George Foreman GRP90WGR Greatest Grill Ever!

I have had this product since the end of November. The removable plates on this are incredibly simple to clean. I suggest either using the dishwasher or the soft side of a sponge to clean them as the green (course) side may scratch the Teflon. The tilting feature is very handy when you want to alternate from grill to griddle. I like the adjustable temperature knob (although I’ve only had it on high since I’ve had it). I gave a four star rating for a few, minor cons:

1) The grill seems to maintain inconsistent temperature when left open as a griddle. I will pre-heat the grill on high with the lid closed, then as I’m cooking sausage and eggs on it, the grill seems to lose most of its contact heat. The only remedy I’ve found so far is to close the lid again which then causes the grill to get too hot sometimes and scorch my sausage patties.

2) I wish there was a way to have the bottom grill get hot while the top one did not while cooking with the lid open. I’m nervous that one day I’ll burn my hand because of this but I haven’t found a way to do this.

Panasonic SD-YD250 Wonderful Bread Maker

The Panasonic SD-YD250 is pretty much the state of the art in bread machine technology in mid-2003. It’s one of the larger units around with a 2.5 lb. loaf capacity. This size will also eat up your counter or cupboard space: you need just under 14″ of width and height, and 10″ of depth, so keep that in mind when you order.

The bread consistency is excellent. It’s even pretty good in the “rapid” mode, though the results are a bit better in the standard bake mode so that’s what I generally use. Also, the “rapid” mode for whole wheat or multigrain bread is 3 hours (vs. 5 hours standard), so it’s not like you can start the machine at the beginning of a meal and expect completed bread before you leave the table. The fastest full cycle — “rapid” bake mode for white bread — is 1hr 55min.

The SD-YD250 is quieter than most earlier bread makers; however, you’ll still hear the clicking and whirring as it mixes and kneads the dough. It’s a neat idea to wake up to the smell of freshly-baked bread but the machine isn’t quiet enough to run in the bedroom unless you’re a VERY sound sleeper.

The options for this machine include the following:
o basic/rapid bake
o immediate start/timer delay
o white/whole wheat/multigrain
o sandwich (soft crust)
o crust color light/medium/dark
o raisin (pause and beep to add fruit or nuts)
o dough knead without bake
o bake without dough knead

Zojirushi NS-VGC05 White Micom Rice Cooker and Warmer

The 3-cup Micom Rice Cooker & Warmer is ideal for singles and smaller families and features micro computerized Fuzzy logic technology, which allows the rice cooker to ‘think’ for itself and make fine adjustments to temperature and heating time to cook perfect rice every time. 3 cup size cooks as little as ½ cup of rice and can also bake cakes. Multi-menu cooking functions include white/mixed/sushi, porridge, cake, quick and rinse-free. Other features include detachable inner lid, easy-to-read LCD control panel with clock and timer functions, automatic keep warm, dent resistant plastic body and detachable cord for easy storage.

Zojirushi BBCCX20 Fantastic Machine a must have for any home bread maker

This is truly the supreme bread machine! The Zojirushi offers advanced options for your bread baking. It gives you the choice of using the dough cycle by itself, then finishing in your regular oven. In addition, you can make dough for crisp pizza crust, light dinner rolls, mouth-watering cinnamon rolls, hamburger or hoagie buns, artisan breads, sourdough, gluten-free breads and cakes – the possibilities are endless. It even makes fruit jam and has the power and durability for hearty whole grain dough. Twin paddles provide superior kneading action so you get well-raised breads with great texture.

To use, simply place your unmixed ingredients in and choose your setting. The machine alerts you once your bread is ready. The control panel is set at the perfect angle for easy viewing, and the bigger-than-ever window lets you see what’s happening inside. With this model, you can open the lid during operation, for adding fruits and nuts without resetting the cycle (it keeps running with the lid open). Choose from a full set of pre-programmed cycles for a variety of breads or create your own custom cycles. You can also program in your own favorite recipes for later use. Recipe & instructions booklet included.

Breville 800JEXL FANTASTIC! Amazing Juice Extractor

Five stars is not enough! There should be a ten star rating for this product.

I am a delighted customer and a repeat Breville juice extractor purchaser. In 2004, I purchased my first Breville Juice Extractor. This year I upgraded to the gorgeous stainless-steel Juice Fountain Elite. These Breville products are extremely well made, tough, easy to clean, and work exactly as advertised. My old juicer was given to a friend and still works perfectly. These products are well made and LAST.

I use my Juice Fountain Elite on an almost-daily basis, and on some days, I use my juicer multiple (3-4) times. It performs flawlessly and I believe that it is worth every penny.

The Juice Fountain Elite is much quieter than the previous Breville model I owned. The motor is very powerful, and it produces a high volume of juice compared to the other brands of juice extractors that I have owned in the past.

Breville BJE200XL A solid juicer for the price

Construction – well built and sturdy plastic container. Metal juicing basket with blades is rigid and not flimsy in the slightest. Pieces fit together snugly and there are plenty of visual cues to make it easy for any one to assemble.

Downside – over time there has gotten to be a little fruit residue in the seams of the plastic with no way to clean. It gets washed well each time, and since its in the catch area I’m too worried.

Use – The noise the motor makes seems reasonable – there is a motor going a couple hundred rpm what do you expect? The chute is in the center and fits most things I toss at it. May have to cut some apples in half or break up a grapefruit but thats about it.

Downsides – Don’t use this unit under a cabinet or at least pull it forward. When moving the plunger up the chute for the next piece of fruit air flows up and can carry drops of juice or small splatters of pulp.

Variety spices up classic grilled cheese sandwich

Kraft and Wonder Bread pretty much had a corner on the grilled cheese market until the epicurean era started around 1980.

Like so many sheep, we followed the Kraft line: Butter two slices of spongy white bread, place one or two slices of Kraft Singles on the unbuttered side of one slice. Slather on a dollop of yellow mustard and grill the ‘wich 3 minutes on each side in a skillet over medium heat.

The Kraft PR machine tried to make us believe that its processed cheese was the only kind that melts properly. They steered us to white, enriched bread because, so they claimed, grainy bread would not brown so good.

Bunk, said such cheese advocates as the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, which rode the Kraft cow for decades but largely has shifted to artisan cheese-making.

Laura Werlin, author of “Cheese Essentials” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $24.95), says most quality cheese will melt just fine if we grate it first.

And use any kind of bread you like, she adds, such as hand-sliced hunks of real sourdough.

Cheesemonger Steve Jenkins, author of “Steven Jenkins’ Cheese Primer” (Workman, $16.95), thinks no one will go back to white bread and processed cheese once they make his “new classic” grilled cheese sandwich.

“Preheat the broiler. Grate an Alpine cheese such as Comte or Gruyere on a slice of sourdough bread, drizzle on a little extra-virgin olive oil, grate on a little Parmesan cheese, add the second slice of bread slice and broil until the cheese melts, turning the sandwich once.”

That’s fine, Steve, but there probably are 500 variations out there, take your pick.

The Kraft people now say it’s OK to gussie up their original version, thus the “rustic” sandwich below, made with multi-grain bread, deli chicken breast and Dijon-style mustard.

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