Dis, yes a Ninja can heat things up so you can make fresh soups in it too. And honestly, I almost never put ice in my smoothies. I use whole fruits and soy milk (you could of course use regular milk, yogurt, a favorite juice etc.) and my bananas usually give it the thickness that I like and the milk keeps it cold.  Example, my smoothie tonight had 1 med banana, 1 whole plum (cut into pieces of course lol), 2 kiwi, a bunch of strawberries (I never count these, just add them til I'm happy) and my soy milk. Came out cold and nice and smooth and YUMMY. :)<br/><br/>Halo, I agree...LOVE mine. I got the 1200 from the store though, so I had to order the cookbook online, can't wait for it to get here so I can see some of the soup recipes! :D