I've spent the last few years getting more and more into cooking, but there is so much I still don't know.
Generally when I've made pies, I've bought the pastry on a roll, but seeing my mum make it in the food processor I realised how simple that was - if you have a food processor (annoyingly I did once have an old one, but having not used it at all for 10 years and then trying top chop carrots in it and it just making a mess, I got rid).
But a couple of recipes I'm looking at right now are calling for a blender (I could probably get away with using my soup maker), but thinking longer term, I'm wondering if a blender/food processor could take my cooking up a level?
My main concern is value for money which mostly means I want to get something I will actually use regularly - not just for occasional pastry making as it would be cheaper to stick to buying the stuff ready made!!
My main question is what can you do with one? Can you actually chop veg in one of these things or is it just a gimmick? My attempts in my old Kenwood Processor with carrot/celery ended in a complete mess hence it never got used. I make a lot of things like chilli and bolonese were the veg is finely chopped and preparing the veg is 80% of effort. If a machine can make this quick, then it's worth me investing. Shredding cheese is another one - I typically freeze my mozarella for lasagna and then grate it while semi-defrosted - again if a machine can improve on this....
So what machines do people have, and what do you do with them?