A Few of My Favorite Things: In the Kitchen

If you've been reading  Busy Hands Busy Minds for any length of time, you know we spend a lot of time in the kitchen.    Having a large family means that we also prepare large meals.  I thought I would share with you some of my favorite small appliances that make our food preparations a little bit easier.





My most favorite item that I would hate to do without would be my Bosch Universal Mixer.  We use the Bosch every. single. day!  It is definitely our most used small appliance.   Mixing and kneading bread dough, mixing cookie dough, blending up a batch of pesto or salsa, even mixing up a large batch of seasoned ground beef for meatloaves, our Bosch gets a daily workout for sure!  My Bosch is about 8-10 years old and doesn't look exactly like the one in the picture, but it still is going strong.  I have a special attachment that connects my Family Grain Mill to the Bosch. I don't use the grain mill as much, but it is an option.

I use my 15+ year old Vita Mix for grinding wheat quickly and for mixing up my homemade powdered laundry detergent.  I need to order a couple of new parts for it as it does leak from the spigot which is why I am not using it for anything liquid.  I have the Maxi 4000 model with is made from all stainless steel and was touted as the commercial version, but it is no longer available.  It is a workhorse!  Here is a link to the newest commercial  Vita Mix.

The next most used small appliance in my kitchen would have to be the newest as well.  We searched for the best quality food dehydrator we could find and decided on The Sausage Maker.  It has all stainless steel parts, no plastic, is easy to use and easy to clean up.  It sits on a small table in my kitchen and is ready to use whenever I get the urge to dehydrate something.  So far we have dried onions, carrots, sage, basil, mushrooms, bananas, thyme and more.  It has really been fun!

And last, but definitely not least are the slowcookers.  While I don't use a slowcooker everyday, you can be sure that we use one at least once a week.  Pictured above is my newest version and I really like it.  Big enough for one huge roast with vegetables or two smaller ones or even two whole chickens.  It makes cooking big meals for my family a breeze!

I think that's about all we use in the small appliance department at Busy Hands Busy Minds.  Using these appliances makes my life simpler in so many ways and enables me to prepare healthy and tasty meals for my family in no time at all.   Do you have a favorite small kitchen appliance?  Please share in the comments!

I am not an affiliate for any of the products highlighted in this post!