I have a Cuisinart food processor, with the standard blades and a "fine grate" blade that is wonderful for things like parmesan cheese. It has definitely made my life easier in terms of cooking - I used to hate chopping, dicing, mincing, etc. - and now I do most everything in my food processor. Paid about $100 for it and new blades are around $25.
I also have a Blendtec blender and I couldn't live without it. I am not a fruit/vegetable eater, but I make a smoothie every day with my Blendtec and it blends everything perfectly, including ice and frozen fruit. I regularly throw veggies into my fruit smoothies and I never really notice (I have to trick myself into eating vegetables) because it just blends everything so well. I also use it to make nut butters, batters and things like hummus. I could also use the food processor for a lot of those, but the Blendtec is more convenient since there are no extra attachments/blades and clean up is really easy. We spent around $550 for the Blendtec and the extra "wild side" jar (for nut butters).
We used to have a regular blender but ended up burning out the motor because it would take sooooo long to blend smoothies properly. Our neighbors have a Vitamix (similar to Blendtec) and they love theirs, as well. I consider the Blendtec the best purchase I've made for the kitchen, as I'm now eating 4-6 servings of fruit/veggies per day and it's so easy and delicious.
tell me bout your food processor!
