Review: Silicon Steamer From Curves

Last year when I was deciding whether or not to renew my gym membership, a friend who attends Curves suggested I try it out. My mother and myself received a free month long membership which we used three times a week. I really enjoyed my time there and I also enjoyed the camaraderie with the women there but $40 per month was a bit steep for the variety of exercise they provide and we were not able to attend every day  even if we wanted to.  I decided not to join because I am getting more bang for my buck at my current gym.

Anyway, if you are at all familiar with Curves, you know that from time to time they sell Curves products on site. One particular day that I was there, they were offering a silicon steamer.  I immediately became intrigued because I have been wanting some form of silicon bake wear for a while now.  I asked about the steamer and everyone proceeded to tell me how great it was. I could cook scrambled eggs, chicken, fish and it would always turn out delicious!  Really?  You mean I can cook all of these things in the microwave and it wouldn't be dried out? They assured me that I could. The only thing that I could not do was cook things that needed to be in water like rice or pasta. One lady told me her rice horror story in which she tried to steam rice and destroyed her steamer.....so anyway, I pay my $20 dollars and off I go with my steamer.  

Frozen salmon, cleaned and seasoned

I couldn't wait to try it out. I'm big on convenience so I almost always have individually wrapped salmon and chicken breasts on hand.  I decide to cook salmon so I take the salmon out of the freezer and pop it right into the steamer. That's right, no need to thaw it out first!  Just clean it and season it  while it is frozen and pop it into the steamer.  This was a major plus for me.

See the juicy goodness?

The steamer comes with suggested cooking times for certain foods and If I'm not mistaken I believe for seafood it is 3 or 4 minutes.  I cooked mine  in the microwave for about 4 minutes and then It was ready to go. juicy, flavorful, and extremely moist!

I've also cooked various vegetables as well as chicken breast ( also from frozen) and I've found that with the chicken, it is a good idea to cook it for a few minutes on each side.  I didn't do this the first time and found that one side was semi raw after the 4 minutes were up.  Now that I'm cooking both sides, I've had no problems at all.  I've also tried an omelet because I just could not believe that one could cook eggs in the microwave and have them taste okay.   I sprayed the steamer with some olive oil cooking spray, put my egg whites, spinach, onions, and cheese in the steamer and microwaved for a few minutes.  It turned out well.

The steamer is dishwasher safe....not sure whether it is oven safe but normally,  silicone cookware usually is safe to use in a conventional oven.  This has been a lifesaver for me and has quickly become my favorite piece of cookware.


PROS
Dishwasher safe
Can cook  from frozen
easy to store
quick and easy to use

CONS
Not really recommended for use with water, IE cooking rice, pasta, etc ( although some have managed to use it in this manner with no damage to the steamer)

    

Rating

Getting it right,

Posted in: Reviews