I Tried Living off Nothing but Food Made in a Kitchenaid for a Week

I’m going to preface this by disclosing that I am a lazy chef. I’m also someone who loves a kitchen gadget, from microwave egg poachers to automatic stirrers and garlic presses, I love them all. But one thing I haven’t invested in yet is a good quality stand mixer, which is why when I laid eyes on the KitchenAid Blossom, I knew I had to have it.

When it arrived on my doorstep, I immediately began to picture all of the delicious baked goods I’d be able to make, sans the arm workout. Instead of creating firm peaks for meringues by hand mixing (a true chore), I’d be able to get them done in five minutes rather than thirty. But as someone who doesn’t bake that often, I wondered what else I could use my KitchenAid mixer to whip up.

To put the KitchenAid Blossom to the true test, I planned a food diary of meals I could make using the assistance of this stand mixer. While none of these recipes strictly require a stand mixer, part of the fun was finding out how much more efficient a KitchenAid could be than my own arm.

Saturday

Breakfast – Banana pancakes

Yes, we’re kicking this food diary off on a Saturday. Pancakes are a classic and something I’m inclined to whip up every so often on the weekend after a sleep in. It feels a little extra whipping out the stand mixer, but it’s just so gorgeous – how could I not?

I followed Taste’s three-ingredient banana pancakes recipe and instead of mashing the bananas with a fork like I usually do, I decided to peel two of them and toss them into the mixer with the flat beater attachment. This mushed them to perfection before I needed to add the two other ingredients: eggs and self-raising flour.

I did notice that the flour poofed upwards once I turned on the mixer, so I did have to use my wooden spoon to roll the batter around the bowl afterwards to get the flour that was stuck to the sides. Nevertheless, the pancakes were delicious and clean-up was much less of a chore since I only needed one bowl.

Lunch – Asparagus thyme tart

This recipe took me a Very Long Time. I haven’t made my own pie crust in a hot minute (read: about eight years), so I completely forgot that there’s a lot of resting involved and it’s not for me. It’s a good thing I started making this at 11am, so I could try to accelerate the DIY dough process.

Although, I did have to wait until 3pm to eat lunch. That was my fault though. I used all of my leftover flour to make the dough and got the consistency wrong, so I had to run to the shops to start again.

To mix the pie crust, I used the flat beater before I swapped over to the whisk attachment to combine the egg mixture. I will note that it’s very easy to over-mix the crust with this recipe, so it’s not a bad idea to blend it together with a wooden spoon instead. And use very cold butter – it’s the most crucial aspect.

After I finally got to put it together, I did accidentally leave it a fraction too long in the oven, so part of the top ended up a little burnt. But it still turned out delicious. My partner is a big quiche/tart guy and he kept going back for seconds, so I think that should reassure you of how tasty it is.

Dinner – Zoodles Alfredo

I’ve heard a lot about how zoodles are a low-carb option if you want to enjoy a hearty pasta. I wanted to try the dish since it was a great opportunity to use the vegetable sheet cutter attachment that I was gifted alongside the KitchenAid Blossom stand mixer.

While there is an actual spirallizer attachment (sold separately), you can still make do with the sheet cutter. There are two sizes so you can make thick or thin vegetable sheets and cater it to whatever you’re preparing. I chose to work with the thicker attachment to slice six zucchinis. It was a little complicated to work out how to use the sheet cutter at first (I had to look up a YouTube tutorial) plus the zucchinis need to be under a specific length and even shape to cut properly. Ideally, you should look for shorter ones with a straight shape.

Once you work out how to fit them, it only takes a matter of seconds to cut your zucchini, but it does make quite a mess when swapping them around. You also end up with these cylindrical zucchini sticks afterwards since it doesn’t use the entire vegetable. Instead of wasting them, I put them aside so I could make zucchini fritters in a few days.

I made this keto-friendly zoodles recipe with bacon and alfredo sauce from Delish. I had to improvise since my zucchini was cut into sheets instead of noodles, so I stacked them on top of each other before slicing them into noodle-like strips. Its flatness resembled fettuccine pasta.

Once your zoodles are cooked and ready, you can just make the sauce, stir them in and voila. While it’s not carby pasta dish, I was still impressed with how well it turned out. Even if it didn’t look as creamy or pretty as your regular bowl of pasta would.

Sunday

Breakfast – Scrambled eggs on toast

Because I didn’t use a deep baking dish for the asparagus tart, I ended up having some leftover egg custard filling. It’s almost scrambled eggs (eggs and thickened cream with some salt and pepper), so I toasted some multigrain bread for my partner and I then drizzled peri peri mayo all over it. Bon appetit.

Lunch – Thyme and asparagus tart (again)

We had plenty of leftover tart so I just served it again today with some side salad (not pictured) to help fill us up.

Dinner – Shredded chicken tacos

I’ve heard from somewhere that you can shred chicken in a stand mixer, but I’ve never quite believed it. You mean to tell me I’m just going to dump four cooked chicken breasts in the bowl and it’s going to magically shred them to pieces? Okay, sure.

For this assignment, I fixed my flat beater attachment to the KitchenAid and prayed to the culinary gods that a lump of chicken wouldn’t fly out at my head.

Ladies and gentlemen, the damn thing works. I’m so impressed. Here I was, shredding chicken with my hands like a peasant. It’s genius. I will note that if you’re looking for coarse cut up pieces of chicken, you’ll have to stop the thing early otherwise it’ll mush it up a little too well.

I added some taco mix seasoning, chopped up all the toppings I needed to go with my tacos and done!

Monday

Breakfast – Scrambled eggs on toast (again)

Okay, I didn’t have any more leftover scrambled eggs this time. That probably would’ve been a food poisoning risk. Usually, I make scrambled eggs with a whisk in a bowl but I thought I might as well just see if the KitchenAid makes a difference now that we’re back to using milk, instead of thickened cream.

The result? The scrambled eggs mix was much more frothy than when I usually do it but it didn’t really affect the taste or texture. Now that I think about it, it feels a little extra to make it in the mixer, but it’s the same amount of dishes minus the arm workout.

Lunch – Thyme and asparagus tart (again)

Huzzah, I love leftovers. This thyme and asparagus tart is (unsurprisingly) still delicious. My boyfriend really enjoyed it and he even told me today that I did a good job with the pie crust, despite the fact that I rushed it. Success.

Dinner – Shredded chicken tacos (again)

We had plenty of leftover shredded chicken and toppings from yesterday, so I ducked into the shops after work to pick up a few extra taco shells. A very easy dinner for me today. Today’s food diary was boring, since it was all leftovers.

Tuesday

Breakfast – Scrambled eggs on toast (again)

By now, my boyfriend has tapped out of scrambled eggs on toast. But in his defence, he doesn’t like the stuff as much as I do. If you couldn’t tell, I love mine with a bit of salt and pepper but drowned in peri peri mayo. It’s the only way.

Lunch – Cucumber sushi rolls

I saw this recipe on TikTok and thought it looked easy enough! The guy in the video used a vegetable peeler to progressively pull sheets of cucumber off to create the seaweed you’re meant to roll it in. But I thought, “Hey, what’s a vegetable sheet cutter for?”

Once I’d shaved through about six cucumbers, I layered them on top of each other before smearing spreadable cream cheese over them. It was very difficult and messy, but I persisted. Then I piled on some smoked salmon and began to roll them with my bamboo sushi-making mat. It stuck together surprisingly well thanks to the cream cheese. Slicing the cucumber sushi roll was another trial and tribulation, but we did it, folks.

The end result? Bloody delicious. A great low carb lunch if that’s what you’re into. I know my photos make it look a little sad, but I promise you it’s worth it.

Dinner – Shredded chicken and mashed potatoes

At this point, I’m running out of ideas for dinner and for some reason I thought let’s just make more shredded chicken. It ended up being a good opportunity for me to test making mashed potatoes with a stand mixer, since I’ve heard it’s an effective way to make creamy mash.

The mashed potatoes ended up being a swing and a miss. It was most likely a “me problem”, given that I may not have boiled the potatoes long enough. After rinsing out my copper bowl and the attachment, I threw in the boiled potatoes, the butter and milk.

It was… a bit of a disaster. I started it on a low speed but the potatoes immediately splashed everywhere and escaped the bowl (they were cut up too, mind you). I had to quickly throw the hot potatoes back in the bowl while burning my precious fingers.

The stand mixer couldn’t really reach everything in the bowl, especially when pieces started to cling to the sides. I did use a spatula to push the strays back down, but it resulted in clumpy mashed potatoes. Insert very sad face here. I ended up mashing the last few parts myself.

Wednesday

Breakfast – Scrambled eggs on toast (again)

Am I sick of them yet? No, absolutely not. But you probably are.

Lunch – Cucumber sushi rolls

I ended up dashing to the store on Tuesday night and buying more cucumbers to try again. It was still hard, but I managed to recreate the delicious low-carb lunch  and take them to the office for work. Go me.

Dinner – TikTok-famous sushi bake

You’re probably thinking “how did you make sushi with a KitchenAid stand mixer?” Funny, you ask! One of my best friends had a hens weekend coming up in another week and her maid of honour asked each guest to supply one potluck dish.

Since I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time, I decided to whip up this easy looking sushi bake I saw on TikTok as a practice run. To make it, all you need is sushi rice, rice wine vinegar, furikake seasoning, kewpie mayo and imitation crab.

Most of the videos I’d watched showed the chef peeling apart the crab sticks like string cheese before cutting them up in a bowl. I literally looked over at my KitchenAid on the counter and said, “Screw that”. Cut to me throwing about 500 grams of imitation crab sticks into the mixer and turning it on. It actually worked a treat!

I removed the stainless steel bowl afterwards and mixed in the kewpie mayo before spreading it over the cooked rice in my baking dish. Then, I just threw it into the oven for 15mins at 180C and donezo.

Out of all the dishes I’ve made during this challenge, this is 100% my favourite. Plus, this recipe makes so much that I had lunch ready for the next day!

Thursday

Breakfast – Scrambled eggs on toast (again)

I am at a loss for what other breakfast foods I could have with the amount of time I have in the mornings. Today I have to head into work and I’m not keen to handwash the copper bowl afterwards, so it might need to be a rinse and soak job today.

I did a very speedy scrambled eggs on toast, threw in some spinach as an afterthought and overcooked it a little bit because I was trying to multi-task by making a coffee.

Lunch – TikTok-famous sushi bake

I took a big scoop out of this dish in the morning, sealed it into a container and made a dash for my train into work.

Dinner – Vegetarian Lasagna

The last thing I want to do after a full day in the office is cook a meal from scratch, but here we are. I discovered that you can make a vegetarian lasagna using zucchini instead of pasta for the sheets to make it a low-carb option. At this point, I’m not trying to follow a low-carb diet, but when you own a vegetable sheet cutter then why not?

I followed a rendition of this Yummly recipe to make it. Mine looks nothing like the photo, but oh man, does it hit the spot. My brother-in-law was visiting tonight too and he was stoked when I whipped this out. The recipe does call for a hint of chili flakes but being the chaotic creature that I am I definitely added more than I was supposed to.

Friday

Breakfast – Banana pancakes (again)

I don’t usually make pancakes on a Friday, but since we’re at the end of this challenge and I’m a little over scrambled eggs on toast, I decided to make another round of banana pancakes. Unless I decide to eat cereal out of the copper mixing bowl, but that would be cheating.

The KitchenAid Blossom takes all of the effort out of mixing the ingredients together. Like when I was making scrambled egg, this feels a little extra, but maybe I wouldn’t think that if I were catering to more mouths than my own.

Lunch – TikTok-famous sushi bake ( again)

We’ll be working through this for a few more days for sure.

Dinner – Vegetarian Lasagna

I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of eating this lasagna. Even though the layers are made out of zucchini, it’s still extremely filling. Highly recommend.

My thoughts on the KitchenAid Blossom stand mixer?

The KitchenAid Blossom is the prettiest stand mixer I’ve ever laid eyes on. Not only does it look stunning on my kitchen counter, but it’s proven a formidable baking and cooking device. A jack of all trades in the best way possible, the hype behind a KitchenAid is real.

Using the various KitchenAid attachments, especially the vegetable sheet cutter, has demonstrated how versatile this stand mixer truly is. That said, the attachments can cost an arm and a leg. While they are great for saving space if you have limited kitchen storage, each one can cost more than a dedicated gadget. The vegetable sheet cutter for instance sits at a retail price of $229, whereas some sheet slicers go for about $50-ish.

Meanwhile, one thing that was unexpected about the KitchenAid Blossom stand mixer was how quickly the copper bowl started to develop a patina the more I washed it.

If you didn’t know what a patina is, it’s a tarnished look that occurs when certain metals (such as copper or bronze) are repeatedly exposed to oxidation over time.

It makes the mixing bowl look much older than what it is. I would have preferred that my bowl stay the beautiful, clean-looking rose gold colour it was originally so if I’d known that prior to buying it I would’ve chosen a different combination. But if you don’t mind the aged look, then you’ll enjoy this limited edition colour option.

From a performance perspective, the KitchenAid Blossom mixer has 10 speed settings if you want to go ham on those meringues. It’s not a perfect hands-off experience, since you’ll still need to be nearby and ready to scrape any part of the mixture that’s stuck to the sides. But it’s a small price to pay for less manual labour while cooking, especially if it’s you’re whipping up 100 cakes for an event.

All in all, the KitchenAid Blossom has set the bar high for any future stand mixers to come. None look nearly as gorgeous, nor do a bang on job shredding everything from chicken to imitation crab meat. As it turns out, your KitchenAid is far more capable than mixing chocolate chip cookies – but only if you have the creativity to take advantage of it.

Where to buy KitchenAid Blossom stand mixer

Bing Lee ($849) | eBay ($849) | The Good Guys ($899) | KitchenAid ($899)