Let's Review

Seems like I'm always cooking something, eating something, or doing dishes.  This past week was particularly fun because I had a chance to try out two new things, one from Amazing Grass, and the other from CSN Stores.

I've already professed my love for Amazing Grass Superfood, it's an organic wheat grass powder that is high in antioxidants, and helps you reach your daily quota of fruits and veggies.  I've been using for a year now and add it to my smoothies.  I truly think it gives my immune system a boost.  There were times this past winter when I felt a cold coming on, I would slam an extra serving for a day or two, and I'd be back to normal.  Well, they have a new product called Green Energy SuperFood, which has the addition of Yerba Mate from Guayaki and organic Matcha green tea, and provides 85 mg of caffeine.  I first heard of Yerba Mate on an episode of Getting Fresh With Sara Snow, it's a plant based form of caffeine found in South America.  The Green Energy also contains probiotics.

The first time I tried the Green Energy was on an afternoon that I was feeling sluggish, so I shook some up with water in a sippy cup (I've kept some around because they do a decent job of mixing things when I don't feel like using then cleaning the blender).  The lemon lime flavor was nice, and it did perk me up.  The powder might have worked better with juice, but I didn't have any on hand.  I stuck with my practice of adding it to smoothies, although the lemon flavor didn't work well with bananas!  I used it first thing in the morning in place of my coffee, and what worked best for me was to blend it with milk, frozen blueberries and a peach, the flavor was light and refreshing.   I wasn't sure if it would do the job of coffee, but surprisingly enough, it did.  And I didn't have a jittery caffeine feeling like I sometimes do with java. 

You've probably seen CSN popping up on various blogs, their website has stores that cover anything you could possibly need, from exercise equipment to housewares and furniture.  I use saute pans and skillets almost daily, so I was thrilled to test out a set of porcelain nonstick skillets from Rachel Ray's cookware line, one 8", one 10" and one 12".  I don't usually read packaging, but I noted that since these are porcelain, you need to be careful with them on a glass cook top, which I have.  If the pan overheats it can stick to the glass and then you have a bit of a problem.

I make grilled cheese for Luke pretty often, and I hate having to wash a huge pan just for a sandwich, in this case I used the 10 inch.  I use a cover on a pan to make sure the cheese gets melted, these didn't come with one so I used one of my own, the sandwich came out great, it was browned evenly on both sides.

I loved the nonstick surface, I used the 12" pan several times to wilt spinach, brown onions, and sweat mushrooms, in each case I used much less olive oil than what I would in a regular pan, and other times I just used cooking spray.  The sides of the pan go up just enough to give you room to stir without the food flying out. 

I thought the ultimate test would be to make an omelet.  I used 3 eggs, with a splash of milk, ground pepper and a dash of salt, and beat them well, then used cooking spray on the 10 inch pan.  The eggs cooked quickly, and didn't stick, which eggs tend to do.  Once the eggs were almost cooked through, I sprinkled 2 tablespoons of feta on one side, and a handful of cooked spinach on the other, and topped that with a quarter cup of cooked baby portabella mushrooms.  After a minute I folded the omelet up, and slid it easily onto the plate.  I was very happy with the end result, the eggs were browned on the outside, but soft on the inside.

Another thing I liked about the skillets, was the grippy handle, it never got hot and made it that much easier to hold. 

As I said,  this was a fun week in the the kitchen.  But please note, I received a container of the Green Superfood, and the Rachel Ray Skillets for the purpose of this review.   The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the products provided.