Sounds like a job for a blender.

Thanks... any recommendations for a good one?

And, what would differentiate a processor from a blender, by and large? I often don't want things blended to puree, especially soups.

I can't recommend any particular brand, but look for the most powerful motor, if you don't want it to burn out on you.

For coarse texture, you just pulse until it's the desired consistency. It's the same w/ a food processor, IMPE.

We got this blender a few months ago: https://www.amazon.com/SharkNinja-BL610-Ninja-Professional-Blender/dp/B00NGV4506/ref=sr_1_6?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1489955606&sr=1-6&keywords=Blender

It is absolutley AMAZING. It blends up frozen fruit, spinach, soups, and I even made quinoa flour in it. I highly recommend it.

Vita-Mix. The self-cleaning kind (you have to clean the outside--for the inside, quickly rinse to get the large food bits out and add hot water and dishsoap. Put on self clean. Spotless results. Rinse off soap and you're done). Santa brought me one. It is AMAZING. It's especially good with emulsions such as for ice cream or perfect crepe batter. Definitely has the whole pulverize thing, er, whipped. :) The main thing is to be careful that you don't overdo it. :)

Personally, I wouldn't be without either my blender (professional grade - maybe 10 speeds?), my Cuisinart full size food processor (I have a mini as well) or my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. And I am a single person.......but I enjoy cooking when I do and also like to cook/bake for others when the mood strikes.

I have a bunch of other very necessary appliances as well - my rice cooker, crockpot, toaster (of course!) and a hand mixer I am ready to toss in the garbage to be replaced with an immersion blender.

Things I already own: rice maker, crock pot, the mini-prep food processor, stick blender, George Foreman, toaster oven... Considering an InstaPot too, later on.

I will need to look more into the KA stand mixer as I understand there are all sorts of attachments. A meat grinder attachment, if possible, would be good for me.

Pillog, interesting about the self cleaning Vitamix. Definitely to look at!

Season, another gadget to investigate, thanks!

With all due respect to Plllog, all Vitamix blenders, in fact, all blenders, no matter the make, are self-cleaning.

The new Vitamix 'self-cleaning' option is just a sales tactic. Which is unnecessary, since Vitamix blenders pretty much sell themselves.

I presumed people cleaned their blenders the same way I do, by allowing them to run (about a minute) with enough water and a few drops of soap in the vessel.

Aside from all other kitchen appliances, the Vitamix is the workhorse in my kitchen (I own 5 Vitamix blenders [two of them are the older, stainless steel models, which still work like a charm]). A high-powered blender, such as the Vitamix, will do everything for you, except your taxes.

I've said before, if there's ever a fire in my house, and my family is safe, I would suss out a way to rescue my two cats and the blenders.

Sol

Ew. I always disassemble my blender before washing, since food can get stuck in the crevices @ the bottom. I also make sure it's thoroughly dry before reassembling so it won't get moldy. But then, I live in a humid climate.

I have 1 of those Ninja blenders @ work & altho it is super powerful & large capacity, I really dislike the lid design, since it doesn't drain dry after washing - it has a hollow space that you can't open to clean or dry out.

I have one Vitamix blender, but two containers - I got the extra "dry" container in case I want to grind grain, but so far I've only used it for bread crumbs. The wet container does a much better job of puréeing than my Cuisinart FP, which I'm not particularly fond of. I have a Kitchenaid stick blender that has a mini-chopper attachment, and I use that for making relishes or small batches of minced vegetables for deviled ham or egg salads. If you want to get a Vitamix, get a reconditioned one, which will cost a lot less and has the same warranty. The reason Vitamix says that it is self-cleaning is that the blade is not removable from the container, and they want to assure people that it will get clean without disassembling. I've always cleaned other blenders as Sol does, but I don't use any of them any more, although I do use my stick blender frequently. Make sure your stick blender is not cordless, as the cordless ones do not have as much power, and the batteries will not hold a charge after a certain age.

While I have a KA stand mixer, I use a hand-held mixer (also KA) for things like whipping cream or beating eggs. For one thing, I freeze the bowl and beaters before whipping cream, and it's harder to do that with the stand mixer. I do use the pasta attachment on the stand mixer more than anything else, but I also have the meat grinder attachment, which I used last week when I made chicken salad. I used to use the cheese grater attachment, but now I grate cheese by hand, since I found a hand held grater that I like - it stands on its own in an "A" shape and is easier to clean than a box grater.

I think for your needs, a KA stand mixer would not be necessary. The attachments can be nice if you already have a KA and would use it as a stand mixer, but if you do not bake a lot, a KA would not be worth it. The attachments for the KA are often as expensive as buying the device separately.

I generally cook for a family of 6. When my last food processor died, I went some time without one. I can do most things that it can do with a knife and a cutting board. However, I am quite happy to have one again. When doing things in quantity, or chopping nuts, etc, it is definitely worth the space it takes up on the counter. I like it better for blending thick things like bean dip.

For blending liquids, I love my Vitamix. For smoothies, pureed soups, milk shakes, salad dressings, etc, it is wonderful.

If any of these were to break down, I would definitely replace them. If I did not bake much though, I would probably do without the stand mixer.

So you are expanding your kitchen rather than downsizing. Now that will be exciting. When we moved i thought the new kitchen would be horribly small but it has turned out much more efficient. I did keep most un-used appliances packed away or on open shelves in the downstairs storage workroom where we have our freezer. Having four seasons i was not ready to get rid of some things, and we randomly need some rarely used 'thing' every so often.

Seems every season has different kitchen needs. First year we enjoyed the simplicity of basic hand chopping making meals of whole foods not complicated. Still do and do not have a toaster, toaster oven or any counter appliances. Coffee is Chemex pour over, roast our own beans.

I have a pantry wall upstairs that is the home of the KitchenAid blender rarely used being savory over sweets. We do like rustic fresh fruit tarts and chocolate and a few others but none need the mixer. One bread recipe uses it. So maybe once a month.

My Blendtec blender is my most used appliance the past five years or so. Built into the countertop with four jars of different sizes in the cabinet just above.(one for grain as they get etched). I do have the Breville juicer and loved. A vintage Braun stick blender. (new one still in box). Use it all the time.

My Cuisinart is no longer made so i have 4, lol. Bought back-ups on E-bay and an extra motor base as i can't live without it. Mid-size built like a tank. I think it had too many part that were confusing being a citrus juicer, and a shooter attachment that goes into any side bowl of choice. No big giant bowl not needed. Mini prep is pretty junky and ok for mini dressings etc but the small blender jar does all of that and better....

A good blender like mine or Vitamix does so much. (the high end blenders do not come apart and not gross, lol). A self-cleaning is just a pre-set button. High speed and shuts off. Handy.

No smart pot, rice cooker, pressure cooker here. We all cook differently so take your time deciding. Good quality pots and pans and knives and a well thought out prep area so cooking is enjoyable is my mantra/therapy.

I can do parties for one hundred and holiday meals for 20....if i had a daily large family of six to feed i would have every trick and so very different. Absolutely no criticism towards those that have all the toys.

With due respect to Sol and Carol whose opinions I trust, the self clean on the Vita-Mix really is better than your average blender run on high with suds. It does get every little bit and crevice clean. It may not be any better than a Vita-Mix or similar high powered blender manually, but it's far better than what a regular blender can do, including working just as well on sticky icky. The cycle starts slow and spends some time at lower speed to get the big stuff (I surmise) and then wails at top speed for awhile, then slows down and stops. It may be a sales tool, but I didn't know about it until opened it and read the manual.

I LOVE the self clean cycle almost as much as the fact than when you go for liquify, you get liquid. Not lumpy liquid. Liquid. The emulsions are permanently emulsified, no fuss nor bother. And you can do coarse or fine and part doesn't liquify while you're getting the rest to cut. There's a large well around the knob hole so pouring into it is a snap, and it has the pusher that allows you to nab leaves stuck to the sides of the jar and push them into the works while it's running.

I can't compare it to Blendtec (closest competitor), though I was given a run down of the what each did best and worst before I decided on what to tell Santa. I've also heard good things outside of our group as well about the Ninja (best price competitor). All I can say is that I don't use my Vita-Mix to shred cheese or mince, so I still have use for my old Cuisinart. More and more, however, I'm using the Vita-mix. :) Which is also dead easy because it self cleans.

My kids all like a Kitchen Aide blender. We still are using the Waring blender we bought over 50 years ago. I broke the glass blender top, and we replaced it with a plastic one they sold. Great basic machine.

Looking at this, sounds like the KA stand mixer is not needed for me. The very few times I make desserts it is muffins or mini-muffins, although where I am moving a good pre-made ice cream source will be hard to find (real ingredients sort of thing) so maybe down the road eventually I may want to make my own, but that's a separate issue. And when I've made muffins or mini-muffins, I really haven't even felt the urge in recent years to call into service Mom's old hand mixer!

The mini-prep will be sent off to a donation center at some point - since when I want to process rather than chop by hand, it's usually because I have volume to contend with. Or as mentioned, pulsing up rice for those Indian uttapam pancakes needs some help beyond my physical hand power! The only reason I'd bought it to begin with was to be able to fit a processor SOMEWHERE in my kitchen! (Kind of like with the Smart Stick - but I can see using that in the future!)

Will a good blender or processor be able to deal with making juices from items that would include hard veggies? (As noted, I keep the pulp, so I don't need a dedicated juicer that separates the very healthy fiber, er, the pulp, from the juice.)

Yes, somewhat upsizing in the kitchen, downsizing (or replacing with better things) in other areas in the upcoming house.

As far as I'm concerned, the Vita-Mix is essential for ice cream. One of those emulsions I was raving about. Most of my best recipes call for heating the milk and adding it to the eggs in the Vita-Mix. You can also make cold desserts that involve ice right in the Vita-Mix. I haven't done that, though I have friends who swear by it. Also quick soups made with hot water and vegetables.

Re juice, do you want the skins and pith off? If you want skins and all, the Vita-Mix (and by that, I mean high power blender, i.e., could be Blendtec, e.g.) might do it. I'm not sure how to keep it pulpy, though. There must be an ideal speed that hacks up the skins sufficiently, while not totally liquifying. Before the blender, I was given a slow juicer, which I loved, but others didn't enjoy my pulpy creations. There is some waste though, which goes out with the skins and pith, and I also didn't like tossing the nutrition of the skins with the inedible solids.

Vitamix and Blendtec are great blenders but they are way overpriced. A wood worker's router, using about the same motor and much more complicated parts is about 1/5 the price of a Vitamix, which has only one moving part.

As a matter of fact, that's what I have done. I turned my router into a food blender and it works about the same as a Vitamix.

I got this as a gift:

https://www.amazon.com/Ovente-Immersion-Attachment-Stainless-HS585B/dp/B00SGGIQPQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490099888&sr=8-1&keywords=ovente+blender

Surprisingly, that cheap appliance takes care 95% of my mixing, chopping and blending needs. It is very light, easy to be cleaned and stored.

Beware that a vitamix is a very heavy and noisy machine, and it may even be too tall to be put on your kitchen counter under the upper cabinets.

dcarch

Pillog, if the skins and pith are edible, I'd want them in most cases. I'll pare or peel off any skins I may not want by hand (citrus for instance).

Soups I usually like chunky, so I think going with a good processor and a good blender is going to be best for me...

Dcarch7 - the price is definitly right on that one! This would be worth getting. Turning your router into a blender? Wow, I'm not sure I'm that talented but great idea! I have 18 inches under cab, so I will have to keep my eyes open - although the one end of my prep area has no uppers (there's a window there).

Well, it didn't take much to adapt the router into a high power blender. The only thing I made is the yellow wood base.

In a minute, I can unscrew the router from the base and I will have my router again.

$40 instead of $400.

dcarch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDBvUJsR8I0

Haha, I'll be back in an hour while i go to the workshop with all my veg to blender with the router. (a five minute kitchen job).

A pricy blender purchase that takes a while to push the 'buy' button but in retrospect why did i wait so long? Well worth it.

No one appliance does all, but a good blender and a good cuisinart are a pleasure to have and I really can't live without. One brand of food processor has a smaller bowl inset for small jobs. A dozen small one-use-trick appliances are tempting but cheaply made.

Hang onto your mini prep for a while. It will do a quick salsa or mirepoix when you need a finer chop quickly.

If you put a nice thick rubber band around your lid edge it will stay on better.

For some reason it is taking waaay too long to get a good blend. Good hack though.

I do prefer having set regulated control buttons.

I use my food processor WAY more often than I use a blender. They are not interchangeable appliances in my book. I primarily use the blender for pureeing soups (it does a much better job with this than a food processor) and making mayonaise (which can be done in a food processor, but I think the results are better in a blender). Oh, I also use it to blend the ingredients for homemade Irish cream at holiday time. I use the food processor for making pesto, bread crumbs, chopping vegetables for relishes etc., making pastry (nothing cuts butter into flour better) and about a million other things. It is the workhorse, along with my large KA mixer, of my kitchen. If you're a big smoothie drinker, you probably would prefer a real blender. Nothing purees like a blender, but a blender just doesn't chop as well IMO as a food processor.

Thanks, all. I am really appreciating all this feedback and will have to see what I do. I definitely won't ditch the mini prep until there's a workable substitute. The router angle still sounds fascinating. Maybe the real adult sized processor first, then see where I go from there?

I almost never use my FP - mainly just for hummus and bean dip, and I could make those in the Vitamix as well. I make bread crumbs in the Vitamix - it does a better job and faster, and I use an old-fashioned pastry blender to cut butter into flour for pie crust - it gives me more control. I pretty much always chop vegetables with knifes, as I want the pieces to be uniform, and that doesn't happen in the FP. For mayo, I use a stick blender, as it is easier to clean, or at least it is easier to retrieve the mayo from it than it is from the blender, unless I use a blender with the blades that come out from the bottom. It is tricky to keep the stick blender in position when making mayo, however. I use a mini-food processor for pesto, as I do not want to make that much at a time, and I add the pine nuts in last, as I like for them to be crunchy rather than blended smooth. I used to make pasta dough in the FP, but I found it easier to make it in a bowl, and the clean-up was much faster and easier. My main complaint about the FP is that it is difficult to clean (i.e., bulky), as I do not run my dishwasher every day, and so I generally wash it by hand.

If I had a good small food processor, I could get rid of my large one. The one I have is a 14-cup model with a smaller bowl that fits inside. It is extremely heavy, and I have to haul it out each time I want to use it, which, as I said, is not frequently. I used to have a small food processor that held only about 4 cups, and I used that one all the time, but it died a few years ago :(. I'm only cooking for two, and so I very seldom make large quantities of anything.

To be clear, when I say I use my food processor for chopping, I'm not talking about making cole slaw for dinner or preparing vegetables for a stir fry -- I'm talking about finely mincing many, many pounds of fruits and vegetables for canned relishes and chutneys. In the pre-food processor days, you might use a hand-crank meat grinder for this kind of stuff.

I agree that a large FP is great for chopping/mincing huge quantities, but I cannot remember the last time I did that. I think I did use it for shredding cabbage for Okonomiyaki, but since the quantity for that is relatively small (1-1/2 cups), I generally use a knife. I've also used it for shredding potatoes for latkes, but I don't make those very often any more, as I prefer to make potato frittata.

Dcarch, I appreciate the router motor, but I think part of what you get with the Vita-Mix is the quality of the jar and blade. You can put all that in one or two batches and blend for a lot less time.

Actually, the jar is made by Blendtec, and Blendtec jars come with the blade. $40.00 on eBay.

I bought two, one for food, the other I use to chop up compost for the garden seedling starter.

dcarch

https://smhttp-ssl-21049.nexcesscdn.net/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/350x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/b/l/blendtec-wild-side-jar-red-popup_1_1.jpg

So why can it only handle one piece of apple at a time?

You ask very interesting questions, and you will get interesting answers. :-)

For a 2 1/2 HP router, it can even turn small pebbles into dust. In the video, it was the very first time I tried out the setup. What I did not show was that I actually rewired the motor to be bi-directional. By flipping a switch, I can have the blender rotate the opposite direction. However, typically the blade of the blender can be attached by screw/nut threaded in the opposite direction, by turning the motor in the opposite direction can make the blade loose and helicopter out. So I was being very careful, one piece of apple at a time.

dcarch.

That is what i was thinking. Just like when an appliance is first 'out of the box' we all have a testing phase. See what it can do. Hacks are fun and those of us that do it...i do it all day at work...wake up in the middle of the night with ideas.

Personally i draw the line in the kitchen and want order and predictable comfort.

Oh! Well, if it was the first time you used it, I must compliment you! The video shows it very well. I understand your hesitancy to start with a bunch of big apple and carrot pieces before you'd put it through its paces a few times, especially with the router being so powerful.

Besides coleslaw, I like to use my Cuisinart for slicing apples for pies & grating carrots & cheeses - so quick!

Still cogitatin' here. I don't want to use a processor to shred cabbage for coleslaw, or potatoes for shredded potatoes... a processor can't give the length to those veggies. (or, am I wrong on this?? Carol slices apples... ) But I retain interest for other foods, and I thank all these areas of thought to consider!

Plllog, I was not disputing that fact in my original comment. To reiterate, I own a few VM blenders, and they're all very powerful machines, and the reason why they're worth mucho dinero. However, I had to clarify to Artemis, and anyone else interested in high-powered blenders, that all blenders are self-cleaning, not just the Vitamix.

And for anyone who may be on the fence about this, made in the U.S.A. product, I submit for your consideration, Papa Barnard's first VM infomercial.

Mr. Barnard might've had mommy issues, but his pedagogical (and entertaining) spiel is not to be missed. The man throws every damn thing laying around his kitchen, right into the blender, including an entire egg, shell and all. Pure gold.

Please, don't miss the part about 'Mashed Puhtatuz' (at about 8:42) .

Sol

Some older Vitamixs had reversible motor.

That's why I made mine reversible.

dcarch

I have an old VitaMix w/ reversible motor. I use the reverse function when I grind egg shells into powder.

DSII bought a Ninja that he uses for making smoothies. I've only used it a couple of times. It's a Rube Goldberg contraption and is somewhat confusing to assemble the different blades, bowls/ containers. I default to using my old Cuisinart food processor, the Vita Mix or a stick blender. Also have a regular Oster blender--seldom used. Mostly, I use a stick blender or the food processor.

I use the bread maker to make yeast & pasta dough. (Super easy clean--just let the leftover dough bits dry & they flake off.) Kitchen Aid mixer is used for making cookies & cakes that need long mix times for creaming butter & sugar. Use a hand mixer for making mashed potatoes.

I think my college, garage sale blender had reverse. :) But it was only useful on its top setting. Mostly, it made noxious sweet cocktails. There was one from Mexico that had tequila, creme de cacao, grenadine and evaporated milk. :D Actually, I think most of the drinks were tequila. Cheap tequila. Just as cocktails were pretty much invented to cover the taste of rotgut, bathtub gin and moonshine, I think the college version is to make people focus on how bad the concoctions are so they won't notice how bad the tequila is. :) Much more recently (but not in a blender (shudder)), I made (real) (good) margaritas for friend who hadn't ever had a good one.

tequila, creme de cacao, grenadine and evaporated milk.

And yet you're still alive!

ROTFL! Actually, more life preserving than tequila shots. You can't drink a lot of that stuff. It's more about wafting around at a party (pretty pink and almost opaque) than serious drinking (though I remember it tasting good). :) I know it sounds like some kind of weird dare, but it's an actual drink in the manual and has been around at least half a century.

The longer slices for coleslaw and shredded potatoes are done nicely by a V slicer. Easy to store and cleans with a quick swish in soapy water. This is the one I have.

https://www.amazon.com/Borner-Mandolin-Vegetable-Slicer-Chopper/dp/B019VKMU20/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1490546454&sr=8-11&keywords=borner+v-slicer

I found a recipe for that tequila drink:
Silk Stockings

FWIW, I have 2 disc blades for my Cuisinart - 1 slices & 1 grates:

(Not mine, just closest image I could find on the net)

Solsthumper, great video!!! What a find!

I didn't know that the Vitamix is older than I am!

Anyhow, I think my choice at this point will be between Vitamix and Cuisinart. Probably Cuisinart. Especially with different options for attachments. Thanks!

Cuisinart food processor, 11 cup model will be the item I'm buying!