My Kitchenaid

So for a long time now I've been wanting a kitchenaid mixer... (really who doesn't want one?!)

Well this year with our tax refund Jordan said he really wanted to get me one. He was searching on Craigslist constantly trying to find the best kitchenaid mixer for me. The thing I love about my husband is that when he buys something he does his research about that item. He wants to make sure he's getting the best for his money. I really appreciate that about him. Anyways, he found one at a pawn shop and surprised me by taking me to the pawn shop to look at it. I ended up saying I didn't want that one because it was the professional grade mixer and I honestly didn't think I needed something that heavy duty. So it was back to Craigslist for another month or so. One Sunday afternoon while the kids and I were napping Jordan was secretly downstairs calling around and found me a mixer.

Not only is it a kitchenaid mixer, but it came with 2 attachment pieces: a food grinder and a shredder and slicer. The woman who owned it before me was very organized and had the receipt stapled to the owner's manual with the receipts of the attachments, which are in the original boxes.

Since becoming a stay at home mom I've really started learning how to bake and I've fallen in love! If I ever went back to work I would want to work at a bakery... not decorating, just baking. So I've really enjoyed using my stand mixer to bake. I've also found several other uses for my mixer such as: making pizza dough, shredding cheese, mashing potatoes and shredding carrots.

Side story: for my 23rd birthday I made a carrot cake from scratch and grated an entire bag of baby carrots by hand. It took me about an hour to do and my hand was very sore by the end of the hour. I made that carrot cake again probably about 3 or 4 times last year and each time had to grate the baby carrots by hand. Right after getting this mixer I made the same carrot cake but used my slicer/shredder and it took me a matter of minutes and it was completely painless. I'm telling you, this thing is Ah-mazing!

While we were still looking for mixers on craigslist I was beginning to wonder if I would really use a stand mixer THAT much... because they're not cheap and I didn't want to be wasting our money on something that sounds like a good idea. So I've been pleasantly surprised how often I really do find uses for it!