New looking food processor - what am I doing wrong?
11 years ago
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- 11 years ago
- 11 years ago
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Food processor - what to look for?
Comments (26)I have had a food process for 35 years or more. So, I have used it from the time I had babies to the present time when my nest consists of my husband, his 85 year old mother, and me. When I was cooking big meals, the time saved chopping onions, celery, etc. was far more than the time spent washing the food processor, bowl, lid, and blades. (Yes, you can put all those things in the dishwasher, but boy do they ever fill up the top of the dishwasher fast.) Now, not so much. I can get out a paring knife or chef's knife and chop my one onion, one stalk of celery, and wash that knife in very little more time than it takes to put the processor together, much less wash and dry it all. That being said, when I am doing big cooking, like at the holidays, I am very glad to still have a food processor. On those days, when I am chopping pounds of onions and whole stalks of celery, pounds of nuts, etc., it's more than worth having. I have let the blender go by the wayside over the years. The food processor does everything it can do and more. I do like my little immersion blender from time to time. I do not use my FP for making bread. I have a Zoji bread machine for that, and I will never want to be without that. I make pie crust by hand with a steel pastry cutter. It makes a bit bigger mess, but the quality of the crust is far better than any I was ever able to make in the FP. I have a Victorio Food Mill, so I don't use my Food Processor in canning, except if I am making relishes with onions and garlic. I probably don't even need to use it then, but I don't want the allium smells in the Victorio's parts. I confess that I have grown lazy and buy most cheese already shredded now. But when I was cooking for a crowd, I used my FP shredder blade a lot. It saves money and time without a doubt. I have had Cuisinart, KitchenAid, and an inexpensive one that came from WalMart years ago. You know what? They have all performed basically the same, though the inexpensive one was louder. The Cuisinart and Kitchen Aid lasted longer, but probably not enough to justify the extra expense. Nevertheless, I have a KitchenAid right now and I really do like it. I would hate to be without, but the day may come when I need the counter space more. Our needs do change as time passes....See Morei 'may' need a new food processor~
Comments (5)san, as you know, Elery bought me a big Kitchen Aid food processor for my birthday a couple of months ago. Have I been convinced that it's worth the counter space? Not entirely. I did use it to chop the onions and peppers for those 36 pints of salsa I canned, but no matter how I try, they are still a little too fine or a bit too big, it just doesn't do it the way I want them. It's passable, acceptable, but not exactly how I want it and so I'll go back to chopping it all by hand. I don't use it for bread because I have a bread machine that I love and use several times a week. Studies have been done showing that neither stand mixers nor food processors knead bread as well as the bread machines which were designed to do just that. Of course, you and I both know that you aren't baking a bunch of bread, LOL. I made pie crust but it got too hot and I had to put it in the freezer to chill before I could use it. Not much time savings there, although I suppose with a LOT more practice I might make it passable. So, bread making, pastry and vegetable chopping? Not ideal for any of those, at least not for me. What does it do? It makes spectacular and short work of a batch of hummus, which I love. It's better for Jessica's lime chipotle marinade/glaze, the cilantro tends to gum up the stick blender and the regular blender doesn't make enough. It made short work of the dough for the Cheddar Thumbprints with Habanero Jelly, because that dough needs to be frozen anyway, no matter how it's blended. Finally, I've used it to shred cabbage for slaw and it works great, much faster than a hand grater. It makes a smooth liver pate. Oh, and I ground up a bunch of dried hot chili peppers into bits, small enough to put into a shaker. It was so easy with the food processor. So, bottom line, I think you need to decide what you really use it for and whether another appliance would do the same job. Then decide. I like mine and I appreciate the fact that Elery thought enough to get me one but I still wouldn't buy one myself if it broke. Annie...See MoreUnderside stitches look awful--what am I doing wrong?
Comments (10)I ... quilted at a very fast speed. I'm not sure exactly what this means, but I suspect that this could be the problem, or at least part of it. If the needle is going up and down very fast, you still want the quilt sandwich to move very slowly, so that it is making regular size stitches. Big stitches, even if there are just a few here and there, mean the quilt sandwich is moving too quickly. You need to learn to move the fabric at a steady rate, no matter the direction or tightness or looseness of the curves. Practice on small scraps. You must have a light touch. Just your fingertips. If you pull the sandwich, you'll cause the stitches on the back side to pull. When I first started to free motion quilt, I gripped the sandwich tightly, and dragged it back and forth under the needle. The fabric moved rather quickly. I liked the way it looked on the front side, but the back was a disaster! My stitches pulled so badly that I could see a lot of the top thread on the back side. And thread didn't even stay where the needle had gone through, but pulled to the inside of every curve. Since then, I have slowed waaaaay down. But the needle still moves relatively fast. And I have learned to hold the fabric gently. I did a lot of practice with scraps. I put different colors of thread in the top vs. the bobbin. And I used muslin so I could see every stitch, until I got the hang of it. Some computerized machines have a feature that regulates the maximum speed. You can press down on the gas pedal as hard as you want, and it tops out at a pre-set speed. This is very useful for learning the steady speed aspect of free motion quilting. I have seen the Bernina Stitch Regulator on TV and in person. Seems nice, but if you can just learn to move the sandwich at a steady rate all by yourself, you don't need anything that fancy....See MoreWhat kind of food processor do you have?
Comments (17)I Was aware that kitchen aide was now made by whirlpool, and that my old kitchenaide food processer was actually made by kitchenaide. Someone ask the question WHY I did not go with kitchenaide in the first place since I was familiar with the kitchenaide and that was one of the reasons why...also like I said before, I was looking at a cooking show on t.v. and they were using cruisinart. That is why I thought I would like a cruisinart instead of a kitchenaide. Then I had second thoughts, as I had told my SIL that I had bought a cruisinart, and she told me she had, had more problems with her cruisinart. I started questioning my choice, so I Thought I could come on here to get a vast number of opinions. I am going to keep my cruisinart...actually used it today, and really like it. Either my K.A. was wearing out for awhile or this is just a tougher machine. Also nice and quiet. Looking through your responses, I found more people satisfied with the Cruisinart than the kitchen aide. So thanks for your help. Much appreciated!! Your opinion of appliances counts with me! That is the #l thing I like about the K.T. and would read alot of your suggestions and opinions before I EVER started posting. Again thank you....See More- 11 years ago
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