Watkins Natural Plant-Based Cleaners

I love using natural cleaners and try to do so when I can. I was excited to try out Watkins' line of Natural Plant-Based Cleaners.

First of all, I love the packaging of the cleaners. (Regular-sized cleaners are pictured below.) It's clean. It's lovely. I totally dig it. They are pretty enough to keep out on the sink all the time.

The sample kit (pictured above) I received included:

Citrus Tub and Tile Cleaner
Lemon All-Purpose Cleaner
Lavender Liquid Dish Detergent
Aloe & Green Tea Window Cleaner
Lemon Laundry Detergent

____________________________________________



Citrus Tub and Tile Cleaner

My house has hard water--very hard water. It's hard on everything (no pun intended) and there are always hard water stains in my sinks and bathtubs.

I wasn't sure if the Citrus Tub and Tile Cleaner would work on my bathtub and shower. There was a huge buildup from weeks of my neglect. I let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it with a damp sponge.

The only buildup that didn't come off was some really hard core soap scum around the side of the tub where the shower curtain rests. That required a bit of scrubbing for it to come off.

My tub/shower was shiny clean.

Verdict: A+, I loved the way it smelled and it really worked.



All-Purpose Cleaner

The all-purpose cleaner was awesome. My sink, counters and toilet top looked sparkly clean and it smelled great. I used it in my kitchen, too. I sprayed the surface of my stove and everything wiped away.

Verdict: A+



Window Cleaner

The Aloe & Green Tea Window Cleaner took a bit of testing to finally like it. I was all ready to say that I couldn't recommend it, but then I decided to give it another chance.

When I first sprayed it on my bathroom mirror, it left greasy streaks and I had to use Windex to clean it up. The same happened when I used it on my windows.

I found that the problem was that I was using paper towels. When I switched to a regular, cotton towel, then the mirrors and glass were brilliant.

I'm going to try it in my car to see if I can get off the fingerprints from my kids.

Verdict: B+ (because you can't use it with paper towels)

Lavender Dish Soap



My very favorite is the Lavender liquid dish detergent. I LOVE IT. It smells amazing--it also has rosemary in it, not just lavender.

The dish soap left my dishes super clean and sparkly. It removed all of the grease from the dishes and pans. It's thick. It doesn't create a lot of suds, which is fine. As long as it gets the job done. And it does.

Verdict: A+++, my favorite natural dish soap yet

Lemon Laundry Detergent



The laundry detergent smells great. Of course, I like that. On the bottle it says it's good for people with allergies.

I used it for a regular load of light colored clothes and towels. Nothing had stains. To test the stain removing capabilities, I would need to buy a bottle and use it for a few weeks.

The clothes came out smelling nice and clean. You only need to use 1 0z. for a regular sized load.

I can't give this a fair rating until I try it for a longer period of time.

Verdict: N/A
______________________________________

Final word:

I'm really impressed with the Watkins line of natural cleaning products. I would recommend them to anyone who appreciates using cleaning products that are safe, chemical-free, and good for the environment.

Watkins Shea Butter and Petro-Carbo Salve

Before I give my review of the Shea butter and PetroCarbo salve....I need to tell you how much I love the "look" of all the Watkins products. I'm a sucker for pretty packages, and Watkins has some seriously pretty packaging going on.

Lavender Shea Butter:


I live in Utah. It's dry. The winters are cold. I also wash my hands a lot all day long. My hands are a wreck--dry, itchy, cracks on my knuckles and fingers. I get these deep little cracks to the side of my fingernails that just ache and throb.

I'm always on the lookout for lotions and creams to fix my sore, dry hands. I've mostly stuck to lotions containing petroleum and similar ingredients. Shea butter is actually something I've tried before, but not recently.

The first thing that got my attention about the Lavender Shea Butter was the intense fragrance. I heart lavender. When I buy something that says it's going to smell like lavender, I want it to smell like lavender. This Shea butter did. The smell is intoxicating in a very good way.

Just for comparison, my husband and I trekked over to a local store that carries a lot of natural beauty products and took a look around to see if we could find anything comparable. (And truthfully...to see if they carried Watkins products so we could instantly have another tube of shea butter. We haven't shared it very well.)

Anyway, we couldn't find anything that we liked as much or that came close to the quality of Watkins' Shea butter. My hands were much better even after one application of the Shea butter. I'm anxious to try out the other fragrances as well. (It also comes in Aloe & Green Tea, Mango, Vanilla, and Lemon Cream.)

The Shea butters are available in a 140 gram jar or 95 gram tube. (The jar is the better deal.)

Verdict: We're thinking we may need to order jars by the dozen.
________________________________________

Petro-Carbo Salve:



My mom LOVES Petro-Carbo Salve. When I called to tell about the great stuff Linda sent me, she asked if I'd tried the PCS. (She even had some in her desk at work--I kid you not. My mom's always prepared.)

Apparently my grandmother always had this on hand, too. (And she also only used Watkins products in her home--spices, home remedies, etc. This I didn't know. But, I'm not surprised.)

The smell of PCS took me right back to my childhood. It has a great scent. But more than that--it really helped repair the cracks on my fingers. I stuck it in my diaper bag so I can be prepared, too.

You can buy it in either a small, travel size (9 gram) or a larger (124 gram) tin.

Verdict: My home will never be without this again.

Watkins Baking Powder and Double-Strength Vanilla

I go through baking powder like crazy. I make buttermilk biscuits several times a month in addition to pancakes, waffles, quick breads, and cakes. To me it seems like one baking powder is as good as the next.



One thing that attracted me to the Watkins baking powder is that it is aluminum free. (A good post about why you should use aluminum free baking powder can be found here.)

I liked this baking powder. I can't say that it did a better job than my regular baking powder--I'd need a few weeks in a scientific lab (without kids, the computer or a telephone, or diapers to change...ahem) to distinguish any differences. But I honestly can tell you the I did notice a difference in taste. Really--I could. Maybe it was in my head, but I could tell a difference. No funny after tastes. (Again--see here. Even David Lebovitz says that about AF baking powder.)

It comes in a 262 gram (9.25 oz.) can for $4.99, which is a fairly reasonable price.

Verdict: A good aluminum free baking powder.

Original Double-Strength Vanilla:



After my mom asked me about the Petro-Carbo Salve, she started gushing about Watkins Vanilla extract. She and my grandmother used it exclusively for a long time. I remember my mom having a big bottle in the cupboard.

I bought my own Watkins vanilla extract when I was in college from a client at the bank where I worked. I loved it.

I haven't used Watkins vanilla since then. The local stores where I lived in NY didn't carry it. I got used to using a few different brands and vanilla beans. (Then we started using homemade...)

You know how I like to pretend I'm a scientist. It was fun to start baking a few different things with the Watkins vanilla and get reacquainted.

I made a few different things ranging from plain sugar cookies to vanilla ice cream.

I could detect a difference in flavor that I haven't found in other brands--it is unique. I looked at the ingredient list and discovered that Watkins uses a blend of pure vanilla extract and artificially flavored vanilla.

Awhile back Cooks' Illustrated did a vanilla taste test. It was scandalous! Imitation vanilla from CVS pharmacy outranked expensive pure vanillas in baked goods. (Read the full article here.)

I am assuming that the combination of the pure and artificial vanilla gives the Watkins vanilla the unique flavor, but also the promised flavor retention for recipes requiring baking or freezing.

Now, what do I think about the Watkins vanilla?

The vanilla tasted great. It seemed to be twice as strong as regular vanilla extract.

I loved it in plain ol' sugar cookies. The flavor was just as strong after baking as it was in the dough.

I don't know if you'd count this as a postive or negative, the vanilla flavor in the ice cream reminded us of store bought ice cream. The only conclusion we could come to is that there are other flavor additives in the vanilla to give it such a distinct flavor. It had almost a buttery, candy taste to it. We're snobs and we've grown accustomed to the subtle flavor of real vanilla bean in our ice cream and custards. The "candy" flavor of the ice cream wasn't for us.

The vanilla was awesome in one of our favorite recipes, Carolyn's Syrup. (Which is just a caramel sauce made with buttermilk.)

I can't wait to try it in a cake I'm making for next week...(I'll tell you about it later.)

Original Double Strength Vanilla comes in several sizes, as well as a few other varieties. Click here to see the full range.

Verdict: A delicious vanilla. Great flavor retention in baked goods and ice cream. Powerful. Reminiscent of buttery candy. Tastes a little different than traditional pure vanilla.

Magic Bullet Platinum Pro

When I was asked to review the Magic Bullet Platinum Pro, I was totally excited because several of my family members have the original Magic Bullet and love it. And as always, I'm curious about how different appliances work and stack up in comparison to each other.

It arrived in the mail shortly before we went out of town a few weeks ago, so it's taken me awhile to play around with it and give a good, thorough review.

Right out of the box, I was surprised how sturdy it felt. It was also bigger than I expected.

Here's what came in the box:



(click on the image for a larger view)


Here's what you get: (top to bottom, left to right)

High-Torque Power Base
Flat Blade and Cross Blade
Cookbook with 101 recipes and User Manual (read it before using the MB)
Four Party Mugs with Comfort Lip Rings
Replacement Gaskets for the blades
Tall and Short Cups
Shaker/Steamer Tops and Storage Lids
Full-Size Blender Attachment

I immediately started to think of all the things we could try making. I also wanted to try a few of the recipes from the cookbook that came with it.

When I first turned it on it made me jump. I wasn't expecting it to be so powerful. I really recommend reading the instruction manual first!


I didn't have any fresh strawberries so I used frozen ones and didn't use ice. The Magic Bullet did a pretty good job with the smoothie. There were only a few big pieces of frozen strawberry left after blending. It did take longer than the 10 seconds advertised.

Rating: Thumbs Up




Next I tried a recipe for Chocolate Mousse which is simply chocolate syrup and heavy cream. I used the flat blade for this. It didn't take long for the mixture to get super thick. It thickened even more after a few hours in the fridge. I would totally use this to whip cream in a hurry.

Rating: Thumbs Up




I wasn't impressed with the chopping option. Now, to be fair, the instruction booklet (and FAQ page on the website) gives plenty of "helps" for getting the Magic Bullet to chop correctly. I'm guessing that user error was part of the problem and that it would just take some getting used to and then it would chop just fine. (I'm a food processor girl--this was a little different.)

Rating: Even, not up or down


I did like the way the Magic Bullet chopped nuts. I am pretty sure that if I had pulsed the walnuts a few more times, I would have ended up with smooth, creamy walnut butter.

Rating: Thumbs Up


I was also impressed with the way it ground cinnamon sticks in a matter of seconds. It wasn't the finest grind, I'm sure I could have kept going. I was mostly checking for how fast it chopped them up.

Rating: Thumbs Up



The Magic Bullet did a fabulous job of crushing ice. I was very surprised. I want to say that it did a better job than my Cuisinart blender. (It did!) And it was faster. I added some lime juice and sugar for a quick frozen limeade.

Rating: Thumbs Up

Final word:

I am appliance addict, so I already own a few Cuisinart food processors (mini and 11-cup size) and blenders. I'm not sure I'd throw them out in favor of The Magic Bullet. If I were just starting out, or single, or if I wasn't an appliance addict, I would certainly consider buying this.

I've read great reviews from owners/users on various blogs and other sites.

Let me put is this way: I would keep it, because I think it's pretty dang cool, but I know that my in-laws need a new blender and I smile thinking about how much fun they'll have with it.

Where to Buy:
Magic Bullet website
Amazon.com
Home Shopping Network