New--Help with appliances

[metta13]

I am new here, just got Alissa's book and ready to go. I noticed that most recipes would benefit from food processor, so I did some research and got a 9 cup Kitchenaid.

First I made Mock Salmon Pate .....and it came out perfect.

Then I made Fudge Balls. The processor could NOT make the almond butter smooth...more like finely chopped nuts. I had to put it into the blender to get it to "butter" up. Then, on to processing the dates....again, finely chopped, but not smooth. Oh yeah, and both the almonds and dates required stopping the machine many, many times to scrape the sides (it would process a short time before everything got stuck on the sides). Then, when I added everything together for final processing, the motor overheated and stopped!

So my question is: am I expecting too much from my new machine? Can your machine make smooth almond butter, and creamy dates? Can it do a good job on small amounts (I reduced the recipe). How many cups does your food processor handle (ie how big is it?)

I wonder if I should have gotten a Cuisinart. I was looking at the 7 cup model
(it's on sale). I prepare primarily for myself, occasionally my kids will eat some.

Dehydrator question: Do you think that a 4 shelf dehydrator is sufficient for food prep for primarily one person? or is 5 shelf better?

Thank-you for reading all this!

Metta

[Rawkinlocs]

Hi Metta,

Well, the recipe calls for almond butter, but this is more than likely the jarred, pre-made kind. If you want to make your own, you can, but that wasn't the intent of the recipe. Most who make their own almond butter in a food processor do so by adding a little oil or water as it's not designed to make nut butters. A Vitamix would be better...a Champion (or other similar-type) Juicer with homoginizing blank plate would be even better.

When all ingredients...the (creamy) nut butter, SOAKED dates, etc. are processed together they would be smoother. I don't believe you need to get a Cuisinart...the model Alissa uses and the one I and many others own is a simple Black and Decker 8-cup! So it's not that at all.

As for the dehydrator, the number of trays will depend on how much food you plan on preparing. I have a family of 6 but not all of them eats prepared raw foods but I STILL get plenty of use out of a 9-tray whereas some of the members are single or just living with a spouse and do well with a 5-tray.

I think I read here that the 5-tray (if you're talking Excalibur) was better than the 4 but I can't recall why exactly.