Thanks for the long and thoughtful response, but I'm still not convinced
that I'll get enough use out of a food processor.
I love gadgets and I keep walking past a Cuisinart at Costco. each time I
stop and look at it and try to imagine myself using it. I'm trying to
justify making a purchase. I'm still in the research stage...

I'm an average cook, I love to bake pies and breads, make mostly basic
comfort foods, Soups, stews, casseroles, chicken pie etc.

For almost 40 years I've managed with a good set of knives and my KA mixer.
About 10 years ago I bought my first bread machine at Costco (impulse
purchase)... It's probably my most used appliance, I love the thing! I have
since purchased another. I use it 4-5 times a week. It's not a dump and go
appliance as many people think. I make all our bread, rolls & sweet buns and
have recently turned to sourdough. I do use the bread machine to mix & knead
that too. I rarely use the KA for dough any more, I like the dough from my
bread machine better and I don't have to stand by it while it works. I doubt
that I could switch to a food processor for my dough, but never say never.

Does a FP produce heat when you pulse pie crust or cookie dough? I wouldn't
want my crust to get warm. I don't want my bread dough too warm either.

My blender is having issues, I'm wondering if I could replace the blender
with a food processor. About The only things that I use the blender for is
an occasional diet frappe (crushed ice instead of ice cream) and smoothing
lumps out of rushed gravy, and sometimes salad dressings or marinades. You
mentioned fruit, could you make frozen fruit drinks... not that I need one,
I'm getting too fat from eating all my breads, I'm thinking about kids
treats here.

Cleaning is a big concern, I don't want to get stuck with something that
takes longer to clean than use. The KA mixer has a bunch of attachments, but
they are a pain to use clean and store, I never would have purchased any of
them they were a gift. My husband ground meat once... It took forever and it
was messy...that was enough!

Oh.. Chocolate , hot cream, ganache... I'm drooling

Rina






"Vox Humana" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> You can think of a food process as a mechanized knife - with some added
> abilities. Therefore, a FP will slice, chop, mince, and grind.

> You can chop chocolate and then pour hot cream
> over it with the blade rotating to make ganache in seconds. A

> If you have no interest in baking and only want some fresh bread, then a
> bread machine makes sense. I know that many people will disagree, but I
> don't think using a bread machine has much to do with baking. To me,
> using
> a bread machine and claiming that you bake bread is like putting in a DVD
> and claiming you are an actor.