Kitchen Potterings

Hopefully now will be able to get back to more gentle pursuits and to everyday living and sorting things out.

I originally had a very good stand mixer which I used for over 40 years but it suddenly bit the dust a couple of years ago.  I seem to have had a lot of equipment go at the same time and have been without said equipment for quite some time. I am hopeful to be able to replace some of this as we move forward. 

About two years ago G bought me a cheapie replacement stand mixer, which has done the job but has not been a shade on high quality equipment I have enjoyed in the past. However, I was grateful for that too.   G has after a couple of years bought me as a treat, a very good stand mixer, the Kitchen Aid Artisan in Almond. I know a stand mixer is not everyone's idea of a treat, however it is the kind of treat that I actually love.  I like practical things.

(not my image on Harts of Stur website)

Disclaimer

I would just add that this post relates to an item that was bought by G for me and is not a promotion of any kind.  Just our personal view on this useful piece of equipment.

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I am very grateful for this lovely present and now hope to be able to get back into the baking a bit more. I have never had Kitchen Aid equipment before and so I am going to play quite a bit.  I am also hoping to add on some of the attachments as I go along.  

As bread is on the list, and a dough hook is provided, I am just about to start off another Sourdough starter to see if I can get any further along on the Sourdough making process than I did last time.  Wish me luck. More on that in later posts.  Fingers crossed and toes plaited.  I now have to remember to regularly feed the latest baby!

I must say that the Kitchen Aid Artisan stand mixer was beautifully packaged.  Mine has come from Harts of Stur.  I had noticed when I was researching the Internet that some of the cheaper machines do not have a lot of the basic items with them.  Some had only two or three attachments. I had seven attachments come with the machine as follows:

Stand Mixer itself;

4.8 Litre Large bowl for cake making etc.;

3 Litre Stainless steel Smaller bowl;

Pouring Shield;

Wire Whisk;

Dough hook;

Flat Beater (General beater) for cakes and pastry;

Scraper beater.

It also came with a free Mary Berry Digital set of scales which was a total surprise and which I also needed and it had batteries supplied with it as well.  Yay. To tell the truth I have ended up breaking others that I have had of the digital variety.  These are quite nice though.

Feeling extremely blessed to have this in the midst of the maelstrom of the last few days.  Hopefully things will now calm down moving forward and the claim made will progress smoothly.  I have written a post about the kerfuffle of yesterday in any event.  

As a result of the pressie, I have decided to do some baking for G.  He is a bit partial to Banana Bread. This will be one of the first things that I will make  As I had no Bananas in, I went round to the shop.  I was also out of SR Flour, needed some more sugar, and one or two other things.  

Whilst in the shop and not what I went around for, I located several bags of new potatoes reduced to 0:45 per bag.  I have therefore bought six bags which works out just below £3 for 4.5 kilos of new potatoes.  (6 bags x 750g). They are going to be water-bathed for the Pantry shelf. Before you use them they need to be heated for a minimum of 10 minutes at about 85 degrees C before using as they are.  They can be mashed, smashed or roasted, or equally can be added to stews and casseroles or just served as a side.  I am looking to preserve more food in this manner by using reductions where I can.  This way round I will be making the most of them and stocking my pantry shelves cheaply. Long term this will ensure that there is a ready food supply for my family, especially towards the end of the month when cash gets slightly strapped. I will later on hunt for some of my larger jars, and then prep the small baby potatoes probably as a project this evening. I need the kitchen a bit clearer before I attempt to do this.  If not tonight it will be tomorrow that the potatoes get tackled.  They will take about 90 minutes to water bathe.

In due course am also after Lemons for making Lemon Curd, Lemon Sugar and some Lemoncello and Lemon Marmalade as starters. I also want to start adding new jars of fermented honey and lemon to the Pantry shelf, thought would try and do a jar a week.  I love this used as a drink and have been going through it rather quickly.  As I predominantly have constant dry eyes and mouth from the Sjogren Syndrome I have found that this soothes my mouth a lot.  At the end of the day I will do a bit at a time as I can afford it, but these items I do find very useful for my Pantry shelf.  Especially the Lemon sugar for baking and cooking.  I use it a lot on pancakes.

I therefore am trying to utilise many different ways of stocking my Pantry going on alongside preserving etc.  I think I am going to work through these as projects led by any one particular ingredient.

I am also looking to create my own Pantry mixes again for the winter months.  Things such as a plain or chocolate pudding mix, ready made Pancake mix, Dumpling mix (dried ingredients only with a label on the outside of the packet indicating what else needs to be added). There are also some other cake mixes, a soup creamer mix and one or two other bits and bobs that I want to gather together.  They will be by necessity made up and put into Zip Lock bags as I do not have the room to store glass jars which would be my first choice at the moment.  I am hopeful that will change in the future.  Needs must however at the moment. I do need to get some smaller baskets that I can store these in, in the Pantry though.

As usual lots of plans zipping around my over-active mind tumbling over each other in an effort to escape the confines of my imagination into reality.

This month also need to get Christmas puddings and Christmas cake made.  There are also some other Pantry items that I want to have a go at as well.  Some very different items for the Pantry shelf in readiness for Christmas is on the cards. Not sure they will be my thing but want to try them and if not useful will not make again.  You have to find what works for you and your family on the taste front.

I have a lot of eggs at the moment which I intend to do some things with, mostly baking orientated but if I have enough vinegar may also be making some Pickled Eggs for the shelf.

Really feeling the loss of my veg shop.  Could not have happened at a worse time for them.  It was ideal for me to easily get too, and also carry items in bulk home.  Now I do not have too many options. Therefore another reason for putting some veg up on the Pantry shelf for my use.  Will see what turns up.  I will have a freezer soon in any event. I plant to store veg like peas in there, but I want to predominantly store meat in there buying meat for the month and storing it in there and gradually building up a decent fall back supply.  The one that would like  and which matches my fridge is out of stock at the moment.  Having a freezer again will help so much in every day life.

Right upwards and onwards.  I have quite a bit of playing around on the baking front to do.  Fingers crossed everything works out well.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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