Do I really NEED a food processor?

[piccolittle]

Hey guys, I'm kind of new to the whole raw thing (3 days in, actually!), and I really want to make green smoothies to get my spinach in every day. Man, eating heaping salads is exhausting. So I'm gonna buy a cheapy blender.

However, tomorrow I have been invited to my godmother's for dinner, and she is cool with the whole raw thing, but said "By all means, bring dessert!" Now I know I could just bring an enormous fruit salad, but I kind of want to... wow them or something. It's silly but I feel like just bringing a fruit salad is kind of predictable. So I've been eyeing up some "cheesecake" recipes and stuff, but they all call for a food processor to firstly chop the cashews, and then to blend everything.
So my question is this:

Is it possible to cheat and buy pre-ground nuts, and then mix the ingredients by hand/blender? What does a food processor do, anyway??

[Raw Angel Mom]

I feel that a good blender and cheap food processor are a must when you do raw food. You can get one for about $40, I used that for two years. If you don't want a food processor, then you need to practice to cut in small pieces.

Food processor, you can make banana ice cream, pate, pasta sauce, pesto, pie crust, many desert, cheeze sauce, pudding, anything that is heavy.

A good blender, smoothie, light sauce, soup, cheeze sauce, pudding etc....

You don't need to spend many dollars on a food processor at first. A good blender, might be worth saving money every week and just get a good powerful one. It makes such a difference.

[xPIXIEx]

At this moment, my kitchen isn't 100% raw ready....as I would like it to be. I manage just fine though. I have a FP, but it's in need of a replacement blade, so I am currently not using it. I use the Magic Bullet & a cheapo blender (450 watt) that I borrowed from my mom. Just about all I use the blender for is smoothies. When it comes to making other foods, the bullet is much better. It takes a bit of work, because sometimes I have to mix up a recipe a little bit at a time. I know it doesn't do as good as a FP, but right now it's working just fine for me. It blends up the nuts nicely, especially if they're soaked.

I have seen 'almond flour' at the whole foods store.

[shakti17]

I would definately buy a food processor. you can get one for $40 (probably less on ebay or salvation army). I bough the cheapest one and it works great.

i actually use it more than my vitamix bc it is easier to clean!

it is great to make pates, choped salads, raw candies and some pies that do not require total creamy texture.....

although i made raw pies for years using a cheap blender and a knife! it just takes longer. i remember choping nuts and dates for hours! i was quite a zen chopper....

as for your dessert inquiry, i just made the chocolate ganache from "raw food real world". it was very yum, and i think can be made wo vitamix if you buy almond flour like you mentioned......the torte is coconut butter, maple syrup (technically not raw) and cocoa pwdr (also technically not raw - but you could try w carob or cacao)

my old style pie was to chop up almonds and dates and put it in a pie crust. then make any smoothie, and fill the pie crust with it...FREEZE! there you have it - an easy yummy raw fruit pie to impress the fam!

hope that helps

shakti

ps make the smoothie filling w the minimum liquid possible

[piccolittle]

So I just went out and bought a pretty pricey blender (for my teeny little student budget), and it doesn't work. Lol and meanwhile my tiny freezer won't hold the frozen stuff I bought. So it's rapidly defrosting.

But I did get my first raw-foodie compliment! The lady who sold me the blender was really, really interested in my little 30-day challenge, and she said my skin is beautiful and that it's glowing :)
That's a pretty big deal for me as I've had terrible skin my whole life...

So... boo Prestige blenders, yay nice salespeople!

[circle]

alls you need is your mouth really.

i'd get a knife and a cutting board to start out with and a bowl.

[JEN]

I recently bought a 6 cup black and decker food processor at walmart for 24$ and it works just fine. I have a vitamix now but in the beginning I had an Oster and it worked just fine. It actually came with a processor attachment that I used for a couple of years because I liked the smaller size of it. I second checking the thrift stores and craiglist.

[spicyfull]

For Sure you need a Vita-Mix, that will make those Nuts as Smooth as Silk. Again like everyone else says.....A Knife is fine but a Food Processor is BETTER, it's faster. For an investment I would get the larger one.

Yes make a WOW Dessert and a CheeseCake would be Excellent. Soak your Nuts before if you don't have a Vita-Mix.