Kitchen Blenders

And are you excited about it?

Me? Thanks for asking, I’d love to share. I just purchased the Cuisinart 16 cup Elite Food Processor from Williams-Sonoma. This will be my first food processor, and I am so excited I may not sleep for the entire five days it will take to get here. Maybe I will sleep, but only to dream of slicing, shredding, chopping, mixing and kneading…
Due to financial circumstances, and my husband’s penchant for handguns, I have been waiting for several months to make this purchase. Why, I’ve even had to go back to buying mayonnaise! Expensive and yucky.
My daughter complained all summer that I wouldn’t buy something to just get by, so she could make smoothies. But I tell you that if I had done that, I would be living with a blender I would be dissatisfied with for years before I finally got what I wanted. This way, I suffered for a few months, and now what I want is on its way. Patience is finally my reward.
Share with me your appliance = love story!
EDIT: Ooh! I got a new range about a year ago! I found, on a fluke, a 5 burner ceramic top (no gas out here) with a convection oven for half price, because it had a small dent! Woot! Have fun!

I’m actually hoping to do an entire renovation on my kitchen in the next 6 months or so (make it a lot bigger!) so hoping to purchase new stove, oven, fridge etc.
The next appliance i know i want and can’t wait to purchase is a deep fryer Very unhealthy, i know, but very useful!

I got a bag of whole coffee beans for a gift but I don’t have a coffee grinder. Is there any other way to grind them at home without one? Blender, food processor, Cuisinart?

Thanks!

Order of preference:
1) Burr grinder (even grind size & little heat on the beans)
2) Mortar & Pestle (better than blade, but more work – esp big pots)
3) Blade grinder (doesn’t really grind, more like pulverize) in 3-5 second bursts
4) Food processor with blade attachment (just a big blade grinder)

Don’t use a blender. It will powder & heat part but leave giant chunks.

Does any mommy's out there know what kind of hand blender is good for blending up baby food. I was looking at cuisinart products but im not sure. I need something that will blend meat, vegetables and rice so that the food is safe enough for my 10mon ld daughter can eat . She doesn't have any teeth so i need something that will work.

Get a food mill. They grind food down, not to a paste, but to small pieces. Some even have interchangable disks so you can have bigger or smaller sized pieces. We have a Rosle, that costs about $120. Its really good. But, OXO makes one as well, thats only about $50, and is almost as good. I've tried the Munchkin Baby Food Grinder, and I thought it was a piece of junk. It didn't work well, leaks, has lots of small parts, and really only works on food that's already soft.

i want to ground up a dozen bags full of various chinese herbs and plant matter into a fairly fine powder. Obviously I don't want to take all week doing it in a cuisinart or small blender. I've looked into leaf shredders but think it might not be fine enough. Though I don't want to spend a thousand dollars on something. Ideal would be some addaptation I couldmake to a power tool or some common gardening tool, something I could rent.

Use a restuarant sized kitchen liquidiser.

My son eats pureed foods and I've tried the Cuisinart Mini Food Prep Prossesor…. BOOOO!!! It smelled like the motor was going to burn up… And it wasn't even working that hard! And it left big chuncks of food. I'm using a blender now… and it's such a pain to get all of the food out from around and under the blades! It takes so long just to blend up his foods. I was wondering if the Magic Bullet would be good for the use I need it for? Or maybe a different food processor? I was thinking of saving up some money and buying one of the good ones… Like the $150-200 ones… I'm just tired of dealing with the blender…

I have one that I was given as a gift, and I have to say that I was surprised at how sturdy the gadget actually is….. I love to use it! Of course the more money you spend the more machine you get….but for the money it is a very good option.