I use it to shred soft cheeses, to "grate" parmesan, to make bread crumbs, to make meatloaf/meatballs, to grind pork for homemade sausage, to thinly slice potatoes for gratin, to mix salad dressings, to make pesto....lots of things.

I don't know that I have ever used it to chop vegetables. I have Pampered chef mini chopper for that.

I love my FP, and use it all the time.

Linda

I used mine the last couple of times to make hashbrowns. I love that with 2 medium potatoes I can make hashbrowns that cost about 10 cents!...vs... the shredded 'taters in the store that cost about $2.79. Actually, I was at a meat market in Livonia (okay, decent homes...but nothing super-duper like Birmingham or West Bloomfield) and they had those shredded potatoes at $4.79 ! To be honest that just really pissed me off. Regular stores sell those packages for $1.99-2.89 and that is really alot considering that is about 2 medium 'taters shredded. I cussed and cursed and left the market that wanted almost 5 bucks for 5 cents in potatoes! Give me a freakin' break! The lady at the register looked at me funny...I didn't make a scene although I was tempted. I hope they go out of business soon....gouging people is just a terrible way to make your livelihood.

Duane

I use it to make Pesto in because a blender doesn't do a good job for me.

I use it for hummus, I grate cheese with it, I've used it to grind meat for fresh sausage, and I use it to shred cabbage when I'm packing sauerkraut.

I never use it for chopping vegetables because I tend to turn them into mush. I don't like it for pastry because it only takes a second too long to get the pastry too warm and then you have to refrigerate or freeze it for half an hour to make it workable. I want it to SAVE time, sheesh.

I've also used it to prepare fresh basil to freeze, not really pesto, just basil and olive oil, frozen in "plops" to use in soup when I want it.

Annie

uuugh, cat food.

A large chef's knife is my food processor. It's perfectly suited to the quantities I normally chop and is easy to clean and store. Only on rare occasions would I find a food processor useful. If I ever get into preparing large batches of food for the freezer I may get out the processor. But I may get an Alligator first.

Jim

I have the mini food processor (2 in fact) and although it doesn't have the slicing capability, it's great for doing bread crumbs, pestos, etc. Otherwise, a good sharp knife slices the vegetables.

My chef's knife is DEFINITELY my friend and dh keeps it nice and sharp for me (handy to have a woodworking dh).

Shredding potatoes. I forgot about that. Yup, use it for that too, and Pesto.

But most of the time it is still sitting there taking up what seems to me like valuable space.

I love my cuisinart.....It makes a huge pot of soup a pleasure...
I make bread in it...pie crust, pesto, I use it to chop tomatoes for salsa or sauce, to chop-apples for chopped apple cake, to chop peaches for jam, to slice potatoes for scalloped potatoes, for slaw, to slice onions for onion soup. to chop cooked chicken for chicken salad, To shred potatoes for latkes, or cheese for anything that needs shredded cheese....and I use it for the veggies for soup...I slice the onions and carrots and celery.
To get the most out of your FP you need to learn how to use it and have a good variety of discs...I have 3 slicing discs and 3 shredding discs and 2 juilienne discs....which I don't think are much good.
I can make pastry without over heating it....just have to have a very light touch.
I thought i didn't need one either...but was given a cheap one and suddenly could see the possibilities, and have loved the Cuisinart.
Linda C

I'm like Linda. I use mine a lot.
My knife skills are awful, so I use mine to chop vegetables. The pulse feature helps with getting an even chop.
I have had better success and less frustration with pie crusts since I started using the fp and the vodka pie crust recipe.
Donna

Pesto
Bread crumbs, especially fresh
Pastry
Finely minced veggies (you need some liquid, not much)

I use my old Hobart KA mixer more than the Cuisinart, but for certain things, the food processor works better than almost anything else.

I have had mine since 1983.....used it a lot when my family was still at home.
Then, didn't use it much until this year.
I made the dough for pasta and then use my hand cranked pasta roller, I make bread, I make cookies, I grate cheese.....I have gotten my money's worth over the years.

I love mine!
Shredded zucchini for breads.
Cheese
Potatoes (when I remember)
Pie crust
Guacamole
Salsa (fresh)
Dips

Most quick veggies for soups and such I still prefer my chef's knife for larger pieces and uniformity.

Both have their place in my kitchen.

Deanna

Takes me about three minutes, tops, to pull celery, carrots and an onion out of the fridge and have them washed and cut into large pieces before being dumped in my FP, and then seconds to pulse to soup or saute readiness.

One trick I learned from Sol is to cover the top with plastic wrap before putting on the bowl cover so I didn't have to put it in the dishwasher. The Cuisinarts come with a flat bowl cover, my Kitchenaid doesn't.

I keep mine in a pot drawer so its off the counter.

I couldn't make my Chipotle Lime sauce without it! (in the FAQ)

I love mine. I don't use it all the time, but when I need it , it is my best friend. I do not store on the counter though. I have a set of shelves in the kitchen where I keep my cookbooks, and it sits there.

I use mine to make pesto and that's about all that I do with it. It's a big one as it has a blender integrated on one side so it sits on a top shelf in a hall cupboard. But it's the only gadget that makes good pesto, apart from doing it all by hand with a mortar and pestle, which I've also done several times.

SharonCb

I have one too, and it lives on teh shelves, but when it comes out to play, I love it. Firty pounds of red cabbage sliced in no time, cheesecake in minutes, potatoes shredded or sliced, Annies Salsa, onions chopped for the week, carrots grated for salads.

Dinner tonight is ham and scalloped pototo casserole. Cheese will grate, potatos will slice in there.

I received my first food processor about 32 years ago. It gets used for all of the above. It might not get used on a daily basis but I wouldn't want to do with out it.

Ann

I got my first one as a Christmas gift in about 1980. I'm on my second one now and if were to die today, I'd be shopping for a new one instantly.

I use my electric mini-chopper much more often than my food processor but it saves a lot of time for some jobs. We like French onion soup and I can slice the onions in a fraction of the time of slicing them by hand. It's also easy to make stale bread into crumbs in the processor.

Well thank you for all the ideas.

Peppi, it's funny, but when I read your posts now they have more "weight" because I've actually met you :) (May I please have your cheesecake recipe made in the FP?) Now I HAVE to meet everyone else.

Guess I'm keeping the FP for now. Please keep the ideas coming.

I love my food processors both the full size one and the small hand one. As a matter of fact I just bought a new one so I can take the old one to the cottage to replace the really old one!

I use them extensively when canning to chop all my veggies, for pastry, for soups I want to puree, bread crumbs, cole slaw, sauerkraut, caramelized onions, pesto, grated cheese, and much more. Would never be without it.

IÂm surprised no one is talking about dough. I make scones and other pastries that require "cutting in" the butter into the flour. Piecrust too. There is a bread dough blade that came with it, but I always use the basic metal blade. Chop nutsÂa lot.

I also shred cheese and finely chop broccoli for broccoli cheese soup. Chop cranberries for cranberry orange relish. Those 2 alone would send me out to get a new one if mine died.

Mine is a 35 year old Cuisinart, and parts of the bowl are held together with duct tape. I have to hand wash it now.

My husband uses it every week when making bread. I don't use it for the little stuff but love it when making the dogs treats. I grind up 5# of cooked chicken with carrots and garlic and then freeze it in 2 cup amounts. When I'm ready to make them, it is easy to just add eggs, EVOO and flour -- roll out and bake for hours at 200 deg.

In the summer I use it for a bushel of green/red/yellow sweet peppers to freeze for later use in 2-3 cup amounts. Can't think of anything else right now, but ours is used regularly.

I'm not terribly fussy about uniformly sized pieces if I'm doing a small to medium dice and if I have to do a lot as for canning salsa. I want nuts and tomato dice chopped by hand, though.

I think my FP is great for making nut butters and any kind of thickish purees that don't work in the blender: hummus, pesto, cooked pumpkin or squash to be used in breads or pie, gazpacho, relishes, pureed fruit for jams.

For really small amounts of stuff I don't bother but for volume and speed it is fabulous.

It's a really useful gadget! Just this last week I made two batches of Date Nut Pinwheel Cookies, and used it for processing the dates into bits so it would cook down quickly. It was also used for pulverizing cookies into crumbs for truffles, and I made fresh bread crumbs, combined with cold butter which I put in the freezer to use at a later time. I'm making pizza later this week and always use it for my dough, along with the crust I use for pie or tarts. I also grate parmesan and other cheeses, make dressing and chop vegs like broccoli, where I don't really care what size it all turns out. It's wonderful for chopping nuts, although I usually also put those through a strainer to get rid of the nut dust. It's been used to turn sugar into fine granulated sugar, and I always grind oatmeal into coarse flour before adding it to cookies or pancakes. I think it's best for things you really want to shred, pulverize, emulsify or turn into dough. Now that I've had one, I'd never be without it and would replace it in a heartbeat.

I make hummus, spinach dip and roasted pepper eggplant dip in mine. I use it to cut in butter for scones. Tofu pate. In addition to many of the other suggestions here. Occasionally onion dip too, when I make that kind of dip. Potato lakkes.

I don't use the shredding disk and the slicing disk that much, but a lot for the mixing disk and chopping blade. When I'm chopping veggies for soup, a knife is quicker and less set up and clean up.

My FP is a cheapo one that my cousin gave me when he moved out of town. It works well for purees, but not for grating, chopping, or shredding. It let me down big time for latkes this year. I'm contemplating a new one that will grate, but it will have to be small enough to store in the same place as the old one.