Fall Harvest and Kitchen Obsessions

It's been forever since I posted, and I should be doing other things, so here I am! Currently in my oven, I am roasting vegetables for salsa. Red and green tomatoes (tomatillos would be good, but I've just got unripe tomatoes to use), red and green bell peppers, red and green jalapenos, onion, garlic. The soft veggies for about 30 min, the harder ones for about an hour, and then blend them up! I've blended the tomatoes, garlic, and a few bell peppers. At this point it could easily become italian with more garlic and some basil. I may hold on to some for just that purpose.

My little potted apartment garden hasn't been wildly successful, but I always have plenty of jalepenos. Last week I made my own crushed red pepper by dehydrating some in my oven at 200F and crunching them with a rolling pin. Delicious and oh so spicy.

I've been hashing over the purchase of a food processor/bread maker/mixer for a while. Kitchenaid? Bosch? Cuisinart? The basic model available now at Costco, or the customized, accessory laden perfect fit found online for twice the cost? One that fits my current needs, or one that might be better for the long term, that I should buy while I can? I have tentatively settled on a food processor with a dough hook for my current needs, though as I type it I'm questioning again. My salsa experiment worked fine in the blender, but for hummus (and mandoline-style slicing and julienning, and pesto, and. . ) it's not making the cut. But doughs? Egg whites? Batters? Cream? I need more! I know Bosch mixers have attachment options, but they seem small and possibly not as effective as a dedicated processor. (The answer, of course, is to get both, but, ooh, I'd be so spoiled!)