Buy Magic Bullet - How to Make Great Smoothies with this Mixer!

I really, really wanted to start drinking more smoothies – homemade smoothies.  Healthy smoothies.  I also wanted to make them for my kids because they love them, too, but the hassle of pulling out the blender from the bottom of the pantry where it lives (covered in dust) because I have no other space for it was, well, a hassle.  Then having to deal with each person wanting a different type of smoothie and the cleaning of the blender is certainly no fun….all this added up to nothing but good intentions and no follow-through!

Then one day my sister told me about her Magic Bullet and how much she and her whole family loved it.  She told me that it was so easy to use for smoothies and that they used it every day.  Then my parents got one and I also heard from them how much they loved it.  That’s it.  I had to have one, too! 

When I first got it, I was excited as I would be about just about any new appliance (I probably wouldn’t be too excited about a new iron, but that’s a whole other topic…) and I had the intention of using it every day at least for my daughters.  I started to buy extra fruit and ended up throwing out a lot of rotten fruit because I had sort of a fear of figuring out how to use it (silly, huh?!)

Well, now that I’m at the point where I’m using it daily I’m thinking what the heck took me so long to start using this thing!?!  There are so many things I love about my Magic Bullet, so here are a few bullets to name some:

• The unit itself is a great size to live permanently on the kitchen countertop; it has a very small “footprint”, but you’ll need some closet/pantry/cabinet space to store the cups that come with it – they don’t take up much space.
• The unit is black and silver which matches very nicely with my stainless appliances; my stove even has a black glass top so my Magic Bullet matches wonderfully.  If you don’t have stainless appliances, it would still look great on the counter due to its small size and the colors are very neutral.
• It is so easy to use!  You blend your smoothies directly into the cup you’ll be drinking them out of and because it comes with a few cups you can easily make individual smoothies for everyone.  Of course, you can make it and then pour it into a fancier glass or cup, but why?  That would just give you more to clean!
• Super easy clean up!  I must say that the secret is to immediately rinse off the blade after use – I just give it a good rinse under the faucet and it’s good to go for the next use.  You can also rinse the blade and cup at the same time by filling the cup half full of water and add a drop of dish soap, place it on the unit (once you’ve screwed the blade attachment onto the cup, of course) and “blend.” 

So what I’ve been doing now is I’ve stocked up on frozen fruits such as strawberries and blueberries.  I buy extra bananas and slice them up and place them in the freezer in a baggie.  I’ve been using yogurt to mix in with the smoothies for my daughters – plain, vanilla, strawberry, depends on what kind of smoothie.

I’ve had some trial and error determining how much liquid to add to the cup but that’s no big deal – as it’s blending you’ll be able to tell if it’s too thick, so just remove it and add more liquid.  I use milk, water, or orange juice for my kids’ smoothies (plus some crushed ice).  I have found that when I use orange juice, the taste of the juice overpowers the smoothie, but if you’re going for that it’s not an issue.  I usually use just water with mine simply to save on the points because I’m currently on Weight Watchers – shameless plug:  I’ve lost 22 pounds so far (in four months) and I have about 14 more to go! 

I have not used my Magic Bullet for anything other than smoothies, so I can’t tell you if it makes salsa and all those other things that the ads for it show well, but I can tell you that for smoothies it is awesome and worth every penny I paid for it!

So if you’re looking for an easy way to make yourself and your family healthy smoothies with minimal effort and minimal clean-up – go buy your Magic Bullet now!  Then come back here and tell me how much you love it…