So who here likes Rachael Ray? I admit it-I’ve never really watched her show, but I’ve taken several of her cookbooks out of the library and enjoyed them. Yes-I read cookbooks. It’s a sickness. . .
Walmart just started carrying a new line of Rachael Ray cookware both online (live today-March 9th) and soon in stores (March 25th)–and to get folks excited about the products they wanted us to review a few! You guys know that I cook a lot, so I was excited to get some fun new kitchen and cookware!
Opening the box was a bit like Christmas. I had no idea what would be inside. I was sent a Garbage Bowl, a 1.5 Quart Round Baker, a “Top This” silicone suction lid set, and a “Lazy Spoon”. They were all in a bright orange color. It is very cheerful, but I would have preferred the cobalt blue or the red.
The idea behind the Garbage Bowl is to have somewhere you can throw all your food scraps and peels when you are chopping your food so that you don’t have to keep making trips to the trash can. Personally we compost all our vegetable scraps (at least what doesn’t get fed to the guinea pig). Usually I throw it into this nasty looking plastic bowl until I get a chance to run it out to the big compost bucket. This speckled Garbage Bowl was a heck of a lot prettier!
The big surprise item for me was the Top This! Silicon suction lids. I admit it–when I opened the package I thought they were kind of stupid. I mean really-they were just these flat lids with a little handle–there didn’t seem to be anything special about them. So I took out the container of rice I had in the fridge. The container is actually the liner to my electric rice cooker–I usually cook a larger amount then we need for a meal and then we can use the rice later for lunches, casseroles, or a snack. Of course the liner doesn’t have it’s own lid so I have been using one of those plastic things that looks like a shower cap.
I took the shower cap thing off and just set the silicon lid on. The to see if it actually sealed I pulled up on the little handle. . . and it picked up the entire thing! That’s right, it suctioned on hard enough for me to pick up the metal bowl with about 4 cups of rice in it! Wow. I couldn’t believe it! I am so impressed with these things.
The package is a set of two, and the sizes are 9.25 inches and 11.5 inches. As you can see–it’s perfectly fine to use a Top This! lid that is bigger than your bowl.
The 1.5 Qt stoneware baker didn’t look very big. If you had shown it to me and had me guess the size, I would have guessed much smaller. But when I made a double batch of bake macaroni and cheese I had no problem fitting it in the baker. It was very nice to have handles built in–it made it much easier to take the dish out of the oven and to move it to the table. The shape of the baker is very appealing, and the fact that it was glazed made it easy to clean up.
There is an entire line of Rachael Ray products available, to include ramekins, a lovely looking pot set, skillets, and more!
****This is a sponsored post****
Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Rachael Ray is among upstate NY’s most famous celebrities. Back in the day, when I lived in upstate NY, she worked at Cowan & Lobel (now out of business for over 10 years) in Albany’s Stuyvesant Plaza, did regular features on WRGB-Channel 6 (30-minute meals and eating for under $x a day in various places), signed cookbooks at Price Chopper supermarkets, did interviews and took callers’ questions on local radio stations, etc. Her enthusiasm is genuine (or at least it was back then). I remember hearing her on the radio before I moved in 2002 telling about going to NYC on short notice with her mother to appear on the Today show, filling in for someone who had cancelled on short notice due to the weather. I think she was discovered nationally from that appearance.
I’m going to look for the silicon suction lids and stoneware baker (in cobalt blue) at Walmart, but I think I’ll continue using something less pricey for my garbage bowl.