We love our slow cookers, but the point is to make cooking easier, and shredding is time-consuming and tedious. Next time you're using your CrockPot for a chicken-based meal or pulled pork sandwiches, throw the chicken in your KitchenAid mixer with the paddle attachment and let it do the work for you.
This process takes a lot of kneading, so unless you're excited about early-onset carpel tunnel, tap in your standing mixer. Find your dough hook attachment, combine ingredients and say goodbye to achy wrists.
I don't know about you, but mashed potatoes with some lumps still in them are the best. If you prefer your potatoes whipped to the edges of their lives, though, consider using your KitchenAid instead of a hand mixer. It'll apply the right amount of pressure to retain the starchy goodness that hand mixers tend to overwork, and you can add extra ingredients easier.
Making your own whipped cream is eons better than indulging in storebought Cool-Whip or the like, but it's not an easy (or clean) process with a hand mixer. And churning your own butter?! Please. Both are more doable with a standing mixer, so those stiff peaks will appear faster than ever.
Maybe you've been shying away from recipes that call for whipped egg whites because your arms are just not having it. Use your standing mixer next time you come across a need for meringue! Think: fluffy pancakes for Sunday brunch or airy cookies for that next PTA meeting.
Using a KitchenAid mixer, you can take any almost-frozen meat you have on hand and grind it in a jiffy. Using the grinder attachment on the mixer, add strips of meat one at a time (accompanied by seasonings in you're making sausage) and get taco night ready in a flash.
Don't buy a separate ice cream maker when you have a perfectly fine appliance already gathering dust on your kitchen counter. Find the ice cream attachment, don't skimp on your ingredients, chill the bowl and let the kids know it's sundae night.
Making enough guac to fill a room? Don't waste time mashing avocados by hand -- chances are your seasoning ratios will be off, anyway. Dump as many avocados as you can fit in your standing mixer and watch as they're mashed into creamy guacamole right before your eyes.
Your brunch game just got elevated. Making creamy scrambled eggs for a large amount of people takes a few goes in the frying pan -- you want them all cooked evenly and thoroughly, after all -- but you can at least let your KitchenAid do the hard part of whisking. Also works for frittatas and quiche!