Mashed Taters the Artisan Way

This evening's dinner included mashed potatoes with cheddar cheese. For the first time, I used the Kitchen Aid mixer for making them. Other than a few lumps (which can actually make the potatoes upscale) I loved making them this way. Much easier than the potato ricer I bought earlier this year. That thing requires brute strength, but Artie does all the work while I just throw ingredients into the bowl. I'm not sure if the cheese made them a little stiff, but they tasted good. Probably could have used more milk or butter, but I was trying to go easy on the calories. Next time I'll use the whisk attachment instead of the heavier one, and see if that makes a difference. By the by, I made homemade BBQ sauce for the chicken, too, but Artie didn't help me with that...

Yummy Bread Pudding

Today the Artisan and I made an awesome bread pudding. Shown here shortly before it was devoured...

The wire whip attachment beat the 3 eggs to an airy fluffiness, then frothed up the 2 cups of milk added to them. A half a cup of sugar, 1/2 tsp of vanilla, a quarter teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of cinnamon completed the liquid portion of the pudding. Torn up stale white bread (about 6 or 7 slices) in a buttered 8x8 baking dish got soaked up with the mixture. I dotted the top with small bits of butter (ok, margarine, which I rarely use) and cinnamon sugar was sprinkled on for a lovely look. Then it was baked in a 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes. The smell in the house is almost as good as the flavor - makes you want to do this more often!

Spice Applesauce Cake

It's been a few days since my last post. Our youngest daughter went off to college 2 days ago. Now things are starting to get back to normal. Today I made a box mix (gasp!) cake with the shiny black kitchen power tool. It was a breeze - I didn't have to juggle scraping the bowl and holding the hand mixer. Just popped in the ingredients, turned the thing on, and went about preparing the cake pans. Haven't tried the cake yet, but it smelled heavenly coming out of the oven. One thing the Artisan doesn't do, and that is properly measure the water you add to the mix. We shall see if the error cost me flavor, or just made the cake more moist than it would have been.

Making Firecracker Egg Salad with the Artisan

This morning I used the heavy-duty, coated with something very durable (YES, not plastic!) beater attachment to make egg salad. You know, the 5Qt bowl just doesn't look that big straight out of the package, but it is huge when you put it into use. My 4 eggs, mayo, horseradish sauce and mustard barely covered the bottom of the bowl. But, to its credit, the Artisan mixed the ingredients smoothly with only 1 scrape of the bowl with the rubber spatula, mostly done to prove to myself that I AM still a vital part of the cooking process, not because I needed to. Impressive how the "Planetary" movement of the mixer really does get to all the stuff on the sides of the bowl. This machine is so cool! Why didn't I get one sooner? The salad, by the way, was so hot when I added a tsp of fresh minced jalapenos, that I quickly boiled 4 more eggs to dilute the heat. Then I remembered my Mom loves to add cream cheese, so I put in a third of a chunk of that. It's to die for! Want to come over for lunch?

Using the Mixer

Once the giddy excitement wore off yesterday, I composed myself and used the mixer for the first time. I christened it with cottage cheese and eggs and parsley for lasagna. I must say, it seems to be everything it claims to be in advertisements. I plan to use it daily for bicep and triceps improvement, as well as creating culinary delights. The Artisan is sturdy and you can tell it will last through anything I can do to it. Using the wire (not plastic, YES!) whisk attachment, the mixer effortlessly mixed the ingredients together while I stood there contemplating the issues of the day...

The lasagna, by the way, was fantastic! Couldn't reproduce it exactly if I had to, but it was a one hit wonder. Today, I'm doing egg salad. More on that later.

Finally, the UPS man came-eth!

Today while I was at the grocery store, I got a text message from my oldest daughter. It said "Guess what came today!" And there it was, a blurry picture of the unopened carton at the front door. Making sure not to speed, (anymore than usual), I drove home, unloaded the groceries, put them away, washed vegetables and fruit, then cooked chicken for tomorrow's dinner and Italian sausage for today's. Finally, I nonchalantly picked up the box and looked it over. Everything seemed to be in order: the carton was neither crushed or ripped open (good signs) and there were no peculiar rattles when I heaved it from the doorway to the kitchen table.

Where or where are you, UPS man?

Mixer didn't come yesterday. Glad I didn't pay big bucks for shipping!
I'll go to the grocery store and replenish my baking supplies today while I wait. That 6 cups of flour in the carrot cake I made Sunday left me a little short.

Waiting on the UPS man

I bought my first Kitchen Aid (Artisan 5Qt, Onyx Black) stand mixer on eBay last week. I've wanted one for a long time, but just never plopped down the bucks to get it. Then I found I could save a bundle by buying online. (I don't usually shop online - I guess I'm a dinosaur in that respect.)

So, we'll see if Mr. UPS man comes with my prize today. I hope so. I made a carrot cake yesterday without it, and I'm thinking it would have been more fun with the woman's power tool. It might have tasted better, too...

Check back to see how I like the mixer, and I'll share my experiences with you. Can't wait to use it!