In the market to buy a Food Processor?� My review of models under $100 can help you save both time and money!

I don’t have a lot of electric “Kitchen gadgets”, I prefer to do most things by hand.� I recently took to the garage our electric skillet, fryer, and several other outdated and unused small kitchen appliances that are now one step closer to either garage sale heaven or eBay.� The only two things really left are the blender (which sole purpose seems to be making shakes or chopping ice), and our tiny food processor.� I love to chop, and I chop nearly everything up by hand.� But the last time I made salsa is a good example.� I chopped up absolutely everything, but the mix was still a bit rough.� I ran the entire batch through the food processor and gave it a few quick “pulses” to get it down to the fine “pico” type texture I like my Salsa to be.� The month before I used it to make the best garlic paste with carpelli beans, olive oil, fresh Italian parsley, and fresh ground pepper.

If you don’t have a food processor (or a good one) – it’s time to equip your kitchen!� It’s also a great time of year to buy a gift or two and set them aside for Christmas – so it doesn’t hit you all at once!� Maybe your Mom, grandma, or kids need a good food processor!

If you’re looking for a good food processor you still have to decide what features you want.� Some people want a hopper so you can feed stuff into it, and different “disks” for different ways to chop or shred things.� Other people just want to “chop” stuff quickly. Based on that, if people ask me what kind of food processor to get I usually classify them those two ways.

Food Choppers

Black & Decker EHC650 White Ergo 3-Cup Chopper
Price: $20.99
This Black & Decker EHC650 White Ergo 3-Cup Chopper 2 Speeds is a great value for the money – because it’s gonna quickly do what you want and cleanup is going to be minimal.� You really can’t go wrong for $20.

Cuisinart 3-c. Classic Series Mini-Prep Plus Food Processor, Brushed Chrome
Price: $39.95
Like it’s predecessor, the Cuisinart Mini Prep, this Mini-Prep Plus food processor has a 3-cup capacity work bowl and is great for all those small food-preparation tasks like chopping an onion or nuts, mincing herbs, or making fresh salsa. It has 2 speeds — Chop and Grind — for maximum control. Plus, it has an auto-reversing SmartPower blade and a reversible motor, so you can switch from chop to grind without interrupting the flow. It offers the same quality and modern design you’ve come to appreciate from Cuisinart.

Proctor Silex 1-1-2 Cup Food Chopper – 72500
Price: $25.87
The Proctor Silex 1-1-2 Cup Food Chopper – 72500 is a classic Food chopper.� It’s a sturdy work horse, easy to clean, and priced right.

Multi-Purpose Food Processors

You might want a more “multi-purpose” food processor that can grate, slice, dice, chop, mince, and pulverize food any old way you want. You can get a great deal on a heavy duty large capacity name brand food processor for under a hundred bucks – easily. Here are my best choices…

Hamilton Beach 14-c. Big Mouth Food Processor
Price: $69.95
A big mouth can be an asset, especially when it comes to this new food processor from Hamilton Beach. It saves time on prep tasks since the large chute, or “Big Mouth”, lets you insert whole potatoes, tomatoes, cheese blocks and more. Shredding and slicing is done is seconds, and the included spatula ensures you get every last morsel of food. The unit offers four speeds and 450 watts of power. Other highlights include a 14-cup capacity work bowl, an S blade or chopping blade, a 3-mm slicer/shredder disc, a 6-mm slicer/shredder disc, a food pusher, multiple locking positions, ready light, in-bowl storage and dishwasher-safe components. Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc., has expanded its support for the American Heart Associations Go Red For Women movement into 2009 with a cumulative donation of 850, 000 since 2005. The company will promote its Healthy Hearts Start in the Kitchen campaign with interactive outreach that drives traffic to healthy lifestyle tips and recipes available on www.hamiltonbeach.com. Hamilton Beach has designated more than 30 Go Red products including distinctive red appliances to remind women every day to love their hearts. Hamilton Beach encourages women to take charge of their health, learn the risk factors of heart disease, and make eating healthy a priority.

Cuisinart 40-oz. Duet Blender/Food Processor, White
Price: $79.95
This is definitely one of my favorite products, because you get a “two-for-one” (blender and food processor).� Cuisinart skillfully combines a blender with a small food processor without sacrificing the performance or features of either one. This Duet appliance is great for smaller kitchens and apartments with limited counter space and cupboard storage. The 40-ounce glass blender jar whirs at the touch of one of 7 speeds, including a special ice crush setting and pulse.To slice or shred vegetables or fruit, simply remove the blender, replace it with the 3-cup work bowl, collar and cover, and you’re off! Even tough jobs like grinding beef cubes or grating Parmesan cheese are a breeze. A chopping blade and reversible slicing/shredding disc are included. The food processor’s unique design lets you position the handle and feed tube facing front, side or rear, handy whether you’re right or lefthanded. Extra amenities include indicator lights so you know what functions in operation, a hidden cord storage, dripless pouring spout and a feed tube pusher with a built-in liquid dispenser. It’s a 2-in-1 appliance worth it’s weight in dozens of meals.

Doesn’t this pic of my Sausage, Peppers, and Potato Recipe look Yummy?

I seem to have the uncanny ability to take ingredients that need to be used up and create really tasty dishes! We had a cookout awhile back and my son demanded those all beef Kosher Hebrew National hot dogs. We had never purchased them before – but it’s what he wanted, so we got them for the cookout. We had a lot of people so I had purchased a big 32 pack of the all beef Polish sausage variety. We had a half dozen left, and this is what I did with them.

To make this recipe you will need these ingredients:

• 6 small-med potatoes (red, white, or gold)
• 1/2 lg Vidalia onion, sliced
• 1/2 lg green pepper, chopped
• 6 Hebrew National All Beef Polish Dogs sliced in 1″ pieces
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 2 cloves chopped garlic

I started by dicing the potatoes skin-on and placing them in a large skillet on high with about 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil. While they cooked, I sliced the onion and diced the green pepper. If you like, you could always chop and add a small hot pepper to mix as well! Add the onion and green pepper to the pan and mix well to coat with oil. Then slice the Polish dogs, add to the pan and mix well. Last add the garlic, and mix well.

Let me explain the order of things. I get the potatoes in the pan right away – they would take 20 minutes to cook alone, so I try to let them cook (by themselves) for 8-10 minutes before adding the pepper and onion. Turn the heat down to med-high and about 5 minutes later I’ve chopped the polish dogs, so I add them. I reserve the garlic until about 5 minutes more. Then it really only needs to cook a few more minutes and as long as the potatoes are soft.

Even though this dish looks really good in the pic above, the thing that really makes it incredible are those polish dogs. I’ve had LOTS of hot dogs and TONS of different sausages in my life, but I’d never had Hebrew National. Their all beef texture is distinctive, but the thing that sets them apart is that they appear to be packaged in vinegar – which gives them this bit of “pickled” flavor I just can’t describe, but couldn’t get enough of. It permeates the onion and pepper, and once it matches up with the garlic – it just made this very simple dish come alive! There were in fact more than one in the house making fun of it – but the finished taste was unmistakable! Once you try this, you may never buy regular polish dogs again!

I would like to introduce you to “Wilton Cookie Sheets”. I get a lot of questions through this blog and from friends and family about how I cook and what I use. I was just thinking the other day how well my Wilton cookie sheets have served me. I am cheap, and always looking for a bargain. And at Christmas a lot of times I’ll ask for things I needs as gifts rather than buy them myself.

One year I made a list of kitchen items like pepper grinder, cutting board, knives, cookie sheets, glass 2 quart measuring cup, and so on. I wanted to replace some older items. My sister purchased 2 Wilton cookie sheets for me that year, and I thought they cost a fortune because they were huge, heavy, and non-stick. They make cookies a hundred times better, because they pan in heavy the cookies brown and don’t burn like they used to on some of my cheaper cookie sheets.

In addition – we have teens in the house that use these (to my displeasure) for things like frozen pizza. For being 10 years old now, I have to say that there are very few scratches on them from the pizza cutter and knives! Wilton cookie sheets are very affordable and once you get a few you will want to throw out all your cheaper ones in the trash! Also, these make a GREAT gift for friends, family, newlyweds, you name it! Grab a couple for yourself and a few to put up for early X-mas presents!

Wilton 17×11-in. Nonstick Avanti Cookie Sheet
Price: $13.95
When using Wilton’s nonstick cookie sheet, your oatmeal-raisin, chocolate chip or sugar cookies slide right off, perfectly browned with no burned bottoms. Exceptional baking performance, superior construction and convenient design features make Avanti a pleasure to use. Commercial-weight construction helps prevent warping and will help distribute heat evenly. Wilton’s Everglide, metal-safe, nonstick surface resists scratching even from metal utensils. Oversized handles are designed for easier handling in and out of the oven even when wearing oven mitts. A lifetime limited warranty is included with your cookie sheet.

Make it a meatless Monday with this “Cheesy Veggie Casserole” vegetarian main dish!

As I’ve stated before, having a night with a vegetarian dish is a great way to cut out some calories and fat, eat lighter, and become more healthy! Sometimes I think people think that eating vegetarian has to mean tasteless bland food – and nothing could be further from the truth! Let me show you how to take some simple ingredients and combine the tastes of several classic you love into one main casserole dish for dinner!

Ingredients you’ll need:

* 6-7 Medium Russet, White, Yellow, or Red potatoes
* 1/2 Vidalia Onion sliced
* About 1/2 lb fresh green beans
* About 1/2 lb fresh shortcut carrots
* About 1/2 of a brick of 2% Velveeta cheese cut into cubes
* 1 cup water
* 1 cup milk
* salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
* Italian seasonings (or fresh dill or fresh italian parsley chopped)
* 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
* *optional: 1/4 cup bread crumbs and / or freshly grated parmesan cheese

This recipe is pretty simple. First pre-heat your oven to 375. Next get a large mixing bowl, and dice your potatoes up (skin on) and place in the bowl. Add the carrots. Snap the ends off of your fresh green beans and then snap them all in half, and add to the bowl. Add the olive oil to the bowl and toss ingredients. Cut your onion and add to the bowl. Add the salt and fresh ground pepper to taste, turn the mixture over a few times and turn out into a glass 9×14 baking dish. Chop your Velveeta into cubes, add to the top of the pan, and push down a little into the veggie mixture. Pour the water and milk over the mixture slowly from one end of the pan to the other. On top add the bread crumbs or parmesan cheese if you like.

Bake on 375 for about 1 hour in center of oven. Best served with fresh french bread or freshly baked multi-grain rolls. The best way to describe this disk is a cross between scalloped potatoes and Mac & Cheese (without the pasta)! It’s really good, and we never have any left over when we make it!

Baked potatoes are great, but this potato wedges recipe is better! It’s like fried potatoes, but healthier – and oh so crispy on the outside, but soft baked goodness on the inside! My favorite is to slice large russet potatoes in half, and then each half in thirds with the peel still on. They turn out so good!

Ingredients you’ll need -

• 10 russet potatoes
• Olive oil
• 2 tbsp chopped garlic>
• fresh ground pepper
• italian seasoning
• salt (I Looove sea salt!)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.� Cut each potato in half, and then in thirds for wedges. Toss in a bowl with olive oil, but only enough to coat the potatoes. Add the salt, pepper, italian seasonings, and chopped garlic and toss again. Place on either a baking sheet or a 9×14 glass casserole pan. Bake in oven for 20-30 minute or until potatoes are completely tender!

I came accross this patty press for making hamburgers and just had to have it. I had inherited one of these form my Grandmother years ago, but it was small and cheap. This patty press is more like what I used in foodservice years ago. When you have one of these it’s so much easier to grill out for big crowds, and the next time hamburger is on sale at the supermarket you can stock up and just freeze the patties. We’re not eating as much red meat now that we’re on the diet and all, but now we usually buy 96/4 ground sirloin (occasionally I’ll sneak in the ground chuck or round). Ground sirloin is so expensive, we usually wait until it’s on sale and but a bunch to freeze up. Remember, labor day is coming up – and after that people start thinking ahead to Christmas. This is one of these little things you see and say “I know exactly who I could give that too…”! The more presents you stock up on now, the fewer you have to buy in December!

Make perfect hamburger patties every time! Simply put your ground meat inside the press, and press down! You’ve just fashioned a perfect 43/8″-dia. hamburger patty, ready for the broiler, grill or freezer. Heavy-duty aluminum press lets you adjust patty thickness up to 1-1/2″ thick. Non-stick surface helps keep the patties whole, and makes clean-up a breeze. Get the optional, 5-1/2″-sq., wax-coated parchment papers to freeze patties individually.

Check prices on thePatty Press

Also – these parchment patty papers are great for making sure they don’t stick together. Great if you’re freezing chicken or pork chops too!
Parchment Patty Papers – 1000

Cut out tons of fat with my Healthy Homemade Garlic Bread Recipe!

We all love garlic bread don’t we? With yesterday’s meal you were probably thinking how good it would have tasted with a few slice of fresh garlic bread – so I’m going to show you how to quickly make “healthy homemade garlic bread”! The key is not slathering the bread with bad-for-you butter or margarine, but instead using a garlic spread that you can make in minutes.

Ingredients you’ll need:

• 1 can Canellini beans
• 1 clove garlic (I use 2) chopped
• Italian seasonings, about 1 tbsp
• 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 loaf Multigrain bread or 4 multigrain rolls

This is very easy and quick to make.� Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees.� Dice your garlic and drain and rinse your beans.� You can find canned white Cannelini beans in any supermarket by the kidney and black beans.� In a small food processor (or blender) add the beans, garlic, seasonings, olive oil, and ground pepper.� Puree until it’s a find paste (about 60+ seconds).

I slice the bread in 1″ thick pieces, and lay out on a cookie sheet.� Bake in oven for 10 minutes until a bit crunchy.� When it comes out, spead your homemade garlic spread over the top and serve warm!� You will be very surprised how good this was – it’s almost like the Italian version of hummus!

Like Italian food but trying to lose weight? My “Healthy Chicken Parmesan” is the perfect alternative for you!

Since I’ve been losing weight, I’ve been experimenting with ways to create some of my favorite standard meals – most of which it turns out, were very, very fattening. My family has always been really big on Italian and Mexican foods, and those types of dishes are traditionally very, very high in both carbs and fat. With this healthy chicken parmesan I tried to cut the fat – but also go really big on taste to make up for it.

Ingredients you’ll need:

1/3 Vidalia Onion
10 baby or one large carrot shredded
1/2 large green pepper
5 cloves garlic
Italian seasonings
garlic powder
3 tbsp Xylitol
1 Jar Spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu roasted peppers and onion)
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 large tomatoes or 6 Roma tomatoes
1 lb organic wheat pasta (I used Thin Spaghetti)
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

I’m part Italian, but not enough so that I have to make my own sauce for hours and hours. I do however, like to make a hybrid half-homemade and half-jar tomato based sauce. You could just use premium sauce from the jar – but that just wouldn’t be as good would it? I usually like to use up veggies in the fridge, and in this case I had a bowl of fresh tomatoes and a pepper from the garden that smelled especially good.

Start out by adding the olive oil to a large skillet/saucepan on the stove. Place your 4 chicken breasts in the pan and turn the heat on med-high. While this cooks, chop up your onion and pepper, and shred your carrot. By this time your chicken has cooked on one side 5-8 minutes, turn it over and add these veggies to your saucepan on top of the chicken. While that cooks, chop up your garlic cloves and set aside. Next Dice up your tomatoes. By the time you are done chopping the tomatoes it’s time to turn your chicken again. Add the chopped tomatoes and garlic to the pan, stir everything up around the chicken the best you can. You can turn the heat down just slightly above medium now.

While that simmers uncovered, next I run the hot water and then fill a 4 quart pot halfway with hot water and place on the stove on low. I want the water to be just a minute away from boiling when I need it (pasta cooks quick). Now I add some italian seasonings and some garlic powder, and even some salt and ground pepper to the chicken and sauce base. I’ll let this cook maybe 5 minutes more and then I add the entire jar of spaghetti sauce and the Xylitol and mix it up really good with the veggies in and around the chicken. You might have to pile the chicken up in either side of the pan twice to do this effectively. Then, cover your pan with a lid and simmer and medium low. The reason I use Xylitol sugar substitute is because it gives the sauce a slightly sweet taste and it balances out the garlic and enhances the natural sweetness of the carrots. Xylitol is good for you because it’s a natural sugar substitue (found in vegetables), and it has no cooking aftertaste, it tastes exactly like sugar – with none of the calories. It doesn’t affect blood sugar at all. You can get it at any health food store.

Now turn the water pan up to high and get it boiling, add the wheat pasta and boil for 6-8 minutes. About halfway through stir up your chicken and sauce mixture. Drain your pasta, and I usually drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil to keep it from sticking, and also a bit of fresh ground pepper. Now you can turn off the chicken. Grab four plates, and distribute the pasta evenly. Place one chicken breast on each mound of pasta and sauceover the top and onto the noodles. Sprinkle your fresh ground parmesan cheese over each sauce covered chicken breast and serve!

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Need a Low-Calorie alternative for Apple Crisp? I have the perfect recipe!

When I was cleaning out the fridge while making dinner over the last weekend I came across 4 apples in the back on a shelf that weren’t exactly good for eating fresh – but plenty good enough to cook with. For some reason I had my mind set on Apple Crisp, but I wanted to make it as healthy as possible. In end I created a decadent dessert that anyone would think was as good or better tasting than real sugar-laden syrupy dripping Apple Crisp – but it was actually good for you too!

Here’s what you’ll need for ingredients:

• 4 apples
• 3-4 tbsp margarine
• 1 cup dry oats (oatmeal)
• 2 tbsp Xylitol
• 12 large marshmallows
• Ground Cinnamon and Nutmeg to taste

This is a VERY easy and quick recipe to make.� Peel and core your apples.� Lay the slices in an ungreased baking dish, about 9×9.� Melt the margarine on top of the oats in the microwave (about 35 seconds on high).� When they come out, add the Xylitol sugar substitute and mix well.� Be sure not to use any other sugar substitute such as NutraSweet or Splenda – they don’t bake well and have an awful aftertastest.� Xylitol is an all natural one for one sugar substitue with no aftertaste at all that tastes exactly like sugar!� Drizzle the oats mixture over the apples evenly.� Sprinkle apples liberally with ground cinnamon and sparingly with ground nutmeg.� Place marshmallows evenly on top of the apples.� Bake on 350 for 25 minutes, and when you remove from the oven the mixture should be bubbly – and the marshmallows will be a nice golden brown and just slightly crispy on the edges!

If you’re looking for a Cream of Vegetable Soup Recipe, this concoction will keep you full for hours and hours!

The other day I had a full vegetable drawer in the fridge and it was time to clean it out. Maybe I’ve had one too many salads lately, because I was looking for something a bit different. As chance would have it, I also had about 2/3 of a gallon of skim milk that needed to be used up by weeks end – so I immediately thought of cooking up a creme based soup. This one turned out to be a bit unusual (and tasty) because usually my vegetable soups are tomato based. I was surprised when I served this recipe that every single family member ate every last drop (even the teens in the house!).

Like most soup recipes, you can interchange the ingredients and vegetables with what you have on hand or need to use up – this just happens to be how I made the recipe last night. Keep in mind that even though this is a creme based soup – I tried to keep it as healthy as possible.� In addition – this is a great vegetarian recipe to make for a meatless main dish!

Ingredients for Creme of Vegetable Soup:

• 1/2 Vidalia Onion chopped
• 1/2 Zucchini chopped with skin
• 1/2 Green Pepper chopped
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp lite margarine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb chopped broccoli
• 1/2 lb chopped carrots
• 2 stalks celery chopped
• 1 small bunch cauliflower chopped
• 2/3 gallon skim milk
• 2 packets powdered cheese mix
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• italian seasonings to taste
• 1 tsp each thyme, rosemary, and sage
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp ground Cumin

A lot of creme soups are water based with milk added, but I’ve always made my creme soups 100% milk based whenever possible. I use skim milk, so it’s healthier, and you do have to stir a 100% milk based creme soup more often while cooking – but I think it just plain tastes better.

I start this recipe off by putting chopping up the onion, green pepper, celery, and carrots and placing in a large 4 quart pot on the stove. Add the margarine and olive oil and turn the heat to med-high. What you’re going to do here is get your vegetables soft in the butter and oil for about 5-6 minutes, stirring constantly.

Next have your milk handy and your going to sprinkle the 1/2 cup flour over the mixture in the pot while stirring it in with a spoon in the other hand. Do this until the flour is used up, and what you should end up with is a veggie mixture with flour that is clumped or balled up (but mixed well). Brown this for about 60 seconds, and then add the milk little by little, mixing as you go until the entire 2/3 gallon is gone. You have now created a rue which you have turned into the base for your creme soup.

Next I add the Zucchini, Broccoli, and Cauliflower to the pot (chopped of course). I saved them until I got to this point because these are much softer vegetables that cook quickly – and there’s no point in pre-cooking them. Next I add all my seasonings, the salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, and sage – in addition to italian seasonings, garlic powder, and cumin. These all seemed to blend very well together for this recipe and everyone loved the end taste.

Last but not least, I used 2 packets of powdered cheese. There are 2 reasons I do this. The first is – by not using real cheese I’m cutting out a lot of fat. In addition, this type of cheese is designed to get thick. Basically it’s the same powdered cheese mix you might see used in foodservice for pretzel cheese, or macaroni and cheese. It has a thickening agent (like cornstarch) that thickens up your creme soup even more – but it also gives it a real cheddar-cheesy taste without having to use real cheese or Velveeta (which you could do – just wait until the soup is nearly done cooking!).

Once I added all the vegetables I added just enough additional milk to bring the level within about 2″ of the top of my 4 quart pan. I did this to accomodate shrinkage (evaporation), since I cook this soup uncovered. You may or may not have to add milk to level it off at the end depending on how many vegetables you use and how much space in the pot they take up.

Bring the soup to boil on med-high and then turn the burner down to med-low, and cook for about an hour to hour and a half. While bringing to a boil, stir every 60 seconds – once you turn the burner down stir about every 5-8 minutes. This soup is best cooked in a teflon coated pan (better for cleanup too!).

When we ate this creme of vegetable soup – we dipped multi-grain rools freshly baked in the soup, I recommend you try my famous Enga Buns – Homemade Multigrain Rolls Recipe to go along with this!