredients... vanilla paste, cream cheese, cream, cottage cheese, xanthan gum, etc. I also bought some eggnog and a carton of fresh strawberries... so I may start off with eggnog and a vanilla with strawberry add-ins. I also have some greek yogurt so I can try frozen yogurt; that might be better with the strawberries. I want to find a good chocolate recipe, too. I've been watching youtube videos on how to operate the machine and learning some tips. Do you find that tasting the mix before freezing gives a good indication of the end result or does freezing the mixture make it more bland? I'm wondering about adding sugar or additional cocoa, etc.
We always taste it before we freeze it, and it is a little sweeter before it is frozen and made into ice cream; but not a lot of difference. Sometimes, the mixture seems like it might be too sweet, but it comes out just right. The eggnog ice cream was that way, just a little too sweet when I made it, but perfect in the end product. If the mix does not taste sweet enough when you are blending it, then add a little more sweetener to it. Also, if it is not sweet enough after the first spin, add some sweetener and respin. I usually use half and half for the re-spin, because it tends to be lumpy after the first spin. The liquid flavorings for coffee, like the DaVnci ones are great for that because you can sweeten the ice cream and also add a little extra pizzazz to the flavor, too. I also like using the SF pudding mixes, which gives you a creamier ice cream, and even the SF jello will blend in and add flavor and color. When I made strawberry ice cream, I used strawberries, but also added a packet of the jello, which gave it more color and flavor. (I just dump everything into the blender at once .) If you have bananas, they can add into almost any kind of ice cream flavor, and give you more real fruit in the dessert, and kind of like having a banana split. One of my favorites was a can of crushed pineapple and a banana, and then a spoonful of strawberry jam blended in as the add-in, and chocolate syrup drizzled on top.