Friday, March 18, 2011

My Food Processor is Making My Life Easier!

So, last week I mentioned that I ordered a food processor with a $35 credit I had from CSN Stores.  I’ve tested it out a few times, and so far, I like it.  I’ve never had a food processor before, and until now had been doing all my chopping with the Pampered Chef chopper (until it recently got too dull after 8 or 9 years).  I liked how the PC chopper worked, it just took so long because you could only do a small amount at a time.

Based on reviews and my budget of not-much-more-than-$35, I got the Hamilton Beach 10-Cup Food Processor.  CSN’s price, including shipping, was just over $50, but you can find it at Amazon for $39.88 with free shipping.

The first thing I made in it was salad dressing, and it worked fine.  I didn’t expect it to have any trouble with that.  Wednesday was a bigger test…I made my hot ham sandwiches for supper.   That’s a lot of ham chopping, and it took for-eh-va with the PC chopper.  The HB processor did enough ham for 8 sandwiches lickety-split.  (This photo doesn’t look too appetizing, does it?)

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In my opinion, though, the real and true test of this machine was going to be onions.  I’ve had mini electric choppers that were only able to basically puree them to mush.  The PC chopper could do an onion as coarse or as fine as you wanted, but again, only a small amount at a time.

I put half of a large onion in the bowl, in chunks as the manual said.  A couple of pulses gave an acceptably uniform coarse chop.  A few more pulses produced a fine mince, without liquefying it.  So thumbs up for the onion chopping capabilities!   I tested out the slicing disk on a cucumber, and it had no problem with that either.  I haven’t been able to try out the shredding disk yet.

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I think I’m going to enjoy having this machine.  I doubt I will get it out to do just a small amount of onion or whatever, but for a recipe that needs several things chopped, or for a large amount of something, it will be awesome.   As I said, I don’t have any other food processor experience to compare this to, but I think if you’re just looking for a basic model and don’t want to spend a lot, this is a good choice.

BTW, the hot ham sandwiches are delish, and so handy!  It’s a great use for leftover ham, and they can be frozen and heated individually later.  If you use small dinner rolls instead of hamburger buns, they’re nice for a brunch.  Try ’em, you’ll like ’em!

9 comments:

FrouFrouBritches said...

I'm so glad you did this little review. I'm looking for another food processor. I was using my mom's old one and the blades broke and I am just lost without it. I've been wanting a new one. Thanks so much for posting this because I don't have the $$ to boy one of those big $200 ones. Maybe I'll consider this one.

Paula@SweetPea said...

Glad that you are enjoying your new machine. They certainly do make life a little bit easier in the kitchen. Your sandwiches look really good!

jennybek said...

Just wait til you shred cheese. LOVE!

Kate @ The Anniversary Home said...

Onions are always the ultimate test! My little chopper always turns them in to mush (not to mention its tiny) so I've been toying with the idea of upgrading. Thanks for the recommendation!

Richella Parham said...

So glad you like your food processor! I'm not sure what I'd do without mine; I use it so much!

I clicked over to see your Hot Ham Sandwiches recipe--these look delicious! Have you ever made them sans onions?

Karen At Home Blog said...

Your sandwich recipe sounds delicious! Glad to hear you are enjoying your new toy!

Sarah @ Modern Country Style said...

Oooh, here's a tip for you, Holly. It might not be worthwhile chopping up only a couple of onions with the processor but if you do a whole batch then you can freeze them in ice cube trays and pop a couple of blocks out whenever you need them. Neat, eh?!!

That's what I do with my processor and it saves LOTS of time.

I'm so pleased you're pleased with yours!

Sarahx

Shannon said...

Oh.. we need a food processor so bad. My husband just went out and bought another coffee grinder so he can grind his seasonings in it. I thought, why on earth didn't you get a processor so we could at least chop food too. Cant wait for your next knock off party! I have a good one.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that ham sandwhich sounds so good! So, are you willing to share your receipe on that? Yumm..... Ss that something like deviled ham? Haven't had that since I was a little girl.... LOL