Cascade and KitchenAid “Cooking Class with Stephanie Izard” Review

A few weeks ago I got the chance to attend an awesome event where not only did I have an awesome meal but I checked out some amazing products from Cascade and KitchenAid.  Who was our chef for the evening?  Well none other than Stephanie Izard from Top Chef Season 4 and most recently known for her Chicago restaurant “Girl and the Goat.”  Now I am not a cooking show watcher (they make me too hungry!) but I am not one to turn down a nice meal, especially one where its hands on because we all know I need all the help I can get in the kitchen!

The event was held at the World of Whirlpool (penthouse of clock building downtown) and it was a just a small group of us who mingled, cooked, and heard about how well Cascade works with Kitchen Aid appliances.

So we all took our seats around a kitchen counter with all the ingredients, a burner and kitchen utensils we would need.  Stephanie led the class, instructing us that we’d be making a recipe called “Artichoke Fideos with Fresh Mozzarella and Dill” from her cookbook “A Girl in the Kitchen.”  We cooked with an artichoke, which I’d say most of us had never cooked with (or seen fresh) before!  I volunteered Melisa from Suburban Scrawl to be our group’s chef and she did awesome!  After mixing up all the ingredients, we put them in little ramekins and off to the oven they went.

Hi Melisa!  Thanks for cooking!

So now your probably thinking “What does cooking Artichoke Fideos have to do with Cascade?”  Well, as you can imagine the dishes were quite dirty after we were done eating and cooking.

Cascade Complete ActionPacs are little pod-like packages that make it so you don’t have to pre-wash or soak dishes before loading them in them in the dishwasher.  Just scrape off the dish and load the dishwasher.  Luckily I have a relatively new KitchenAid dishwasher that rocks so combined with Cascade Complete ActionPacs my dishes come clean (the first time!)

Cascade Complete All-in-1 ActionPacs™ combines the best of powder and gel in one powerful pac to conquer tough food cleaning and greasy messes. It pre-treats, fights stains, and rinses away tough food particles; all while fighting through layers of residue and leaving nothing behind but shine.

Next we watched a video of Stephanie loading some pretty nasty dishes from her earlier cooking into the dishwasher and pulling out the dishes:  Clean!  I admit I would have hand washed those dishes, after pre-soaking them.  I should also add that the dishwasher was not overpacked so the few big dirty dishes did get the cleaning they deserved from the dishwasher.

Here is a quick picture showing a competitor pac in one glass of hot water and the Cascade Complete ActionPac in the other.  I will say I have tried competitor packages before and found them half-dissolved in my dishwasher.  It was amazing to see how fast the package completely dissolved and filled the glass with suds.

Like I said earlier this event was showing how well Cascade worked with KitchenAid, but of course Cascade Complete can be used in any brand dishwasher!  Anyways though we did get to see some amazing KitchenAid dishwashers with adjustable racks, ProScrub, culinary tool racks, silverware separator and many other cool features.  Yes I have one, and I love it!

Wall of Art!

Finally, we got a tour of the World of Whirlpool.  We saw some amazing products from Whirlpool and its family of brands.

The fridge is hidden to the left in the picture:

We ended the tour inside the clock tower which was so cool!

And here is our view from the balcony:

Overall, this was an amazing brand experience for me.  I felt we were entertained, educated and valued.  I didn’t feel pushed or overwhelmed with information.  It was an easy going night of dinner with friends, quick cleaning and checking out some neat products!

BUY IT:  Look for Cascade Complete ActionPacs at a store near you!

WIN IT:  (5) US winners will receive Cascade Complete ActionPacs and a bottle of Rinse Aid

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Mom and More Disclosure: I attended a media event and left with some goodies in exchange for sharing my thoughts and opinions. Please see my Disclosure Policy.