All of the following recipes use high power, and all times can be adjusted to fit your individual microwave’s settings and your own preferences.
1. STEAK
No, it doesn’t come out tough!
Put a little water in a dish, put the steak on the water (if it’s IN the water, that’s too much water!) and put a little of your favorite sauce atop the steak. Nuke it for about eight minutes and then a minute at a time the first time you make it so you’ll know the exact time that gets you your preferred level of doneness. Add ,more sauce at table if desired. My favorite sauces: any BBQ sauce; Maui Mountain Hot Teriyaki; any blue cheese salad dressing.
2. Omelette
If you like onions and/or garlic, cut some up into small bits and sautée them in canola or other vegetable oil (olive burns and is better for dressings; find yourself a nice poly- or monounsaturated oil to cook in). While that’s happening:
Break two eggs per person into a bowl and add milk and/or yoghurt and/or cottage cheese; if ONLY adding cottage cheese, moisten with a little water. Beat them vicously. Cut up your favorite vegetable into bite-sized chunks: my favorites are zucchini, yellow squash, red or yellow pepper, If you are tired, use frozen vegetables. If using something leafy, just rip it instead of cutting. mix it all up with the egg and add the onions and garlic, if you haven’t burnt them by now! Season with lemon pepper, or your own favorite. Add some shredded cheese if desired. Open a can of tuna, drain it and dump it in too. (If you do that and you didn’t add milk or yoghurt, use the liquid from the can of tuna instead of water in beating the eggs, how about THAT?
Now that it’s all mixed up, nuke it for about eight minutes if four or fewer eggs, and about ten if more than four eggs. It puffs up nicely, almost like a soufflée!
3. Spinach
No don’t boil it, EWWWWW! Use the whole pack, the whole head, the whole box, the whole whatever, because this sucker is going to SHRINK! Rinse it (unless it’s frozen) and put it in a bowl with a little water. Put some ranch or blue cheese dressing on it (not too much now!) and nuke it for about five minutes; make that six if it was frozen. YUMMMM!
4. Salmon
Get yourself a nice fillet of salmon. Put it in a dish with a little milk and a little butter. Sprinkle lemon pepper on it. Nuke it for five minutes, then a minute at a time (the first time) until your desired level of doneness, which of course you will now memorize. It goes well with the spinach, by the way, and you CAN cook them together.
5. Macaroni
Boil the macaroni (there is no getting around this part), for the amount of time listed on the package, MINUS ONE MINUTE, in some salted water to which you’ve also added a drop of oil to keep it all from sticking it together. Stir it shortly after adding it to the water, and during its ordeal as well. When it’s done, drain it and put it in a big bowl. NOW: prepare vegetables as described for the omelette. You may add as many veggies as you wish, and if you would like to add some meat, it may be a good idea to sautée it with the onions and garlic first at least so it’s brown. (Pour off the grease, though.) Now for the sauce:
If you don’t want to use sauce from a can or jar (you can, but I like to make my own) then mix yoghurt, milk, oregano, black pepper (lemon pepper is fine) and some ground bay or laurel. No, it’s not a red sauce! Add some parmesan if you like. Mix it all with the noodles and nuke the mess until it’s hot (however long that takes). If you want it nice and fancy, sprinkle bread crumbs on the top and add little tiny pats of butter all over before nuking! Add a sprig of parsley and serve.
