KitchenAid® Stand Mixer Review

It’s important to have the meat very cold. The metal food grinder can be pre-chilled in the refrigerator or freezer to maintain a cold grinding temperature, while giving you a clean grind when preparing meat. Sometimes crushed ice is added when grinding meat for sausage. You can even grind beans and grains for homemade vege burgers. There is a larger food tray available which means you can process more ingredients in one batch. The Kitchen Aide people have thought of everything!

If you’re like me, storage is at a minimum in my kitchen. The KitchenAid® Metal Food Grinder is packed and organized inside its own storage case, and designed for easy storage and quick access. This makes it easy to pull out and use when the sausage making whim gets you. Make it a family affair, or get friends together for a sausage making party! Sausages freeze well.

Next up, is the pasta attachment. Personally, I think this is the most popular attachment.

You can make pasta in a jiffy, and there’s nothing like fresh pasta. It is delicious. I wouldn’t say it’s “better” than dried pasta, because that will always have a place in my pantry, but the texture and flavor is just delightful! Besides, it’s fun to get the kids in the kitchen and help make pasta. One of my fondest memories when  my kids were little was making pasta together.

You can go as simple as just getting the pasta roller, and cut the shapes yourself, or you can also include the pasta cutters from 1 to 5 different shapes. The deluxe model includes: (1) Pasta Roller, (1) Fettuccine Cutter, (1) Spaghetti Cutter, (1) Lasagnette Cutter, (1) Capellini Cutter, and it comes with a cleaning brush.

If you prefer macaroni shapes as opposed to spaghetti, there is a Gourmet Pasta Press that extrudes the dough to  create short macaroni shapes. Great for the kids! Don’t forget the ravioli maker, crank out homemade, healthy ravioli in no time! Just make your pasta, roll the sheets, make your filling, place pasta on roller, add filling to hopper, and crank away. Make extra and freeze it for busy nights.

One of the newer attachments is the spiralizer. I love spiralized veges. Vege noodles are my new jam, favorites being sweet potato, butternut squash, zucchini and summer squash! I keep some in my fridge to toss in a salad or to make supper super easy when I come home tired after work. This works easily and clean up is a breeze, just rinse and store. One of my favorite Go To Recipes relies on sausage and spiralized veges!

Also available is a vegetable sheet cutter, where you can cut veges into sheets similar to lasagna and make your own low carb lasagnas and manicotti. Your family will love it! Just think of your next pot luck, what will you bring?

While we’re on the subject of vegetables, you can get a slicer/shredder attachment, as well as a food processor. If you like to make your own applesauce or tomato sauce, a food strainer  available also that removes seed and peels without boiling and skinning first! This sure takes the work out of end of summer processing produce.

The food processor attachment, I feel is a bit redundant and just a fancier version of the slicer/shredder attachment. I have a free-standing food processor that I love and I use it for shredding as well as mixing. This attachment also does not allow for mixing or chopping, such as making a Sofrito. So for the cost, I would just stick to the slicer/shredder attachment.

There is a juicer attachment that I will only quickly mention because I am not a fan of juicing. Nutritionally, I prefer to have the whole fruit or veg, therefore, I make whole produce smoothies. They are more nutritious and provide all the fiber and nutrients.

Moving on to dessert!

Of course you can mix cake, cookie, bread batter and just about anything you need to mix. The powerful motor in the KitchenAid® Mixer will mix anything thick or thin. It whips egg whites for your chiffon pies and meringues in no time. Making bread dough is a breeze as it kneads the dough as well as mixing, thus taking a lot of the hard work out of making home made bread! The mixer comes with a ceramic dough hook that is fantastic!

All the mixing attachments are dishwasher safe.

Overall, this is the only stand mixer that you should buy. It’s held up to the test of time, and  the attachments allow you to create wholesome foods for your family quickly. this appliance deserves a place center front in anyone’s kitchen who loves to cook creative meals. You can choose from a full array of  colorful electric stand mixers including Artisan®  Mini, Artisan® Tilt-Head stand mixer and bowl lift stand mixer models. KitchenAid® also offers hand mixers which I find come in handy for quick mixes and if you don’t have much kitchen space.