When I was asked to give the new K’Nex Dueling Racers a try and to blog about our opinion on them, I couldn’t turn it down. The boys in this house (including my husband) are all about building stuff. Legos, K’Nex, Tinker Toys — you name it, we’ve built it. And building stuff with motors sounded like an extra bonus.

The Dueling Racers set comes with instructions to build four different motorized vehicles. There are enough pieces to build two cars at the same time and have them race each other (thus, the dueling). It runs for about $21 on Amazon.

I don’t think the box was in our house for more than a few hours before someone had opened it and started building. [Hint: That someone is over the age of 20, so it wasn't one of the kids. And it wasn't me.] As soon as C. saw what was going on, he grabbed the other instruction book and started building, too. I really like that about this set — the fact that there are 2 instruction books. That way, two people can get building right away without having to wait for their turn with the instructions.

The instructions were clear and easy to follow, so the cars were assembled quickly. C.’s official opinion about the four car designs was that “They’re very cool.” He also liked the fact that the cars had motors. It’s one thing to build a car and push it around; it’s quite another to be able to flip a switch and send it racing down the hall to traumatize the cat.

The only thing we had trouble with is that some of the Lego-like pieces did not stay together very well, which caused frustration whenever the car would run into a wall and a piece would fall off. We ended up just permanently removing that part. However, we only ran into this problem with one car design, so it’s easy to avoid.

Overall, we’ve had lots of fun with these dueling racers. C. would recommend them to anyone who “has a thing for cars and for the satisfaction of speed.” His words.

I think of myself as a baker. I enjoy whipping up a batch of Banana Bread, I make a pretty delicious Chocolate Mint Dessert, and I’m always up for trying out a new muffin or quick bread recipe.

But when it comes to cooking — as in, using the top part of my stove… well, I do it, and I don’t mind it. But it just doesn’t come as easily or naturally.

Take vegetables, for example. While I could, at this very moment, recite for you all the ingredients and instructions for Coffee House Cornbread Muffins and/or Banana Chocolate Chip Bread, I cannot tell you how long to cook broccoli on the stove. I don’t know why, but basic things like that escape me. I prefer to make my family fresh vegetables, but because it always feels like a hassle (I have to dig out my cookbook or my handy reference pages to check cooking times, etc.), I usually resort to frozen or canned veggies. They’re easy, and they usually have instructions on the bag/can.

But the nice folks from GLAD recently sent me some of their nifty new Microwave Steaming Bags, which, it would appear, were made especially for people like me. They are so easy to use: cut up your veggies, stick them in the bag, seal the bag (just like a regular plastic storage bag), consult the information on the bag itself for cooking times, and stick it in the microwave. Minutes later: voila! Steamed fresh veggies. Perfect.

The veggies come out just right every time: flavorful, retaining their natural colors (unlike sad-looking green vegetables that might result from other cooking methods), nutritious. In the past, I’ve been known to end up with overly-mushy and not-so-yummy broccoli when I’ve been temporarily distracted from a boiling pot by, for example, a child who is trying to destroy the living room. But mushy broccoli is no longer an occurrence around here.

But my favorite part of these bags is the information — right on the bag, did I mention that? — that tells me how long to microwave my veggie of choice. No more trying to remember, no more digging out a cookbook.

The only down-side is that the bags are not huge, so they wouldn’t be practical for a large family. But for our group of four, they’re perfect.

Oh, and the directions say to let the bag sit for a little while before opening, because it’s very, very hot. I’d suggest you obey that rule. Just sayin’.

If you look at GLAD’s site, you’ll also see they have a link to a downloadable recipe book that tells you all kinds of things you can steam up in these bags — far beyond my simple steamed broccoli. You can make Ranch Potatoes, Ginger Lime Fish Fillets, even Shrimp Scampi.