The Cuisinart, Circa 1981 and Cole Slaw

The summer of 1981, I was 20 years old and just finished my sophomore year in college. Prince Charles was going to marry Lady Diana Spencer that summer, MTV was launched, and the first woman (Sandra Day O’Connor) was nominated to the US Supreme Court. It was quite a year but I remember 1981 mostly because it was the year I discovered a kitchen appliance that transformed food preparation: The Cuisinart.
- There is nothing like a fresh summer tomato sandwich: 2 slices of homemade bread, a ripe tomato picked from the garden, sliced and layered on the bread. Add a sprinkle of salt and it tastes like summertime.
- Zucchini grows like kudzu (the fast growing vine that covers the southeast). Facing a huge pile of zucchini just picked from the vegetable garden, I bought my first cookbook dedicated to zucchini called “The Zucchini & Carrot Cookbook” by Ruth Conrad. I still use it today.
- Butter is king. One of my responsibilities was to go grocery shopping. To save money (an admirable trait), I bought margarine. All I had to do was make a batch of chocolate chip cookies with margarine to see the error of my ways. Ever since, I’ve been committed to butter. Call me a butter snob if you will. There is a difference; everything tastes better with butter.
- The Cuisinart is the ultimate extra kitchen appliance. The family had two cuisinarts in their kitchen as both parents were very much into cooking, especially fresh foods out of their huge garden in the backyard. I learned how easy food preparation can be with a good food processor. Shredding vegetables no longer took double-digit minutes and the machine was a huge time saver when making cole slaw.
Most cole slaw is overly creamy for my tastes but the following recipe is not. Full of fresh crisp shredded green and red cabbage (the main ingredients so buy the freshest available), carrots, green pepper, and scallions with a light mayo sauce, the cole slaw a prefect summer accompaniment to any meal. And, it’s so simple to make with a cuisinart.

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Hi Clare: Wow..another 1981 owner..I’m impressed. There are not that many of us out there that have that little workhorse! Unfortunately, I don’t have the cookbook anymore. Through the years and moves, I misplaced it. Have you tried contacting Cuisinart? I checked their website but they don’t have the recipe but you may have better luck contacting the company directly through their customer service. The link is: http://www.cuisinart.com/support/us.html. Good luck!
I was also given a Cuisinart F.P. in 1981, and the most exquisite recipe for Almond Soup was in the Cuisinart Cookbook then. Now it’s not even on their site, nor can Google come any closer to finding it other than your super blog! If you happen to have that Almond Soup recipe, I’d so appreciate having it!!!
Many thanks and best wishes!
Clare Braden – ckuvs@aol.com