When my in-laws were here early this month they gave me a food processor for a present. As much as I don't like most gadgets because they just clutter up my kitchen, I WAS pretty excited to get this one. I was looking forward to being able to easily process a bunch of zucchini and other garden produce.Unfortunately the first one didn't work, so Sharyl took it back but then they were out, but they left a gift card for the amount and Walmart got them back in stock and now I have it! I am enjoying it and we have put it to work pretty heavily already.
We are blessed to have cabbage and carrots from our garden so I made coleslaw (minus the sweet dressing which I don't care for) for lunch one day. It was just the kids and I and I used 1/2 a nice size head of cabbage, 1/2 an onion and several carrots and we almost ate all of it up! Jonathan just ate and ate! It is so nice to have something that can do all of that grating in just a few minutes!
I also made a carrot cake "just because" (maybe just because I had a new food processor) which is Ken's favorite. I don't usually make them much besides Ken's birthday because of the grating involved but now that isn't an issue.
Something else I tried it for was to make smoothies. I wanted to try a green smoothie recipe I had seen as I had a bunch of spinach to use up. I don't think it works quite as well as a blender would (There were kind of chunks) but it was all right. The kids were very sceptical when they first saw it but I was so happy with them because all 3 of the older ones tried it and declared it to be "Very Good!". Megan wasn't quite so easy. She declared "I don't want to like it!" and she stuck with that thought the whole time she drank hers.
Anyway, for this Homemaker who is very leery of new appliances - I really like it! Thank you Terry and Sharyl!
Just for interest sake I thought I would list the appliances that I have in my kitchen and then I thought it would be interesting if you would share the ones you think are essential.
I have and use:
- Fridge
- Stove
- Dishwasher
- Microwave (hey, I would love to hear your opinions on this, I have heard negative and am trying to reduce my use of it, but I would find it very hard to go without all together.)
- Toaster
- Wheat Grinder (another gift from Ken's family and one I use all the time! I think it is a great investment.)
- Hand-held Mixer. (I had a counter one at one time but I prefer the smallness- it can fit in a drawer- of the hand-held)
- Hand-held blender
- And now Food processor
Updated to add that I do also have a crockpot and popcorn popper that I use quite a bit and an electric skillet, waffle Iron and Warming tray that I use rarely.
I found something else I want to use my food processor for: Dried Apples (I would use the processor for the slicing part). My friend Emily was telling me how she did them and the look and sound yummy! Oh I do own a dehydrator too but most of the time it stays out on a shelf in the garage.
