Food Processor vs. Air Fryer: The Kitchen Gadget Showdown - So Frickin' Mini

Megan J. McCrory00:00:25

Hey, Donna.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:00:26

Hey, Megan.

Megan J. McCrory00:00:27

So we're having our kitchen redone, and that means I have to gut the entire kitchen, and that means I get to take stock of everything in my kitchen. Nice.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:00:38

Are you gonna restock as well? Because I have some kitchen gadgets that I will die. What's the saying? I will.

Megan J. McCrory00:00:47

You would die?

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:00:49

I don't know. I don't know what I'm trying to say. I would die if I didn't have those, I guess.

Megan J. McCrory00:00:54

What's the one kitchen gadget that you would absolutely not be able to live without?

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:01:00

It's probably. Well, obviously a good knife and cutting board, but let's pretend that everyone has that.

Megan J. McCrory00:01:06

Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:01:07

I would say it's between a food processor and the instant pot, in all honesty.

Megan J. McCrory00:01:13

Okay. How often do you use your food processor?

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:01:16

Food processor used to be daily, for sure.

Megan J. McCrory00:01:21

Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:01:21

Numerous times a day. I would say. Now it's probably a good four times a week. Five times a week.

Megan J. McCrory00:01:27

Wow.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:01:28

Yeah.

Megan J. McCrory00:01:28

So what are you using it for?

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:01:30

Exactly the question. Right. So I will die before I grate a vegetable by hand.

Megan J. McCrory00:01:37

So I.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:01:38

And I've had moments where my food processors died, and I'm like, listen, guys, we can't have that meal. I know you want it, but I'm not grading. I am not grading. So I always make sure that my food processor has the grading knife and the slicing knife.So I don't need to slice dice. The dice is a bit problematic, but whatever. I don't need to slice, and I don't need to grate anything.As soon as I want to make, like, five different vegetables grated into my dal or whatever, it takes literally 30 seconds.

Megan J. McCrory00:02:12

Okay.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:02:13

Instead of standing there and grating it for what seems to be eternity,

Megan J. McCrory00:02:18

it's interesting because I enjoy cooking, and I enjoy the process of, like, putting on a good audiobook or listening to the news while I'm dicing or chopping. So I have a food processor as well, a Cuisinart. It's actually a really nice one.And I would say I use it probably once a month because it's just two of us, by the way. You know, I think that also makes a difference if you're cooking en masse for people. But, yeah, the food processor.Processor for me, is something I know I like to have. And I also agree, like, grating a bunch of carrots for, like, carrot salad. Definitely that.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:02:53

No.

Megan J. McCrory00:02:54

Or hummus or any kind of dip. I use it a lot for that.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:02:57

Exactly, Exactly. I mean, if I make pancakes, it all goes into the food.Like, the Bananas, the oats, whatever I'm making, you know, it all goes into the food processor. And it will whisk it and make it and cut it and whatever.Every single thing, Megan, Everything that I can put in the food processor will go in the food processor.

Megan J. McCrory00:03:17

Okay. But that's what I do with my blender. So I also have a really high powered blender. Not a Vitamix or whatever. Vita, whatever.The really expensive one, but it's like the semi expensive one. And I think it's a Breville in the US and here it's a Solace or something. It's the same thing, but marketed with under a different name.And that's what I always use.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:03:38

Right. So I always make sure that my food processor has all of these attachments.So my food processor is a food processor that has an attachment for like the small smoothie one, like a cup size. And also a mixer I got all in one so that I don't need. It's not the best thing to do.It's best for saving space in your kitchen, but it's not the best thing to do because if your machine is broken, you do not have any of those things now.

Megan J. McCrory00:04:06

So what brand do you have?

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:04:08

I have the Ninja at the moment.

Megan J. McCrory00:04:10

Okay. I was gonna say that sounds like a ninja. Yeah, yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:04:13

So I used to have like just a proper food processor, and then the other stuff was another machine.

Megan J. McCrory00:04:20

Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:04:21

And now my food processor died and I was like, I need to replace it. And then I just found that one. And I love it because it works really well and I have all the attachments.

Megan J. McCrory00:04:29

Well, and that makes sense, actually, because what you're describing, I have in those three different things. Right. So I have a blender, I have a food processor, and I also have a bullet, a nutribullet, which is basically what you're saying in all three.And I think that that comes back to the kitchen gadgets.Like, I just don't have space for a lot of kitchen gadgets, but for me, the number one kitchen gadget that we love is our air fryer, because again, there's two of us.We have a convection oven, which essentially is the same as an air fryer, but I think for two people and what we use it for, it heats up faster, it's much more energy efficient, and it's also smaller, and we. We don't clean it out every single time.I know that's not, you know, but still, like, we can just throw frozen chicken in that thing and in less than 20 minutes, we have really great chicken. Like, so I feel like that for me, that's the benefit of the air fryer.And so that's the thing that we pull out multiple times a week is the air fryer. Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:05:26

So for us it's the same, but with the instant pot. We discussed it shortly. The air fryer, I don't have. I had one. I tried it out.I was like, this is just a tiny oven where I anyways to feed my crazy lot means that I need to anyways turn on the oven to put more food in there. So I was like, well, this is pointless. But the instant pot is. And I only have the medium sized one. It's great because I can make.If you have two insoles. So it's like this. An instant pot is basically an electric pressure cooker, slash slow cooker. And it has an insole.So if you have two insoles, which I do, you can make your rice, pull that out and put in, I don't know, the meat for the stew or the whatever or soup. You can make yogurts in there. You can make anything. Right? So I love my instant pot.And the instant pot I probably use, if not daily, then every other day.

Megan J. McCrory00:06:22

Right.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:06:22

Maybe don't use it daily because I make sure to make. When I cook, I make enough food for a couple of days.

Megan J. McCrory00:06:27

Right.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:06:28

But I am obsessed with my instant pot. And I always tell people like, you know, give it a shot because it's one of those things that it will keep your food warm after it's done cooking.You don't need to remember to do anything. It's got a timer, right. You can set it to start later in the day and for a certain amount of time. And then it will keep your food hot.So I'm kind of like, this is. Do you remember the Jetsons?

Megan J. McCrory00:06:53

Yeah, yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:06:55

You know, the robots? Yeah.

Megan J. McCrory00:06:56

1980s children's television cartoon.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:07:01

At least in the Hanna Barbera. Yeah, yeah. That robot, I feel like that's my. I forgot her name, but that's the robot.

Megan J. McCrory00:07:08

Oh, you should look up her name. And that's what you should call your instant pot. Okay. So the last thing that I have on my list is actually a freaking citrus juicer.Oh, and a digital scale. I'll have two. Right. So digital scale I absolutely love because I like converting American recip into metric.So if I get an American recipe which uses teaspoons and cups and so on, then I print it out and then I weigh those things and then I put the whey value in instead of the cups. And stuff like that. And then the other thing is the citrus juicer, because the other day I had one of those metal ones where you put it.You know, you put the thing in, and the half of the lemon or the lime, you put it in. And I think they have three different sizes. Lemon, lime, and orange or whatever.And I had the middle one, the lemon, and I squeezed this thing so hard, I broke it. And then I, like, cut my hand because it was. It's so. It's metal, like, you know, it's like a cast.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:08:06

Yeah. It's heavy duty. I'm just like.

Megan J. McCrory00:08:08

I don't know my own strength. But I have to tell you, since this has been broken and I don't have one, I'm really pissed off.Like, every time I want to juice a lemon, I have to pull out my little tiny strainer and juice it into the strainer, and I'm just like, oh, I need to get it.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:08:25

That is so interesting that you mentioned that one, though, because that's one of. One of mine that I actually always say, like, that you don't actually need that. I found a really cool trick, and I tend to. I have. I have.I don't have a squeezer. I have the, you know, the juicer, like the regular. You cut it in half and. And squeeze it on top of that thing.But I had other kind of things and other tricks to do it. And then I just came up with this one trick. You just need a fork, and preferably, like a wider one. And you need your own body strength, which is to.Before you even cut the citrus fruit, to just roll it on the countertop, like, putting all your pressure on it. And then you cut it in half, just like you would. And you take the fork and you just stick it inside and you twist and squeeze at the same time.

Megan J. McCrory00:09:14

Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:09:15

And it just kind of works for me. I don't know. I feel like it's less cleaning and shit.

Megan J. McCrory00:09:19

I mean, I get you. I get you, but it's the seeds, right?

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:09:24

It's the seeds.

Megan J. McCrory00:09:24

Because then I have to either do it over my hand and collect the seeds, then my hand is all fruity. And then. And so what I. I think the. The thing I like most is the fact that these things hold the seeds back. Right.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:09:37

Okay.

Megan J. McCrory00:09:38

And that's what I have to do. So right now I. I do that. I roll it. I cut it in half. And then I had this tiny little strainer that fits over a cup, right?

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:09:46

Yeah.

Megan J. McCrory00:09:47

And, like, almost perfect. And I just basically squeeze the shit out of it with my hand, but then everything is caught. All the seeds are caught in the strainer.So of course I'm getting by. That's okay. But, you know, I. I don't know. It's like one of those. Like, I realized after it was gone.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:10:05

Yeah. How much.

Megan J. McCrory00:10:05

How much I loved it.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:10:07

Yeah. So.

Megan J. McCrory00:10:08

But that's our 10 minutes on kitchen gadgets. So we'll leave. We'll have links to everything that we love in the show notes. So if you guys want to check them out. Oh, one thing.I don't use garlic press. Never use a garlic press. I hate those.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:10:23

Always use a garlic. I hate.

Megan J. McCrory00:10:25

Okay, got it. We got a funny.

Danna Levy Hoffmann00:10:26

Yeah.

Megan J. McCrory00:10:27

Okay, bye.