A stand mixer can help you to produce amazing baked goods that would be highly labor-intensive to make by hand. Not many people want to whip eggs up into a meringue, unaided by technology. But to be honest, not many people will want to whip up a meringue on a weeknight anyway, and most people have things they’d rather do on the weekend as well.
The stand mixer can certainly enrich your life by making it possible to create lovely breads and pastries for special occasions, but does it actually simplify the creation of more basic everyday meals? Does it really deserve its place on the kitchen counter or should it be packed away to come out only on special occasions?
And are sugary, carb-rich recipes the only ones it’s good for?
Soups
If you dislike wasting good food, a KitchenAid mixer can really come into its own for creating soups from vegetables that you might discard otherwise. Everything from cabbages to beans to squash can be simmered until tender and processed, to create the base for a soup. Liven it up with herbs and spices, maybe a squeeze of lemon, and if necessary, cheat by intensifying the flavor with a stock cube. Add a dash of milk, cream or yogurt at the end.
Homemade soup may count as an enrichment of life as opposed to a simplification, but it’s unbelievably easy with a mixer. It’s a great alternative for lunch and much more satisfying than a sandwich. Take it to work in a thermos. Any that’s left over after a couple of days can be substituted for the usual boring canned tomatoes as the basis for a pasta sauce.
Smoothies
Smoothies are to fruit what soups are to vegetables. Making a breakfast smoothie is a good, healthy, energizing start to the day, and it’s a lot easier with a mixer.
Grated vegetables
Grating veggies with a hand held grater is a laborious business, and if you want a substantial amount in a hurry, you can end up grating your knuckles as well. Using the grating attachment on a mixer means that you can get a pile of grated vegetables effortlessly. They can be used to thicken sauces and soups, or raw in salads and sandwiches. Grated vegetables are a staple of cooking, extremely healthy and useful every day.
Soups, smoothies and grated vegetables can be produced without a stand mixer, but they are a lot easier to make if you have one ready for action on the counter.
Recipes that are recommended for stand mixers tend to be the ones that you would never think of making without a mixer, and they can be great. Home-made bread and pasta are very different from what you buy in stores, particularly if you don’t live in a sophisticated city neighborhood. If you live in a town where sliced, factory-produced bread is the only kind on offer in the stores, you could make bread-making into a daily or weekly routine with the help of a stand mixer.
Even if you are happy with store-bought bread and pasta, a mixer on the counter is still a great thing. Plain, everyday home-made soups, salads and smoothies can be a constant feature of your life with minimal effort. And mixers look absolutely beautiful!
Diana Cash earns a living through catering and understands how to get the best out of your kitchen facilities and appliances. She likes to share her ideas online and writes for several home and food websites.
