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West Bend Stir Crazy Popcorn Maker Review

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West Bend Stir Crazy Popcorn Maker

My Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper Review: The pictures speak for themselves!

I’ve always loved popcorn – not only is it delicious, let’s face it, popcorn’s crazy fun to eat.  However, popping it, with all the pan shaking and grease splattering, isn’t even remotely fun.  I don’t know about you, but if I do have any muscles in my body, they certainly aren’t in my arms.  Popeye might enjoy the pan shaking, but I can do without it.

The last time I made popcorn the old fashioned way, it took more time than I wanted to spend and made a bigger mess than I wanted to clean.  I decided, then and there, that my next trip to Target would include buying a popcorn maker.  Since I never tease myself about anything as serious as shopping at Target, I did joyfully add to my kitchen’s small appliances collection.  I chose the West Bend Stir Crazy 6-Quart Electric Popcorn Popper and we’ve been getting along famously.

West Bend Stir Crazy Popcorn

Whrrrr… it spins one way, then the other way for even distribution and popping.

The West Bend Stir Crazy Electric Popcorn Popper is Very, Very, Very Easy to Use

As I said, I don’t want to spend a lot of time when it comes to popping popcorn.  Usually, if we’re having popcorn, it means something is on television that’s SO important it calls for snacks. If this is the case, the last thing I want to do is to be in the kitchen and away from the fun for very long.  I certainly don’t want a huge mess to have to clean up.  The Stir Crazy Popcorn Maker is a dream come true.  You simply put three tablespoons of oil into the base, add a cup of popcorn, spread it out, put the lid on, plug it in… then watch the fun.

Look, Ma!  No arms!

The Stir Crazy takes care of the kernel rotation, and likety split, you have a heaping bowl full of deliciously and perfectly popped popcorn.  You simply unplug and turn the Stir Crazy upside down, filling the clear bowl (which can double as a serving bowl) with delicious hot popcorn.

There’s even a butter dispenser on top. You can putt a few pats of butter into the “well” before popping and watch as the butter deliciously melts over the popcorn as it pops.  I didn’t use butter in the batch of popcorn you see here because I had other plans.  I am WILD about adding M & M’s to popcorn – a habit I first tried at the movie theater.  I had popcorn, a box of M & M’s, and a Coke. I didn’t have a third hand, so before I left the concession stand, I dumped my M & M’s into my popcorn.  Snacker’s ingenuity.  When I got to my seat, I reached in and grabbed a few pieces of popcorn, accompanied by a few M & M’s…

Boom! It was so delicious, I wouldn’t dream of having movie popcorn without M & M’s ever again. It’s equally great with Peanut M & M’s as it is with regular.

I also add M & M’s to my popcorn at home about half the time.  Sometimes I buy peanut, sometimes regular.  This time, I bought M & M Minis because they were so gosh darn cute.

West Bend Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper, Mini M&M's, and Amish Popcorn

Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper, M&M’s Minis, and Amish Popcorn… Good things are about to happen.

You can use your favorite popcorn from the store in the West Bend Stir Crazy 6-Quart Electric Popcorn Popper.  My husband regularly picks up bags of AMAZING Amish Country Popcorn when he’s in Rural King.  For this particular batch, I used their Baby White (Extra Small and Tender) variety – a favorite. The small and tender popcorn is a perfect match for the M&M’s Minis.  And, again, so gosh darn cute.

The West Bend Stir Crazy Electric Popcorn Popper is Fast and Clean Up is a BREEZE

Popping time in the Stir Crazy is about 5 minutes – and it seems even quicker than that. Maybe it’s because I enjoy the show so much.

As for clean up, the Nonstick-coated popping surface makes it so easy it’s ridiculous.  It’s almost as if it cleans itself.  If I could only get the rest of my kitchen appliances to master  this trick.

I absolutely positively recommend the West Bend Stir Crazy 6-Quart Electric Popcorn Popper – 100 percent.  If you (like I did) microwave popcorn, you might want to rethink the habit.  Researchers say this practice is actually very unhealthy.  It isn’t the popcorn that poses the danger, but the bags, themselves.

Besides, the Stir Crazy makes popcorn that tastes so fantastic, it puts microwaveable popcorn to shame.

You will use this guy year round…

  • Wintertime with NFL games, NCAA football and basketball.
  • Summertime – Baseball and popcorn are one of my personal favorite combinations.
  • Movie night – what’s a movie without popcorn??!
  • During your favorite shows (Swamp People, Survivor, Justified, Food Network…).
  • Halloween – popcorn balls just became a cinch.
  • Christmas – popcorn for stringing is faster than ever.

Grab a Stir Crazy at your nearest Target or order one on Amazon today by clicking the following link – West Bend Stir Crazy 6-Quart Electric Popcorn Popper.  It actually costs the same both places.  If you’ll notice, on Amazon, there are a lot of different seasonings and special popcorn popping oils to buy along with your Stir Crazy.

Whatever you do, give M & M’s in your popcorn a try.  If you WANT them to melt a little, add them right away – if you want the candies to stay firm, let the popcorn cool off just a little.  Either way, you’ll be blown away!

Popcorn and M & M's Minis

As delicious as it is pretty.

Now Cuisinart is Just Showing Off

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Cuisinart Metallic RedWowza! I’m totally in love with the metallic small appliances from Cuisinart.  The colors in our kitchen are purple and red, so I have my eye on the metallic reds. Besides, red makes me think of my beloved St. Louis Cardinals.

However, the girly girl in me is completely crazy for the metallic pinks. Gorgeous! To the left is the stunningly beautiful Cuisinart DCC-1200MP Brew Central 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker, Metallic Red.  (When you click through, you may land on the pink one’s bio page – simply click red’s picture to access the right page.)

Product Features

Color: Black Chrome
  • Features 24-hour programmability and programmable automatic shutoff 0 to 4 hours plus a 1- to 4-Cup feature
  • Brew pause feature lets you enjoy a cup of coffee before brewing has finished
  • 12-Cup glass carafe with ergonomic handle, dripless pour spout and knuckle guard for easy pouring
  • Includes: Charcoal water filter and permanent gold tone filter, measuring scoop and instruction book
  • Measures 14-1/4 by 8 by 10-3/4 inches; 3-Year limited warranty

Product Description

Cuisinart continues to outshine the competition! The lustrous finish and elegant contemporary lines of the Black Chrome Series make this coffeemaker a standout. It’s a unique and elegant way to dress up even the most sophisticated kitchens. Easy to use dials allow you to choose 24-hour advance brew start, cup settings and auto-shutoff. Brew pause feature lets you remove the carafe during the brew cycle and pour a cup without drips and spills. Maximum coffee flavor with maximum effort, the latest technology makes coffee quick and easy.

These beauties are available in metallic red, metallic pink, matte black metal, black chrome, and black/brushed metal. They’re each gorgeous and, with Cuisinart on the front, you know they’re exceptionally well  made.

More Metallic Red from Cuisinart

George Foreman Healthy Cooking Grill

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George Foreman Grill Review

Yesterday I bought a George Foreman GR144 144-Square-Inch Nonstick Family-Size Grill.

My previous George Foreman Grill was recently broken (by my own clumsiness) and I was EAGER to replace it.

Before I get to the new beauty, let me tell you about my original George Foreman Grill. It was THE original George Foreman Grill… as in the first in the entire impressive line. As in Born in 1994 and still working in 2011. It was a big boy, but I loved it ever so much. And it lasted forever and a week. In fact, it’d still be plugging along if I hadn’t dropped an iron skillet on it. Don’t ask. Suffice to say it gets crazy in my kitchen.

Yesterday, when the adorable store clerk asked if I wanted to pay $3 for a one year warranty, I swallowed a laugh and told her, “George Foreman grills don’t break.” I told her how long I’d had my original grill and her laugh escaped (I didn’t ask if she’d been alive that long, didn’t want to know). She also said she’d been thinking about getting her parents one for Christmas and I gave her the go ahead. You’re welcome, parents.

Naturally, I had to try it out the very day I bought it. Why do the words kid, new, and toy come to mind?

I made Bruschetta Chicken because it seemed like the thing to do. (Recipe in the next post.)

If you don’t have a George Foreman grill, I guarantee you this: You need to buy one asap. When it comes to making chicken, shrimp, burgers, fish, pork, steak, hot dogs, bacon, sausage, or even kabobs – George Foreman grills are simply excellent. They allow you to make magic in the kitchen, and feed your family healthier meals in the process.

Product Features

  • Electric countertop grill provides 144 square inches of cooking space
  • 2 fixed grill plates with double nonstick coating; sloped design
  • Signature Foreman heating elements for fast, even heat distribution
  • Stay-cool handle; on/off switch; drip tray and spatula included
  • Measures approximately 20-4/5 by 15 by 7-4/5 inches
Clean up is such a snap with George Foreman Grills and this particular one seems even MORE simple to clean.  It comes with a long tray that you position near the bottom to catch all of the grease that runs off of the heating surface and away from your food.  It also comes with a handy little plastic device for using to clean the grill plates. It’s ingenious.
If you’re serious about cooking and even more serious about giving your family the healthiest meals possible, I HIGHLY recommend George Foreman grills.  They come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Simply find the one that’s right for you.  I chose the George Foreman GR144 144-Square-Inch Nonstick Family-Size Grill because I have plenty of beloved faces to feed.
It feels extra good to know I’m feeding these faces healthier foods.
The pig in the picture at the top of the post?  She…..
  1. Was not on the menu.
  2. Doesn’t come with the grill.

I love pigs, I collect pigs and I completely get my jollies out of posing them with products I’m reviewing.  I don’t know, maybe it’s a Kentucky thing.