Microwave Madness - The Triumph of Technology Over Taste

From the first time I saw the fictional Star Trek replicator in action, I coveted one of my own to instantly create an endless supply of nutritious meals. Of course, science fiction writers are way ahead of their times, so instead of replicators, twentieth century families were endowed with microwave ovens. It's only human nature to embrace any technology that saves time and labor, which accounts for the amazing popularity of this culinary device now appearing in over 90% of American homes. However, as many of us have discovered, the microwave has some limitations, often resulting in unpalatable foods.

Food preparation preferences are highly individualized but in general, certain foods are better left to conventional cooking methods:

Old Fashioned Baked Potato: It is so convenient to cook a medium potato in 10 minutes or less in the microwave but if you like to eat the entire potato, then stick to your conventional oven, which will produce a perfect spud sporting a lovely, thick, chewy skin.

Melted Chocolate: I know, double boilers seem so archaic but they are fraught with fewer disasters when melting chocolate. Chocolate is easily scorched by overheating, turning my favorite food into something quite dreadful. Some people report great success with microwaving chocolate but I've had enough problems with the technique to return to my benign double boiler.

Crisp Foods: I love pizza, even leftover pizza but for me, a lifelong bread-lover, the crust is probably my favorite part. After years of experimentation, I've accepted the fact that my inexpensive, little toaster oven is far superior to the microwave for crisping everything from pizza to hash browns.

Refreshing Day Old Bread: Micro waved bread can quickly become tough and unpleasantly chewy. To refresh a large chunk of bread, sprinkle the crust with a little water, tightly wrap in aluminum foil and bake 10-15 minutes in a 325 degree oven.

Dense Casseroles and Meats: Microwave ovens can cook unevenly, leaving "cold spots" in your food. Dishes containing meat, poultry and eggs, may contain harmful bacteria that survives the cooking process. And of course, there's no arguing the esthetics of nuked meats as compared to other cooking methods, which suggests the wisdom of letting each appliance do what it does best.

With the downturn in the economy, many of us now have more time than money. What great way to spend that newly discovered time (aside from looking for a new job), than to return to some of the more traditional ways of preparing our best-loved foods. And wouldn't Grandma be tickled pink?

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9 Tips On Taking Care of Your Microwave Oven

Microwave ovens are one of the biggest appliances that can be found in every modern kitchen today. Apart from housewives, microwaves are used by almost anyone in the family to quickly reheat food or just to boil some water to make coffee. Although it offers one of the popular ways of re-heating and cooking food, these can be easily damaged if not taken care of properly. This article talks about some of the tips that can help you take care of your microwave oven.

1. If you have a baby in the family, do not use the microwave to heat baby bottles. Moreover, you should also not use the microwave for deep-frying because these applications do not allow sufficient temperature control to provide safe results.

2. If you are making popcorn in the microwave, be sure to stay near the microwave and keep the temperature and time as per instructions. Excess heat build up in the microwave oven can cause a fire.

3. There are special types of microwavable containers available that must be used when microwaving. Do not use utensils that are not suitable for microwave use. There are certain types of plastic containers that easily melt with hot food and causes migration of package constituents. If you are re-heating fatty foods, it is a good idea to use glass utensils, but keep in mind that not all glass utensils are microwave-safe.

4. If there is any kind of leakage from the microwave, contact a servicing firm or the manufacturer.

Leakages of any kind can be quite dangerous and can cause electrocution.

5. Have your microwave repaired if you see any signs of rusts inside.

6. Read the instruction manual carefully. Be sure that you are only using items which are microwave-safe. If the manual warns against using empty vessels inside the oven, do not do so as this can damage your appliance.

7. Use mild detergent and warm water to clean the doors and the outer edges. Scouring pads and other types of abrasives are not suitable for cleaning microwave ovens.

8. Keep small children out of reach of the microwave. If children are making use of the oven, make sure that they do so safely and with care.

9. Avoid using metal dishes and aluminum foils for cooking inside the microwave as these reflect the microwaves and does not result in even cooking.

These are some of the essential tips that can help you take care of your microwave oven.

About the Author

Garima Oberoi is a shopaholic who has blended her passion for shopping with her technical expertise. Garima has been in the online commerce space for more than a decade and has co-founded shopatindia.com, a shopping marketplace that provides comprehensive information about features, prices and availability of all the latest products launched in India. Visit my website for more information on Microwave Oven

Choosing a Microwave Pasta Maker

Of course, there are other reasons such as time and energy saved, and the fact that it's a foolproof way of cooking pasta. Thus, here are some useful tip for choosing a microwave pasta maker.

Tip 1

Get an FDA approved microwave pasta machine. This lessens your risk to injury, burns, and inferior pasta makers.

Tip 2

If possible, try to find one that can be used also for cooking vegetables because it will help retain most of the nutritional value in these food products.

Tip 3

There are microwave machines that are unable to cook pasta for more than 2 adults and 2 children, which means if you are having guests over, you might need a bigger pasta machine, so choose your size and model with this in mind.

Tip 4

You can buy these online or in most appliance stores, so access to a good microwave pasta machine is very easy. You just need to verify the website you plan to buy from because there are unscrupulous dealers in the internet. It's a small annoyance but should not deter you in any way from getting great online deals.

Tip 5

If you love cooking spaghetti or other long noodles, make sure the microwave pasta maker you get is long enough to fit your dry noodles without you having to break them in half.

Tip 6

Look for a microwave pasta maker that has markers to let you know up to what level the water should be. There are some pasta makers that just tell you in the manual the volume of water to be used. Unfortunately, this can be cause for undercooked or overcooked pasta.

With a microwave pasta machine, you can easily get your teenagers to prepare nutritious snacks on their own with the pasta maker. If they can microwave TV dinners or cook microwave popcorn, then they can boil water and cook pasta. It will increase the level of nutrition in their snacks and make it possible for them to be more independent inside the kitchen.

Don't just purchase the first pasta machine you see. Do your homework and choose wisely or you might end up with a malfunctioning unit that sits in the corner collecting dust. After all, pasta making is an art and having the right pasta machine can be the difference between mediocre soggy pasta that no one wants and delicious and scrumptious pasta that family and friends can't get enough of. Visit Kitchen Pasta Machine and learn how to choose the right kitchen pasta maker to make your pasta making dreams a reality. Discover the perfect Homemade Pasta Maker for you, you'll be glad you did.

Some Microwave Oven Care & Cleaning Tips

Done your homework and now ready to bring home a versatile model of the latest new-generation microwave oven to make meal preparation a breeze? You can ensure many years of gratifying use with your trusty kitchen helper, with proper care and some simple cleaning tips.

Certain foods that are allowed to heat inside a microwave, particularly meaty viands with sauce, tend to spatter inside the kitchen gadget when reheated uncovered. There's a reason for those ubiquitous microwave-safe containers sold everywhere. Most microwave ovens also have a removable glass on which to place these containers. If you want a loose cover for your dishes, use wax paper or perhaps paper towels instead.

If spills do occur, wash the removable plate with mild detergent and rinse well. Wipe with a tidy cloth or paper towel until it's dry, before returning to the microwave. Spatters around the sides and near the door opening may be wiped clean & dry, too. Deal with stubborn dirt and odors by using a couple of pinches of baking soda in a cupful of warm water for cleaning. An alternative is a mixture of lemon juice in boiled water. When the mixture has cooled, you can use this to wipe the inside of the microwave oven.

Coarse cleaning materials that tend to scratch surfaces are a no-no. Read the instructions on the manual for proper cleaning & care of your newly bought appliances. You may turn to microwave reviews on the internet, and read forums where practical tips are shared.

Check out the latest Microwave Oven Reviews. Makes include Sharp, Panasonic, Sanyo, GE and more only at http://www.microwaveovenreviews.net

Understand Your Microwave Oven

Using a microwave oven beyond just reheating of foods and drinks can be quite difficult. Most of us have some kind of training in using a conventional oven properly and there are a huge number of cookery programs on TV to give helpful tips and advice on cooking times and temperatures. Microwaves however are completely different with very little help available and cookbooks being few and not widely promoted. Here is a guide to the general use of your microwave oven.

When using your microwave oven do not always blast everything at full power, as to so extent microwaves will cook foods in similar ways to your conventional oven and you do not cook everything at full power with your conventional oven as you end up with the food burnt on the outside and not cooked in the middle. The same effect can occur with dense items of food in a microwave oven if the food is cooked on too high power. The thing to remember with microwaves is that they penetrate the food only to a certain depth and by reducing the power this allows the heat to disperse through the food and cook it evenly and thoroughly.

To observe how your microwave cooks put in a stew and try it on full power you will notice after a couple of minutes the liquid near the outer edge of the container is bubbling and very hot and that in the middle will probably be still be cold. If you reduce the power and cook for a longer period of time you will notice that the heat has dispersed further into the liquid. Remember though that you will still have to stir the liquid and leave all microwave food to stand for at least two minutes before serving it.

Using your microwave oven to cook is much more economical than when using a conventional oven and because it does not generate heat will keep your kitchen cooler and is generally cleaner than using a conventional microwave oven.

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Microwave Cooking - Tips For Using, Cooking, and Cleaning Your Microwave

I know this will give away my age group, but I can remember life without a microwave. My teenage daughter thinks that means we started fire by rubbing sticks together!

The microwave oven has certainly made life easier, especially for households like mine where both parents work outside the home. We want our meal times to be fast and easy, while remaining healthy and affordable. Our microwave oven is one of the appliances that help us spend less time in the kitchen.

We use ours all year long, but it really helps in the heat of summer to not use the oven as often and heat up the kitchen at the same time.

It sounds simple, but needs repeating - read and follow your microwave oven manufacturer's instructions. Here's some other safety tips:

· Remember, the food will be hot! Be careful when removing from the appliance

· Never use your microwave if the door does not close completely or there are any other defects

· If you cover the food being cooked, be sure to leave it vented so steam can come out naturally

· Don't use any metal utensils

· Use only "microwave safe" dishes

· Follow recommended cooking times. If the time is a range (5-7 minutes for example), start with the lower time

Now some general cooking tips:

· Cut food in uniform sizes for more even cooking

· Arrange evenly sized food in a circle

· Follow the recipe or manufacturer's cooking directions! Stir at stated times, turn food over when required, and let food stand as directed after cooking

· Margarine can be softened by using half power for 45-60 seconds

· Wrap left over pizza slices in damp (slightly damp) paper towels and cook for 35-45 seconds. The damp paper towels help to keep the crust crispy. Otherwise, you may have a crust that you cannot bite!

· Baked potatoes are a microwave favorite. Just remember to pierce them with a knife to release steam.

· If you are defrosting meat in your microwave (which is a great idea!), be sure to cook the meat as soon as defrosted. The meat may be partially cooked and become a home for bacteria.

· Add salt after cooking. The microwaves are attracted to the salt and can cause your food to dry out.

· Use a dish larger than your food so it won't spill over while heating.

Gotta clean it!

· Place ¼-cup lemon juice and one cup water in a two-cup container. Heat until it boils (about 2 minutes on high). Leave the lemon water in the microwave another 5-7 minutes, then wipe clean with paper towels or a clean dishtowel.

· You can also use a mixture of ½ water and ½ vinegar and do the same thing as above.

Janet B Pearson is the editor of http://www.thrifty411.com She is married and a mother of 2 with a grand-daughter, and a new grandson! She recently completed an ebook "Thrifty Living: Be Thrifty, Make A Budget, and Save Money!"

Her website, http://www.thrifty411.com, offers thrifty living tips, money saving ideas, and help on how to create a personal budget.

10 Essential Tips - Cooking With A Microwave Oven

Tip #1

Understand what kind of foods are good candidates for microwaving. Fish is moist and flaky when microwaved. The freshness of whole fruits and vegetables are easier to retain when microwaved. Pastry cases bake well covered with kitchen towels, sauces and custards cook with ease and doesn't stick or catch.

Tip #2

Realize what kinds of foods are a no no. Hard boil eggs and shellfish can explode when steam builds under their shells. Batter and pancakes would never become crisp and dry. High salted content foods would dry up too fast to control and deep frying in the microwave is a big challenge for you to control the temperature.

Tip#3

Never turn on an empty microwave. Waves bouncing off the inner walls will damage the cavity. A cup of water inside it will help to absorb the wayward waves.

Tip#4

Meat, poultry, fish and raw vegetables should enter the microwave straight from the refrigerator, canned and dry goods should be at room temperature when attempting to cook them. This is to ensure that the food items cook at the correct pace, not too fast or too slow.

Tip#5

Air your microwave oven to remove lingering odors from cooking. Leave the door ajar and wipe the inside with bicarbonate of soda dissolved in water. Deodorize the oven and your kitchen by heating a jug containing 250ml of warm water with sprigs of thyme, or lemon slices in the microwave oven till mixture is boiling then remove it.

Tip#6

Round containers ensures that food cooks more evenly. Ring moulds helps the center of the food to cook faster and deep dishes will help prevent fast boiling liquids from spilling.

Tip#7

Melamine and polystyrene may overheat and break. Fat and sugar rich foods may also cause plastic to melt when used to microwave.

Tip#8

Covering foods when microwaving encourages steam built up which speeds up the cooking process. The steam also tenderize food and keep it moist. For dry items, do not cover. Microwaving brings out moisture from the food, wrap it in paper towels if a dry constituency is desired.

Tip#9

To prevent "exploding" during the cooking process, pierce all foods with tight fitting skin or membrane to prevent steam built up and bursting. Foods include whole vegetables and fruit, egg yolks, livers, oysters and fish.

Tip#10

Microwaves can penetrate a depth of only 2". Denser food cooks even more slowly. To ensure even cooking, stir frequently during cooking.