Food Processors -- what do you use it for?

[jpcher]

I have a food processor and the only time I use it, anymore, is once a year to make my horseradish.

I've tried using it for chopping/slicing veggies for salad or some such thing, but it seems to be easier to do that with a knife instead of the clean-up involved with a food processor.

The DDs use it to make smoothies (our blender is on the blink) but one smoothie mixing is pretty small in that large bowl.

I'm thinking about buying a mini-processor. I think I might use it more often (for pestos, sauces, chopping daily veggies, etc.) . . .



What do you use your food processor for?* Do you have a mini? Do you think a mini has it's benefits?



*any recipes would be appreciated!

[Bethalize]

I have a Kmix so the food processor is an attachment that goes on the end of the immersion blender. I use it for crumble topping (one part sugar, one part fat, two parts flour), pastry, making my own nut butters, grating cheese when I need a lot, making my protein baked goods (generally sloppy and needing mixing in a blender), making fish paté, making bean patés

I find 1litre is quite enough for my needs.

[Outdoor Girl]

I have a food processor that I only have because it was my mothers.  I don't use it very much - mainly for shredding zucchini, making hummus and for making bread crumbs.  I also use it for blending my squash soup, since it is too thick for the blender to work well and I can't get it smooth enough with just a hand blender.

I have a little mini chopper that attaches to my hand blender that I use for grinding nuts for cookie baking.  I also use if for grinding sugar and/or salt finer for baking.

For chopping veggies for a salad or pizza or onions for anything, I prefer a 'Slap Chop' type device - I have a Pampered Chef one.  I use that thing a lot.

[demarco]

I have a Cuisinart that my MIL gave me ca 1983(!) I used it fairly often when I first got it but that tapered off.  I can't remember when I used it last.  I don't like leaving appliances on the counter because I don't have enough room and the Cuisinart is too heavy for me to lift comfortably so I don't take it out of the cabinet unless I really, really need it.

On the other hand, I love my cuisinart mini prep and use it every time I make lots of chopped vegetables.  It's tiny, lightweight, and was inexpensive.  It only chops.  It doesn't do the other things a regular cuisinart will do but it's all I need. 

[Snooks]

I use mine for pretty much everything, cakes, pastry, bread, ice cream, slicing, grating (including my finger  ), whisking eggs, juicing.  I love my food processor.

The only thing I don't use it for is blending soup, I have an immersion blender for that.

[jpcher]

I use mine for pretty much everything, cakes, pastry, bread, ice cream, slicing, grating (including my finger  ), whisking eggs, juicing.  I love my food processor.

The only thing I don't use it for is blending soup, I have an immersion blender for that.

Whisking eggs -- I never though of using a food processor for that, but with a mini? How easy would that be for scrambled eggs/omelets, etc. instead of using a hand whisker.

THANKS!

Chalk an extra point up for getting a mini. 3 eggs in my large FP doesn't seem worth the trouble.

[Layla Miller]

These days, mostly for making baby food and bread crumbs.  I'm starting to think we need to get another one, though--it's a pain to have to wash it so often!

[veryfluffy]

I use mine for making breadcrumbs, pastry dough for pies, and chopping parsley for tabbouleh. That's about it.

[SCAJAfamily]

I make hummus.

[jpcher]

Any recommendations?

I'm looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mini%20food%20processor&sprefix=mini+fo%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Amini%20food%20processor

and thinking about this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DLC-1BCH-Mini-Prep-Processor-Chrome/dp/B000H4C5F2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1367079948&sr=8-5&keywords=mini+food+processor

[rain]

I enjoy cooking and use mine a lot when I'm in "the zone" (I'm also not good at hand chopping)

[cicero]

le sigh. this is a sore spot for me. i had a not-expensive but OK food processor. the cover crackes so we can use it but you need two hands to hold it down and then one to shove the food so...

I also have a mini set - it has a small blender thing that i never use and an imersion stick that i use a LOT.

since i developed some sort of carpal tunnel on my left hand the physio therapist advised me to cut down on my kitchen work- so a food processor would *really* come in handy (since i do all my own from scratch cooking), but the good ones are really expensive (about 450$ but in real terms that's a big chunk of my salary) and I don't want to buy a mediocre one. meanwhile i bought a mandoline so i can shred cabbage and jullienne veggies.

when it was in good order i used it for:
hummus
salsa
shredding veggies (like zuchhini, potato and carrot)
chopping onion
cole slaw
smoothies
horseradish once a year.

I understand that the newer models also have a cube option

[afbluebelle]

Gathering dust 

[Sirius]

I use mine (a mini-processor) for grinding extra-sharp cheddar for pimento cheese spread.  Aside from that, it gathers dust.

[gramma dishes]

I have two.  The full size Cuisinart and a little one. 

The bigger one gets used about once a year when I'm preparing food for the thundering herd.  (When all the kids and grandkids are here at one time.)  The other I used to use really a lot. 

Now that we're back down to just the two of us, I honestly wouldn't miss either one of them if they broke.  I wouldn't replace them.  But the smaller one was a whole lot more useful to me, didn't take up hardly any room at all, and the parts that touched food were all dishwasher safe so clean up was fast and easy.