The coolest kitchen appliance I've had all along!

Historically, I've not been much of a cook. That hasn't stopped me from collecting a kitchen full of small appliances. There's the coffee grinder that I swore I'd use to grind fresh coffee beans every morning (yeah, right), the fondue pot I had to have so I could make fabulous fondue experiences every weekend for our friends, the George Foreman Grill that was so easy to use but not, however, easy to clean, and the chocolate melter, which believe it or not is different from the fondue pot.

Then there's the biggest, bulkiest one of them all - the food processor. Now I'm not one for "instruction manuals" or "proper use" of a machine, so every time I've used the thing, I just throw in a bunch of random ingredients and set it to blend, sort of like a sadistic Mixmaster. But as I discovered yesterday, the food processor actually has some finer points, and it's coming in very handy as I try to find new and exciting ways to eat the same healthy foods. You can grate! You can slice! You can shred!

In less than an hour, I made three side dishes, starting with cauliflower rice, which is ridiculously easy, just throw the whole head in there and process, microwave until tender. Then, I got crazy with sweet potato, wanting to experiment with all the cool food processor blades. First, I shredded it. Then, I sliced.

To the shredded potatoes, I added two eggs and fried them in extra virgin olive oil to make sweet potato pancakes. I wasn't sure what to do with sliced potatoes, so I just tossed them in some EVOO and roasted them at the 425 degrees until soft. Not bad.

I had the sweet potato pancakes this morning for breakfast paired with paleoish quiche and fruit. (Before you think I'm a big fatty, I used an 8-inch diameter plate, not a full dinner plate).

Even the kid is digging his new and improved paleo-inspired breakfasts. Here he is chomping down on bacon (he can't get enough of it). He did, however, gag on the quiche. The kid knows an impostor crust when he tastes it.