Recently purchased the small Ninja for around $30. at Walmart. Love it. I must stop making the Plaza Hotel chocolate soda. Love the yoplait frozen bags with extra ice added.

Immersion blender works great for us, even with most frozen fruit that we use (e.g., frozen blueberries, raspberries, mango). Not sure if you care about this sort of thing, but I think the Magic Bullet isn't BPA free.

I use my new Cuisinart immersion blender and defrost frozen fruit in the microwave for a half-minute or so. Add yogurt and voila! smoothie in about a minute or less.

Easy cleanup, not much to store.

I am very happy with it.

If I'm not using frozen fruit I use the immersion blender and if I am using anything frozen I toss everything in the regular blender. No complaints.

Anonymous wrote:I like the cuisinart stick blender. Takes no space. Only downside is it can't handle ice or super-frozen fruit. I have to let my frozen fruit thaw a bit otherwise it won't work. Is the magic bullit really that great? I saw it at costco this weekend and thought about it but didn't buy it.

We just got this one a couple weeks ago and so far it's been great, although totally agree that it didn't do well with frozen fruit. We've been doing bananas, peanut butter, nutella, plain yogurt, milk, and honey and it is so yummy! Would love some easy berry recipes if anyone wants to share.

Anonymous wrote:so with the magic bullet can you just throw in ice and frozen fruit? it can handle all of that? what protein powder do you use?

Yep. I wouldn't have thought it could handle the frozen fruit, as I found it to be pretty crappy at chopping vegetables etc., but it works great for a smoothie. Occasionally I'll get a frozen berry that didn't get blended, but it is once in awhile and not a big deal. DH and I have been using ours for 2+ years, multiple times per week after our boot camp workout, and it has held up surprisingly well. We don't add ice, just the frozen berries (but straight from the freezer, not thawed at all).

We use this protein powder, which is sold at both the Vitamin Shoppe and General Nutrition:

http://www.optimumnutrition.com/products/100-whey-gold-standard-p-201.html

Anonymous wrote:so with the magic bullet can you just throw in ice and frozen fruit? it can handle all of that? what protein powder do you use?

Yep. I wouldn't have thought it could handle the frozen fruit, as I found it to be pretty crappy at chopping vegetables etc., but it works great for a smoothie. Occasionally I'll get a frozen berry that didn't get blended, but it is once in awhile and not a big deal. DH and I have been using ours multiple times per week after our boot camp workout, and it has held up surprisingly well.

We use this protein powder, which is sold at both the Vitamin Shoppe and General Nutrition:

http://www.optimumnutrition.com/products/100-whey-gold-standard-p-201.html

so with the magic bullet can you just throw in ice and frozen fruit? it can handle all of that? what protein powder do you use?

I like the cuisinart stick blender. Takes no space. Only downside is it can't handle ice or super-frozen fruit. I have to let my frozen fruit thaw a bit otherwise it won't work. Is the magic bullit really that great? I saw it at costco this weekend and thought about it but didn't buy it.

DH and I also use the magic bullet. It's perfect -- no huge clunky parts. No need to dirty both a blender and a cup. It probably depends on what kind of smoothie you are trying to make, though. We do frozen berries, milk or water, a banana, and a scoop of protein powder.

is vitamix really worth it? any particular brand of blender?

Anonymous wrote:My wonder gadget is a plain old blender. Works great for me.

Same here & I make fruit smoothies every day.

My wonder gadget is a plain old blender. Works great for me.

I used to use a magic bullett, that should work perfect for you.

I then converted to the Vitamix and it has been life changing.

am looking for something that is easy, does not require a lot of prep work and takes up little counter space and/or can be put away when not used....thanks