Bellemain Stainless Steel Mesh Strainers, Set of 3

Need a strainer that can be used on the finer foods in the kitchen? Well I believe these could do the job for you.

This is a set of  hand held stainless steel mesh strainers by Bellemain and you get the 3 different sizes to help with many different kinds of kitchen straining duties.

From straining loose leaf teas (that my mom likes and shares with me), to pastas and most sifting of dry ingredients as well. These 3 will probably take care of almost all those needs.

Upper left area of picture.

Even when rinsing tiny grains of quinoa.

These mesh strainers are well build and just the right sizes, with the thicker outer ring around each one giving them more strength and stability when resting on a cup, bowl, or pan. There is a long handle at one end and a nice thick short loop at the other to help them rest on something with a larger opening than their size and for hanging from if you prefer. The mesh is very smooth and easy to clean. I just rinse and then put in the dishwasher. Due to the mesh all you need to do to dry them is the backs gently with a towel or paper towel.

I use all three a lot but the small one mostly for making my teas and the large one for placing over an old pan to dump foods I cook in oils from extra drainage while I do more frying or prep of our dinner plates. So I do get a ton of use out of these 3 mesh helpers.

I have not been able to try the powdered sugar trick in these as of yet but pretty sure it will work great.

They also come with a limited lifetime warranty. What more could you need with these?

Do I think they are a great buy? Yes I do. I get so much use out of them, I reach for them without even thinking sometimes.

Bellemain 1.75 Quart Cordless Electric Stainless Steel Kettle

 The hot water kettle that is way more. 

This kettle is far more than the kind you use to buy and set on a stove to whistle while they worked. You can use it anywhere you have electricity. I filled it up with very cold water, turned it on and in about 5 minutes I had boiling hot water for just about anything I need or want. Soup, tea, coffee, or coco. Even get a jump start for cooking pasta. Get your water boiling in this kettle while you get all your other stuff together and ready, then when the boiling is finished just pour into your pan and put in the pasta with the burner on. Much faster than waiting for the stove to boil the water. Using a measuring cup, this unit will hold 7 cups of water for boiling. That is quite a bit of water.

Now I know there are coffee and tea brewers out there that will do a whole pot or one cup at a time too but some can not afford those and what if you have a bunch of people over that want everything from coffee to soup or you want both? Well here is your answer. Boil a full pot and you have cup o soup and coffee or tea at the same time with less work and equipment. And you know those powdered over the counter medicines for when you are sick? Well this works great for that too. Oh and do not worry if you do not use all the water you heat. Its fine to leave it in this kettle because once the boiling is done its no longer heating the water but the stainless steel keeps it hot for a long while after.


The kettle sits on a base that has all the electric contained within the base. You can not submerse this kettle in water but you can just lift it off its base to pour out the boiling water without worry about cords getting in the way. It has 1500 watts making it boil faster thank the stove top or microwave and much safer and easier too.

Now for the very best part of this kettle. Yes even better than what I have already spoken of above. The safety features. I love this part. Not only does the kettle lift off the base but the cord stores in the underside of that same base so you can have it as long or short as you want. This base truly holds the cord under it. It does not unravel on its one like a lot of them out there do. To turn the unit on just push down the white button and as you can see in the pictures below, when on the button glows with a blue light. It does make some noise when working but it is not loud at all. The lid locks down and this kettle has a very important feature. When the water boils it will automatically shut off so if you do forget it for a bit there is never any overheating or boil over. It will also shut off if you do not have enough water in it preventing the unit from boiling dry. There is also a 1 year limited warranty on this kettle.

I love it. I enjoy using it and I use it almost daily. This one is a great investment.

Large Deluxe Sphere Ice Molds

#1 Sphere Ice Mold Pack

This is the first time I have seen or used anything like this product. I was excited to find out that I was going to get one for reviewing. Some of you out there may have already heard of or used this unique ice mold but I really had not heard of a sphere ice mold until this one came up for review. I have used many of the shaped ice tray kinds and some were ok but a big ball of ice? I thought to myself I have got to try this one. Well as you can see from the pictures, these are on the larger side but I was still able to fit the ball of ice into almost all my glasses I own. 

This set comes with a 3 ice balls, a collapsible funnel, and are flat on the bottoms for easy filling. The set I received came in a clear tube packaged in a box with bubble wrap kind of stuff to keep them safe in the mail. On the top is a good sized hole with a black fill line around it. They are made of a thick high quality FDA food grade silicone that is BPA free with a split in the middle for easy removal of the ice ball. Kind of like the plastic Easter eggs you get for the kids. These are dishwasher safe too, but I would only recommend the top rack just to be on the safe side. There is also a NO RISK 100 % GUARANTEE. I did find that it was a little hard to see the black water line when filling these so I played around with them until I found just the right water level so that when they froze it did not displace the water out of the hole. If you take a measure cup and put just under 1/2 a cup of water in it, ( just under the line for 1/2 a cup ) that is the perfect level for each ball. Then once frozen, just twist the halves apart and WALA, a ball of ice. Push the flat bottom with your thumbs and in seconds the ball is out. Just do not pop these out of the mold straight into an empty glass due to the size and weight they hit the bottom hard. I have not broken the bottom of a glass yet but I have also learned to tilt the glass and use the top rim to help the ice ball out of the mold and it then rolls down the tilted glass without the force that could cause your glass to break. I also made a soda pop ice ball with Sprite and used the same measurement and due to the carbonation it did over flow out of the hole a tad but the ice ball was just fine and still worked. I just removed the soda ice sickle from the outside of the ball and was able to get the frozen soda ball out with ease. It was so nice to drink a cold glass of sprite outside on a hot day and not have the soda watered down and there was still 1/4th of the ball left when I finished the actual soda.

To this

From this to > > > >

These things work. The ice does melt really slow in this form. And they are just down right cool to look at and fun at the same time. I have started making the ice balls and filling an ice bucket in my freezer with them so my family can just grab one and enjoy. 

Yes I have to say I love these crazy ice molds and think they are a pretty good buy. I am having such fun with them.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Super Swizz Spiral Slicer

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

This is kind of a neat little gadget. It can take veggies and make them fun and pretty all at the same time. It cuts the hard vegetables into these wavy thin slices like noodles and can be cooked so many different ways. It is a manual device so no batteries or cords are needed and can be used anytime and be stored in a drawer. It comes with a little bottle type of cleaning brush to help keep it clean. It is fairly easy to clean too. You take any hard vegetable and insert it into one end or the other and turn like you were gong to sharpen your pencil.

The cap that you should use to stick the vegetable on so you can avoid using your fingers I did find not to work well on some of the smaller vegetables like carrots. I just free handed it and did fine. This product does work but for me did take a lot of practice to get the curls you see in this picture >>>. It has a different size of cut at each end. It also comes with a  LIFETIME GUARANTEE.

But once I got sort of the hang of it, I did manage to get a lot of strips of vegetables for my salad. I have to admit it made a pretty salad. Some of you may be better at using this product than I, but I think just about anyone can eventually get and use it will pretty good success. 

You will notice that you will be left with a very small pencil like piece of vegetable that can easily be cut up with a knife and used also or do what I did just go ahead and eat it. 

Would I recommend this product? Well if you want a fancy looking salad or veggies and are willing to practice until you can do it, Then yes, but just on a general bases I have to say no for me. 

I do not do that many fancy things in the kitchen. Will I use it again since I have one? Well yes I will still use it when I want the look of a fancy dish or just thin cut vegetables.

I am so sorry I only have pictures of the carrot, but my camera broke and as soon as I get it fixed or another I will post pictures of other veggies used in this product. 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Bruschetta

Do you like to cook? Do you cook because you have to? Or do you just do the heat and serve to survive kind of dinner?

 Either way, these products can offer you some tasty help in the kitchen. Created by Mooney Farms, these sun dried tomatoes in olive oil and premium herbs add a healthier Mediterranean new taste to food. Well at least for me. I have not even heard of these products before now. There are four different flavors in the jar form and I was able to try two of the four.

This pot of sauce fed 7 hungry adults

 As you can see from these pictures I was able to try the Italian Herbs and the With Basil flavors and let me tell you that even though they have recipes on their website and bottle caps, I chose to wing it for my taste testing. I mixed some into many different things I made over about a three week time span. I put two to three spoonfuls into spaghetti sauce, I cut some up into smaller pieces and put it into the fry pan when I seared some chicken, and even added it to can chili when I just wanted a home made chili dog. Let me tell you, this stuff is mmmmm good. There is a ton of flavor in each spoonful. I could taste the difference in every meal I cooked using these products.

Seared chicken with Bella Sun Luci by Mooney Farms

 I have used 90 % of both jars and I will be ordering more as soon as I can. The jars have 8.5 oz in each and seem small but trust me, they will go a long way and add wonderful flavor to each dinner you make with them. Once you open the jar, you must keep them in the fridge and the olive oil will get kind of slightly jelly like but the flavor is not effected in any way.

Their website has a wonderful FAQ page to help you get to know this product too. I found it very helpful.

I am a self taught cook meaning I play with flavors and spices and most of the time do ok on my own but I am not a fancy cook or a pro in the kitchen at all. I am a self taught, expermenting along the way kind of cook. There have been many times my family has said, "This was good, make it again soon." and I have thought eeek I do not remember exactly what I did throwing in a little of this and that. Ha ha. But now with this sun dried tomato products, I have a little help now to be able to recreate some of those make it again meals. Thank you Mooney Farms.

The price is not bad for the amount of flavor this product has. Well worth the money. 

They also have many more products to choose from to. I suggest you try adding some to your cooking.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Edible Green Tea

Green tea, but you do not drink this one. You eat it. Yes once a day you mix a pack or tablespoon full into any food that you eat daily and then just eat. Do not worry, the tea is 100 % organic and lab tested for purity and potency. Each pack or tablespoon full contains the same antioxidants found in 30 cups of brewed tea. They come in 3 gram packets equaling a daily serving making it easy to just open and use the correct amount each day or one large bag.

The recommended daily dose is meant to give you an incredible antioxidant boost and an energy boost throughout the day. You can also use it in smoothies and shakes or visit their website for recipe ideas.

You can search Organic Green Tea Leaves on Amazon.com

I was sent seven (7) packets to try and review and I take a lot of vitamins that I stopped taking once I was approved for this product so I could get the complete effect. I was honestly worried more about the taste than anything else. Tea leaves that you eat? They were not bad. I mean they are dried so that was a little noticeable every now and then depending on how I ate them but most of the time I just put them in my soup right before I ate it. The tea itself does not have a taste so it does not alter what you put it into. I did not put it into any smoothies or shakes due to I did not have anything to make a smoothie or shake with.

After completing the seven (7) days of packets and a few days without before writing this review ( to get the possible full effect ), the energy boost was subtle but there and remember I only had a seven day supply and everyone is different so it may take longer using the product for me to see more or better results. As I said in the beginning of this review, I stopped taking my vitamins so they would not interfere in using the Green Tea and for someone who has fibromyalgia (the reason for so many vitamins), I believe that if I had more of the Green Tea, I may or may not have been able to take less vitamins or none at all. I would only know that by using only the Green Tea for a much longer time. I did not get any upset stomach or caffeine crash while using this product either, and trust me I can only drink about 4 cups of coffee in a whole week due to the caffeine and what it does to my tummy. Do I think this product is worth the money? For what I had to review and the amount of time I was able to use the product, I think it could be. Can't hurt.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Lysol Power and Free Multi-Purpose Cleaner

We all know the Lysol family and that it kills 99.9% of germs on surfaces in our kitchens and bathrooms, so it has become a name we trust to do just that. But now they have a newer product that does not have the harshness of bleach and still cleans and disinfects to help keep us healthy.

I was so glad to see that bzzagent.com had this campaign so I could try and test this line of Lysol products. I am very sensitive to bleach and really try hard to stay away from it, but I also want a clean and healthy environment for my family. 

I have a family of 7 adults in my house currently and 5 of them are men so we all know how a home can get with that many people living in it. 

As you can see with 7 showering and the age of my home the bathroom is real hard to clean and keep clean. But I sprayed down the whole shower, walls, tub, and bathroom sink, then let it set for about 5 minutes.

If you are very sensitive to chemical smells this one does not have that but I am extra sensitive and when I was spraying the back of my shower wall, I had the curtain right there and with it kind of closed in back there, I did gag once while spraying this product but I honestly think that is just me being over sensitive.

I then went back in with a green scrubber and expected to go to work with elbow grease but found that just a light scrubbing was all that was needed. No clothespin on the nose, no gloves, no knee pads, none of that armor we all usually put on to use some of those other harsh smelling and skin eating cleaning products out there. A very mild cleaning product with the power of TNT on stains and dirt. Pow and all gone.

 This is what my bathroom looked like 2 weeks after I cleaned it with the Lysol Power and Free Multi-Purpose Cleaner. I am so surprised how it turned my yellowish dirty pink tiles back to pink tiles and white grout again.



 This product is a great value and defiantly does what it says it will do. My bathroom has a fresh clean smell and look to it now. I also use the wipes to keep it that way and in my kitchen for those suddenly small spills or as a quick refresh of my counters when needed. I would say that this product is worth every penny. To have to clean less often with less effort means so much to a busy mommy and this product does help do just that.