Let me first break the ice with a confession: Last year I cooked three things.

A pasta bake, a homemade pizza and one epic fail of an attempt to make a birthday cake. (I’m talking raw batter, sloppy icing and very little structural integrity.)

For context, I usually really love cooking. I like the process of it, I like making yummy treats for my mates and I definitely love demolishing a creation seconds after I pull it out of the oven. But 2020 had other plans. My energy supplies were down, I was distanced from my family and I had absolutely zero desire to whip anything up in the kitchen.

And that sucked.

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So I’ve decided to take 2021 by the horns and force myself into the kitchen to fall back in love with cooking.

But, I knew this was going to be a tricky task. Kinda like when you get into a reading slump and then the thought of tackling a novel fills you with sleepy dread. So, I decided to recruit some tools to make the transition easier.

For someone who has avoided shopping centres for months, I decided to have a hunt online for appliances that would transform me into a full-blown food wizard.

Surprisingly to me, one of the top spots for jazzy kitchen equipment was Australia Post. Weird, right? If you, like me, assumed that the Post Office was a place that only stocked stamps and parcels - then you, like me, are very, very wrong.

I scrolled through their kitchen appliances and instantly fell hook, line and sinker for three items that I knew would rock my world (read: bench top) and snapped those puppies up. A Mistral 5.6L Slow Cooker, a Mistral 10L Digital Healthy Air Fryer, and a Mistral Stand Mixer.

Here’s how they got me out of my cooking slump, one meal at a time.

The Mighty Slow Cooker

The mere mention of the words ‘slow cooker’ brings back literal wafts of my mum’s bolognese and tasty stews that have simmered away for hours and fill the house with delicious gravy stank.

Reminded by my aforementioned mum that making things in the slow cooker is the fanciest way to fool people into thinking you’re an incredible chef, I popped the Mistral 5.6L Slow Cooker into my basket and starting planning all my meals.

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To me, slow cookers are the emperors of sauciness. They have the ability to transform any combo of hearty ingredients into a thick, flavourful soup of tastiness. And the best thing about it, you literally just throw all of the bits and bobs in there and thenleave it alonefor four to six hours. In other words, it’s a lazy girl's secret weapon in the kitchen - and for that I will love it for all eternity.

While I’ve whipped up (read: set and forget) a few meals in the slow cooker, this is my top recommendation for a crowd pleasing win.

The greatest slow cooker pulled pork recipe:

...according to Katie.

What you need ingredients-wise:

1 brown onion

3/4 cup of tomato sauce (I know that sounds like a lot, but trust me)

3 tablespoons of tomato paste

1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon of paprika

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of mustard powder

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 chunky slab of pork shoulder

What you need to do with them:

The Hot-New-Thing Air Fryer

Every gen Z and their dog has an air fryer, so I decided I’d see what all the fuss was about. Plus, the idea of just chucking things in (much like with the mighty slow cooker) and letting the machine do all the hard work, seemed like something that would be right up my street.

And boy, it sure was.

I nabbed the Mistral 10L Digital Healthy Air Fryer in black (to match my slow cooker, cos, #classy) and started having a google to find fun air fryer recipes to get creative with.

Which is when I stumbled across a salmon filet air fryer hack that I had to try. Second confession time: I have butchered every single piece of fish I have ever tried to cook in a pan. The skin flops off, I burn one side while the middle is completely and utterly raw, and for some unknown reason, I feel like the flavour falls off the fish and just sits in the pan instead. WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN PLS?

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So, I thought I’d switch up my poor pan for my new jazzy air fryer and cooked the following recipe. And let me tell you, that fish was far from butchered. It was a delight.

An impossible-to-stuff-up salmon air-fryer recipe:

What you need ingredients-wise:

4 thin-ish skin-on salmon filets

2 teaspoons of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of honey

1 teaspoon of sesame seeds

Pinch o’ salt

Pinch o’ pepper

What you need to do with them:

The I’m-A-Professional-Baker-Now Stand Mixer.

As we’ve previously discussed, my skills in the kitchen definitely do not lie in the baking department. One of my three creations of 2020 included a completely inedible cake, and every time I think back to that pile of disappointment I literally shudder.

So, let’s rewrite history, shall we?

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Every fancy Instagram baker I’ve ever gawked at has a stand mixer, so I figured this would be the tool for me to revamp my baking skills. I turned to my trusty pal, Australia Post, once again and nabbed the Mistral Stand Mixer (in black, because I’ve definitely got a cohesive kitchen appliance theme now). This puppy has 1000W of power behind it and claims to do ‘all the hard work for you’, so I knew straight away we would be best friends.

For my cake redemption story I tackled a cake-adjacent recipe, because I was a little scared to jump in at the deep end for my first go. On the menu for me and my brand new stand mixer were: Fudgy Meringue Cookies. Drooling already?

Here’s how I made them.

The not-quite-a-cake-but-actually-better Fudgy Meringue Cookie recipe:

What you need ingredients-wise:

1 cup of bittersweet chocolate drops

1.5 cups of icing sugar

1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons of cornstarch

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar

Some non-stick vegetable oil spray

What you need to do with them:

So there you have it, the three recipes that kick-started my cooking again!

Since whipping up these tasty treats I’ve gone on to regularly cook at home at least six times a week - and every meal has used either the stand mixer, air fryer or slow cooker. They have honestly become essentials in my kitchen and I would be emotionally distraught if I was ever left to prepare any food without them.

Feature Image: Mamamia.