Well, I am certainly not feeling my best today, having caught a head cold from my 19 month old. Anyway, I thought I would like to share with you all which kitchen appliances I could not live without. Well, I probably could live without them, but it would certainly make things more difficult!
1. Kitchenaid Mixer--This is probably my favorite kitchen appliance. Before I got my Kitchenaid I used a hand mixer. I admit that at the time I didn't know what I was missing, but to be able to pour in the ingredients and let the mixer do the work for you instead of having to hold the mixer over the bowl for ten minutes is so much better! One of the features I love the most is the dough hook, which allows the mixer to knead your homemade bread dough. You do have to keep an eye on it, as the dough tends to collect on the hook, but removing the dough from the hook so it can be properly kneaded is much easier than kneading by hand. I also mix up cookie dough, cake batter and lots of other goodies. There are also various attachments you can purchase separately, but these are kind of pricey. The only one we have is the meat grinder and even that we haven't used so much. But the mixer itself is a marvelous thing to have!
2. Crock Pot--Crock pots are very useful to have, especially if you have to be gone all day and want to come home to a hot meal! I really need to experiment with my crock pot more, but one my favorites to make is chili, slow cooked all day. Chili is one of those things that tastes better the longer it cooks, as is spaghetti sauce. My hubby likes the pot roast. Just put in the roast, some onions, carrots and potatoes and let it cook all day. Simple as that!
3. Rice Cooker--A rice cooker is great if, like me, you just can't get your rice to turn out right! I would always follow the directions carefully, and still my rice would turn out sticky and gummy. I'm not a huge rice fan (except for fried rice!), but my husband likes it, so we finally invested in an inexpensive rice cooker. My rice turns out a lot better now, with a lot less prep and watching. I hear you can also use these to steam veggies, but I have not tried that yet.
4. Chopper/Food Processor--We just have a very small, cheap food processor/chopper (I think we got it when we got married) but it is quite handy for chopping up onions and jalapenos or pureeing tomatoes for salsa. It is also a fantastic tool for grinding up your own baby food. Before our little one was eating "real" solid food, we would simply use the food processor to grind up some of whatever we were eating to give to her.
Well, these are some of the indispensable appliances you will find in my kitchen. I hope I have given you a few ideas that may help you in yours.
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