Meat Grinder Love

I know, I claimed to be doing a series on family recipes.  I'm not done with that, I promise.  We just got back home to the Midwest from South Carolina (and I lost my phone in the Atlanta airport.  Boo) and I have been getting our lives back in order, doing 500 loads of laundry, and cleaning.  Not a whole lot of time to make great food.
I posted on facebook that I found this KitchenAid gem at a Goodwill in Charleston for $6.  They retail for $69!

I couldn't wait to get home and use it.  When we lived overseas, we went to an International School and for a few years my mom was our school nurse (best thing ever!).  She taught a healthy cooking class after school and she let me help a few times (no wonder I teach what I teach).  We ground our own chicken with skinless boneless breasts (by hand!) and made garlic chicken burgers.  They were so good that she started making them at home.  I don't really like the taste of ground turkey, and ground chicken is ridiculously expensive.  I finally tried out the attachment on my mixer and it was everything I imagined it would be.  I just had to share!

The directions said to cut up the meat into small chunks for best results.  I defrosted chicken breasts I had bought on sale for $1.29/lb and cubed them.

I attached the grinder to my KitchenAid and turned it on the lowest setting while grinding (note-your mixer is still going to turn, so, if you are like me and store all of your attachments inside, take them out of the bowl so that there is nothing inside).  Stick the chunks in, push them down with the wooden mallet it comes with.  Don't forget to have a bowl ready underneath your grinder!

And done!
If squishy meat sounds don't bother you, here is a video to show you just how easy this is:

I love that the top has a spaces for you to "load" food.  I could put all the meat up there at once and push a little through at a time.

When it cooks, it looks like cooked chicken breast in color:

We had taco salad with black beans and this amazing ranch dressing (Thanks, Susan!) and loved it.  I was able to make 2 lbs of ground meat for $1.29/lb.  Not only is it the healthiest ground meat you can make, but it is far cheaper than beef or pork.  I froze half of it for another time (and thanks to the idea from my friend Jenni-who has an awesome new blog btw, go check it out!- I stored it in an old pasta sauce jar).

If you have a KitchenAid, this attachment is worth every single penny.  It can do meats, vegetables, fruits- raw or cooked.  KitchenAid retails them for $69, but I found it online for $30.  Goodwill, you never fail me!