![]() ![]() It made the experience of making pasta for the first (and second) time fun, easy and enjoyable. I liked the convenience of the K-A one, with the ability to use it with the mixer to have the benefit of letting the machine do the work. A tabletop, hand-crank pasta machine like Cuisinart makes is a fraction of the price and works perfectly fine, too. Of course, there are less expensive alternatives. A dial on the right-hand side controls the thickness settings, from #1-the starting point-to #6-for really thin sheets. Each of them simply attaches to the front of the machine, then you start the mixer and go. The K-A pasta roller and cutter set that I got has three roller attachments: the flat roller for making pasta sheets, the thick pasta cutter for fettuccini or linguini, and the thin pasta cutter for spaghetti and angel hair. Along with the spiralizer, this renewed my faith in KA mixer attachments. The pasta maker, in contrast to the new-style food slicer, works exceptionally well. Some quarantine entertainment, plus learning something new? Sure, why not? I must have picked it up and put it back down fifty times or more at stores over the years.Įarlier this year, though, when I saw it on sale on the Best Buy website as a package deal with the new-style food slicer (although, it’s no wonder this one was essentially free…), I decided a little splurge wouldn’t hurt. Pasta roller and cutter set-The pasta roller and cutter was probably the “OG” KA attachment that I saw the TV chefs use and was fixated on buying. One of our favorite dinners to make is a quick peanut noodle salad: toss zucchini noodles with cooked linguini or rice noodles, shredded carrots, matchstick cut red peppers, scallions and peanut sauce (which you can make homemade or use a bottled one, if you’re in a hurry.) Sometimes we’ll add cubes of cooked tofu, shrimp or sliced chicken, too.ĭave and I bought the spiralizer attachment last year and get the most use out of this compared to any of the KA attachments we own. We also love combining them with cooked spaghetti, linguini or other long strands of pasta for a dish that is half-pasta and half-zucchini noodles-so it’s low carb but not zero carb-the best of both worlds. ![]() Zucchini noodles are of course known as “zoodles” to everyone except my mom, who calls them (and regular pasta) “zoozles.” They are now affectionately known to Dave and I, too, as “zoozles.” Whatever you call them, they’re a great side dish to make when sauteed with some garlic, butter, and fresh herbs like chopped parsley and basil. Thick and thin slicers come as part of the set, which are perfect for peeling apples for applesauce or a pie and making zucchini, carrot and other “noodles” out of veggies. It comes with a few different slicers and it’s much easier to use and of better quality than the one I had. This KA attachment is essentially the elevated version of that. It was mounted on a wooden stand and would wobble all over the place when trying to use it, no matter how much I tightened (and re-tightened, over and over again) it to the wooden stand. Spiralizer-I used to have an apple peeler, corer and slicer that was a pain to use. Based on my experiences, here is a quick run-down of the good, bad, and ugly of the KA mixer attachments to watch out for if you are doing any holiday shopping for yourself or friends and family members that love cooking. On the flip-side, I think some of the attachments for the KA mixer are gimmicky. I couldn’t tell you how many things I’ve made in it or hours I’ve put on it and it still runs great (knock wood.) It feels so strange to say that it has been “two decades” of using that machine. Since we have Dave’s KA mixer, mine is still at my mom’s house, but it has served me well over the last two decades. I don’t remember how I reacted to receiving the mixer for the holiday that year but to this day, it was probably one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. My mom said she picked it up from Macy’s, which I’m sure was at the height of the Christmas shopping rush, and lugged it through the store to her car. One year for Christmas, I think I may have been 8 or 9 years old, my grandparents, together with my mom, decided to buy me a stand mixer as a Christmas/birthday present. ![]() Growing up, the KitchenAid (KA) stand mixer was one of those kitchen “toys” that the chefs always had on the FoodTV Network (aka the Food Network, as we all know it.) Remember my story about how I used to religiously watch the FoodTV Network as a kid? (and still love to…) This is not a sponsored post or endorsement made in coordination with the brands or products mentioned here. ![]()
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