Today is my last mixer-free day for a while! I'm wondering what to do the days we're out of town during the challenge. It will probably be only one weekend, but I'm not in love with the idea of toting my mixer across state. Not like I'll be physically carrying it though, so it shouldn't be a big deal.
Tomorrow I plan to make an oatmeal loaf. Just in time too, because the 2 year old ate our last piece of bread with his supper.
January 31, 2011
January 28, 2011
Trepidatious Excitement
I've started menu planning the first few weeks of recipes, and I can barely wait to get started! I had trouble thinking up dinner last night because of all the new recipes swarming in my head.
I'm also a bit nervous because I was hoping to create something new each day. That's over 70 recipes! I've found a good number already, but I'm seeing that this challenge could become overwhelming very quickly. I just need to remember to focus only on a week at a time. Then it doesn't look so bad.
Just 4 more days!
I'm also a bit nervous because I was hoping to create something new each day. That's over 70 recipes! I've found a good number already, but I'm seeing that this challenge could become overwhelming very quickly. I just need to remember to focus only on a week at a time. Then it doesn't look so bad.
Just 4 more days!
January 27, 2011
Finding Recipes
For the sake of this challenge, I will only use/modify recipes that can be found for free on the web or that I've created. If this blog exists past the 3 month challenge, I may start using recipes from books, member websites, etc. By no means will I focus on recipes that can ONLY be accomplished with a stand mixer or KitchenAid. Many will be dishes that can be prepared quite easily by hand. In these cases I'm hoping to discover that the KitchenAid either adds ease to preparation (kneading bread) or depth to texture (whipped mashed potatoes).
My Sources:
My current favorite recipe website is allrecipes.com. If you have an idea of what dish sounds good, you can search by keyword. But you can also search by ingredients! This is great for using up leftovers. I also love the fact that you can sort your search results by rating. You're almost guaranteed a dinner-time win with this method.
Another of my favorites is Taste Spotting. This is a collection of artistic, scrumptious, and sometimes bizarre-looking recipe blog posts. It does have a search feature and it can be fun to select random display. My main complaint, if you could even call it that, is that it can quickly become overwhelming. In the course of 5 minutes, I've stumbled across 25 recipes that I wanted to try. I'll generally be missing at least one ingredient for each of them, and many are quite time-consuming. None-the-less I love spending time here. The photos are amazing and it whets my creative appetite (not to mention my physical one.)
I don't know if I'll have cause to use both a stand mixer and a crock-pot for one recipe, but if I do the recipe will most likely be from A Year of Slow Cooking. The linked yogurt recipe is one of my favorites. My 2 year old adores Airplane Yogurt (really just plain ole yogurt) and this is such an easy and affordable way to make it myself. Stephanie is one of the inspirations behind my mixer challenge, though I followed her blog for over a year before the idea occurred to me.
I'm sure I will find inspiration elsewhere, but these are definitely top 3 in my book. Regardless, I'll always cite a source for each post.
My current favorite recipe website is allrecipes.com. If you have an idea of what dish sounds good, you can search by keyword. But you can also search by ingredients! This is great for using up leftovers. I also love the fact that you can sort your search results by rating. You're almost guaranteed a dinner-time win with this method.
Another of my favorites is Taste Spotting. This is a collection of artistic, scrumptious, and sometimes bizarre-looking recipe blog posts. It does have a search feature and it can be fun to select random display. My main complaint, if you could even call it that, is that it can quickly become overwhelming. In the course of 5 minutes, I've stumbled across 25 recipes that I wanted to try. I'll generally be missing at least one ingredient for each of them, and many are quite time-consuming. None-the-less I love spending time here. The photos are amazing and it whets my creative appetite (not to mention my physical one.)
I don't know if I'll have cause to use both a stand mixer and a crock-pot for one recipe, but if I do the recipe will most likely be from A Year of Slow Cooking. The linked yogurt recipe is one of my favorites. My 2 year old adores Airplane Yogurt (really just plain ole yogurt) and this is such an easy and affordable way to make it myself. Stephanie is one of the inspirations behind my mixer challenge, though I followed her blog for over a year before the idea occurred to me.
I'm sure I will find inspiration elsewhere, but these are definitely top 3 in my book. Regardless, I'll always cite a source for each post.
January 26, 2011
The Challenge
Welcome, and thank you for joining me on this journey. The first thing you should know is, while I adore my KitchenAid, I'm not a mixer snob. Any sturdy stand-mixer should accomplish the same recipes. In fact, those of you with more patience and endurance than I have may even be able to create the same things with a good hand mixer.
Challenge:
From February 1 - April 30, 2011 I will use my KitchenAid mixer at least once daily each Monday-Saturday. I will create a blog-post (complete with pictures!) for each of my creations.
Main Goal:
I want to get more familiar/creative with my KitchenAid mixer without going over our monthly grocery budget. If I stick with this, I've promised myself some new attachments and maybe a new cookbook or two.
Underlying Goals:
- To create a free user-friendly collection of KitchenAid recipes (or recipes for any stand mixer really)
- To encourage my very picky 2 year old son to try more foods
- To become a better food photographer
- To become a more conversational writer. I would love to be able to incorporate my sense of humor (What's that? You can't tell I have one? Yeah...I know...dry post walking)
- To practice forming good habits by pushing myself to do something every day for a set amount of time
- To honor the Lord in keeping a weekly day of ceasing - http://urlm.in/guou
About me:
I am a Christian woman with two great kids and a husband who loves to eat. I work a part-time job and a pursue a new hobby/interest nearly every year. Oh, and I'm also working toward my bachelor's degree. Tired much? But aren't we all, and we still have to eat. Good thing I (mostly) love to cook. You can bet that most of what I make will be easy if not quick, tasty if not gourmet, and generally affordable.
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