Tag Archives: review

Dream Dinners – 20 Years of Helping Get Dinner on the Table

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Disclosure: I was compensated for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

I often get asked how I manage to dinner every night, and my answer is always the same: Dream Dinners.

I was introduced to Dream Dinners a little more than 5 years ago, just after my daughter was born and they immediately became part of my regular dinner rotation. I love to cook – I am, after all, a food blogger – but the craziness of having a newborn, a two-year-old, and a husband who frequently got stuck at work late absolutely sucked the joy out of dinner.

Dream Dinners gave me a way to get a meal on the table I could feel good about and look forward to without losing my sanity. We’re now out of the baby stage and into the shuttling-kids-around-for-sports stage, but Dream Dinners is still an integral part of our dinner plans.

This month, Dream Dinners is celebrating their 20th birthday – 20 years of helping families like ours tackle dinnertime! – and I couldn’t be more excited to help spread the word.

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Crowd Cow Review: Simple, Sustainable Meat & Seafood

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I received free product from Crowd Cow in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Do you know where your meat comes from? Where it’s raised? How it’s raised?

If the answer is “no, not really”, it’s ok – it’s exactly what I would have answered a few weeks ago.

We are a family who has had a farm share for years and knows all the local farm stands. But meat? That seemed really daunting. I couldn’t see myself going farm to farm tracking down what was on my grocery list. I didn’t see another option – until I learned about Crowd Cow.

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Cave Tools Grill Gloves {Review}

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Disclosure: I received these products complimentary in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Do you use oven mitts or grill gloves? I’ve always been team oven mitt but after trying Cave Tools’s Grill Gloves I’m a convert.

Cave Tools Gloves 1

Honestly, I thought they were all pretty much the same. I was wrong.

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Review: Cave Tools Grill Light

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Grilling season is just getting started here, but I’m already looking for ways to extend it. It always seems that by the time we get in a grove, daylight starts slipping away and grilling season is over. Because, let’s face it – grilling in the dark is a pain. How many times have you pulled out your cell phone flashlight to see if the food is done? I know I have.

Enter Cave Tool’s BBQ Grill Light. This handy little accessory attaches to the handle of any grill to make to light up your cooking surface. The light screws on, so you can attach it in less than two minutes, and you just tap it lightly on the logo to turn it on or off – making it easy to do with one hand (or an elbow, when your hands are full!)

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And it really just floods the grill surface with light. I also love the light is bright white – it makes it easier to see color differences in the food as it’s cooking. This light is definitely going to get a heavy workout at our house!

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The Grill Light can be purchased from the Cave Tools website – use code BBQLIGHT15 to take 15% off. They can also be found on Amazon.

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Review: Cave Tools Blade Tenderizer

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Disclosure: I received these products complimentary in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Officially spring! But, we still have snow on the ground. Can we talk about how disappointing that is? I’ve been pinning grilling recipes like crazy – but, to be honest, I’ve been surprised how much the grill tools have gotten use inside this winter.

Cave Tools recently sent me this blade tenderizer to try out, and once again, I was super impressed – they really design these to be easy to use! First up – storage: it comes with a great lid/case, to store it in – so you can’t accidently bump it in the cabinet and end up poking yourself with the blades. The whole thing is also top-rack dishwasher safe, which is amazing – it makes clean up so, so easy!

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We gave this a test run with the night’s chicken – the punctures let the marinade soak in so nicely. It was the juiciest chicken I’ve made in a long time! The extra step of tenderizing was worth the (minimal effort) – I can’t wait to try it on steaks!

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The Blade Tenderizer can be purchased from the Cave Tools website – use code TENDER15 to take 15% off. They can also be found on Amazon.

Review: Cave Tools Metal Meat Claws

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Disclosure: I received these products complimentary in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It’s January and the weather has been struggling to get above freezing so you’d probably assume we haven’t been using grill tools much around here – but you’d be wrong.

Cave Tools sent these Metal Meat Claws for review, and I put them to use right away.

Cave Tools Meat Claws

These meat claws are sturdy, sharp and perfect for shredding meat – but that’s not their only use! I put them to the test on a big, 18 lb. ham.

The claws were sharp enough to easily pierce the ham so lifting it was a breeze. I could easily move it from the pan to the cutting board. It felt sturdy and I didn’t worry at all about dropping it. I usually shoo the kids out of the kitchen for this part – just in case – but you can tell from my photo bomber I didn’t have to do that with these claws.

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They’re also the perfect tool to hold the meat while you slice. Having the handle was so much more sturdy than just using a fork – and much more comfortable too. I had this carved up in no time!

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I was so impressed with how effective these are. They might not look overly special, but they really made things so much easier. I can’t wait to use them to shred up some pulled pork – it’s going to make such fast work of it!

The Metal Meat Claws can be purchased from the Cave Tools website – use code MEATCLAW15 to take 15% off. They can also be found on .

Review: Cave Tools Aluminum Burger Press

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Disclosure: I received these products complimentary in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Food blogger burger confession: unless I’m making some fancy burger, we typically buy frozen patties. (Gasp!) I know, I know. We’re under no illusions that the frozen burgers you get in the store are just as good as ones you make at home, but for me, burgers are usually a quick meal and trying to deal with getting uniform patties quickly is always a turn off.

And, I’ll fully admit, when I received this Aluminum Burger Press from Cave Tools to review, I thought this would go into my pile of cooking tools for special occasions. I was so, so wrong. I loved it so much that I immediately bought another to give as a Christmas gift!

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This burger press is awesome. It helps you make uniform patties super quickly – and they include 200 burger papers which help immensely with cleanup.

The idea is easy – put a burger paper down, place your ball of ground meat on top, add another burger paper, and press down.

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The burger paper largely keeps the raw meat from touching the burger press – which makes it easier to wash! – and then makes it super easy to transfer the patties to a plate to be cooked.

Quick tip to stretch your burger papers: Once you’ve transferred a finished patty to a plate, you can peel off the top paper and use it (raw-meat side up) as the bottom paper for the next burger.

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We all relished the fresh-made burgers on a weeknight.  My next project is to try freezing my own burgers – with the press and the burger papers, I think it will be a breeze!

And who doesn’t want a quick and easy way to whip up burgers? (I’m not drooling – you’re drooling!)

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The Aluminum Burger Press can be purchased from the Cave Tools website – use code BURGER15 to take 15% off. They can also be found on Amazon.

Review: Cave Tools Rib Roast Rack

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Disclosure: I received these products complimentary in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

If you’ve been thinking about packing away your grill for the winter – think again! I mean, I get it. It’s now dark at 5 pm and the days are getting chillier, but if you’re planning a holiday meal – especially for a crowd – you should at least consider utilizing the grill.

Cooking your main dish – like a ham or turkey – on the grill will free up your oven for so many other sides and desserts!

Cave Tools sent me their Rib Roast Rack to try out and it’s beautifully simply. This sturdy rack is the perfect way to roast a chicken, turkey or ham on your grill. It’s big enough for a large bird – the one shown below clocked in at 20 pounds! – but the bars are close enough together to easily hold a smaller piece of meat. I’ve never used something like this before, and in my head, I’d have to worry about the rack legs slipping through the grill grates – but that wasn’t the case at all. This was totally stable on our grill.

It’s also lightweight – which is a huge plus when you’re hauling an already-heavy chunk of meat out the grill. When flipped over, the it can also be used as a rib rack and will hold up to five racks of ribs!

CaveToolsGrillRack

I’m still on the hunt for the perfect grilled turkey recipe (while the rack did not fail us, the recipe I attempted definitely did!) – but I can’t wait to use this for my favorite Grilled Ham with a Wine-Pineapple-Honey Glaze. I’m also imagining a nice, smoky pork loin or a chicken covered with olive oil and Herbs de Provence. Oh, the possibilities!

And, something that always seals the deal for me – cleanup was a breeze. Like many other Cave Tools products, this rack is dishwasher safe.

The Rib Roast Rack can be purchased from the Cave Tools website – use code RIBROAST15 to take 15% off. They can also be found on Amazon.

Review: Cave Tools Kabob Skewers Rack

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Disclosure: I received these products complimentary in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Are you grilling this weekend? We have plans to kick off summer with a barbecue. I’m super excited about more dinners on the grill being put into our weekly menu!

If you’ve been reading the blog for a bit now, you know that meat on sticks is a thing around here. I love kabobs and they’re frequently found on our summer menus so I was really excited to try out the Cave Tools Kabob Skewers Rack.

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This was really a dream in making kabobs so, so easy. The meat threaded on much easier than our normal bamboo skewers and I loved the food removal disks. (See those round things on the skewers? You push on them to get all the food off of a skewer – genius!)

The rack is very sturdy, which makes it really easy to transport things to and from the grill. You put the whole rack on the grill – everything cooks as normal but you don’t have to worry about anything sticking (or toddlers complaining about grill marks on their food). It also folds flat for easy storage.

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As an added bonus, it’s dishwasher safe. Because after you’ve survived making dinner with two little kids around, the last thing you want to be doing is scrubbing more.

We loved this and will be using it a ton this summer!

Looking for some inspiration? Some of our past kabob favorites include Chicken Satay Skewers, Chipotle Chicken Kabobs with Avocado Cream Sauce, and Sweet and Sour Chicken Kabobs.

If you want your own kabob skewers rack, they can be purchased from the Cave Tools website – use code KABOBSET15 to take 15% off. They can also be purchased via Amazon. Cave Tools also has a lot of other fun grilling accessories, I recommend checking them out while you’re browsing!

Review: Cave Tools Jalapeno Grill Rack & Pepper Corer

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Disclosure: I received these products free in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

We’re just getting into grilling season here, so when Cave Tools asked if I wanted to review their Jalapeno Grill Rack & Pepper Corer I jumped at the chance. We love making dinner on the grill now that the evenings are warmer (and it’s light out!) and I love products that make grilled dishes easy – this is one of them.

Because we have a toddler who insists on trying everything we’re eating, I decided to try the rack out by making stuffed mini peppers (check back for the recipe tomorrow!).

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The set comes with a corer tool to make prep easy. I sliced off the top of the peppers and then used the tool to clean them out and was impressed with how quickly and effectively it worked. My husband even commented on how fast it was!

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I stuck the peppers in the rack as I filled them. The one thing you do have to be mindful of is that you pick peppers that won’t fall through the holes – or tweak as you go. I added two smaller peppers together in some spots. A little foil would have worked, too.

The rack itself is super sturdy – the legs snap into place so it won’t collapse unless you want it to. This made it easy to transport the rack from the kitchen to the grill.

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I loved that the rack kept the peppers away from heat enough that they could cook without burning (brown spots = poison to a toddler) and we didn’t have to deal with any cheese spillage as the mixture got melty. Cleanup was also a breeze – the rack goes right in the dish washer.

I really loved this rack and can’t wait to try out some of the other things they suggest (like chicken legs!) this summer.

If you want your own jalapeno grill rack, they can be purchased from the Cave Tools website – use code ROASTPEPPER15 to take 15% off. They can also be purchased via Amazon. Cave Tools also has a lot of other fun grilling accessories, I recommend checking them out while you’re browsing!