The Red Microwave.com

The Best in Mini Appliance Cooking

Turn on the food channels and you might be overwhelmed by some of the recipes and techniques used by the chefs that are featured there. However, many of them as well as the chefs in upscale restaurants turn to the microwave oven more than a time or two. They use it for practically everything from defrosting foods to heating sauces and melting butter. While chefs may not actually use it to cook any of the meals that they are serving, they have the time, equipment, and training that average people do not. For the rest of us, cooking in the microwave can ensure that we have the time to not only cook a real meal for our families but also to sit down and eat with them.

Side Dish Magic
For some people, trying to time their main course and their side dishes can be a nightmare. The meat is already done but the potatoes are not boiling yet, and by the time they are done your meat has dried up and is tougher than an old shoe. To prevent that from happening, you can use the microwave oven for the side dishes, popping them in at that correct time so that they are done (leaving time for sitting after microwaving) at the same time your meat is ready for carving and serving.

In addition to popping vegetable side dishes in the microwave, you can use it for side dish magic in other ways:

• There are new options in the grocer’s freezer section including steamer bags that cook perfectly in the microwave oven with rice, pasta and other grains mixed with vegetables
• Make gourmet butter sauces to pour over your own vegetable mixes by melting butter in the microwave and then stirring in garlic or herbs.

Getting Your Just Desserts
In this busy world, it might seem that there is just not enough time to make a dessert. That is simply not true. There are dozens of different desserts that do not require any cooking at all of course, but there are also plenty that can be made using the microwave. Virtually any cake, muffin or other baked product will have some microwave equivalent or will have microwave directions. You only have to have the right type of pan to use with them. There are new silicone bakeware pans that can be used in the microwave oven as well as the conventional oven. You can use the microwave to melt chocolate, being careful that you do not burn it, and many other culinary tasks.

Busy Days Do Not Have to Mean Boring Dinners

There are days when you may not even have the desire to cook when you get home. There are days when no one is in the mood for the same thing. All it takes is a little preparation and you can have a delicious dinner even on the nights when you are working crazy hours. When you have the time to make an actual meal, double the recipe, freezing half in a multi-use container with a clear label telling what it is and when it was made. When you know you are going to have a rough day, pop a container of whatever sounds good into the fridge and then warm it in the microwave oven when you finally get home.