Pat, you'll never look back. Keep the hand mixer, though, because every once in a while, it still comes in handy.

LOVED my Hobart-built KA.

I have a confession to make, though: My MIL gave me quite a few of the attachemnts when she gave me the mixer. I never used a single one of them. After they sat unused in my pantry for two years, I sold 'em all. The only one I really wanted, the pasta maker, she didn't give me. LOL!

While I don't have one of the nice Hobart KA's, I love my artisan KA and use it all the time. The only attachment I have is the pasta roller, I use it pretty regularly. I have a food processor for large shredding tasks, so I don't need that attachment, but I have been looking at the grinder and sausage stuffing attachments lately. Just not sure I'm ready to make that kind of commitment! Enjoy your new toy, I hope it gives you many years of service!

Congratulations on your KA Pat. New or old style you will love it! The attachments we use the most are the food grinder and sausage stuffer. Wayne grinds meat to make his own sausages and hamburger. They are delicious! Have fun with it, NancyLouise

You are going to have so much fun! A KA stand mixer will do so much for you even if you are cooking just for one most of the time as I do. I have hints for making bread in the mixer, meatballs, and sausage. I really like the meat grinder for sausage when I get a good buy on a hunk o' pork. Cookies are a breeze as are cakes, although I mostly just make pound cakes and bar cookies.

I'll post my tips here when I have more time. Do a search on "Kitchen Aid mixer" or "KA" and you will find more tips, that is, when the search here at the GW is fixed.

Teresa

You will love it! The only tip that comes to mind, which I read in my manual, is to reduce the beating time from what you would do with a hand mixer.

I think most "modern" recipes list beating times that work with a stand mixer. But some older family recipes might not. I have a chocolate fudge recipe from ages ago that would be overbeaten in my KA if I followed the recipe. It's done in about half the time.

I'm not sure about needing vintage attachments; modern ones might work.

One thing I cook now that I wouldn't try without a stand mixer: souffles. Without a stand mixer, it's a PITA to whip egg whites. With one, it's almost automatic. And if you can whip egg whites, you can make a souffle. I use Julia's recipe--see the link.

You'll love the mixer. As Julia would screech, 'Bon Appetit!'

Here is a link that might be useful: Julia Child's cheese souffle

Here are instructions for mixing and kneading bread in the KA from Betsy Oppenneer's The Bread Book:

Mixing and Kneading Bread in a Heavy Duty Electric Mixer

1. Put dry yeast and proofing water into mixer bowl; whisk, proof yeast.

2. Fit mixer paddle on.

3. Add rest of liquid ingredients (milk, eggs, butter) to the yeast/water.

4. Add half of the flour amount of the recipe and any other dry ingredients.

5. Turn mixer on medium speed (#4 on KA) and beat 2 minutes.

6. Reduce speed to low (#1) and add rest of flour cup at a time.

7. Remove paddle, scrape well. Attach dough hook.

8. Scrape down sides of bowl, turn speed to #2 and add more flour 1 TB
at a time (dough will cling to hook then spread back to sides of bowl).

9. Increase speed to #4 and knead 5 minutes. At the end of this kneading
time the dough should cling to the hook and clean the sides of the bowl.
If not, add flour 1 TB at a time, until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl.

10. Remove the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a towel, let rise per the
recipe  or  turn out dough, knead by hand a few times, form into a
ball, drizzle a little oil in the mixing bowl, put dough in, swirl in bowl
and turn oiled side up, cover, let rise.

And here is a tip on mixing meatballs in the KA, courtsey of a member or two on this forum:

Mix meatballs in the KA mixer: put all the ingredients except for the meat in the mixer, mix on low until well blended; put in meat a little at a time, mixing briefly after each addition. Do not overmix.

Other meatball tips:

Try using crushed herb or cornbread stuffing mix in place of breadcrumbs.

Another method of portioning meatballs: spread recipe in jelly roll or toffee pan, with plastic knife, cut meatball mixture into equal squares the size you want, lift up a square at time and roll into a ball.

My favorite recipe for meatballs to stash in the freezer:

Freezer Stash Meatballs
Makes 48 meatballs; 8 servings
 3 pounds lean ground beef
 1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs
 3 eggs
 6 tablespoons minced onion
 3 cloves garlic, crushed
 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Preheat oven to 400.
In a large bowl, mix beef, crumbs, eggs, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Shape into 11/2-inch meatballs. (A miniature ice cream scoop makes fast work of shaping.)
Arrange in two 10-by-15-inch jelly roll pans. Bake in preheated oven until meat is browned, with no trace of pink and juices run clear, 10 to 13 minutes.
Drain, let cool to room temperature, divide into thirds and freeze each portion in vapor-moisture proof containers or use in one of following:

SWEET-N-SOUR MEATBALLS
(5 servings)
Â1 (14-oz) can pineapple tidbits or chunks, not drained
Â1/4 cup brown sugar
Â2 tablespoons cornstarch
Â1/2 cup water
Â1/4 cup cider vinegar
Â1 teaspoon soy sauce (or more to taste)
Â1 family meal-sized portion of freezer meatballs
Â1 (5-oz) can water chestnuts, drained and thinly sliced
Â1 green pepper, cut in strips
Drain pineapple tidbits, reserving syrup. In medium saucepan, combine brown sugar and cornstarch. Blend in reserved syrup, water, cider vinegar and soy sauce. Cook and stir over low heat until thick and bubbly. Carefully stir in meatballs, water chestnuts, green pepper strips and pineapple. Heat to boiling and serve over hot cooked rice.

Meatball Sandwiches
4-5 meatballs per person
6 hoagie rolls
6 thin slices mozzarella cheese
2 cups prepared spaghetti sauce
Thaw meatballs and heat with sauce over medium until hot. Place meatballs into warmed rolls. Ladle a small amount of sauce onto each sandwich; place slice of mozzarella onto
each sandwich. Serve warm.

MEATBALL STROGANOFF (5 servings)
 1 (10 3/4-oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
 1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
 1 cup mushrooms, sliced and cooked in butter until soft
 1 family meal-sized portion of freezer meatballs
In medium saucepan, mix together mushroom soup and sour cream. Gently stir in mushrooms and meatballs. Simmer until meatballs are heated through. Serve over hot cooked rice or over egg noodles tossed with melted butter and chopped parsley.

These recipe could be halved for two servings, one for dinner and leftovers for lunch another day.

Hey! You can rent power tools, we need a KA attachment rental!

You know, $5.00/day or something reasonable until we decide it's cheaper just to buy the darned attachment!

Hmmmmmmm...........

Deanna

Deanna, I love that idea! I've been thinking I'd like the meat grinding attachement, but it would be nice to test drive it first to see if it's easy and convenient enough that I would use it regularly.

Same with the pasta making attachment, that's another I'd like to try before buying. (I've never made homemade pasta.)

And it's not just the money, it's the storage. If someone only made homemade pasta twice a year, $10 would be a bargain to rent.

Thanks for the tips! Theresa thank you for the recipes - I will be giving the bread a try - maybe even this weekend if I don't end up playing delivery tag with Fed Ex. The machine comes with the beater, wisk, dough hook and pouring shield - I want to make the World Peace Cookies for Christmas - this is going to help me make it happen!
After seeing what the vintage metal food grinders are going for I may well decide to buy the newer one - I found that on BBB (and maybe other stores) that KitchenAid has a 20% off on KitchenAid attachments until 1/30/2010. If I can also use a 20% off coupon as well I will have a deal.