Cheese without the FreshSaver system:

Cheese with the FreshSaver system:

Lots of fresh cheeses mmmm.

All you do is position the device over the seal and suction out the air until there isn’t any more air to suck out.  It doesn’t work well on wet foods, so jello would not work, however, you can reseal the bag if you just need to take the cheese out and grate a little then put it back and suction it again.

Though the bags and the sealer are only rated for the refrigerator, I have used mine for meat in the freezer.  Again, it’s better to pre-freeze the meat a little first so it’s not so juicy.  The juicy will ruin the seal. My son used it for his breaded shrimp.  He’d take out only what he needed and suction the bag up again, then stick it into the freezer until the next time.  Sorry Handivac – I’m working with the FreshSaver now.  I don’t have to worry about the dead batteries for this.

By the way, the ziplock sous vide bags work great with the freshsaver also.

Disclosure:  I bought this, it wasn’t a paid review.  The recommendations are my own.

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Cherry Chomper – This cherry pitter by Talisman Designs, is cute and does exactly what it should do.  You put a cherry in it’s mouth push down on the head, and the pit is swallowed up, while the cherry is there pitless, waiting for you.  My daughter had absconded with the Cherry Chomper and I made her dig it back out and give it back because I am not messing my teeth up on cherry pits.  It captures all the pits in the bottom container, so you can throw them into the compost bucket without any rolling away, plus catches the juice too. My Grade A. 

 Grilly Goat Basting Tongs & Sauce Pot – The Grilly Goat name is a little on the silly side, you have to admit, and the tongs look a little odd, but the set is great.  The lockable tongs have a silicon basting brush as built in (kind of it’s removable).  I wasn’t sure what I would think, or my husband who likes to do the grilling would think about this feature.  Well, we like that we don’t have to mess with both a brush and tongs. The brush worked much better than I thought it would and impressed me.  Having just one tool is really cool.  Plus, there are other features that we found we like a lot.  The Sauce pot is very stable and won’t tip (unlike my other basting pot). The Sauce pot also has a slot to slide the edges of the tongs into, giving you somewhere to set the tongs so that the sauce drips back into the sauce pot and not on the plate or tray. My grade A.

Hamilton Beach Wave station Express – We bought this on vacation because my daughter wanted to make virgin daiquiris and I was eager to try them out.  Since then she’s become our smoothie queen, using different combinations to make luscious drinks.  She throws in the ice and they are all ground into tiny ice particles, to make the drink cold, but not watery.  The wave action causes the ice to break down evenly, so you won’t have any big ice chunks. This is really high up on the fun list for me. The Wave Station Express has a nice little spigot on the front for pouring, though if it’s slushy you need to pour it out the top. 

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I made the rice with a rice cooker – following the directions correctly and it came out perfect.  I grilled the tuna on my grill pan on the stove (less calories that way?), I made some honey mustard vinaigrette with a Black and Decker Gizmo and spinned the water out of my chard with the Spin and Stor.

• Aroma Rice Cooker – We enjoy rice, all different kinds of rice with our meals so much that  I often make rice in big batches and store it in the freezer to use as needed.  Deb raves about using a rice cooker, another sister of mine said she could never get rice right, and uses the quick stuff(which I don’t care for too much) and I always did it the pot method.  I wanted to try the rice cooker method though.  It would be nice not to worry about it boiling over on the stovetop or worry about it being dry.  My first try with the rice cooker was a disaster – a big gummy paste.  Instead of reading the directions, I went with how I thought it worked and used way, way, way too much water.  Even though I left it on warm for a while and tried to steam out some of the water, it really didn’t come out right.  So I went back to the drawing board and read the directions and followed them – to the letter.  This time the rice was nice and fluffy, not dry, not soggy – just right.  The Aroma Rice Cooker uses sensor logic to determine when the rice is done. You press the button for white rice, or brown rice and it will sense when it’s ready.  Then it switches to warm and keeps it warm until you need it.  You can set it to smart steam and steam your veggies.  I love steamed veggies and will be thrilled to cook up my garden veggies this summer. I’m including some of the details for you.  I will definitely be using this again and again.  My grade A+.

          Professional Series 10-Cup Sensor Logic™ Rice Cooker

• Prepares up to 20 cups of rice and keeps it warm for up to 12 hours
• Steams vegetables and cooks rice simultaneously, makes soups and stews
• Easy-to-use digital control panel with multiple features: White Rice, Brown Rice, Quick Rice, Smart Steam and 15-Hour Delay Timer
• Sensor Logic™ technology self-adjusts for consistent, restaurant-quality results
• Water reservoir channels away excess condensation
• Includes recipe booklet, measuring cup, steam tray and serving spatula

•   Black & Decker Gizmo Tip & Mix Automatic Salad Dressing Mixer – My brother in law gave me this after we saw it in use in their home.  The gizmo is great for homemade salad dressings. It has little spinner spatula, that combines and emulsifies the dressing ingredients.  It stirs faster as you are pouring to make sure all of the ingredients stay mixed together as a dressing.  Also on the side of the carafe are recipes for different vinaigrettes and the lid doubles as a measuring spoon.  The only drawback is that the lid doesn’t screw on and off, so if it tips the vinaigrette would spill. The base detaches from the the carafe for cleaning, but it’s hold is tenuous at best.  I would prefer something with a more sturdy connection between the top and bottom.  While there are negatives, I still like using it.  My grade B-/C+ . 

• Spin N Stor Reusable Bags – When I first was offered this I thought, I’ll try it, okay – whatever.  The darn thing works like a charm.  You rinse your veggies and/or greens off, twist it closed and swing the bag around.  The water drains into the side and bottom channel that you pour off.  I usually just shake my strainer a few times, let it drain in the sink while I’m cooking and then know I’ll put a plate under it because there will be water dripping off.  Now I’m using the Spin N Stor to swing all the water off and my greens are dry not dripping.  The only drawback is that it’s a plastic bag, but it’s reusable and it stores much easier than a bowl which is good because I have a very small kitchen. I’ve cleaned my Spin N Stor, let it dry and reused it.  My grade A-.

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The Pizza knife is the best pizza cutting tool for me.  I’ve had the pizza cutters with the little wheel, but this Pizza Knife cuts through it just by pressing down and rocking it back and forth once.  The only downside is that it’s big and you will need to figure out where to store it.  However, my husband and son loved it the first time we used it.  No cheese sticking to it and smearing, just  cut, cut cut, cut and you are done, it’s that simple and fast.  I put it into the dishwasher along the side to get cleaned off- where it won’t take up much room.  If you eat pizza on a regular basis – this would be something you would want to own.

The Container Grater – took a little practice.  I didn’t love it at first, but as I used it and got used to the way it worked, I liked it more and more.  Our first surprise was that we couldn’t figure out how to take the lid on and off.  My son figured it out and I thought I was a dunce until my daughter said that she and my husband wanted to use some of the cheese I had grated into the container, but couldn’t figure out how to open it up.  There are these two little pieces on the end that you squeeze together to slip the grater arm past.  Duh!  Then I filled the Cheese holder part too high, which made it awkward to hold and grate.  Once I realized that I should only fill the cheese holder part way so that the knob fit in better, moving the arm back and forth across the grater became easier.  Lastly, it’s a little messy, so you need to put a tray under the container while you are grating.

  After hearing all of that, you are probably thinking why bother?  Well, grating has always been messy for me and I always use a tray or plate, so that’s no different.  Using the regular cheese grater I scrape my fingers or I try to be careful so that I don’t scrape them.  This has a block with a knob that protects your fingers – thank you!  The components come apart and go into the dishwasher for easy cleanup.  Storage is wonderful.  I can grate the cheese into the container, and if I get interrupted (as I did last week with a sick daughter) I can put on the lid and stick it into the fridge and come back to it later. Once I figured out the trick to filling the cheese holder only part way, it was much easier on my arm to use and rocked back and forth and made the grating faster and easier. 

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My son is a cereal eater.  The boy is 6’2” and wears a size 13 shoe, but his foot is definitely hollow.  I know he stores his food there.  He runs on the track team and eats constantly.  This boy eats a lot of cereal, one day, he ate 7 bowls, usually he eats 4, or he did, until I started buying the mega size cereal bags of generic mini – wheat type stuff.  One problem, the bags tear.  Every day, it would tear a little more, then when you pour, it would get on the table and sprinkle cereal bits all over.  Copco’s Bag Caps stop the rippage, seriously, no tearing, or ripping, or spilling.  Teenage boys don’t care about any of that stuff, but their mom’s sure do.

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So here’s the thing. I have stainless steel appliances which means I can’t hang my son’s lovely artwork on the fridge. Well, I can with tape but then there’s all that sticky clean up. I love our new fridge, but can’t stand not being able to use it as a display surface. I’m a gal who likes reminders. I need calenders and white boards and big bold lettering. Can’t have that with  a stainless steel fridge. At least not until Happeez came along.

Happeez are products that stick where magnets don’t. Clips, frames, whiteboards and more, simply peel of the backing of each Happeez and stick to the desired surface. The beauty part is that they don’t leave a sticky residue or stain behind, and if it loses its stickiness all one needs to do is clean the backing with a bit o’vinegar and water.

Now, I have my son’s pictures on my fridge, inside Happeez frames. I have his artwork displayed using the Happeez clips and I even have my reminders thanks to the whiteboard calendar. Happeez makes me happy. Bet it makes you happy too.

Find Happeez at MayfairLane.com.

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I received a package of their gluten free pizza mix to try out and I can vouch for this product.  It came out to be a really good crispy thin crust pizza.  I followed the directions up to the part where it tells you to spread it out with your fingers.  I couldn’t do it, it stuck to my fingers and wouldn’t spread.  So I took the plastic wrap covering the bowl of dough, and placed it over the half that was on a baking stone.  I used a small rolling pin and rolled on top of the plastic wrap.  This spread the dough out perfectly on the baking stone.  It didn’t feel the same as normal dough, it was gooier, but once it spread out, I used it like regular pizza dough. 

I spread a thin layer of tomato sauce on top of the dough.  I placed slices of tomatoes and fresh soft mozzarella on top of the sauce, sprinkled some herbs on top and put it in the oven at 425 degrees.  I should mention, that they sent some ground flax seed, so I went ahead and tried the eggless option.  (Eggless option: Combine 2 TBS Flaxseed Meal + 6 TBS Water; let stand one minutes. Add to recipe as you would the eggs.)  I thought what the heck, I might as well go all out and try it all the way.  It was delicious.  My husband, my son and I enjoyed it.  My daughter, well, she didn’t get any.  She was at work and no one saved her any.  Oops! 

So for all of youthat are looking for gluten free pizza crust or maybe just looking for a thin crust pizza, I recommend Bob’s Red Mill Pizza Crust. 

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Cookerati is happy to participate in the Bloggy Giveaways this week. We hope to have a couple of cool products for you, and here’s the first:

My husband and I enjoy both wine and new gadgets so we were kind of tickled when we received The Wine Holder to review. The Wine Holder is such a simple design, yet it’s so cool everyone will ask where you got it.

In essence The Wine Holder is a piece of wood with a hole on top and a 45 degree angle on either end. These angles allow The Wine Holder to sit on your bar or countertop or dining room table without taking up a lot of room. They’re sturdy enough to hold a full bottle of wine, yet small and lightweight enough to store in your utensil drawer.

The Wine Holder gets two big fat thumbs up from Cookerati. Let the brain behind the product tell you a little about it:

How would you like to win a set of three Wine Holders?

As with all contests, I make you work for it. I learned my lesson with the Magic Bullet and Hansen’s giveaways however. No more one word hit and run comments from people who never plan on visiting  us or our sponsors again. We’re building a community, people. So, if you want to win a set of Wine Holders, you have to do a little better than a one word answer. It’s all about interaction. To win, recommend your favorite wine. Tell us why you like it. Is there a particular food that goes best with it? Is there a story behind the wine? Amusing anecdote? Post your recommendations in the comments and the best one wins the trio.

The contest ends Saturday, April 26, 2008. Good luck!

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For Christmas, I knew I wanted a single serve coffee maker. I am the only regular coffee drinker in my house, so I wanted something that would brew one serving at a time. I researched different coffee makers deciding which one I wanted based on price and the reviews that were on the web sites.

One web site had pre-Christmas sale for a complete kit – coffee, mug, coffee brewing station all for a low price of $45.00 about 25.00 less than the normal “on sale” price. I told my husband that this is what I wanted and gave him the link.

I like my Senseo. You fill up the water tank, put the pod(s) into the filter holder and press a button. The coffee tastes good, but you won’t get a really strong or muddy cup. You get a mild to medium based on the setting you choose and the number of pods you use. It wasn’t too expensive, some brands of single serve coffee makers I saw were more than 100.00, which is above my limit for a coffee maker.

The down side is that you need to buy the pods for the coffee maker (or make your own filter pack). Also, it doesn’t keep the coffee warmed up, the metal plate on the bottom isn’t a warming plate, it just allows the overflow to go into a dish underneath so you don’t have a mess. Recently, I found this website online -https://www.sharesenseo.com/q6/1.jsp. You will answer a questionnaire and if you are chosen, but you may buy a Senseo system (no mug) for the shipping and handling fee of 15.00. This offer will only be available for a limited time/quantity. This is a really great price for the Senseo. This coffee maker made a lot of sense for me and turned out to be a good choice.

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I’ll admit it. The Vacu-Seal was sent to me to review for this blog and another of my blogs, Simply Thrifty. I probably wouldn’t have gone out and bought it because I use (and reuse) ziplock bags and old Chinese food containers to store my food. Was I ever pleasantly surprised!

The first thing I noticed was how lightweight and compact the Vacu-Seal is. It doesn’t take up my precious counter space and fits neatly inside a drawer with no problem. My kitchen is small, I don’t have room for anything on my counters. The compactness of the Vacu-Seal is truly appreciated.

The second thing I noticed was how easy to use. I didn’t even need to look at the instructions, it’s kind of self explanatory. Put the Vacu-Seal nozzel into the valve on the reusable bag, and press a button. Really, it’s that simple.

The Vacu-Seal comes with reusable zipper lock bags so you save some coin on foil, bags or containers. You can use it to marinate food in minutes or to keep your leftovers in the fridge longer. Because the bags are zipper lock, there’s no cutting.

I’m definitely going to enjoy this!

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