Wednesday, April 23, 2008

I scream, you scream.....(update)


In a post earlier this week, I talked about making ice cream without an ice cream maker. It turned out tasting good until......Ok. Here's the thing. A friend of ours, one of Dave's lunch buddies, was generous enough to let us use his super cool, heavy duty, ultra-mega KitchenAid stand mixer with the ice cream attachment to prepare ice cream for this weekend's birthday party. Umm. So, did I mention that it's super cool? Ultra-mega? And the ice cream is amazingly creamy (no silly ice crystals at all)? Mmmmmmmm.

Right. So I'm thinking to myself: Self, we don't have even a hand mixer around the house and think of all the things we could do. Sure it's a little expensive, but we can use gift cards to pay for it, so technically it's free right? And if we buy something durable, that's really green, right?

Somebody help me out here. Pictured above is the one I'm looking at (the one we borrowed is more ultra-mega than this one pictured, but I think this would more than take care of our needs).

And about the free part - we have one of those AT&T Universal Credit Cards that give you points for everything you buy. Since we pay off our credit card every month, we get the benefit of the card without any of the liability. The points can be cashed in on plane tickets (which we did once) or (drum roll please) gift certificates! So if I order the gift certificates we can get the mixer and the ice cream attachment for free. How's that for frugal?

I just don't normally buy things that are so expensive. Ok, so I normally just don't buy anything (Dave's been bugging me about buying new clothes since most of mine have been patched so often they look ridiculous, but they're so comfy)... Anyway, Crunchy Chicken (one of my favorite blogs is having a buy nothing month), and I've been a good girl. But next month is right around the corner....

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I loooooove my mixer. I have had my KitchenAid for 8 years and have never had a single problem. For this kind of appliance I think it is best to go for as quality as you can afford. As far as greenness goes...buying something reliable is always better than something cheap and soon sitting in a landfill. A Kitchenaid also serves the purpose of many machines; mixer, bread kneader, pasta maker, ice cream maker, etc. Also in terms of green, a mixer is a great help to make many things that you would otherwise buy packaged with a ton of plastic and filled with things your body certainly doesn't need. Of course we could try doing everything by hand, but the truth for me is that unless it is convenient it probably isn't going to happen. The great thing about the Kitchenaid is that it is so easy my two toddlers can help out. ('bout time those little freeloader s earned their keep.:))

hmd said...

He he. We say that about our pets - that they have to start working around the house. Kelsey's (our 11 year old Shih Tzu) job is to clean the plates (lick them) before they go in the dishwasher so that we don't have to rinse them. She takes her job VERY seriously!

Thanks for your mixer review! I think I'm going to go for it. It'll be nice to be able to try to knead bread in it. My bread turns out so dense and I think it's my kneading skills (or lack thereof).

Hanley Tucks said...

I say go for it. There's frugal and then there's miserable and stingy. I mean, it's ice cream.

hmd said...

Green with a gun, I do believe I like the way you think :)

Theresa said...

Like my dad always says, "buy the best you can afford," and "quality is always a bargain." That looks like a really good mixer. I don't have one but have heard nothing but good things from people who have KitchenAid mixers.

Also, here is a recipe for a delicious bread, no kneading required!

hmd said...

The deed is, well, half done. I ordered the gift certificates from our awards program last night. It's only a matter of time. Strange how excited I am about this mixer. Hmmm. The times, they are a changin'.

Sam said...

I've been dreaming of owning a Kitchen Aid mixer for a long while. I'm holding off since we're planning a cross country move and we're taking very little with us...

I had no idea you could make ice cream with one (I've been thinking of other stuff I can make at home). And 8 years is quite a while to have a working mixer.