The dispenser looks nice. It is very sleek, and the stand is very sturdy. I love the fact that the dispenser comes with a measuring cup, so you can monitor how much you are dispensing.
The product is pretty tough. Before I got a chance to use it the way it was meant to be used, my daughter decided it was a plaything and put several of her toys through the dispenser. It was able to accommodate several lego pieces as well as a small doll. After wrestling it back from her, I tried it out on regular food.
Want to add some pizzaz to your holiday party? How about an ice sculpture? This mold allows you to make your own frozen ice swan. Fill it with water, freeze, and unclip the mold.
I'm not a juice person, but this juicer looks cool. It ejects the pulp out the rear, so you have juice that is free of foam. Other features include a motor that automatically supplies more or less power as needed; a stainless steel bowl, blade and basket; and an extra large feeding tube.
This crock is pretty and it allows you to store butter outside of the refrigerator and keep it fresh. You fill the base with cold water and the ceramic container will keep the butter fresh for up to 30 days. It supposedly even works in the summer.
This Zyliss food chopper looks pretty cool. It has a "smart" base that supposedly allows chopping chopping of delicate tomatoes and herbs without smashing. You can chop in the storage cup, on a chopping block, or on the "smart" base. The blades allow chopping from coarse to fine. And it has wiper blades to to keep the inside clean.
Holiday Gift and Shopping Guides from Around the Blogpire
Our editors have been hard at work coming up with the latest products to give as gifts this holiday season. Each of our different sites has their own holiday gift guide on various topics including: shaving, hdtv, gps, gaming, coffee and espresso, kitchen gadgets, cookbooks, and more.
Make your holiday gift giving easier this season by visiting the holiday shopping guides below, and get your shopping done online without the crowds and hassle of ever leaving your comfy couch or computer chair.
I'm a big fan of using a frother to make chocolate milk. It quickly takes the lumps out and makes a nice frothy layer--delicious. This frother includes a stand for countertop storage. Very handy if you want to keep it by the coffee machine.
If you are too lazy to sing happy birthday when cutting a cake, this cake slicer will do it for you. It sings four different songs--Happy Birthday, Jingle Bells, the Wedding March, and For He's a Jolly Good Fellow--so you can find a song for almost any occasion.
Forget gingerbread cookies--How about some gingerbread muffins. This gingerbread muffin pan will allow you to make muffins in the shape of gingerbread men.
This copper roasting pan is specially designed to make basting easy. The pan has a riser in it that allows juices to flow into a well at the base of the pan, so you can easily draw out the juice to baste your roast.
We received a Sil-Pin silicone rolling pin to review. As my mom is the pie maker in the family, she used it to make pie crust for an apple pie. Silicone is everywhere in baking these days--mostly because of its nonstick surface. The Sil-Pin was much less sticky than our wooden rolling pin, but it isn't completely non-stick. You still need to put flour on the pin before rolling, but you can use a lot less flour. The bggest benefit is how easy it is to clean up. The dough came right off the pin with a wet towel while there is still dried dough on my wooden rolling pin that has never come off.
The rolling pin is very heavy--you might want to grab it if you think there is a burglar in your house. However, it doesn't feel heavy when you are rolling. It rolls smoothly and evenly due to the ball bearings in the handles. Overall, we were very impressed with the Sil-Pin--it is a big improvement over our previous wooden rolling pin. We received a black Sil-Pin, but it comes it lost of fun colors like red, tangerine, and pink.
We also received a Sil-Pin junior (which should be available at Linen's and Things), which is basically the same rolling pin, but smaller and lighter for kids. My daughter loved it, and she was able to roll out her own dough and make a mini pie with it.
This peeler is designed to peel soft fruits and vegetables. It has a serrated blade with two edges, so tomatoes, kiwi, peaches, and ginger can be easily peeled. It also has a sharp steel tip to remove produce blemishes.
We got a couple of WrapMasters to review from WrapMaster USA. The WrapMaster is an aluminum foil and plastic wrap dispenser. You load the foil or wrap, pull out the desired amount, and press down on the lid. The lid has blades that are specially designed to cut either foil or wrap. It holds rolls up to 200 sq. ft.
I liked the idea of this contraption becuase my aluminum foil and plastic wrap boxes are always getting mangled in my drawer and I have difficulty cutting off pieces of plastic wrap without getting it tangled up. The foil and wrap is relatively easy to load--although it is a three step process, which could be a problem if you are lazy (like me). Once loaded, it was very easy to pull out the desired amount of foil and wrap, and the blade cut the foil and wrap very cleanly and neatly. It was definitely much easier than taking foil or wrap from the box. My only complaint was that the WrapMasters are a little big. They are 3.75” wide x 3.5” high x 14.5” long, which is too big to fit in the drawer where I normally keep aluminum foil and plastic wrap, so I will have to do some rearranging in order to use them.
This unit is manufactured to commercial standards and can be transferred from one room to another for light duty cooking, while being used as a serving cart provided with room to hold additional ingredients, pre-prepped foods, dips and sauces. Though we long for a kitchen or patio large enough to use such a cart, maybe someday?
Soon we'll all be making gravy for Thanksgiving and you may need to "separate" a little of that fat from the gravy you serve. You can cut the fat with the OXO Good Grips Fat Separator with its own strainer and stopper. Pour your gravy into the Separator through the strainer and watch the fat rise to the top while lean gravy settles to the bottom. It's kitchen contraption magic!
We love the new line of Pump Dispensers that offer an easy-dispensing mechanism combined with a very cool design. A non-slip top button makes it easy to squirt liquid soap and lotion using one or two hands. We've found having a soap dispenser in the kitchen with a one hand design to be totally invaluable.
Sometimes we long for a few moments of the Daily Show in the kitchen while eating a late night snack. Sometimes we just want to catch a few moments of the parade on Thanksgiving Day while we cook in the kitchen. The Sony ICF-DVD57TV Under the Cabinet LCD-TV / DVD / CD Clock Radio should let us do all this and more. The high-end stainless steel paneling matches today's popular kitchen designs and appliance styles and makes it durable and easy to clean.
Gluten allergies can be tough and those darn glutens seem to be everywhere. This bread machine features a unique "gluten free cycle" so you can make bread without it. Then you can wake up to the smell of freshly baked bread with this programmable bread machine. The machine also offers pasta, jam, and pizza-dough cycles. Other highlights include an easy-to-read LCD display, a pause function, and a detachable lid. Avoid the use of metal utensils with the removable baking pan, which should be washed by hand in order to protect its nonstick surface.
We've just had our second child and I can say - we need a handheld vacuum. What I like about the Electrolux is the clean air filtration system and easy-empty dust cup for bagless convenience. I can see all those goldfish crackers being sucked up right now...
I get to laughing everytime I hear the phrase - "DUTCH OVEN", but I'm sure we also need one of these to make some amazing french over stew. What's amazin about the "FRENCH OVEN", if there are leftovers in the pot, save them for tomorrow. You can store it in the refrigerator or in the freezer and not worry about food reacting to the porcelain enamel surface.
I know that Maya probably has covered this in the past, but I'm tired of seeing her nearly cut off entire parts of her hands (HINT HINT) to get some fresh pineapple each night. The Vacu Vin Pineapple Slicer peels, cores, and slices an entire pineapple in seconds and is made from durable plastic with a medium-sized blade. Perhaps if I get this for her in time for Christmas, each night she can eat pineapple with ease.
With it's unique design adn the ability to make two cappuccinos at once, the Saeco Primea Touch Plus Espresso Machine is a modern coffee wonder. We like colorized touch screen display and the 8 different animated drink icons to choose from. You can make hot milk, hot water, espresso, coffee, long coffee, espresso macchiato, cappuccino or latte macchiato and more.