Tag: KitchenAid

What’s Your Colour: KitchenAid Stand Mixer Giveaway!

Although I love my ever-present, practical rice cooker, it definitely doesn’t help beautify my kitchen. And let’s be honest, most countertop appliances are designed for functionality, not for aesthetics.

The KitchenAid Stand Mixer is one exception. A staple in most kitchens (especially in those that see a lot of baking), the stand mixer commands attention, in a pretty, statuesque way. And now, with twenty-six shades to choose from, it’s a way to add a pop of colour all while easing your prep work.

While browsing through the options is one way to find your favourite, KitchenAid has come up with a fun way to determine which Artisan Series Stand Mixer colour is you. Just answer six questions at www.KitchenAidColourology.ca and your shade will be revealed!

I did the quiz and was a bit surprised at the answer: crystal blue (I think I was hoping for empire red, which is the shade my Mum has). My profile reads: “Sometimes you just need that little extra sparkle to brighten your surroundings. Crystal Blue is the bling you wear with your favourite outfit for a night on the town. It’s that “something blue” that will make your kitchen glisten with style.”  Hm, maybe it’s telling me that I need a bit of a kitchen makeover!

Regardless, KitchenAid has kindly allowed me to give away a KitchenAid Stand Mixer on my blog. To enter, simply take the quiz and comment (with a valid e-mail) on which colour is chosen for you. Entries will be accepted until 11:59pm on October 9, 2012. I will contact the randomly chosen winner by e-mail by October 11, 2012. Only Canadian residents can enter.

Good luck!

Giveaway: KitchenAid 13-Cup Food Processor

Watching an episode of Jaime’s Meals in Minutes last week reminded me just how versatile a food processor can be. Although I’ve used my processor to make chapatti dough and hummus, most of the time, I use it purely for one function: to blend soups. In a single episode, Jaime shredded celeriac and pear for a remoulade, whirled together a basil pesto, and shaved ice for a citrus and vanilla bean-scented granita. Given the holidays are fast approaching, it was great to see a demonstration of how useful one appliance can be in simplifying things for the busy cook.

It was a bit of a coincidence then that I actually have an opportunity to giveaway a food processor – KitchenAid just released a new 13-cup food processor, which retails for $399.99. It features:

  • KitchenAid Food ProcessorNew external adjustable, stainless steel slicing disc provides ultimate versatility
  • Dual shredding disc easily flips the disc from 2mm to 4mm to achieve ideal slicing thickness
  • Large 13-cup (2.75L) leak-proof work bowl, plus chef’s bowl and mini bowl
  • Ultra Wide Mouth Feed Tube™ adjusts to 3 different sizes to accommodate foods of varying sizes, including whole potatoes and cucumbers
  • 17 precise food processing options for speed-controlled slice, shred, chop & puree functions plus three maximized slice, shred and puree/chop blades and bonus dough, egg whip & Julienne blades
  • 4 speed-controlled functions

Here is one recipe that would be greatly simplified using this processor.

KitchenAid recipe

For your chance to win, simply leave a comment below with an answer to the following question: what is your favourite food processor function? Or, if you don’t currently have a food processor, how would you use it?

One comment per person, please, and you must live in Canada to receive this prize. The contest closes at 5pm on November 20, 2011. The winner will be selected using a random number generator.

Good luck, and thanks again to KitchenAid for this giveaway!

November 22, 2011 EDIT: Congratulations to Ashley (commenter #27) on winning the KitchenAid processor. Thanks to everyone for entering!

There’s a First Time for Everything: KitchenAid Pasta Maker

Last month, a marketing company promoting KitchenAid products contacted me to ask if I was interested in giving their Pasta Maker a try. Always up for experimentation, I said yes, and shortly after, received a large box with my name on it.

All smiles with my Pasta Kit

Mack laughed at me when I told him I expected a package tied up in a red bow with a label, “To: Sharon, Love: KitchenAid,” but it was a little like the Cooking Fairy had decided to pay me a visit. The Kit contained two stainless steel stand mixer attachments – a pasta roller and fettuccini pasta cutter – as well as a brush for cleaning and a slotted spoon and pasta server. Lastly, two boxes of Ecco La Pasta mixes were included to simplify initial attempts.

KitchenAid Pasta Kit

Contents

We started with the egg pasta dry mix, added water, and let the stand mixer do the work. Once the dough came together, I relied heavily on the manual, particularly because I needed as much guidance as possible, having never made pasta from scratch before. It wasn’t entirely clear to me how the lump of dough we now had in front of us should be divided to be fed into the pasta roller (better illustrations or pictures would have helped matters), but we eventually figured out that thicker clumps of dough yielded the desired yard of pasta that would eventually be cut into individual noodles.

Dough coming together

Mack working the pasta roller

Cutting the pasta into recognizable fettuccini noodles was the best part, gratifying the work we had done up until that point.

Go Mack go!

Making fettuccini

Finished noodles

I think we were surprised at how quickly everything came together. Even if we hadn’t used the pasta mix, it still wouldn’t have taken much longer, as the stand mixer does most of the grunt work. As with most store-bought products as well, we liked that the pasta maker would give us control over the ingredients used in the dough (I wonder how duck eggs would fare in pasta?).

We both acknowledged, however, that despite how straightforward it was, we likely wouldn’t put in the extra effort to make something that could easily be picked up at the store. That said, I’m eager to look for recipes that involve different colour or flavour additives to the pasta – something unique that would wow guests at a dinner party, or would somehow spice up a fairly mundane dish.

I’m looking forward to our future pasta experiments!