5 Things That Should Be in Your Kitchen

#4 - Food Processor

Yes, they can be expensive. Yes, the potential number of available attachments threatens like baseball cards.

But a good food processor can do certain things that are time consuming when done by hand, which might otherwise be a deterrent.

Here's the thing: you can ignore almost all the attachments.

I use a garage sale special Cuisinart DLC-7, and I only own four attachments: the dough hook, the vegetable chopper, the grater and the metal blade. Of these, I only use the last two with any regularity.

I fear skinning my knuckles, so I would never shred potatoes or grate cheese if not for the Cuisinart. Those also take too long by hand, whereas the Cuisinart is like lightning. I'm not being a baby -- prep time is important if you're making a lot of dishes at once.

The metal blade can handle almost everything else: kneading bread and pasta dough, powdering chili pods, milling smoky tea for barbecue rubs, and pureeing anything.

One thing -- a Cuisinart is only mostly indestructible. Parts will break, so know your model and part numbers when cruising garage sales and the Goodwill.