Smart Planet 9.25x9.75-in. Nonstick Mini Donut Maker Review

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(More customer reviews)We love the mini donut maker! My kids love donuts and I love healthy eating and this donut maker allows us all to be happy with baked, not fried, donuts that are ready in a few minutes! It comes with a recipe that we've tweaked to be a healthy donut -- chocolate wheat are our favorite. We've had a good time with all the topping possibilities too. I'm thinking of giving it as a gift too. (The donuts do taste different from the fried fair food, but they are a hot, fresh, and inexpensive treat at home anytime!)

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Nesco 1000 Watt Gardenmaster - FD1010P Review

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(More customer reviews)I give the Nesco Gardenmaster 5 stars for the 1000 watt performance, it dehydrates great. However, it loses 4 stars because the design has two major flaws.
1) The fan and heating coils are located at the bottom of a concave tray, inside the base. This causes everything that drips or falls into the vents to accumulate in the middle of the base, creating a puddle of goo right where the fan motor and heating coils are. Not a good thing.
2) Since you need to clean out the muck that accumulates in the base, you will discover there is no way to open the base. To get in there, you have to literally pry the top off to clean it (I used a screw driver). Unfortunately, after figuring this out, I also figured out that once you pry it off, it will not fit back on no matter how much pounding and swearing is invovled. Didn't matter though, just trying to clean it, killed the fan, no matter how hard I tried to not get the electrical parts wet.
I also own another Nesco (newer model) that heats from the top and the base is a drip tray. Seems Nesco figured out their design flaw, because this is exactly how a dehydrater should be designed (heat from the top or side). Gravity will always pull all the juice and bits & pieces to the bottom. It makes absolutely no sense why anyone would make a dehydrator that heats from the bottom up.

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0.5 Cu. Ft. Digital Convection Toaster Oven Review

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(More customer reviews)I have had the DO1289 for a month and overall I am very happy with it. The toaster is gorgeous and does a great job baking. I have cooked fish and steaks and everything has turned out perfectly. The convection fan is not too loud and does its job well. In terms of toasting, the oven is not spectacular, but certainly adequate. Getting a crispy slice of toast takes about 5 minutes. Though it takes a few clicks to do anything on the toaster, the controls and knobs are straightforward and well designed.
I spent a long time analyzing and breaking down the pros and cons of the different top quality toasters so hopefully this review can save you some time. Here are the other toasters I looked at seriously :
Cuisinart TOB-195: Generally well-reviewed, but I could not get past the fact that the toaster does not have automatic shut-off. This is a key safety feature that I was unwilling to sacrifice. The DO1289 does have auto shut-off and turns off after beeping loudly 3 times. In addtion, the Cuisinart's crumb tray comes out the back, which seems totally stupid and impractical.
Krups FBC2: Looked like the perfect toaster, but again a safety feature got in the way. Apparently the Krups model has a poorly constructed door hinge and is prone to exploding. The DO1289's door is very smooth opening and seems well constructed. The Krups' quartz heating would have been nice, but still not worth it. I also suspect that the Delonghi has a little more overhead clearance than the Krups so I can roast a small chicken.
Breville Smart Oven: This oven has almost every feature and is the most powerful and spacious of the bunch, but $250 for a toaster is just absurd. I bought my Delonghi refurbished for $70, so it was no contest.
The Delonghi also has an oven light (which most others do not) and a bright permanently illuminated display--a nice feature at night for seeing the time. One other feature that doesn't get much attention, but was very important to me, is the Delonghi's Durastone enamel interior. This is great because, unlike toasters with traditional nonstick interiors, I can put metal and glass dishes in the oven, as well as aluminum foil (every one of the other aforementioned ovens advises against using glass or foil). Durastone is apparently nonstick so I can only hope that it has fewer chemicals or is safer than traditional nonstick (I would love it if someone knew the answer). Either way, it is a step up from the other high end toasters that I researched.
Based on my comparisons with other toaster ovens, I found that the Delonghi 1289 is the best designed and most practical. The Delonghi's performance is very good, though not spectacular, it has great features and, in my opinion, is the best choice for a high-end toaster oven.
UPDATE: After over a year owning the Delonghi DO-1289, I am still very happy and everything continues to work exactly as it should.

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L'Equip 306150 600-Watt Mini Pulp-Ejection Juicer, Gray Review

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(More customer reviews)I spent months researching juicers and surfing veggie themed threads. That research paid off because after owning this juicer for a year, we're still as thrilled as the first day it arrived. I bought it from cooking.com because Amazon wasn't selling it at the time. The price seems to be about the same still.
My wife and I juice everyday and the juicer is sooo easy to clean. Just put a plastic bag in the pulp receptacle and you're good to go. One less item to wash. We use a toothbrush on the blade basket and a regular sponge on the bowl. The blade/basket and bowl are stainless steel. Those infomercial juicers use cheap plastic wherever possible. Trust me, you're only paying for advertising with those TV juicers. This is the real deal. It's quieter than our blender and one large apple, 3 carrots and two oranges yields us two massive glasses of juice. It also has a small foot print. I bought one for my mother and my wife is getting one for her sister.
If you have a large family you might want to skip the mini and go for the regular sized L'Equip but many online reviews say that the mini is actually better for some reason. All I can say is that it is more than enough for a family of four. After a year, the blades are still sharp although not as sharp as new but still going strong. If you're looking for THE BEST JUICER for less than 100 bucks this is it!!

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Do you like to buy dried fruits, fruit leather or jerky, but hate paying high prices?Create your own with the FilterPro Dehydrator.Purchase fruits in-season for substantial savings and to create your own dried snacks like trail mix, or puree and create your own fruit leather!Moms can rest assured that they are giving their children the purest, freshest ingredients without fillers and preservatives.Use lean cuts of meat and your imagination to create flavorful jerky's-the flavor combination possibilities are endless!You can even create your own potpourri!!!Clean filtered air dries your food uniformly and consistently.Variable temperature control gives precise results every time.Easy to use and to clean, you can stack up to 20 trays giving you up to 24 feet of drying space. LED time and temperature display; precise temperature control 95-156; yogurt accessory; cord storage; 24 hour auto-shut off timer; includes 2 fruit leather trays & 6 mesh screens;535 watts. Snacks served using the FilterPro Dehydrator will make you the envy of the neighborhood!

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Nesco Add-A-Tray for FD-1010/FD-1018P/FD-1020 Review

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(More customer reviews)Not a whole lot you can say... the product is as described. Fits the FD-1010 dehydrator perfectly. They're the same exact trays as the ones that came with the dehydrator. I've now accumulated 6 total trays. Will probably go up to 12. I plan on reviewing how well the dehydrator works when that many trays are loaded on. It says it's expandable up to 30 trays, but I cant imagine the heat would reach the top very well with 30 trays. Plus you'd have to put it on the floor with that many trays cause it'd be too tall to sit on the counter ;.).
The only negative thing I could say about these is the price (I paid ~20 USD after tax/shipping). After all, it's just a piece of plastic. There was a lot of resellers of this product at the time I first bought it, so I thought there should be a little more competition and lower prices. I would've already bought a lot more if they were cheaper.
[update 1/24/08]
Finally got around to using these. they worked great, however, cleaning them was a pain in the A$$. I put them in the dishwasher on low heat, and they warped. Ridiculous that at $10 a tray, it's not made dishwasher safe, especially something that hard to clean. The same goes for these trays: [...] (bought one of each to see the difference). Downgraded to 2 stars.
[update 6/14/11]
Just saw that Nesco has made a new (square-shaped) dehydrator. The trays for these are about an inch shorter (width-wise), but due to being square, hold about 30 sq in. more (think two 3x5 index cards worth of space). I wasn't able to find out any information regarding washing them in the dishwasher... but being a newer product, its possible they may be made dishwasher safe now. That is, if the good people at Nesco read their customer's reviews ;.)
You can find that dehydrator here:[...], and the trays for it here: [...]

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ParaFlexx Ultra Silicone 14x14 Non-Stick Fruit Leather Paraflexx Sheet: use with Excalibur Review

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(More customer reviews)Yeah, I'm going to agree with the other reviewer that the first time I used these I almost sent them back because they smelled so strange! The whole house reeked of a sweet-chemically smell. The main reason I bought these was to get away from the chemicals in the Teflex sheets (Teflon is shady at best), but I wondered if I did the right thing after smelling that smell. I did wash the sheets a couple times in soap and water and rubbed them down with a towel. After a few batches of fruit leather and flax crackers, I don't notice the smell any more. (Or maybe I'm just used to it?)
Also, I don't know how the Teflex sheets compare, but you definitely have to make sure that whatever you're drying is almost completely dry before it will peel off. Otherwise the mixture sticks to it.

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Victorio VKP1013 Round Three-Tray Kitchen Seed Sprouter Review

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(More customer reviews)So easy I'm sorry I waited so long to try it! Living in a small apartment for several years, I've missed having an outdoor garden to grow my own vegetables. This is a great alternative for me. Just remember to run water through it twice a day. (My brother recommends 3/4 trayful of water with 1 tablespoon vinegar, followed by 3/4 trayful of plain water (don't forget to empty the bottom water tray), to supress undesired things such as mold; this is working great and the seeds are sprouting fine.) For seeds I'm using "zesty sprouting mix" from NOW foods.

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