Well, what can you chop in a food processor? Almost everything! Over the years I have enjoyed becoming a gourmet cook after learning all the wonderful things that I could do with a food processor. My food processor of choice is Cuisinart. In my opinion, there is none better. Cuisinart has the ability to perform beautifully and make you look like a professional chef.
With that said--What can you chop in a food processor? Let's start with meats. You can buy different cuts of red meat and make your own hamburger. Compare the price per pound of ground meat and then check the cuts of meat that your grocery store may be running a sale on--sometimes you will certainly find that ground meat is more expensive. After all, the store is paying the butcher to grind the meat. But, if you grind your own meat you will know exactly what is in it.
It is so easy to chop your own meat. Simply cube the cut of meat, remove any fat and place the steel knife blade in the bowl of your processor. Turn it on and let it process until you are happy with the results. You control how finely you want to chop or grind. You can make wonderful meat loaves or hamburgers this way.
If you have a baby, you can make fresh baby food. This is done by using the steel knife blade in the bowl and chopping until you have pureed the food, fruits or vegetables.
You can make lovely, smooth, creamy pates the same way. You can also cream soups, by pureeing the vegetables a few batches at a time. Do not fill the bowl up completely, as when you turn it on to process it will run over.
When I make my pesto, I always shred the Parmesan first, by using the shredding disc. If you want finely grated Parmesan, you can chop it with the steel knife blade. Just cut the Parmesan cheese block into cubes and place it in the bowl, process until it is finely grated. Any time that you do a hard cheese, you will find it to be loud at first, so do not be surprised!
I always remove the Parmesan before I add my other ingredients for my pesto and then I add it back in at the last of the recipe. That's a personal choice.
Yes, you can chop ice in a Cuisinart. I usually add a couple of tablespoons of cold water to my ice cubes and then turn it on. This will be very loud at first. You may want to use the pulse button to get the degree of chopped ice that you want.
Food processors are a wonderful, time saving kitchen appliance. If you have one, you will learn many short cuts to great meal preparation, the more that you use it. This is the one appliance I do not want to be without!