All the reasons I love the Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System

Fall is by far my favorite season. It’s still hot enough here in the Pacific Northwest to wear skirts and sandals some days, but then it’s boots and sweaters the next, all under the gorgeous backdrop of changing leaves and fall colors. Just look at my happy harvester, collecting vegetables for the week.  The one thing that isn’t awesome? Meal planning. With unpredictable weather and high temperatures nearly every afternoon, it makes it hard to plan what kind of meals to make that won’t leave the house sweltering at the end of the day.

When a friend suggested I try slow cooking instead of heating up the oven and making our house unbearably hot, I couldn’t believe how brilliant she was. It turns out I can still have the hearty meals I’ve been pinning, but without making us all miserable by simply using an appliance I typically reserve for winter meals. 

Hello, Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System!

Admittedly, I’ve had the Ninja Cooking System on my wish list since I first heard about it. Instead of being a big, bulky appliance that only slow cooks and thus only gets used a few times a month, the Ninja Cooking System has the added benefit of being a slow cooker, a roaster, a steam cooker, a baker, and a searing and sautéing machine all in one.

With all the awesome features Ninja packed into the unit, you could literally use it every day for just about all your favorite meals. That means you could potentially never have to heat up your oven or deal with 2-3 pans to wash after every meal, while still making hands-off delicious and hearty meals for your family. Basically, it’s my new favorite kitchen appliance, and for some very good reasons:

Searious cooking – You can sear and sauté right in the bottom of the pot before slow cooking. Instead of getting numerous pans dirty preparing your slow cooking meals {or doing like I normally do and ignoring the step where it tells you to sear the meat first and hoping it turns out okay}, with the Ninja Cooking System I can actually follow the recipe and end up with the moist and tender slow cooked meals that the family devours. Cook smarter – my old slow cooker had two buttons, low and high settings. One was 4 hours, one was 8, but once I pressed the button there was no indication how long my food had been cooking, or how much longer I was going to have to be patient. With the Ninja, I can see precisely how long until dinner will be on the table, which I love because no one wants to tell these faces that dinner isn't ready for another hour… ish.Cook faster – with Triple Fusion Heat™ technology it combines contact heat from the bottom, direct heat from the sides, plus super-heated steam for juicier, healthier meals made 30% faster. I tend to be an impatient cook, which means I start food from frozen when I shouldn’t, and I get frustrated that they are still ice cold when they should be almost finished. With the Ninja, I can place frozen meats in and they still come out beautifully each time, and in less time than my oven or my stovetop and about a fourth of the time my old slow cooker took.

Cook healthy – a quick look through the Ninja Cooking System recipe collection will give you recipe after healthy recipe. Since their goal is to keep natural juices inside while cooking food, no additional fat is required and you can serve the best tasting and healthiest meals possible. No prep – did I mention I’m an impatient cook? Defrosting, planning, and prepping food before I even start to cook is basically not going to happen, so I love that I can serve healthier homemade meals with almost no prep time. As I mentioned before, no defrosting is required on many meals, which means I can throw foods in on a whim and still have delicious meals at dinnertime. Like this BBQ chicken with two ingredients that tastes amazing. One pan Leanne – By now you know my nickname and how much I despise excess dishes, but up until now I had never thought of a slow cooker as a solution to my problem. But, with being able to sear and sauté then slow cook in the same appliance, as well as reheat, I can finally live up to my nickname. Whether we’re talking large roasts, pasta meals, or pulled pork sandwiches, cooking just about everything is easier with the Ninja Cooking System.

Want to find out more about the Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System and see all the awesome features? Or perhaps you want to see some delicious recipes you can make in the Ninja Cooking System? Or, maybe you're ready to buy and get ready for all the holiday baking and cooking and just want to click here to purchase.

A big thank you to Ninja for sending the Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System for us to adore. As always, all opinions are 100% ours.