Of Crock Pots and Waffle Irons

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #2:

Appliances

In nineteen years of marriage, I've cycled through my fair share of appliances. We are on our third dishwasher, our third (clothes) washer, our second oven, and our fourth microwave. Fortunately, we are still on our first refrigerator and our first dryer (but I'll never say that on the internet because I'll surely jinx myself... ahem...)

The small appliances that have come in and out of our home are innumerable, but I know we're on our third waffle iron, our fifth toaster, our third electric griddle, and our third hand mixer. I lost track of blenders, but I bet we're somewhere around our eighth - this time, I went for a Blendtec (we've destroyed three Ninjas), so hopefully it gives us a good run! 

Making butter (a task that the Blendtec struggles with)

Our house doesn't have a lot of storage space, so I usually try to keep our small appliances to a minimum, but right now I have a lot more than normal due to FREE STUFF. My mom was getting rid of a crock pot and a toaster oven a while back, and even though I knew I didn't need them, it's hard to turn away a good crock pot (even when you already have three in three different sizes plus two instant pots that can be used as slow cookers). I figure I can scale back when I run out of shelf space in my storage room, but for now, everything fits.

For this writing prompt, I thought I'd share five of my favorite small appliances. In no particular order:

1. Crepe Maker

I grew up making crepes in a pan, and they were never quite as thin as crepes should be. When I was a teenager, my mom found a crepe maker at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and it became an instant hit in our family. It was one of the first things I bought when I got married. This is one of very few remaining artifacts from early marriage.

2. Bosch Mixer

As a newly wed, I inherited a Kitchen Aid mixer from the 70's. It only had two (of 6) working speeds, but that thing was a beast, and I used it until it died (it lasted about 15 years in my care). 

In 2019, when the Kitchen Aid was on its absolute last leg, I bought a Bosch on sale for Black Friday, and it's been great! I like it much better than the Kitchen Aid. 

3. Crock Pot/Slow Cooker

I no longer own this one - it broke, but it was my favorite

I've always liked cooking in crock pots. It's nice to get something in there early in the day and not have to deal with dinner prep during the witching hour. For this reason, I prefer crock pot cooking to instant pot cooking. Instant Pot cooking often has to be done during the witching hour, and therefore, doesn’t protect me from the horrors of evening time meal prep.

4. Food Processor

I bought my food processor about 15 years ago. I don't use it very often because I don't like cleaning it, but when I do use it, it's worth the effort. I grate large batches of cheese to freeze (I prefer to grate my own cheese rather than buy store-bought shredded cheese because it melts better, but sometimes out of laziness, I'll still buy shredded cheese from the store). I also chop onions and peppers to freeze. I make refried beans in my food processor and shred zucchini for muffins and breads. 

It's actually pretty fun to run stuff through the food processor. Having a food be one thing and then become a completely different thing within seconds is immensely satisfying. 

5. Mini Waffle Irons

For one thing, they're CUTE. But also, they make waffles that fit perfectly in our toaster. I don't really like waffles all that much, but Zoe wants them all the time, and she doesn't want Eggos (much to my dismay). So I make huge batches of waffles and freeze them (I don't mind making them if they're going to hold us over for a long time, but making one small batch for breakfast always feels like too much work). 

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Those may be my favorite small appliances, but they're not necessarily the most-used. The five most-used are probably the toaster, the electric griddle, the Crock Pot, the blender, and the rice cooker. the five least-used appliances in our house are probably the immersion blender, the hand mixer, the electric skillet, the sandwich maker, and the food processor. 

Do you have a favorite small appliance?