Walden Farms Wrap Up

Wow, I had to go back and read the last post because it’s been so long since I’ve been here that I forgot where we last left off, thanks Lacochran for kicking me in to gear. Oh yes, the Walden Farms claim to miracle fat free dressings and mayonnaise. Or shall we call it the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. Well, to get it straight, there are Miracle Whip people (which my husband is team whip, YUCK) and then there are regular mayonnaise people like myself. Give it up to high calorie goodness. Walden Farm’s claim to mayonnaise resembles something between Miracle Whip and Decoupage paste. It has the consistency of water and the taste of grainy Miracle Whip that has too much vinegar in it. In other words it’s just plain gross.

The dressings, on the other hand, are not that bad. I enjoyed the chipotle dressing, even though it was a bit spicy for my taste and I found the Dijon dressing at my local grocer and was pleasantly surprised at the flavor. I’m guessing when you are just putting a bunch of chemicals together to resemble an edible food without any fat, calories or carbs you’re going to have some hits and misses.

Walden Farms Calorie Free Food

A calorie free, fat free, carb free mayo, dressing, and (gasp) caramel dip? That’s what Walden Farms claims their products are. Can this miracle upon miracles be true? How can a product taste good with all the bad stuff for you gone out of it? Well, I’m going to find out. I just put my order in for some good for you mayo and chipotle salad dressing and we’ll just see if Walden Farms just became my new love.

My Cutlery Experience

Oooohhh, aaaahhhh, so shiny

My Ginsu Knife Set arrived yesterday and I was super excided to open it up and try them out. Luckily I took out some Cornish game hens early to defrost and was going to whip up a proper meal. (Plus they were the only thing left in the freezer. I really have to go shopping soon.) It was a little bit of a learning curve using these knives as unlike the traditional knives I use these have a kind of scalloped edge almost like a bread knife edge and I was used to flat straight edges. I thought this might make for a more jagged cut but I was completely wrong. These knives cut through everything I needed to season my dinner in no time flat.

And of course you knew I had to try this:

It didn’t affect the cutting edge at all.

But what surpassed all my expectations is when I had to cut the game hens in half (usually a great chore with my old knives). I was so surprised at how easy these knives cut through bone and cartilage without even slowing them down. Seriously it was like cutting butter. I’m so going to enjoy using this set on all my culinary adventures. Thanks again to the folks at Living Rooms Direct letting me have the opportunity to review them.

Rachael Ray Stainless Steel Cookware Set

Rachael Ray Stainless Pots and Pans
I purchased these pots and pans for my Hubs for Christmas. Before you get all, “what you bought cookware for your husband?!” I just want to point out that the Hubs has been stretching his culinary wings lately but our sad $20 for a box of cookware bought 4 years ago just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Boy, did I get a shocker shopping around for cookware. Some sets I looked at were starting at $500 a set. I know the Hubs wanted to steer clear of the Teflon (that’s what we had then) because he wanted to be able to bake in the pans also, like those cooks do on Food Network. Finding a set that was A) Teflonless B) able to be put straight in the oven C) Wasn’t too girlie/old looking*, took some research.

Yeah, you could say that Rachael Ray’s set with the orange handles is a little girly but it was the cheapest and all the reviews said it was a good set for the price.

So we had the set for a while and I decided to make soup in the stock pot and found that the handle rivets leaked. Curious, I took out all the pots and pans and filled them with water. Two pans and the stockpot leaked where the handle rivets were. Since these were covered under a warranty I tried to find the warranty info. which we so cleverly threw out with all the Christmas wrapping paper. Finding any information online was like wading through murky water. Finally the Hubs happened to find a flyer that came with the set and in small print it had the name of the distributor. So contacting them we finally got someone to help us. They said they would send replacements but when the replacements arrived they accidently sent us the Teflon coated pans instead of the stainless steel. Eventually they got it right and we got non-leaking pans and a pot.

The warranty company was very accommodating and we had no problems getting replacements (the right ones eventually) and I have to say that for the price these pots and pans do a great job. They are easy to clean and heat up nicely and evenly. A great value for the price.


*Seriously, have you seen these Paula Dean ones? They have “Grandma lives here” written all over them.

Cutting it Up Opportunity

Just in time for my new kitchen renovation I’m getting a wonderful opportunity to review this lovely product:




The Ginsu Cutlery. I’m super excited to try to cut cans then try to cut tomatoes. Will they live up to their reputation? I dunno. But look how sparkly they are. This wonderful opportunity is provided by Living Rooms Direct, an online source for living room furniture and accessories. You gotta check out their site. I spent days looking through their inventory. See, Living Rooms Direct is connected to CNS Stores which have about a billion different stores that have a trillion different products from card tables to backpacks and anything else you can think of. Talk about your one stop shop. I'm totally bookmarking thier page.