When A Girl Loves A Cuisinart

Like most things people tell me I need, a food processor was always a useless object in my mind.  Why on earth would I want an industrial capacity to shred things, mix things, etc. when I have a box grater, microplane, blender, immersion blender, hand mixer and stand mixer? No, I definitely don't lack for kitchen gadgets.  In fact I technically own a little 3 cup food processor, Kitchen Aid is smart and makes a cool little 'duo' that uses the same motor/base for the blender and food processor.  Until this past month I could have counted the number of times my 3 cup food processor was used on one hand...well three fingers to be exact. 

What changed?  Have I become the slaw queen of the south?  Or am I making french fries in such volume that I need to shred them in 7-cup increments?  No, not really.  I know, it's all the pie crusts I'm whipping up on my grain-free diet...again, no.  As I have gotten deeper and deeper into paleo cooking and have started looking to what all the other proclaimed paleo-types on the web do, I've noticed the food process is ubiquitous.   Want mayo that doesn't have a bunch of strange scientific-sounding ingredients in it? Food Processor.  Love coconut butter but hate the price? Food Processor.  Miss rice? Food Processor.  I suspect you're seeing the pattern.   Anyway, there are a lot of skilled paleo folks out there who do amazing things with food processors and I was tired of being left out of the party.  I started small, used my little 3 cup processor about twenty times in one week, started ogling the bigger ones online and in stores and finally made a purchase last week.

This beauty arrived on 2/13:

I'm in love.  Plain and simple, how did I live without a food processor??? (Yes mom, you were right). I've been busy whipping up all kinds of yummy stuff, soon I too will be one of the enlightened who is posting their own food processor recipes :) World beware!

Here are a few recipes I've found on the web that have made it into regular rotation:

Coconut Butter
Cold Sesame (Cucumber) Noodles
Zucchini Hummus

The first two come from an amazing blog (written by an Austin girl!) that is full of tasty as can be paleo recipes, The Clothes Make the Girl, I highly recommend it!