The Chief asked me what I wanted for a graduation/Christmas present and I decided on a food processor. I found that clean-up wasn't as bad as I'd feared, and we managed to find space to store the thing, but what really converted me was when I made salmon spread for our Christmas party. (The Chief let me open my present early so I could use it for party prep.) It takes a long time and a lot of elbow grease to mix the salmon & cream cheese thoroughly by hand. My new Cuisinart did a more thorough job, and did it in 30 seconds, if that! It also did a nice job on cookie dough.
Earlier this week I used it to shred cabbage for unstuffed cabbage rolls (I like to make batches of this to have in the freezer for lunches), and today I used it to shred carrots and sweet potatoes for orange soup and sweet potato-black bean chili (more "freezer food" - I'm restocking the freezer this week now that the semester has begun). I know I've barely scratched the surface of what I can use my food processor for, but I'm beginning to realize why so many people swear by theirs.
Orange soup is something I made up, named for its color, not because there's any citrus in it. I don't us a recipe so much as instructions: Sautee onion and garlic in some evoo, add butternut or any other winter squash (I like to use the frozen pureed stuff because it's both easier & cheaper than the cut-up stuff in the store, which goes for $5.99/lb!), a can of pumpkin, a carrot or few, and a sweet potato or two. I throw in 1/2 tsp of garam masala, let it simmer for a coupla hours, puree it, and freeze in single-serving containers. When I want some protein, I throw in some thawed salad shrimp for the last minute or two of heating. Yum, yum, yum!
