Shelly’s Journal

In anticipation of my new cooking adventures that start next week, I got a new toy.

Isn’t he cute? It’s Cuisinart’s 3 cup mini food processor.

I’ve been wanting one for practically forever. I had one. I got one for Christmas a few years ago. It was a big Oster mamba jamba. I hated it and brought it back after one use. I’ve been pretty much going back and forth the last two years on what to get - reading reviews, looking in stores and trying to figure out what size I’d need. The new cooking schedule finally tipped the scales. But, I decided to go small - and I’m so glad I did.

The little one is just so easy to have around. I have it under my counter, but at my finger tips. For most things that I do, it has 4 pieces to clean. I can put them in the diswasher, but instead just fill my sink about 1/4 of the way and toss it in. In 2 minutes I can have the whole thing cleaned up and drying on the counter.

It’s not rocket science to use it. Although I haven’t gotten the other slicing and dicing blades to work just right yet. Although I only tried it once. For chopping, it’s pretty. Check this out:

One clove of garlic…5 seconds

or this:

One red onion - 3 pulses.

I predict, I will chop more onions with my little buddy than any other process.

But I’ve also made a few other things:

• Smoothies - it can probably do an 8-12 oz. one.
• Pizza Dough
• Bread Crumb mixture for hamburgers - I just put all my seasonings and bread crumbs in to make this paste that mixed into my chopped meat so well.
• Guacamole - although I prefer a chunkier version, I can certainly chop my onions/garlic for this recipe in the food processor.

I have probably used it every day that I’ve cooked and then some. I’m drinking a smoothie right now.