I love that I can take a few minutes to throw everything in the pot and walk away for several hours without thinking about it once! It’s minimal effort for the maximum output. The first recipe I made with my crock pot was probably the best meal I’d had in months and it was so easy. I didn’t have to stir or flip or add more ingredients or anything. If you’re new to crock pot cooking, the manual has a couple basic recipes, including roast, too.

The second thing that I love about this model is that the stone container within the metal base is removable. So when my food was done, I carefully lifted it out (with potholders!) and set it on a trivet. It easily doubles as a serving container–unlike some styles.

It also makes cleaning much easier because I can simply put the stone container in the sink and don’t have to worry about not getting the cord wet. I’ve wiped down the outside of the metal base with a Lysol wipe, when it needed it.

The Hamilton Beach 4 Quart Oval Slow Cooker is also super easy to use. There’s 3 settings: warm, low and high. So you can cook your food and keep it simmering and warm all day, too. I love that!

There are a few points that do not make this particular model the best for all cooks, however.

• It’s only 4 quarts. This isn’t an issue for me as all of the recipes I’ve made could easily serve 4 and only filled the pot about 1/2-3/4 of the way full but you can’t make a Thanksgiving turkey on this, either.
• The lid does not seal tightly. It sits pretty lightly on the cooker, I don’t think a lot of heat is escaping but it’s definitely something to consider if you need your crock pot to travel.
• Speaking of travel, the removable pot actually kind of works against that. I mean, it’s not a huge deal to remember to grab the handles at the base, instead of the actual pot, but you could easy grab the wrong ones and drop the base or burn yourself.
• There’s no medium setting. Really, you can adjust for this pretty easily but I just thought I’d mention it.

But considering that this specific model is less than $30, you could do a lot worse. CSN Stores has many crock pots, however; even if the crock pot I own isn’t the one for you. Kitchen appliances are really just one department of consumer goods available from CSN Stores and their 200+ related websites.

Made of nonstick aluminum, this cake pan is definitely heftier than I am used to. It feels more hardcore. I know it sounds silly but it does. It’s thicker and seems less likely to bend. The nonstick coating is tangible and gives the pan a sort of shine but there’s also some iridescent sparkle to it for no other reason than appearances. Perhaps this is the kind of cake pan Dez would use to make bake for Twilight vampires. Perhaps not. The silicone grips “add a splash of color” according to the item listing but I wish I had more choices. Nothing in my kitchen is orange and most of the Rachael Ray Cookware seems to ignore the colour red as a whole. C’est la vie.

However, they are practical and make handling the pan easier, as do the super wide handles which significantly increase the area which one can grasp. “Rachael Ray” is embossed on the grips which also adds some friction (and can be used to name drop if you serve directly from the pan! ;)). If you think you may be able to touch them with your bare hands, be warned! Silicone is pretty susceptible to temperature changes so a pot holder is still a must. For those unfamiliar with silicone, worry not about it melting. Pure silicone can handle up to 600 degree temperatures (and the cake pan is actually stated for use up to 500 degrees, hmm..).

Because of the nonstick coating, the intructions advise not to spray or use metal tools which is par the course for most cookware. Of course, the reason most of us resort to forks and knives usually has something to do with the fact that those coatings fail and food becomes so baked on it almost seems bonded. Yet, I have never had bakeware actually live up to its claim as well as the Rachael Ray Yum-O! Bakeware 9″ Square Cake Pan did. My brownies peeled off easily and batter which has cooked to the sides was easy to remove, too. I could literally use a rubber spatula to remove any and all food remnants. It looked spotless before washing. On the note of washing, this cake pan is dishwasher safe but it is recommended to hand wash. My experience hints that this will not be a daunting task and the pan will look brand new after every use.

My brownies were not only cooked evenly but were done sooner because of the nonstick coating. Check your recipes or the back of the box so you don’t overcook your food. This 9″ x 9″ pan makes brownies of a perfect thickness but because it’s 1.5″ tall, can be used for a variety of dishes.

I was surprised by the ease of use of the Rachael Ray Yum-O! Bakeware 9″ Square Cake Pan and how it not only stood up against the competition but blew it out of the water. It does cost more than I may have spent in the past but now? I may have to reconsider my budget and invest in some bakeware for life.

This review is sponsored by Cookware.com

The is apart of Foreman’s “Next Grilleration” line of grills and is definitely an improvement over our old countertop grill (which has since been trashed). Like the Champ grill, the GRP4b Grill lifts up to sandwich your food between a top and bottom grill plate. It advertises room for 4 burgers but I’d say it’s more like 2 or 3 (but that’s still a great improvement over 1). I was even able to cook 3 chicken breasts at a time. The actual grilling area is 72″c square, a little less than15″ by 5″.

Because of the top grill plate, there’s no potentially painful grease splatters. There’s also no need to flip your food because both sides cook at once. I have noticed, however, that, it seems to take longer to cook our food on this grill than the last one. The booklet estimates 8 – 10 minutes depending on your type of meat and one of the reviews for the GRP4b Grill on Target’s site also indicates that this grill is less hot than the fixed plate grills by George Foreman. Regardless, a couple of minutes wait time is more than enough for the convenience provided by the George Foreman Removable-Plate Grill.

While cooking, the grease from your food drips down the slightly declined bottom grill plate onto a plastic drip tray. The tray and accompanying spatula are made of a much stronger black plastic than those of the Champ grill. Furthermore, the spatula which comes with the George foreman GRP4B Grill is curved to make flipping or scooping up your food much easier. The spatula is made with notches that fit over the ridges on the grill to scrape off residual food or grease for cleaning.

The GRP4b Grill has the same nonstick coating as our old grill had. It’s something akin to Teflon but I believe the formula used on these grills is special to Foreman. Unfortunately, it started to rub off after only the first washing. There are certain places on the grill where the grill ridges are “pointed” and these spots seem especially likely for the coating to wear thin. On the good side, the coating hasn’t worn off any more than it did the first washing.

The top and bottom grill plates lift off by “floating” handles – handle and all. This means the plates are attached to plastic handles via screws. The plates are easy to clean by hand and are dishwasher safe; although, I’ve only cleaned them by hand so far. The rest of the grill can be wiped with a cloth if there’s any grease or food particles.

The George Foreman Removable-Plate Grill results in less greasy food (+health) and easier cleaning than a regular outdoor grill or even a frying pan. The GRP4B model is a substantial kitchen appliance which makes grilling multiple pieces of food quick and easy even during the cold winter months but which is still small enough to fit in your cupboard. We currently keep it on one of the top shelves without worry. I would definitely recommend this product.

It’s been used quite a few times since we got it, although it isn’t something we always use on a weekly or even a monthly basis. It is nice for a couple reasons but there are a few setbacks which would prevent me from buying this same model again. I’d be interested in a bigger, better Foreman grill, however.

The Champ grill so marketed as an easy to clean counter top grill with bun warmed. Unfortunately, anything which is a feature of this grill pretty much comes up short. In fact, there are a few ways in which this machine does not measure up.

For starters, the Champ grill is quite small. It suggests you can cook two burgers on it at the same time, but that’s really not true. It’s a bit large for one patty but you won’t get two on there unless they’re tiny. With a width of just over 6 inches, including the parts of the machine which are not the grill, I think this is easy to understand. It’s not much fun to wait for 1 burger to cook and it certainly puts a damper on trying to eat together. In this respect, the grill doesn’t hold up very well and I could just as easily use a pan to fry up a few burgers at a time.

And if two burgers won’t fit on the grill, do not expect two buns (which are usually a bit larger) to fit in the bun warmer. Honestly, the bun warmed didn’t seal the deal for us, although it seemed like it would be interesting. We quickly stopped using it for a variety of reasons. The buns became crushed in the warmed because of the size. They also became soggy from retaining the moisture of the grill. The cover was also very weak and continued to fall off when we could lift up the lid of the grill. In the end, I think it broke and we threw it away. For something we were only mildly interested in, having warm buns sure was a hassle.

Although small, the grill worked well. It heated from both the top and bottom and your burgers can get some nice grill lines. I imagine it would also work well with sandwiches and paninis but I haven’t tried. I did fry up a chicken breast on the Champ grill a time or two and it’s definitely important that your meat is off a uniform thickness otherwise the thicker area will remained uncooked while the thinner burns. I’m not a big fan of having to pound out my meat so this is a bit of a hindrance.

The burgers are always tasty and the house smells like a real grill it going, however. If you don’t want any frills, the George Foreman Champ Grill is a decent product but if you’re looking for a little more, I’d skip this one. Some critics mention that there is no timer on this grill which would be nice. The instructions did include estimations for how long food should be cooked and we never have had a big problem with food being too undercooked (I should mention I like my burgers well done and sometimes I’ve had to toss a burger back on the grill) or burned. I also like that I can flip the top part of the grill up and toss some cheese on my burger to melt a bit.

One of the positive features of this grill is that is is tilted slightly. Provided with the grill is a small tray to catch the grease that drains. This makes it a bit more healthy than grilling in a pan. Furthermore, having a top portion of the grill means it’s less mess than frying in a pan. None of my pans have lids so there’s always a lot of messy and, sometimes painful, splatter from the grease. Nevertheless, the decline sometimes causes the food on the grill to slide forward and it doesn’t cook as evenly. It’s not a huge deal to move the meat but it may mean it takes a bit longer to get all of it cooked or that some parts burn.

As well as the tray, the grill also comes with a little, notched plastic spatula which doubles as a cleaning tool. The spatula is really flimsy and doesn’t work well as a spatula at all. However, I do not want to use metal implements with the nonstick coating and other spatulas are a bit too big to work with this so it’s a bit of a hassle. The make of the spatula and even the tray is rather flimsy, although they are dishwasher safe. Plastic is pretty prevalent in the grill and I think it would seem a sturdier product if it were made of a more quality material. However, besides the warmer tray, I have not had any issues with the quality of the grill itself except for the fact that the nonstick coating has started to come off. As you can guess, this makes food stick to the grill as well, making it more difficult to clean.

And difficulty cleaning is the number one fault I can find with this little machine. The grill plates are not removable so they cannot be fully submersed in the sink or washed in the dishwasher. The instructions tell you to simply wipe it down and it will be good as new but, let’s face it, that’s not entirely sanitary. One thing I do like is that the spatula doubles as a cleaning implement whose notches fit over the grill so you can scrape food and grease off, right into the tray. We always forget to do this immediately after using the grill, though. I have to turn it back on the heat up the grease and such.

So once the majority of food and grease is wiped off, you can just wipe this down, right? Kind of. With a damp washcloth, sponge or paper towels (I usually use the latter), you can wipe down most of the machine but the ridges make for some nooks and crannies which are not all that easy to clean. Add to it the flaking off of the nonstick coating and it does become more difficult.

All in all, the George Foreman Champ Grill is a decent appliance to have in the kitchen even if it is a little small and does make cooking easier while reducing splatter, if not quicker. The heating portion is solid product but the grill would be improved with a few features such as removable grill plates to make cleaning more thorough (and dishwasher safe would be good, too!), a stronger spatula/cleaning tool and perhaps a timer or temperature control. I could honestly do without the additional bun warmer and would probably consider a larger George Foreman in the grill. In the meantime the Champ Grill works okay but isn’t a miracle worker.