Appliance Junkie

In my quest for domestication, I've taken to creating more things at home.  For example, I'm trying to cook a lot more from scratch now.  I have been reading a ton about healthy eating and how what we eat really affects us, so I'm trying to feed my family healthier.  Or healthy-ish.  Or just better.  This means making many items at home instead of buying from the store.

The first major appliance I bought was a crockpot.  I had a small one that had been a wedding gift, but I wanted something larger.  Plus, I had prepped all of those crockpot meals for when Flower came and I needed a crockpot large enough to cook them in.  I shopped around and found a Hamilton Beach 6.5 (I think) quart crockpot.  I have definitely gotten my money's worth out of it, and plan on using it until it dies.  It's a good size, easy to clean, and easy to use.

My brother gifted me a little Ninja food processor, and I absolutely love it.  I think I use it practically every day.  It's a great size, easy to clean, and chops wonderfully.  Plus, Princess loves to help me use it by pressing the lever to make it chop.  

The next appliance I bought was an ice cream maker.  Due to my dairy strike (Flower's little intestines were irritated when I would eat dairy and she would have blood in her diaper, poor thing), I really wanted ice cream.  However the soy and coconut milk ice creams that I found were limited in flavors and a lot more expensive than I had anticipated.  Thus I came up with the brilliant idea to make my own non-dairy ice creams.

After trying to make a batch of ice cream using the baggie method (Google it), I gave in and bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker.  Princess and I have fun making different batches of ice cream depending on what we have on hand.  I think I may  have gotten carried away, though.  I have about a gallon of ice cream in a variety of flavors in my freezer right now that needs to be eaten.

The next item I want is a bread maker.  Supposedly bread is super easy to make.  I know I've made bread in the past before without a breadmaker, but I think those make it a little easier.  How cool would it be to create my own bread every few days.  I can smell it now, rosemary herb wafting in the air as the dough rises....

I also want a juicer.  Apparently juicing is totally in right now.  Or maybe it's on the out and I'm behind in the times.  Whatever.  I'm concerned about the amount of vegetables Princess is eating (like none), but I know she loves juice.  I make smoothies a lot now, but Princess doesn't always drink them with me.  I don't think she likes the texture. Plus, how fun would it be to say, "My baby drinks homemade apple juice."  Ha. 

Add to my list a stand-up mixer.  Hello, homemade pasta!  And more cookies. And mashed potatoes.  And mashed cauliflower.   (Although I tried it one time and no way did it resemble mashed potatoes.  Need to revamp and try again.  Perhaps the stand up mixer is the secret).

That's it for now.  Goodbye counter space.