Finally something for us singles!

I first purchased this model as a gift for my mother. Her oven on her stove is problematic, and, since the top works fine, and she seldom cooks, I contemplated getting her a nicer toaster oven, in lieu of a new stove. In addition, my teen-age nieces are often at their grandma's so a nice toaster oven would be easy and safer for them to use. After reading all of the reviews on this model, I went ahead and got it for her. As I suspected, she doesn't use it a ton, but dear nieces do, and I at least know I have something to use when I come home to visit.

However, I was so impressed with the reviews, and the oven, that I decided to upgrade my little Black and Decker TOB. It just wasn't big enough to make a nice meal for myself. Being single, it is a drag to turn on the big oven, and heat the entire apartment in the process, in Hotlanta no less. I sometimes like to keep fish sticks and frozen french fries on hand for quick meals.

Well, Amazon.com gave me my excuse to buy this machine. They had a special with 25$ off, no tax, no shipping, so got it cheaper than my mom's. Truth be told, I am a KitchenAid girl, but I do have a Cuisinart ice cream maker that I got as 5 year anniversary at work, it is nice, so I thought one more Cuisinart won't tarnish my KA reputation. Shipping was fast and reliable, as always from Amazon.

I couldn't wait to try her out! So, since I had a craving for Mexican, I decided to cook up some burritos.

Recipe:

1 pound boneless and skinless chicken breasts
1 small jar of your favorite salsa
1 small can of green chilis
1 can of green chili sauce
8-12 oz your favorite Mexican cheese mixture
10-12" flour tortillas
Sour cream
lettuce

Season the chicken with salt/pepper/chipotle pepper
Poach the chicken in a large skillet in 1-2 cups of salsa on medium-low for about 25 minutes. (If you get the cut up tenderloins you can reduce it to 20 minutes.)

Remove the cooked chicken from pan, but don't throw away the remaining salsa. Wait until chicken is cool enough to handle and shred with a fork, or your fingers. Mix it back in with the salsa, add the green chilis, and more salsa until it is thoroughly mixed and moist.

Put about 1/4 cup of mixture in middle of tortilla and sprinkle with one palm full of cheese. Fold tortilla.

You should be able to get about 6 burritos, but you can just make up one for now, or two, since we are using our TOB!

Lay the burritos on the broiler pan (lined with teflon Reynolds Wrap for ease of cleaning) with the open side down. Spoon several tablespoons of chili sauce over, then another large palm full of cheese.

Now, back to the oven, this was my first time, with no real recipe, so I did it a bit hot. Set your oven to 350 convection. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown and cheese melted. Top with sour cream and lettuce.

YUMMY!

The TOB cooked the burritos beautifully, the outside didn't get too hot to touch, the oven did not emit a lot of heat, and it cooled down fast. I set the rack on A and it was perfect.

Pros:

- The user-interface is very intuitive. I didn't even need to get the manual out to figure things out.

- Love that it beeps to let you know it is preheated.

- The outside didn't get overly warm, that I noticed, or emit a lot of heat.

- Much easier to use than oven, and no bending down, burning yourself on oven racks getting stuff out of the oven. (Great if you have a bad back.)

Cons:

- Price - Let's not kid ourselves, it is a bit pricey.

- Crumb tray loads from the back. This was poor design. Why have to move the entire thing around to take out and clean it? I did order a silicone type liner from Amazon so hope that will help get it clean.


So, so far, I am thrilled with the TOB. It does take up a bit more real estate on the counter, plus keeping it 2" away from the wall. But, being single, I really appreciate the thought that went into making this small oven to make small meals.

Now I just can't wait to find more pans to fit it!