At a recent Cooking Club, AWP asked the group: “What kitchen appliance can you not live without?”

I answered first, and quickly.

“Food processor.”

Sturdy, dependable, versatile, fast. I present to you: my food processor. Available on Amazon.com for $69.99, shipping included. In my opinion, that is a great value for this product. [Note: Rats, looks like that price was temporary. Click on the next link to find out today’s price.] Click here to purchase!*

I am happy just looking at it.

Food processors are so versatile. I started using it to make home-made hummus (after a failed experiment with a potato masher) and blend soups. Once I started making green smoothies and needing a little more room in the work bowl for the leafy greens, my food processor stepped right up. Who knew that Chocolate – Hazelnut Spread would come together in the work bowl in seconds, with the very slight heat from the blade melting chocolate? Not me – you should have seen my face.

If you keep it on your counter, at the ready, you will find all sorts of uses for it. Once you are comfortable with the primary blade, try the shredding disk. Did you know that when you buy pre-packaged shredded cheese, it includes several ingredients other than “cheese”? And pre-packaged shredded cheese is generally not gluten-free. Hmmm… Even if the ingredients are natural, I always choose fewer ingredients in a product when given the choice. I opt to shred my own. You can shred an entire block of cheese in 10 seconds. Done. Carrots? Done. Broccoli stems for slaw? Done. The work bowl of my food processor is in the top rack of my dish washer nearly every time I run a cycle.

We can talk about the slicing disk, and the dough blade later – you should be convinced by now anyway! Oh, we will also talk later about processing your own chicken for chicken burgers – I know I would rather know where my ground meat comes from, if it is an option!

To answer the question I often receive of “When would you use …” – here are some recipes I have posted to date where I used my food processor:

Green Goddess Dip – Used to blend the ingredients together

Chocolate – Hazelnut Spread – Used to blend the ingredients and melt the chocolate

Spinach – Walnut Pesto – Used to blend the ingredients

Quinoa and Egg Breakfast Casserole– Used to shred the cheese

Cherry – Coconut Scones – Used to combine the ingredients into a course dough

Pumpkin – Gruyere Focaccia – Used to shred cheese and puree pumpkin

Middle Eastern Bison Pita Sliders – Used to make the filler for the meatballs

* I have not been compensated for this post, but – if I did the links correctly – I will receive a small percentage of the purchase price of purchases made through the link to my aStore. Checkout is 100% through amazon.com and I will not see your credit card information.