Shape+Store Burger Master

We used to purchase our burger patties at Costco and have ground beef patties in our freezer at all time.  But with the price of beef that keeps going higher we have switched to ground pork.  However, I dislike making burger patties by hand because they are never the same size.   One day, my husband decided to purchase the Shape+Store Burger Master to see how it would work. 

Burger Master is a silicone device that allows you to shape your burger patties so that you can freeze them rapidly in the perfect shape.   The shape looks like a beehive.

All you have to do is purchase your meat and add the spices you desire to put in order to add flavor to your burger patties.   Then with your hands (washed!) you push the meat inside the bottom section in order to fill it up

Once you are done, you simply put the top portion over and push it in order to divide the burger patties in the silicone container.  Make sure that the top is properly pushed in on all sides.

And then all you have to do is put the Shape+Store Burger Master in your freezer in order to freezer your newly made burger patties.

We originally purchase two Burger Masters but since then we have purchased two other ones in order to make more burger patties for our family of six people.   These stack nicely in the freezer and barely take any space whatsoever.  I love the flexibility of making my own burgers and have different flavor too.  I highly recommend the Burger Master for an easy way to make your own burger patties.

Shape+Store makes different containers for different purposes.  As you have seen the Burger Master allows you to make delicious burger patties.   They also have containers to make meatballs as well as one for separating the cookie dough into portions to make individual cookies.

You can find the products from Shape+Store at Amazon.ca as well as Amazon.com.

Burgers
  

 Meatballs
     

 Cookies
     

Disclaimer:  I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Westcott 8 inch x-ray scissor

Recently I have received a Westcott x-ray scissors to review from Amazon Vine Voices.  This handy-dandy pair of scissors contain antimicrobial protection which would stop the growth of bacteria and odors.  This would prevent having microorganisms degrading on the scissors.

Mind you there is no way really to review this claim from the fabricant.   I am not a chemist so for me it would be hard to review this.   But I can say that the scissors are very handy to have whether in the kitchen, at camp, or on a boat.  They are only 8 inches long so they won’t take much place and they possess stainless steel blades that are very sharp. 

I am using these scissors in the kitchen to cut anything that I need to open like a bag of milk and so on.  However, I make sure that I always rinse them or wash them depending of the use.  

The handles are very comfortable and can be used by left or right hand users.  The only little disappointment I have for these scissors is that the screw rusted a bit after the first wash in the dishwashers.  This tells me that they have not used a stainless steel screw for holding the blades.

 

Still the scissors are handy and could be use anywhere you want.

The Wescott X-Ray Scissors are available on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

Disclaimer: This product has been provided courtesy of Amazon.ca Vine Voices for review purpose. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by Amazon.ca or the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Philips Viva Airfryer with Turbostar

A few years ago, I won the prize of the first ever Pinterest contest at a store in town.  With the money, I was able to purchase a T-Fal Actifry.  This purchase introduced us to the joy of airfrying.   However, after many years of usage our machine broke and we had not had the time to replace it yet when the opportunity to review the Philips Viva Airfryer on Amazon Vine Voices showed up.  Without hesitation, I decided to select this item to review.  We were just starting to miss our old airfryer and were debating if we should get another one or not.

The Philips Viva Airfryer allows the hot air to circulates with speed and precision all around the item you want to cook.   The airfryer itself is built in such a way that you can include a double layer rack in order to maximize the cooking surface.   This specific model is quite small and enables you to cooke approximately 800 gr. of food.

The beauty of an airfryer in a home is that you can use little to no oil in your cooking.   The food is cooked evenly and the taste is absolutely sublime.

The first item we decided to cook were chicken thighs (with bones).   However, So I places three thighs at the bottom and inserted the rack to put the three other ones.   It was all you could insert in it.

The cooking was not as evenly as I would have liked that first time.  We suspect that it was because of how the chicken thighs were placed in the airfryer.   Three of them were stunning and crunching while the other ones were cooked but not as golden looking as the ones that were on the top.

Note that we made the same kind of chicken another time but instead of placing it with the rack, we decided to put the pieces of chicken sideways.  And as expected the chicken thighs were beautiful cooked all six of them.  Success!

A few days later we made french fries with the airfryer.  They were delicious!

Searching for more information on the Philips Airfryer, I have discovered that a bigger model (the XL) do exists in the US but it is not available in Canada yet.  Being a family of six people, we would prefer to have more possibilities with the Airfryer which means a bigger model.  However, we can easily make enough french fries, chicken and even shrimps for everyone at the table.  Worse case scenario if we have guests we can also do two batches of cooking.   Planning will be the key of success in that case.

The Philips AirFryer comes also with a recipe booklet.  Many more recipes can be found online as well.

Our experience with the Philips Airfryer is very positive.  This product is fabulous and I really like it better than the one we had before hand for various reasons.  But the main reason would be how easy it is to clean it up when you are done.  

The Philips Viva Airfryer with Turbostar, Double Layer Rack, Black, HD9622/96 is available for purchase on amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: This product has been provided courtesy of Amazon.ca Vine Voices for review purpose. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by Amazon.ca or the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Philips Avance Pasta Maker with Integrated Scale

I’ve always wanted to make my own pasta but the process seemed a bit too much for me – lots of time and patience was needed.   Even when my husband got me a KitchenAid mixer which also has attchments to make pasta I decided against it.

So imagine my delight when I saw the Philips Avance Pasta Maker available for review on Amazon Vine Voices. I did not hesitate one second and decided to take the opportunity to review this kitchen appliance.

While waiting for the delivery, I proceeded to look at some videos on how to use it.  The more I watched, the more I was getting excited.  I mean this machine was looking absolutely perfect in many ways.  Not only could you decide the type of flour you will use but you could also be original in the liquid to incorporate as well.   Want orange pasta?  Use carrot juice.  Want green pasta?  Use spinach juice. Want pink pasta?  Use bee t juice.   You could even obtain black pasta with squid ink.  You can incorporate spices to make your pasta more interesting.    And in 15 minutes you will get a plate full of delicious pasta for your family.

The HR2358/05 model possess an auto-weighting which weighs the flour and indicates the correct amount of liquid for the perfect texture.   The model also comes with eight shaping discs to make spaghetti, fettucini, penne, lasagna, angel hair, thick spaghetti, tagliatelly and pappardelle.   You will also found in the box a flat scrapping and cleaning tool, a flour cup and water cup as well as a free recipe book with over twenty different recipes to make.

The process is quite easy to follow.  Plug your machine and decide the type of pasta you want to make (basically you choose between regular pasta or egg pasta).  We decided to make egg pasta.  Pour the flour in the machine, close the lid and the machine will indicate how much liquid you need to incorporate.  Note that the liquid cup already contains two eggs because we were doing a double recipe for our family of six.   The book indicates that a double recipe would be enough pasta for 3-4 main meal or 8-10 side dish.  Seeing we are a family of six, I was wondering if I needed to make a double recipe followed by a single recipe.  We decided to stick with only a double recipe.

Once the machine starts, you will have to pour the liquid slowly in order for the pasta to mix equally.

Then for about 2-3 minutes the machine will mix the flour with the liquid. 

Once that time has passed, the pasta already comes out.  We have selected the spaghetti disc for our lunch.

Every once in a while you take the pasta in your hand and proceeded to cut it using the scraping/cleaning tool.  It is so easy to do that my nine years old daughter could do it.

 

Once the bulk of the dough has gone through the disc, the pasta maker will reverse in order to collect the leftover dough and then proceed to push the dough back in to make more pasta.  This happened twice in the 15 minutes it took to make the pasta.

And seriously, we had enough pasta for the whole family.   All we needed to do now was to boil the pasta in hot water.   It took about 4-5 minutes to boil it.

Lunch was super delicious too!   We knew exactly what was in the pasta we made and it was quick to do.

The fact that we can choose the type of flour, the ingredients as well as the liquid makes the Philips Pasta Maker a versatile kitchen appliance. Here’s another advantage to own the Philips Avance Pasta Maker – you can make cookies too!   You can purchase two extra discs which will allow you to make low fat healthy cookies for your family.

This machine is definitively a keeper in our family.   Everyone really like the texture and the taste of the pasta it made and the process was very easy to do.  To top it off, the pasta made with this machine can be store in ziploc bags and put in the freezer for future use.   This is definitively an huge bonus for our family.   We plan to make pasta in advance and freeze it.   My oldest kids also plan to make pasta for a challenge at youth called Master Chef.   Having fresh pasta for a meal they cook during a youth night that will be judge by the leaders would definitively give them an advantage.   

The Philips Pasta Maker is a great gift for a wedding, a birthday, or Christmas. 

The Philips Avance Pasta Maker with Integrated Scale is available for purchase at amazon.ca.

 

You can also get a model without the scale too!

 

And do not forget the extra discs for the cookies.

Disclaimer: This product has been provided courtesy of Amazon.ca Vine Voices for review purpose. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by Amazon.ca or the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Brita Pacifica Water Filter Pitcher

I recently received a Brita Pacifica Water Filter Pitcher from Amazon Vine Voices to review.   We are no stranger of Brita products because we have possessed such a filter many years ago when we were newly married.   But since then we have now a water machine and we have disposed of the previous water filter.  So why did I selected this Brita Pacifica Water Filter Pitcher you may ask?   Well my answer can be resumed in one word:  CAMPING!

Though the campground where our RV is parked has one of the highest quality water we have ever seen (the owner used to work for the department taking care of the water in Ottawa), we find it is always nice to have some extra filtration.   This larger pitcher can contain 10 cups of water – which makes it perfect for a family of six dining outdoors.    The Brita filter can be inserted inside through the special section that can be removed if you desire to serve something other than water.   

Apparently the Brita filter can replace 300 standard 500 milliliters water bottles and it will reduce the taste of chlorine as well as the odour of zinc, copper, mercury, and cadmium.  

The filter itself it BPA free and has an easy fill lid.  The pitcher is easy to use and possess a comfort grip handle.  

Finally, there is a filter indicator on the top of the lid which allows you to track when it is time to change the filter.  

We have received the Brita Pacifica Berry colour but other colours are also available for this specific product.

We used the Brita Pacifica one evening while we were having supper as a family and it was nice that we didn’t have to go refill our normal pitcher of water once we were all served.  However, we really want to use this pitcher for the trailer and we have decided to wait until the campground opens on May 13th to bring it with us.   It will be well use this summer when we eat outdoors.

The Brita Pacifica pitcher is available for purchase at your favourite store, even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

  

Disclaimer: This product has been provided courtesy of Amazon.ca Vine Voices for review purpose. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by Amazon.ca or the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.