Pampered Chef

I had a pampered chef party last Friday. I would like to try some of their stuff but just can't bring myself to pay the $ for it. If you have a party you can earn free items so I thought I would try.

It was lot of fun but the brownies she made stuck to the stoneware. I've heard great things about it so I asked our readers what they thought. We had a huge response! I won't able to put them all on here but I wanted to put some in case others were thinking of trying their products. I did have a couple of people say they are really heavy. That might something I might not want to try since my hands hurt a lot and I'm a huge klutz! A heavy, hot, stone pan may not be a good idea for me. :-)

By the way, we had several readers ask if they could order from my show. I would be happy to have you order! You can do it here online and just use Tawra Kellam as your host. You have until Friday the 19th to order.
Tawra


Tawra,

I just want to let you know about that stoneware. I used to sell pampered chef and it's the only thing that I absolutely still love and will accept no substitutes for. I have oval bakers for casseroles, they stay warm into the evening. When I'm getting thirds of my favorite meal, there's no need to nuke it. The flat stones are what I use for cookies and pizzas and rolls. The bar pan was bought by my neighbor. I've only used it for cookies though. No problem there once it became seasoned.

For brownies, we use the 9x13 size baker. I haven't had any cakes or brownies stick to it. I love that you can cook fish sticks for dinner than wash/rinse under hot water and use for cookies an hour later. If you freeze your cookie dough in little balls, the small bar pan is perfect for 6 cookies at a time. Having only one child, it's a great boost to afternoon snacks. I have only one loaf pan, so I am constantly putting loafs of bread into the glass and Revere Ware pans also. The stoneware produces a better product in my opinion. It takes a few minutes longer to cook some foods just because of the time to heat the pan once it's in the oven, but you can't put cold food on the hot pan anyways. That's really the only difference when it comes to cooking on it. The other great product you should get is the potato peeler. I'm left-handed and went through many of them before finding this one. I've had it for over 5 years and it's not rusted or dull. It's a great investment. Good luck trying to decide which products to try.

Janelle F.
Eagle Mountain, UT

ps. thanks for the newsletter. The menus especially help me think outside of my normal food preparations.
JF



Tawra, regarding Pampered Chef, a few years ago I bought the following items, and they have proven a GREAT kitchen investment. Please try yourself and/or share with your readers:


1. A "Super Duper Scooper" this silver handled "scooper" is perfect for melon balls, ice cream scoops, perfect small meatballs, and best of all for the kids, cookie dough and brownie "bites" to go into mini cupcake holders. Easy to use and to clean. I think I ordered the smaller option.

2. A "chopper" with a plastic base to chop onto and a clear plastic covering to surround the chopping. The big "nob" is easy for the children to push down for the chopping. Also, it comes apart in a few pieces for very easy cleaning right in the dishwasher. It is really fun to see the kids pounding away on carrots, onions, even bits of ham - and it is safe.

3. A large glass mixing bowl with a spout and plastic cover. Perfect for pancake mix, cake mix since the spout makes the pouring a cinch, and you can just cover and refrigerate left-overs til the next round. Enjoy!

Julie C.


Hey- I read your newsletter about pampered chef stoneware and I wanted to let you know about it. If it's a new piece you need to do a couple things because until you season it, things will stick. You can bake higher fat items like biscuits, cookies, or rolls, nothing real runny or gooey. You can progress the "seasoning" by spraying with non-stick cooking spray and put in the oven without anything on it. You could do this while baking something else so as to not waste electricity. Do that a few times to get it how you want it!

Do no wash with soap ever! It will ruin it. Scrape well and you can use baking soda and scrape on it to get stuff off. Do not put a really cold item on a hot stone, it will break it. Let the stone cool a bit and then you can put food on them. If I am baking cookies, I use 2 stones that way one can cool while the other one is being used. The stoneware will also change color as you get it more and more seasoned-this is a good thing it will get darker and become non-stick.

You will need to bake stuff for a bit longer, it bakes very evenly but it does take a few minutes longer. I think you would like it once you get used to it, I do not sell it, but I had a show and got lots of pieces for a great price. The trick it getting it seasoned.

Another item I find indispensable is the micro-cooker. I love it! I use it for most dinners. I fill it with veggies add a little water and a few minutes later, perfectly cooked. It works good with frozen veggies, you can melt stuff in it too. I really cannot say enough good things about pampered chef. I am not a rich person, but I have invested in quite a bit of their stuff and I love it, hope this helps, Jana


Dear Tawra,
I love my big Pampered Chef rubber scraper and have used mine for a long time without it showing any wear. You can get almost every drop of batter out of a bowl with it.

I also have the stoneware but find it heavy to use and bulky to store. You also must remember never to put soap on it or it will eventually bust apart. The fact that you couldn't use soap on the stoneware bothered me when I first started selling and using it. (I don't sell it any more because I have a different job.) Since I like cleaning up less than cooking, I'd rather use non-stick pans or pans I can spray with non-stick spray to cook in instead of the stoneware.

Thanks for your articles. They're good information.
Vickie R.