Philips Avance Masticating Juicer

I recently received the Philips Avance Masticating Juicer from Amazon Vine Voices in order to review it.   I was curious about it and was looking forward to try it out.   I received the box earlier this week.  The box was somewhat banged a bit and I hoped the product inside would be in perfect condition.  After opening it, I realized that it looked like ok.   What I didn’t know it that the tray which is located under the machine and serves to receive the pulp of the fruit had sustained some damaged.   You see on the tray itself there is a little part that seems to pop out of it.  I had found this pointy part to be detached from the tray itself.  I decided to keep the plastic part for unknown reasons and proceeded to unpack the machine in order to try it out.

The machine is quite somewhat small and will fit beautifully on a counter top.   I would suggest to wash all the parts before making any juice with it.   After washing all the parts and installing them on the machine, I started cutting my apples.  I was making a juice with apples, cranberries and pineapple.  Once I was ready to use the Philips Avance Masticating Juicer, it wouldn’t work.  It was plugged in but the machine would not start.  I was confused at first but then I started checking the area behind the container that was broken and there is was …  a small little black dot on the base of the juicer.   Could it be that this small plastic dot that was broken on the container would make the machine start?  So I slid the plastic piece pushing the black dot and the machine came to life.   OK now I needed to find a way to making this work.   My good old scotch tape did the trick.  After asking my son’s help to hold the container while I tape the piece in place, the juicer was ready to use.

Using the juicer is quite easy, simply cut your fruits or vegetable, insert them in the top area and push with the tool that came with it.   And voilà, juice is being made.   The micro masticating of the juicer will guarantee that up to 90% of the fruit is used for making juice.   You can even include all the leaves, the greens and nuts in your drinks.   The recipe book that comes with with juicer has about 15 recipes from which you can choose.  I wish the recipe book would be a bit bigger but this gives you a great launching pad into juicing.    You can even make your own almond milk or soy milk with it or frozen yogourt.  The juice was delicious and packed with all the goodness of the fruits I have used.   Everyone in the family found it delicious – four kids and two adults. 

The juicer also comes with an innovative drip stop which would keep your counter top clean.   It is perfect for when you desire to make juice directly in glasses.  However, the juicer also comes with a special container in which you can make the juice in and store in the refrigerator.  

Cleaning the part is as easy as saying your ABCs.   You can detach all the parts and rinsed clean without any other kitchen tool.  The part where the juice comes out it the trickiest one of all the parts of clean.  But it was easy to remove the little bit of pulp that has ventured in that area. 

Now let’s go back to my broken pulp container – I was a bit disappointing that it was damaged.   So I decided to call Philips and see if I could receive a brand new one.  The customer service person was very nice and will be sending me a new pulp container for the juicer.   I am quite pleased with the service obviously.

Now when I was making my juice, I found that there was a lot of pulp falling in the container.   I mean a lot of pulp…  more than I would have wished to come out of it.  The person at the customer service said that it is great for compost.   But we do not have a garden yet – though it is something that I wish I can have in the future.   What could I do with all the pulp I got from the juicer???  Then I had an idea.  Why not incorporating them into muffins.   And I did just that this morning.  The muffins turned out great and are packed with delicious pulp from apples, cranberries and pineapple.  Couldn’t ask for a better muffin than that!

Having said this, if you do not own a kitchen appliance that can make juice (whether a juicer or a high quality blender), I think you would be quite satisfied with the Philips Avance Masticating Juicer.  Knowing how important it is to consume fruits and vegetables for your health makes it a decision that is easy to take when you are debating about getting this kind of small appliance.

The Philips Avance Masticating Juicer would make a great Christmas gift to anyone desiring to make their own juice.  There are plenty of fun recipes to discover on the internet and it has been proven that it could help you in having a better health too.  

The Philips Avance Masticating Juicer is available for purchase at your favorite small appliances 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.

Hamilton Beach 6 Slices Toaster Oven Broiler

Let’s go back a few weeks ago.  One beautiful sunny morning, my kids proceeded to make themselves toasts for breakfast.   I was upstairs trying to sort the clothes when one of them came to me to let me know that our four slices toaster was now a two slices toaster.  One side wasn’t working anymore.  We knew that it was slowly dying and that we would have to replace it in a near future.

So that week, I went to Wal-Mart to see what was available on the market.   There was two slices toasters as well as four slices toaster…  I was wondering if there was such a things as a six slices toaster – after with six people in the family it would be nice to have something that would allow us to make toasts a bit faster.   Lo and behold, I saw something on one of the shelves a toaster oven that could make six slices of bread at the same time.  Could it be?   Yes!  Amazing…

My husband and I talked about it and we agreed that we wanted to compare the prices in the US.   The following week, an idea came to my mind.   What if I contact the company making the said toaster oven to see if I could review it?   I quickly got a positive answer to my request and was ecstatic to let my husband knew about it.  However, I didn’t tell my kids right away.   I wanted to see their reaction…   I knew my oldest son would be impressed because he thought it would be neat to have a six slices toaster oven in the house.

They were surprised and excited when they saw what arrived one day.   Could this toaster oven really make 6 slices of toast?    We received an Hamilton Beach 6 slices toaster oven broiler model 31509C.  This small appliance has an oven cavity of 15 liters which could accommodate a whole chicken (small one obviously!).  You have four settings on it – toast, bake, broil and convection.    A bake pan, a broil grid and a removable crumb tray are included in it.  There is also a 30 minutes time with an auto shutoff.  

Okay – we did toasts no problem.  Though we were a bit disappointed with the toasts as we find one side is more toasted than the other side.  Besides, doing toasts in this small appliances was taking more time than a regular toaster.   When you get up in the morning, it was taking a bit too long to be ready.    Besides even though the box claims that you can do six slices of bread at the same time, it is a bit crowded in the toaster oven for six slices.  The slices of bread are extremely tight against each other and they were not all places securely on the grill.    We have decided against making six at a time because of the possibility of a bread to fall on one side.  

But what else can we do with this little appliance?   So we decided to explore other options.

So the first thing we made was hotdog.  We don’t eat hotdog often.  But we chose to do that to see what result we would get.   Time wise, it was reasonable.  But the hotdogs cracked while we cook them.   Personally I don’t mind but other people might not like this.   The hotdogs were thoroughly cooked when we ate them.

Menu number 2 was pizza pockets (again not something we usually buy) and salad.   I found that the middle of the pizza wasn’t warmed enough even with the proper time and level of heat.    I wasn’t impressed with the result that time.

Then we made spaghetti and meatballs.   Anyhow, I had a special bread cooking in the oven and needed to cook the meatballs.  What would I do?  Then it dawned on me that I could use the toaster oven.  So I decided to line the tray with foil paper in order to avoid a bit of mess.  This is an absolute must if you don’t want to spend too much time to clean up your toaster oven.    We also put some at the bottom of the toaster oven to pick up the crumbs of the toasts.   The result was fabulous and all the meal was ready at the same time.  Perfect timing thanks to the toaster oven!

One evening, I decided to make salmon patty shells.   I prepare the salmon and celery soup together on the stove top but I usually do the patty shells in the oven.   For a change I decided to make them in the toaster oven.    It took the same time as when I use the oven to make them but I knew I was saving electricity.    They were warm and golden when it was time to serve the supper.

Chimichangas were another meal we made with the toaster oven.  They were cooked but again I found that the time suggested wasn’t enough so I had to put them a little bit longer to have them warm enough.    

Bottom line, the Hamilton Beach 6 Slices Toaster Oven Broiler is great for on the go food and okay for toasts.    I would recommend it for university students looking for something versatile for their dorm room that can do a multitude of meals.   It also allow the student to use a variety of settings in order to make a healthy meal for breakfast, lunch or supper.   But I wouldn’t suggest this for a family with young children for various reasons: the appliance can become very hot for tiny fingers, when opening the door, the rack doesn’t come out which makes it tricky to take the toasts out (yes you can take the tray out manually but do wear a glove!), and it’s a bit complicated for kids to use compared to a regular toaster.   My kids have the habit to get up early and prepare their own breakfast but since this small appliance has arrived we have not let them use it alone.   Thankfully, they are obedient and didn’t touch it without adult supervision.   But not all children are like this.  So be careful if you purchase this and you have small children at home. 

The Hamilton Beach 6 slices Toaster Oven Broiler is a great little device when you are cooking multiples items that need an oven.  It’s great for lunch time when you don’t want to use the oven when the prices are higher for electricity, and it will provide you with warm food when you adjust the time recommended.   However, we were disappointed with the toast feature of it.   We would prefer having our toast a little bit faster when it comes for breakfast or making toasted sandwiches at lunch.  When you have a family of six people, you want rapidity when it comes to breakfast and lunch time.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Hamilton Beach Canada for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. 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.