I get invited to all sorts of “parties”. Candle parties, jewelry parties, Tupperware parties, and lingerie parties. These type of parties usually sell quality products and they are hosted in someone’s home. Women of all ages, shapes and sizes sit around ohhh-ing and ahhhh-ing over the merchandise as they sip their cold beverage and chitchat with their friends and neighbors. I’ve not only been invited to many, but I’ve attended many as well. I just can’t seem to turn down a friend or neighbor who calls me up and mentions she’s having a “bla-bla-bla party” next Thursday and could I please come. Sure...what the heck!

The Product:
One of the parties I actually enjoy going to, and usually end up buying from is Pampered Chef. Pampered Chef has been in business since 1980 selling kitchen equipment through their independent sales reps, or “Kitchen Consultants”. They sell a vast selection of anything and everything for your kitchen. From pots and pans to timers and cookbooks. And many products are solely unique to Pampered Chef.

At one of the parties, I was talked into buy a slightly expensive pizza stone. Why I bought that stone was beyond me. I mean, we eat pizza at our house, but we usually order out. As a matter of fact I’ve memorized Papa John’s phone number. I just don’t make homemade pizza very often. But all I kept hearing about what how great it was, and all the different foods you could bake on it. So I got one.

The Family Heritage® Stoneware: Large Round Stone is a 15 inch baking stone that is used to bake all kinds of foods...not just pizza. Apparently, based on the Pampered Chef web site “... no two pieces of our Family Heritage® Stoneware are exactly alike, every Baking Stone distributes heat uniformly for even baking and browning. We're so confident our Stoneware is a cook's best friend, we offer a three-year guarantee on every piece!”

There are some tricks to owning Pampered Chef Stoneware. And not just the pizza stone. You have to “season” your stoneware. Meaning you grease it up really good and bake on it. That allows your baked goods, be it pizza, cookies or baked chicken to slide right off without sticking. It also helps the flavors of your food absorb into your stoneware. Just like cast iron, in a way. Then once you bake on it, it can not go into the dishwasher...big ole negative in my book. But I bought it anyway. Apparently, you’re not supposed to put soap on your stoneware, as the soap will seep into the stoneware causing your food to taste like soap. So when you buy a piece of stoneware it comes with a small plastic disk to scrap any food residue off of your stoneware.

Oh, but the good thing about this stoneware (no matter which piece you get) is Pampered Chef has a 3-year extended warranty. And the way I heard it explained, if your piece cracks, chips or breaks in a gazillion pieces, you just mail them a couple of your pieces that broke and they’ll ship you a brand-spankin’ new one to replace it. Very cool!

This pizza stone will cost you around $25.00 depending if Pampered Chef is running a sale, or specials...as they often do. You can find a local Kitchen Consultant off of the Pampered Chef website at www.pamperedchef.com.

My Experience:
I’ve had my pizza stone for about three years, and let me tell you...I’ve used it more times than I can possibly count! When I got my pizza stone, it came in a large pizza box. It had some recipes and a “how to use” booklet. It also had one of those nifty scrapers too. If you’ve never used stoneware before, you might be a little surprised at how it looks 3 years after you have it. When you slide it out of the box, all brand new and everything, it’s a beautiful flawless blond color. And then you cook on it, and cook on it, and cook on it, and it gradually becomes this nasty dark brownish black color. But the more you cook on it, the better it works, and the better the food tastes!

I honestly thought you could only “do” pizza on this round stone, but I’ve not only used it to make my own pizzas, which come out with an amazingly crispy crust, but I’ve also warmed leftover boxed pizza on it. And it comes out just as it did when the delivery person dropped it off. The crust is crisp yet chewy.

I’ve also used it to bake cookies, cook breaded chicken, French fries and all of them come out crispy and tasting great. You can buy a rack that helps you hold onto your round stone while transferring it from counter to oven, but I rarely use mine. I almost wish I hadn’t have wasted the money on it.

One really neat aspect of the stoneware is that it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold exceptionally longer than regular bakeware. The stoneware holds a temperature a really long time.

When I bought my round baking stone over 3 years ago, I honestly thought it would be one of those things that would sit in my cabinet unused. I’m so glad I was wrong and it was totally worth the $25 I spent on it. And I liked it so much; I bought a few other stoneware pieces to go along with it.

Now, would you like pepperoni or sausage?




Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 25.00