healthy cooking products Archives

A Safer Kitchen

Remember a couple weeks ago how we talked about using Silicone Baking Mats on your aluminum baking sheets to protect your food from being contaminated by aluminum? Upon seeing the pizza that I baked on my mat, several of you had this question:

Can you use a pizza cutter on the mat or wouldn’t that cut through and ruin the mat??

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Ah yes. You are very smart. These silicone baking mats are high quality and very heavy duty. However, you do want to avoid cutting through them so you can continue using them again and again. After all, not only do these keep your food safe, they save you lots and lots of money since you can use it over and over forever.

How do these mats save you money? Well for years, I’ve been buying and using parchment paper to protect my food from my aluminum pans. I reuse my parchment paper a few times if possible, but over the years, I’ve gone through many a roll of parchment. These silicone mats are a one-time purchase, saving me from ever having to buy parchment again! I have two of the mats so I can bake two pans at once. :)

But back to caring for your silicone mat:

After I bake my food on my baking pan/mat, I simply slide the food off the mat and onto a serving tray. Then I cut the food as needed, keeping my mat out of the way so I don’t accidentally cut and ruin it. By the way, food slides very easily off these mats – another perk!

How about washing your silicone mat?

I simply give mine a good rinse with hot water or with a little bit of soapy water if needed. Then I lay it over my dish drain to dry. Easy!

I’m loving my silicone mats, both for food safety and how it saves me time in the kitchen! I appreciated that Karen left a comment last week stating the same thing:

I received my order of two of these “Healthy Cooking Products” mats just yesterday based on your recommendation. Today I made cinnamon rolls and some cookies. These mats are wonders! Besides enabling baked goods to just slip off, these mats also produced a superior baking product. Instead of some of the good stuff seeping into the pan or parchment, it stayed on the bottom of the cinnamon rolls. Delicious! Thank you for this recommendation.

Hooray for a great way to save money and time! And now I’m hungry for pizza. ;)

I really appreciate our discussion last week on switching from Teflon to cast iron and stainless steel! Today we’re going to talk about our bakeware.

A Safer Kitchen

Many cookie sheets and cake pans are made from aluminum. Unfortunately, this is not a safe option. Nor are the baking pans that have a teflon-like non stick coating. Here are safer alternatives that I’ve switched to through the years:

Glass

We all know how much I love my Pyrex. :) For casseroles and cakes, I use 9×13 Pyrex dishes. I love these so much!!!

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Stoneware

I love baking bread in stones. Not only are they safe, they make my bread turn out delish!

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Silicone Mats or Parchment Paper

I have several cookie sheets that are made from aluminum. They are in great shape, but I don’t like my food to touch aluminum. I’ve been using sheets of parchment paper to cover the pan, which works great – but even though I reuse the sheets a time or two, I don’t like using the paper.

I was very grateful when the folks at Healthy Cooking Products contacted me and sent me some of their silicone mats to try. This is a great solution, and a huge money saver. No more purchasing parchment paper! These mats are BPA free and can be used over and over and over. I lay them on top of my aluminum cookie sheets, and they protect my food. I am very excited about this solution!

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My dad and his wife gave me this super nice air bake pan for Christmas this year since they know how much I love to bake. I am so glad I can use it now with these easy mats. They wash up very nicely, then roll up to store.

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We made cookie dough balls last week to store in the freezer for a “cookie emergency.” My silicone mat fit perfectly on this cookie sheet. It does not get easier.

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I also used a mat on my aluminum pan this week to make homemade pizza. It worked great, and clean up was super easy!

I’m anxious to hear what you use for baking! Glass, stoneware, parchment on cookie sheets? I encourage you to look into these silicone mats. They are very reasonably priced and will be a big money saver since having them means you don’t have to use parchment paper.

This post contains affiliate links.

How To Care For Your Silicone Baking Mat

A Safer Kitchen ~ What to Do About Aluminum Bakeware (and a giveaway from Healthy Cooking Products!)