I've been thinking of purchasing one, but am getting overwhelmed with choices. Do any of you have one that you either love or hate?
I have a Cuisinart that I bought at Costco and I love it. I also have a Blendtec blender that I love, but just strictly for a food processor, I would go with a Cuisinart.
Funny Beezer - I had a food processor I burned the motor out of <blush>. After that (and ruining a blender), I got a Vita-Mix and haven't looked back.
I have a CuisinArt one that I've used religiously for about 3 years. It's small, only fits about two cups of food, but I've used it mainly for making baby food, and for chopping nuts, and it's fantastic! My Dad and Mum have a 10 Cup processor that they use as well.
With my last baby, I used my blender to make baby food, but I was thinking maybe a food processor would work better this time around. And, for as much as I love my food chopper (Pampered Chef), I noticed the other day that I can't really get a consistent size when I have to chop in small batches. I end up with bits of chocolate that range from big chunks to fine powder. Would a processor help with that?
I would think so, Amie, if you use a shredder disc. For sure you could turn out some wonderful baby food! I liked my inexpensive, 8-cup Ham.Beach very much for a while, because it was light-weight, easy to use, and did the jobs I wanted it to do without a hassle. However, once when it was in full gear, a screw came loose on the slicer blade, releasing the blade from the disc. It had enough force to explode through the plastic bowl, leaving a tiny hole. It flew into the stove and richocheted against the cabinet. It could have sliced a gut or put out an eye, if it had come my direction! After that, I went for one of the more expensive KitchAids, which is very heavy and is much more complicated to use. An upgrade I had been looking forward to was the larger opening in the lid so that I wouldn't have to cut the veggies so much. Well, in a way it's true that the lid will allow a larger potato to enter it, but the height of the potato can't be very tall, because the motor will not engage until the pusher is over half-way into the chute! That's "defeation of purpose!" I'm tempted to over-ride that safety mechanism, because I end up halving the potatoes and cutting the cabbages down to a smaller size anyway. This particular model boasts different size bowls, but that's really a wasted offer also, because the smaller ones have to be used inside the larger ones, which, again, is non-useable for what I had envisioned: using them all for different jobs for the same meal. Well, the larger bowl has to be cleaned out and washed first, so that it can be used as a base for the smaller one. This one looks sturdy enough to be safe, however, and it was expensive enough that I hope it lasts many years. I'll get used to it. My advice: Go for a mid-range processor--expensive enough to be safe and yet inexpensive enough to spare you the weight and the complications of needless luxuries that don't do what they promise anyway. It looks like you have two good recommendations here to choose from. Let us know which one you get and how it's working for you.
I even use mine to grind my coffee beans. It makes wonderful hummus. The only thing it WON'T do is 'shred' -- you are going to get pulverized cheese.
I grind my coffee in it, too. And make sorbet. And make pudding. I swear, I think if we had a dog, the vita-mix would take it for a walk. </exaggerate>
I finally after 20+ years of making do with a blender...got a food processor. LOVE it. it is just a cheap(y) one and I have some issues...if I ever upgrade. definitely the cheese thing...but I tend to buy pre shredded cheese for "pretty" anyhow. (it wasn't any more than the block of cheese if you get it on sale) and I still buy the block for recipes, in which case "pulverized" cheese works fine. i have been using it a ton to puree "almost" veggies and fruit. (you know, almost bad, but not yet) then I freeze the puree to add to all sorts of things...califlower to mac/cheese or potatoes...carrots to taco meat...(I put the carrots in Mac/cheese too) I buy the organic spinach mostly instead of iceburg lettuce and it isn't cheap so I like that i can cook the leftovers when they are a bit limp for salad and puree it and freeze it and mix it into spagetti sauce or enchilada's. I do tend, if I am making salsa...to use the food processor but then to cut up some tomatoes by hand for the chunky. Mine doesn't do chunky...or chopping real good...mostly just puree...but so much better than the blender did. Do better processors chop better?
Both of my processors have shredded cheese professionally. I used the block cheese, cold, right from the 'fridge. And though I've had scary and a few somewhat disappointing experiences with processors, as far as advertizing claims go, I DO use my food processor a lot. It's an amazing appliance! I believe you'll put it to good use, too, Amie. Goodnsimple, Ilike your ideas of pureeing veggies for use in other dishes. PS. I'm editing this to brain storm with you. For those of you with a VitaMix, here's a question: Isn't it just pretty much a top-of-the-line blender? My sil has one, and it doesn't even have the slicing and shredding discs--only the blades that sit on the bottom. Anyway, she calls it a processor, and I haven't seen any of that brand which resemble the type of processor that shreds and slices. So there must be different defintions of "food processor," which may be why some of your cheese gets pulvarized? I don't know. Really. I'm just asking.
FYI, if you have trouble shredding softer cheeses (e.g. Mozarella), freeze the block first. Not solid, just an hour or two to firm it up more. That goes for hand shredding as well as using an appliance of some sort.
The Vita-mix will not slice. I would have to say it's past being a top-of the line blender, but maybe that's JMO. It grinds like a champ - in addition to coffee beans, I've ground nuts beautifully. In fact, you have to have a VERY light hand when chopping...I've intended to chop nuts and ended with nut flour. But this baby will grind ice (I've made sno cones), make fresh fruit syrups. You can put wheat berries in, grind them to make flour, and then put in the rest of the ingredients for bread and it will mix & knead. It whips up a simple cake batter in a FLASH (way faster than the mixer), which I've had other blenders that coudl do that, but it can also do quick bread batter, which is a bit thicker. What really impressed me, tho, is that you can actually cook in it. I have made pudding in mine - just put in the ingredients and let it run. The contents actually steam. There are several recipes for soup in the booklet that comes with it. I like being able to make smoothies, putting in frozen fruit, chunks of carrot, without worrying it won't process. I use mine to make sorbet - I just put frozen fruit in and process. Think smoothie, but with the texture/thickness of ice cream. No previous blender I've had could do that. The main reason I got mine is for smoothies and raw nut milks. I burned out enough motors, and supposedly, that won't happen with a vita-mix. It hasn't yet.
I've heard theyre really great for baby food stuff too-cuz they can make it really thin (if you need). I have researched them-and I would like one (I'm talking about the vitamix) but, well....if they only took monthly payments (or yearly payments...) ~
When I got mine I got 'last year's model' and it was a little cheaper. I remember spreading out the payments over three months on my credit card. They let me do that. You can also get refurbished ones, but I was leery of that and went for the late model. I LOVE mine. But I don't use it for shredding or slicing. I use it for pulverizing.