I have a big 14 cup food processor that I use almost every day. I wouldn't say it cubes vegetables, but you can easily slice carrots, celery, onion, potatoes etc. After slicing the potatoes for instance, you can stack the slices then dice by hand for uniformity. I also have the mini processor you posted. I use that for garlic, nuts and such.

I've never been able to dice veggies in my mini and the large one.

They make some neat dicers I've seen on QVC. Not the Mandolines though, but something else.

I bought a brand new mandoline and ended up in the ER the first time I used it with lots of stitches. :)

I just bought one to replace a smalaler one. Mrose, I am always interested in soup recipes. Would mind sharing a favorite or two?

I use my mini and my regular processors to make soup. I know many cooks think of the presentation of the finished soup, but I don't really care about the look of the dice, just the flavor of the soup, and we prefer big chunks of vegetable in the soup. When I want a nice dice, I am pretty good with my chef's knife.

Actually, I save most of my kitchen scraps in the freezer until I have enough for a pot of stock. Potato peels, carrot tops and ends, garlic and onion skins, green bean tips, etc., all go into the bag in the freezer. When I make soup, I make the broth with the scraps, strain it to remove all the junk, process and cut additional vegetables to add bulk and chunk, without concern for the dice.

Whatever I can't save in the freezer for stock goes into the compost heap.

You can dice with a food processor, but it is a pain and takes some practice. First, you cut slices. Then, you stack the slices on a 90 degree angle and cut them into sticks. Then, you put the sticks on end vertically to create the dice. It's much easier to use a knife.

If I'm doing a salad or something for company where I want the dice to be closer to perfect, I pull out my original Genius Nicer Dicer. You still have to do some prep by knife, but you can make a beautifully even dice with it.

okay, sounds like I'm better off dicing myself unless slicing is okay and then the food processor works great.

ellendi - These are the two that I seem to go back to.

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin puree
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 T olive oil
4 cups vegetable broth
1 T ground cumin
1 t eacher koser salt, cinnamon, allspice
1/2 t ground pepper
3 T balsamic vinegar
Baked pumpkin seeds, for garnish

1. Place oil, red onion, garlic and seasonings into a large pot.
2. Cook on low-medium heat unti red onion and garlic brown.
3. Puree the beans and tomatoes with half of the vegetable broth. Add pureed ingredients, pumpkin and rest of broth to your pot.
4. Simmer uncovered until thick, about 40-45 minutes. Before serving, stir in balsamic vinegar. Garnish with baked pumpkin seeds.

Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup

3 medium carrots, peeled and quartered lengthwise
2 large tomatoes, quartered
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
1/2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut lengthwise in 1/2 inch thick wedges
6 whole cloves garlic
1 T olive oil
6 cups or more of vegetable broth
4 cups finely chopped kale
3 large springs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 can (15 oz) great northern beans

Preheat over to 400. Brush a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Arrange carrots, squash, tomatoes, onion and garlic on the sheet. Drizzle with more olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Roast the vegetables until they are browned and tender, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

Cut squash and carrots into 1/2 inche pieces; set aside. Peel garlic and place in a food processor with tomatoes and onion. Puree until almost smooth. Pour 1/2 cut vegetable broth onto baking sheet and scrape up any browned bits. Transfer both the broth and the puree to a larget pot. Add 5 1/2 cups broth, kale, thyme, and bay leaf to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Simmer uncovered until the kale is tender, about 30 minutes.

Add the carrots, squash and beans to the soup. Simmer another few minutes to blend flavors, adding more broth to thin soup, if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Discard thyme springs and bay leaf.

Thanks, they both do look good:)

No help with the processor question, but your soups sound delicious. Do you know if either freezes well?

I have a progressive fruit and vegetable chopper. It works great. Saves so much time. I have purchased one for all the cooks in the family and they all love it. I don't use my processer for dicing.

I've had it for years. Last time I bought one, I found it at Williams Sonoma. I could not make soups and sauces without it. Makes short work out of laborious jobs.

Wow golddust thank you SOOOO much for sharing that! I'm going to get one for sure. Have been trying to concentrate on eating better including more fruits and veggies, and this will sure cut down on time prepping.

Ann

This is a fabulous recipe (if a bit processed). Love love love it. I usually use half the butter called for, saute onions in the butter before adding the rice seasoning packet and use half & half instead of cream. I've used rotisserie chicken, boiled chicken and grilled chicken, all with equally delicious results. It's a crowd pleaser.

Here is a link that might be useful: Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

I have a pampered chef chopper that I love. Actually, I chop and dice alot - and much of the time I don't mind doing it with a knife. I do love my chopper though!

tina

I looked at the one on QVC but had to pass because of the mandoline blade. lol.

I get free S&H on Amazon, so it's a lot cheaper.

I ordered the one Gold suggested. GREAT reviews!

Here is a link that might be useful: Veggie Chopper

I've never seen the progressive chopper before, but that may be just what I need and certainly much cheaper than a food processor. Thanks!

lizbeth - I know I've frozen the Pumpkin Black Bean soup before and it does fine. I can't remember if I've frozen the other one though.

Those progressive choppers are the BEST THING EVER! :) makes soups so wonderful. Love having the everything exactly the same size in soup.

Gold, we received the progressive chopper the other day and I have a question. We've chopped green pepper and tomato.

The tomato was okay, but when using the chopper blade for the green pepper, they came out in large julienne slices and weren't chopped.

The instruction book only says which blade to use for chopping/dicing and slicing.

Are we supposed to prepare the food before we put it in the chopper in order to get little pieces instead of long slices?

oakleyok - Hopefully, Gold will be able to answer your question, but I found this video on the chopper that may help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Progressive chopper

Gosh, Oakley. You have the new model. Mine only dices in two different sizes. Maybe I have the simple onion chopper. Aimee's has a section for garlic that mine doesn't have. Mine is at least 7 years old.

I do cut my carrots in half or quarters length wise as I like the carrots to kind of disappear in my sauces.

(BTW, this lodge is stunning in a Sundance Catalog kind of way.)

Which chopper (to those of you who have one) do you have? I looked at WS and theirs was different than Walmart and QVC?

I ordered the one from Walmart, but realized goldie bought one from WS, I can always return the one from WM.

Thanks, I am in need of a veggie and fruit slicer!

Thanks for the video, it really helped. We weren't cutting things in half or in smaller pieces.

Gold, mine came with three blades, two different sizes for dicing, and one for slicing.

O, I got the Progressive from Amazon.

So yes, food processor is your friend. Happy cooking all!

QVC has this KitchenAid -w/dicing kit. Watch the video, it looks like it does the job

http://www.qvc.com/KitchenAid-13-cup-Exact-Slice-Food-Processor-with-Dicing-Kit.product.K42600.html?sc=K42600-Zone&cm_scid=zone&cm_sp=MERCHZONE--Featured:+New+Arrivals--1