Kitchen Collection [15]

I get the impression that a lot of people think a Kitchen Aid stand mixer is kind of a luxury item. Given its cost, you don't really think you'll use it enough to justify buying one. I know I felt this way for many years.

But then I figured what the heck and bought one. It was a present for Ken, although I use it more than he does (yeah, one of those presents). That was nearly fifteen years ago and I've never regretted it. It comes in very handy for lots of things. First and foremost, it's the best egg-white beater ever. You just get 'em going and leave 'em till they're done.

I like to make pizza, and the mixer with its dough hook is tops for kneading. Anyone who's hand-kneaded bread dough will know what a chore that can be. The mixer takes the hard work out of the process and makes it much easier to say, "I think I'll make pizza today !" It does a good job of kneading home-made pasta dough, too.

Cake batters are a cinch in the mixer as well, especially thick ones like when I make zucchini bread. One year we got ourselves a grinder attachment that lets us grind meat and vegetables for a variety of recipes. I'm actually surprised at how often we use that.

And it's not hard to clean up. The shiny stainless bowl washes up in no time, and the parts go right into the dishwasher. No fuss, no muss. I've read in other blogs that these mixers last forever. Like I said, ours is nearly 15 years old. Since it's an American model, we were worried that we wouldn't be able to use it here in France due to the power differences. But I wasn't willing to give it up and we brought it along. Luckily we found ourselves a sizable power transformer for the kitchen (via the internet) and we can run our imported Kitchen Aid, espresso machine, and food processor just fine.

I'll bet there are a lot more uses for this appliance. What do you use it for ?