Review: Ninja Frying System

I’ve eaten plenty of deep-fried foods in my life, but I’ve never tried to deep fry anything myself. To be honest, the process intimidates me. However, when I was asked to review the Ninja Frying System, I wanted to give it a shot.

Ninja Frying System
Ninja Frying System

From their website:
The new Ninja Frying System allows you to prepare your favorite fried dishes with 30 percent less fat and 40 percent faster due to its revolutionary heat combination that keeps cooking oil at a uniform temperature, so foods cook to light, crispy perfection – with less oil absorption.

Now, let’s be honest – we’re not deep frying twinkies for their nutritional properties, but certainly less oil absorption is a good thing!

My first attempt at deep frying was, shall we say, a learning experience. I attempted to fry mini-Milky Way bars.

It tasted better than it looked!
It tasted better than it looked!

If I had gone to NinjaKitchen.com and read the very first bullet point under “Tips,” I would have been much more successful!

When frying battered foods, lower the empty fryer basket into the oil. Then slowly lower food into the fryer basket one piece at a time, using tongs hold the food down in the oil for a few seconds. This will help the batter form a crust and prevent the food from sticking to the basket.

Yeah. I put the battered foods into the basket, and then put the basket into the oil. The battered part stuck to the basket – oops! But seriously, they tasted great. My husband is still daydreaming about them two days later.

Speaking of the basket, that’s one of the neat things about the Ninja – the basket has a lid, which keeps all the food down in the oil and means you don’t have to flip the food as you’re cooking it. Very clever!

Here are a few more things I like about it:
– The oil reservoir is dishwasher safe. This is hugely important to me, as I like to put things in the dishwasher!
– It’s easy to drain, as it comes with a spout. I drained the old oil into an apple juice container and didn’t make any mess at all.
– It comes with Cool Zone Technology, which helps keep oil cleaner for a longer period of time. This is important, because deep fryers use a lot of oil, and it would stink to have to throw it out after deep frying just a couple candy bars!
– The exterior remains cool while it’s in use.

Next up, I plan to fry pickles and make churros. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Learn more about the Ninja Frying System (and their other fun products) on their Facebook page!

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I was provided with a Ninja Frying System to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own.

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Back to School Shopping at Kohl’s

Clothes shopping for a nine year old girl? It’s hard.

For starters, clothes that are made to fit nine year olds are often – how can I say this delicately? – wildly inappropriate. Add that to a kid who is rather (and by rather, I mean extremely) picky about how clothes look and feel (my Kate likes to be comfortable!) and, well, you’ve got your work cut out for you.

When Kate needs clothes, we often head to Kohl’s. Their girls’ department has a wide selection, and she can find things she likes from dressy to sporty. Of course, I like the price – Kohl’s is always having killer sales.

Kohl’s is definitely one of our back-to-school shopping stops, and I’m happy to partner with them on Mommin’ It Up. They sent us a $100 gift card to help us get started, and Kate and I had a blast picking out some clothes for the fourth grade.

Check out some of our finds!

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As you can see, Kate found a bunch of cute outfits that are both cute and comfortable (her priorities) and quite appropriate for her age (my priority!) – and the price was right. She is particularly picky selective about jeans – she doesn’t like them to be too tight or constricting, and they must be soft! – and we’ve found that the Mudd jeans at Kohl’s work great for her. In fact, she was wearing Mudd jeans from Kohl’s when we got to the store! We picked up a couple more pairs for her on sale for $20 each. Score! She also found a couple long-sleeved shirts that are super soft but have added detail (the peach one has lace sleeves and the green one has sequins on the shoulders) that give a touch of style without going over-board on the girly-ness (Kate won’t have that!). They were each on sale for $9.99. I only wished they had them in my size!

Kohl’s is also a great place to pick up the basics – we made sure to stock up on underwear and socks while we were there as well!

While Kate and I enjoyed a girls’ night shopping trip, we often shop at Kohl’s as a family. It’s nice to have a one-stop-shop for all of us. I am also slightly obsessed with their kitchen section, but that is a story for another day!

Overall, our trip was a big success – Kate has a great start on her fourth grade wardrobe, and I didn’t have to break the bank. Check out the picture of our receipt below – thanks to the in-store sales and 15% off for being a Kohl’s card holder, we saved more than we spent! I’d say that is a win.

back to school kohls

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Kohl’s provided a gift card to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.

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Getting KuKee with my Hello Kitty Cutie

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and KuKee, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #KuKeeapp  http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.

I’m sure you know from reading this blog that I loves me some fashion, and one thing I love about having a daughter is dressing her. Luckily for me, most of Sophie’s clothes come as hand-me-downs from Emily’s daughter Kate, and she and Kate have excellent taste! Since we have so many great hand-me-downs and Sophie wears school uniforms during the school year, I don’t often shop for new clothes for her. So when she and I do purchase something new, it’s special for both of us. That’s why I jumped at the chance to work with Evy of California to shop at Macy’s for clothes from their Hello Kitty line (Sophie big puffy-hearts Hello Kitty!) and unlock some fun after shopping with their go-along app, KuKee.

It did not take her long once we got to Macy’s to find a few things she wanted to try on!

Shopping Kukee App
She’s not excited at all!

I really enjoyed watching her admire herself. I love a girl with self-confidence! In the end, she picked two shirts and a skirt.

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The fun thing about this Hello Kitty line from Evy of Calfornia is that each item of clothing has a special marker on it that you can scan with their companion app, KuKee, so you can have some interactive fun with your new clothes as well. Sophie wanted to unlock the KuKee fun as soon as we got home, but of course I made her have a fashion photo shoot first. These Hello Kitty clothes are gorgeous, fun, whimsical, and easy to move in, as you’ll see.

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We switched shirts for these next few shots – I think both shirts look great with her twirly skirt!

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Ok, so twirling in a pretty skirt is always fun, but as I mentioned these clothes come with a bonus – special tags on the clothing activate the Kukee app, and each item of clothing comes with either a plush finger puppet or finger puppet tattoos you can use with the app. All three of the items Sophie picked happen to come with the tattoos.

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Here’s how to use the KuKee app! It’s really quite easy!

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Here’s a green KuKee marker you can scan to get started having fun with KuKee even if you don’t have any Hello Kitty clothes yet.

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If you purchase the Hello Kitty clothes from Macy’s, each item of clothing has a special Hello Kitty KuKee marker on it like this one on Sophie’s shirt:

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Simply scan the marker with your KuKee app and get started playing! Sophie had fun using her finger puppets to make a little scene after scanning the Hello Kitty KuKee marker:

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And I had a little too much fun with the effects available when I scanned the green KuKee marker that is shown above:

green KuKee

Sophie and I had a great time shopping with Macy’s and Evy of California and she loves her Hello Kitty clothes! Thanks to KuKee for making it extra fun!

Do you have a Hello Kitty fan in your house? If she’s in sizes 2T-6x, head to Macy’s to pick up some cute Hello Kitty items for back-to-school!

Want to know more about KuKee? Find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

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