what do you use your food processor for

[katacykls]

hello everyone i am trying to gather different ideas for ways to use our food processor. Since i don't use it too often i figured someone here has to have some idea on how it could save time/ make using it more fun.

[spicyfull]

I chop, shred and grate. I love to chop/pulse Vegetables to add to Salads. A Food Processor is a Great Sou Chef, it just makes Life easier.

[Lara]

the chopper and the grater pieces of my cuisinart literally 4 days ago and my time has been freed up so much now....
I had only been using the S-blade and had the chopper and the grater hidden away somewhere. Now I can make complicated recipes much quicker.
I'm using the chopper for mushrooms, cucumbers, red bell peppers, tomatoes. I used the grater for carrots and even lettuce.
Enjoy your food processor!:D

[streetsurfer]

For lack of a large blender I make most of my smoothies in a cuisinart processor. Otherwise it shreds and grates veggies, and makes cashew creme occasionally. Used to be used for hashbrowns, but raw sweet p'tater fries are done in their place .

Every so often, I'll dehydrate a big bunch of beets and use it to dry grind them into powder for adding to smoothies. Something I've found helpful when dry grinding, is to add a little food grade diatomaceous earth as an anti caking agent.

You can even pulse your kitchen scraps, peelings, stems, and what all, in the processor for faster decomposition in the compost pile.

[katacykls]

Thanks a lot for all of your wonderful feedback.
Since my fp was stored on a high shelf next to our kitchen I hadn't been using it much to make anything except the ocassional nut butter or hummus or for chopping larger quantities of veggies when I take food to potlucks. But last night I decided to place it on the counter where my superfoods (which I haven't been into at all lately)sat taking up space.

Lara: is the chopper a difft. attachment than the S-blade ?

Spicyfull- I love how you call your fp your sous chef, I can def. see how it might free up some time and allow me to add more veggies to my salads :)

streetsurfer- your ideas on dehy. the beet and grinding them into powder are fabulous wow ! And the idea to use it to shred peelings for compost is so creative. Would you care to share your recipe for the sweet p'tater fries ? It sounds so delish !

[streetsurfer]

I've not really used a specific recipe. Typically I would grate them, drizzle lightly with an oil, some citrus juice, and grate some ginger on them, or maybe a dash of cinnamon or rosemary at other times, then dehydrate for a short while.

[michigan roman]

ive never used one . but wondering if you could shred up the fruit / vegis youd like a juice of , then add water and whip . then strain thru fine metal strainer for a juice

[DebB]

Hi katacykls ~ I have a Cuisinart FP and there's the S blade and then there are disks. Mine came with 3 disks. One is a shredder, its disk will have holes in it in a spiral pattern. This will shred (or grate) carrots, etc.

It came with 2 slicing blades/disks. A thinner slice and a thicker slice.

Yes, if you have the counter space - I find it helps to keep my "work horses" right out on the counter where it's easy for me to get to them: blender, FP and juicer.

I love making (and eating) what I call Garden Soup. So, I use my FP to process the tomatoes to make the base. I use the S blade for that and just puree them. Then I dice up whatever I'm adding (not using the FP), tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, onion, cilantro, sweet pepper.

I love using my FP to make a massaged kale salad. I use the thinnest slicing blade to process all the kale.

While I don't use my FP daily, I do use it several times a week. Sometimes though I'm in the mood to chop, etc. by hand - it's very calming for me. I wouldn't want to be without it though. *Ü*

[sport]

Ice cream.
I rarely use it for anything else.

[sprouts2go]

I use mine for raw cakes with dates and nuts.I also make butternut squash soup in it. It is great for chopping up the hard stuff like butternut and pumpkin.
I have yet to use the other disks myself. Mine sits in the closet until I take it out. I will be rearranging myu counters to more raw and it will come out.

[Lara]

There's 3 different attachments:
s-blade- most commonly used
slicer disc- for slicing
grater disc- self -evident :)

Enjoy!

[streetsurfer]

I'd found a second all plastic S-blade with ours. It has shorter blades than the steel one with a little vertical seperation between them. I was curious and just checked to see what it was for...it's a dough blade.

[Katie P]

I use it for desserts & dips!

[cara4art]

wow - lots of things:
pates,
raw "doughs"
shredding
slicing
chopping
thick dips and spreads like zucchini hummus
raw brownie-type of things, etc.
some frozen desserts
I'm hoping to get the second set of disks soon, the one that has the fine shredder, the thick slicer, and the one for julienne...Have had my food processor since last January and love it!
One secret to using one's equipment often is to have it out on your counter. I have my food processor(Cuisinart 11-cup), Blend-tec high-speed blender, and off to the right, my dehydrator in place of where a lot of people would have a microwave oven, everything really handy. My kitchen and prep area is not large(typical kitchen in one-bedroom apartment)but well organized and not a lot of clutter at all. Actually I prefer a small kitchen that's well laid out because everything's handy and that makes food prep in general a LOT more pleasant not to mention more efficient.

[RawSar]

We use ours at least 3 times a day (breakfast lunch/dinner dessert)

For breakfast we love filling it up with whatever fruit we have in the house and pulsing it till the fruit is chunky and flavors mixed together.

Lunch and dinner I use it to make my boyfriend's salad dressing with it which is very similar to how we make our fruit salad in the AM. Mango and strawberry, pulse till chunky not completely blended, pour that over his salad.
I love throwing my whole salad in the FP and pulsing it till everything is salsa like.

Then that leaves dessert which is some type of pie or ball thing.

I always make my cheezecakes with the food processor.

Its definitely my favorite machine in the kitchen !! We also have the vita-mix which I only use for smoothies and soups where I need alot of food blended till its super smooth. :)

[MrsJohnnyG]

Great thread and replies... crazily, I never use my food processor. I guess I have this idea that it's just way too much of a pain to clean (I don't mind cleaning the Vitamix often or even the juicer which I don't use as much, but all those parts to clean...). But, it sure would save time, especially since some of the winter vegetables lately have been too hard to chop with my dinky knives (a butternut squash actually broke two of my knives!). Thanks for all the great ideas!

[katacykls]

Rawsar thanks for the Strawberry and kiwi dressing idea that sounds delish as does the breakfast fruit compote.

Cara- I completely share your joy for small kitchens and the efficiency they provide while working. You just reminded me of the fine shredding disk that I too really want as well. Do you find that when your cuisinart shreds the carrots they are a lil on the thick side ? I like mine really fine and slightly longer. I think the fine shred disk would do the trick.

[katacykls]

Mrsjohnnyg- I was doing rsearch for the good inexpensive kitchen knives used at restaurants and I found the 8 inch Victorinox with a slip proof fiber handle..it runs for about 30$ you can find it at most chef stores and it works superbly.