Bought one of the "Professional" (heh) series, with the black top, not the blue.

I'm not entirely sure why I bought this thing. A coworker who likes cooking as much as I do convinced me I needed one. I'm usually immune to this kind of consumer peer pressure, so I keep eyeing the box in my kitchen suspiciously, now that it actually arrived. What are you doing here, you weird As Seen On TV appliance? (Unfortunately, after reading a bunch of reviews, I'm fully convinced it'll break within a month.)

Okay, but nevermind all that.

What should I use this thing for? I'm not a smoothie person. My main thought is to puree soups. I don't like the results I get from either my blender or my immersion blender. But I can't find much via google that talks about using it for hot soups. Will it have the blender 'explosion' problem with hot liquids?

I've never been on board with the mashed cauliflower thing, because my attempts always produce a grainy mess. Would that be a good application for this?

Any other suggestions? I'm also open to 'send it back' as a suggestion.

Oh! I bought one too, asked myself the same questions really.

It truly is like a blender but does a better job for some things. I had a big batch of squash I needed to puree and it did a decent job with that, once I added some liquid, however, I could see it wasn't pulling the top part down, but the cuisinart didn't do any better and possibly worse.

It is a bit easier to clean than my blender so I like that. But yeah, it does seem like it has a bit of a redundant function in my kitchen.

Nancy raises a good point: you already have a blender; do you have a food processor?

I just moved, so after weeks of packing and lifting boxes I'm in a minimalist mood. Nothing but the bare necessities for me. (I hope I can sustain my fervor. )

It works awesome to make mashed cauliflower-taters.

I have a blender and a food processor. I'm not able to get anything terribly smooth with either of them (or with my stick blender, either), which is probably why this thing was even able to take hold in my head.

I prefer minimalism too, but cooking is one of my primary hobbies so the tools tend to accumulate. I usually try to at least make sure they're high-quality, high-utility, durable tools, though, and I may have slipped in this instance.

I don't know anything about the quality of a ninja prep but I am very happy with my Vitamix blender. It really improved the quality of my pureed soups. It truly took a few dishes to a new level of cooking.

I also use a Cuisinart, but more for chopping, grating and for (intentionally) coarse purees. My stick blender doesn't do much at all and I plan to pass it along to whatever charitable organization is picking up. As soon as I locate it again in the wall of still-packed boxes.

Don't want to threadjack but I have a vitamix as well. I use it for Green Smoothies but I was curious what else you make in it?

I make a lot of soup. Some are pureed, like winter squash or cauliflower. Sometimes I make a soup with a bit of veg pureed into the base to add body and then I add meat and pieces of veg.

I definitely don't make enough highly pureed stuff or smoothies to pay Vitamix prices. Of course this still doesn't explain why I bought the Ninja.

I get talked onto things I don't want all the time. I think it's characteristically female to politely agree with people to make them happy, even when it costs me. I need to overcome that trait.

If you are having trouble getting the smooth consistency you want, try cooking it in small pieces first and then blending it. Cooking the veggies with loosen them up quite a bit.

Put me in the "send in back" category, since you already have a blender and food processor.

If that's what you want to do... you'll regret not doing it.

Ninja tentatively got a stay of execution this weekend. I've used it for the following:

--Making a batter to go into the ice cream maker (SF of course). It wins vs my other appliances for this because the included lids mean you just put a lid on the work pitcher and stick it in the fridge for the pre-churn rest.

--Making a cookie crumb crust with SF cookies. I only needed a very small amount, and while one of the larger pitchers was in use with the ice cream, I used the smallest one for this.

--Pureeing cream of mushroom soup. Texture was fine.

--Making up a batch of guacamole. Just pulsing a few times = chunky goodness. While this is arguably something that is quite easy to make by hand, this did have the advantage of just tossing everything in (including a few large tomato chunks) with minimal prep. This was another thing where I only needed a small amount, way too small for the food processor, but the small ninja bowl was perfect.

I think if there's anything it's going to replace, it would be the traditional blender. Stand mixer of course is a whole different beast, and we use the grater and slicer blades on the food processor almost daily.

I'm so glad you've found a use for it! If it truly has a unique approach, then it's worth it.

I'm most interested in how you feel about it moving forward; I don't have a food processor, only a personal smoothie blender, and a tiny kitchen... if the Ninja would work for me, that would be very handy!