#ThePhatMat Non-Stick Cooking Mat #Review

     My husband won't eat vegetables, unless it's a potato or sweet potato.  He won't eat rice or most noodles if they're not elbow macaroni.  He won't eat sauces that have too many herb looking pieces, or is flavored to taste like veggies.  He won't eat bread with any kind of seedy toppings, or really any bread that's not white or split top wheat, this goes for wraps, etc.  Though he will eat English muffins.  He won't eat seafood, unless it's haddock or scallops.  He won't eat actual tomato sauce, it's got to be tomato soup.  He won't eat most fruits, unless cooked to be soft.  Cooking a meal that he will like outside of chop-suey or fish sticks and tater tots is HARD.  And believe me, we've had out share of hot dogs, french fries, and the like.

     Recently he has started to make sandwiches for himself if he doesn't like dinner.  That change has been such an enormous relief for me.  It's so nice to know that I won't be making a second meal or cooking mac and cheese with hamburg again.  To be honest, through all the years that I have been stressed over what to make, I have really lost my love of cooking.  I used to experiment, I had motivation to try new things and I loved it.  It;s not all mu husband, part of it was just being worn out from the kids... but now that sandwiches are in the picture, I see a pretty bright future ahead of us.

     I'm going to really try to get myself more familiar with vegetables.  It's helping that my sister is introducing me to all these cool ideas, like roasting.  Roasting veggies..?  Who knew!?  Nah, I kid, sorta.  Last night she made up some roasted zucchini, squash, and peppers using my new Phat Mat cooking mat.  It saves your food from unnecessary oils and sprays.  It also saves from having to buy parchment paper all the time.  So it's a healthy and budget friendly option, sweet!

     The mat measures 11 1/2" x 16 1/2" and fits perfectly in my large sized baking sheet.  It's completely non-stick and the box says that it's microwave, oven, dishwasher, and freezer safe.  Interestingly, the paper insert that came with it advises very strongly against putting it into the dishwasher... ever.  So I guess I wouldn't do that if I were you.  However, the paper insert does say it's refrigerator safe as well and I think that's what they meant for the box to say.

     I was expecting the mat to be kind of like my flexible cutting boards, but it wasn't.  It was very flexible, though that super helpful insert did say to never bend it, only roll it.  I read it after taking this photo.  Point is, it's really forgiving.  The mat is made of a fiberglass mesh that is coated in food grade and BPA-free silicon.  It's FDA Approved as well.

     I actually did find more than one inconsistency in directions on how to use the mat though.  Besides that dishwasher thing, there was also a couple instructions on the insert that I thought contradicted each other.  They are:

• Your PhatMat can be used as a dough kneading mat or pastry mat.
• Never use grease, non-stick sprays or flour on your PhatMat.

     Maybe it's because I've taken a long hiatus from cooking and I don't know what I'm talking about.  But I'm pretty sure that pastry making deals with flour a LOT.  So that struck me as weird.

     But anyways, the mat is safe to use in temperatures ranging from -40 - 480 degrees Fahrenheit.  So there's not likely to be a time when you can misuse it as far as temperatures go.  When we used it, the vgetables didn't stick to anything and they tastes awesome without being greasy or saucy.  It's official, I love it!

     How do you like your vegetables best?

     To learn more, check out PhatMat in Facebook and their website coming soon), also check out Brijtek LLC on Amazon.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.