I bought the Cuisinart HM-50 Power Advantage 5-Speed Hand Mixer mixer back in August of 09′. We’ve had a lot of good times but it mixer finally gave out on me. I was making cookies and there was a clunking sound inside the mixer and and the right side of the mixer would no longer turn but continued to make a grinding clunking sound. I figured I’d use the mixer for as long as possible until it completely broke.

The next time I used it was to make mashed potatoes. I assumed all would be well since mashed potatoes aren’t that tough to mix up. But I heard that familiar clunking noise and the left side of the mixer would no longer mix either. So both sides don’t mix and there’s a continuous clunking grinding noise inside. It’s officially dead.

This was on the weekend so I had to wait until Monday to call Cuisinart. They were very nice. I’ll be getting a replacement. The warranty on the mixer is “limited”. They explained to me that the “limited” clause means their warranty doesn’t cover shipping so I have to send $10 for that. That’s not a bad deal though since I paid $45 for the mixer originally.

Until the mixer broke it was reall nice. Unlike a lot of mixers it has a swivel cord so as you’re moving around the cord stays out of the way. The mixer is plenty powerful although it did whine a fair amount when I made cookies. That’s probably what wore on the motor a lot. If you make a lot of things from really tough/stiff dough you might want to look into a mixer with more torque.

If you do intend to work with things like bread dough with the mixer then the optional dough hooks you can buy work really well. I had to look around quite a bit before I found them. I ended up finding them on eBay. They were about $10.

If I weren’t getting a replacement mixer for $10 I would look for something with more power but for the price I paid and the amount of use I got out of this mixer I think it was definitely a good deal.

Then you need a digital meat thermometer. With this baby you set your desired meat temperature and wait for the alarm to sound and your meat is done. No more cutting into your meat and letting juices out. Now more touching to feel doneness.  No more guesswork. Just meat cooked to the exact doneness you want – everytime! I lucked out and got mine at a yard sale for 5 bucks. Can’t beat that! They aren’t too expensive though and there are plenty of digital meat thermometers to select from online. Here are some features mine has:

Standard Timer: You can set a timer for however long you want and an alarm will go off once the time is up. Pretty simple.

Heat resistant temperature probe and cord: If you’re cooking a roast in the oven you can stick the probe into the deepest part of the meat and shut the oven door with the cord and display outside the oven. This is a great feature since you don’t have to keep opening the door to check the temperature of the meat. This is also a great feature for the grill. I put the probe in a chicken or steak and close the grill lid. The temperature probe detaches from the display unit so you can wash it easily and mine has a long cord.

Temperature alarm: Set your desired meat temperature and an alarm will sound when the temperature is reached.

Celsius/Fahrenheit Selection: A little switch on the back lets you select between celsius and fahrenheit temperature scales.

The thermometer will register up to 400 degrees which is way hotter than you would need to cook any meat that I’m aware of!

I have never had meat so tender and juicy as I have since I started using this thing. My thermometer has a mini chart on the back that has minimum temperatures for various meats. If yours doesn’t, the USDA has a handy downloadable PDF of safe meat temperatures.

I love to cook and eat meat and as far as I’m concerned this gadget is a must have.

I recently posted about my new Oster bread maker and needing to return it. Well it would seem that the dog had other ideas. He got ahold of the measuring cup that came with the bread maker so I will have to check to see if they will take it back now.

You can see all the little teeth marks in the cup. If they won’t take it back I can always continue to set a box of firewood on the lid…

Let me start off by saying that I’ve always just had flimsy plastic sets of measuring spoons. You know the kind. You use them for about a month before the measurements are worn off and you can’t tell whether you’re using the 1/2 teaspoon or the 1/4. You think you know but since you lost one of the spoons off the little plastic ring you’re not *quite* sure.

After the measurements completely wore off my last set and I lost one or two of them ( they’re like socks in the washing machine. Who knows where that lost one went… ) I decided I’d get a really nice set.

I searched for a while reading reviews and comparing prices on all the different stainless steel spoon sets and finally settled on the MIU 5-Piece Stainless Steel Measuing Spoon  set. I’ve been using the spoons for a few months now. They are *really* nice. The first thing I noticed is that the spoons are heavy and very high quality. They are not made of aluminum like the better spoon sets you find in store. These are solid stainless steel.

The measurements are not enameled on or little stickers. The numbers are engraved right into the metal.

The heads of the spoons are polished while the rest of the spoon surfaces are brushed.

The set has 1 tbsp, 1 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 1/4 tsp, and though not as often used, a 1/8 tsp spoon. The heads of the spoons are narrow so they can get right into small spice jars and containers.

The spoons are on a really strong metal ring like the big spring rings that hold your keys.

My spoons have been through many dishwashings and hand washing and they look brand new. I haven’t even noticed a scratch on them. These spoons should really last a lifetime.

The bread maker sitting on the counter.

I’ve never owned a breakmaker before. This one was given to me.

It comes with an instruction/recipe book, a measuring cup, a measuring spoon, a kneading blade, and a small metal hook for extracting the dough hook from your baked bread if it’s stuck.

The measuring cup is really small and the measuring spoon is pretty flimsy but you probably have your own anyway.

All the recipes in the book are fairly straight forward so I just picked one so I could give it a whirl. I chose the “Honey Wheat” recipe. I put in all the ingredients in the order listed and set up the program and pushed the start button.

It was working pretty good for a few minutes then I noticed its blue indicator light was off. I thought it was part of the process so I just ignored it. I checked the manual again and realized that the display should be on. When I opened the lid and closed it the machine would run for a few seconds then cut off again. I finally realized that I had to hold the lid down ( and quite tightly ) in order for the machine to keep running. I didn’t want to stand there and hold it down for two hours of course so I tried setting a 5lb bag of flour on top. Not heavy enough. I moved up to a box of firewood and that did the trick.

So how’s the bread? It was great! I assumed because of the trouble I had getting the machine going with all the stopping and starting that the bread wouldn’t turn out right but it rose up and baked beautifully and it was very good.

Tonight I made my pizza dough recipe in the bread maker. I always make the dough by hand even though it’s actually meant for a bread machine. The dough turned out really good.  I can’t tell that the bread machine made a difference in the dough. It is definitely easier though since you just dump in the ingredients and turn it on.

Pizza dough in the bread maker

One thing I did notice on both the bread and the pizza dough is that in the intial kneading stage there are some ingredients that get stuck in the corners of the bread machine hopper and you have to use a spoon to push them into the main dough ball. The kneading hook is fairly small and right in the center of the hopper so it’s easy to push the ingredients from the corners.

The bread maker does produce really good results but with the lid problem I will probably return it to Walmart so I have one that works correctly.