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Continue reading Tip of the Day: DIY potato Chips

Continue reading Tip of the Day: Quick, tasty, and crunchy baked potatoes

I feel like I'm revealing some deep, dark secret, but here goes: I microwave my salads.

Now, this isn't because I like my lettuce and carrots and salad dressing really hot, it's because of bacteria. I started doing this a couple of years ago, when we had all those recalls and scares involving pre-made bagged salads and spinach. I make my salad on a plate then zap it for about 20 seconds. Just enough to kill something but not make the salad get hot and shrivel.

Now, I have to stress that I have no idea if 20 seconds in the microwave will even do anything to destroy bacteria, but it makes me feel good anyway.

I now return you to your normal Slashfood posts.

• You can successfully cook the following vegetarian-friendly foods on a Foreman grill: tofu, polenta, onions/zucchini/eggplant, veggie patties and virtually any type of imitation meat product, toasted sandwiches
• It is impossible to cook decent pasta in a microwave
  
• The following food/imitation food products have started to appeal to me solely for their ability to heat quickly without the use of a stove/oven: Easy Mac; toaster pastries; those soups in cardboard containers; individual, microwavable oatmeal packets; 90-second rice
  

Now, I'm not sure if this means this is the day to buy a microwave oven or cook something in a microwave oven. I'll assume the former (though maybe this is a good day to finally replace the one you've been using for 15 years).

There are actually several books about microwaving oven cooking: Microwave Gourmet by Barbara Kafka, A Man, A Can, A Microwave, by David Joachim and Men's Health, and perhaps the first (or at least one of the first) books on microwave cooking, Richard Deacon's Microwave Oven Cookwave. Yup, the same Richard Deacon who played Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show. He also has one titled Richard Deacon's Microwave Cookery. Not sure if it's the same book or not.

The hell?

Seattle is thinking about banning microwave popcorn. The Justice Center has had to be evacuated eight times in the past three years because of burnt popcorn in the microwave making the smoke alarms go off. That means over 400 employees have to be evacuated each time. It is also happening in the city's Municipal Tower.

This isn't a joke: read the memo. If the problem continues, they're going to ban it in downtown buildings.

Continue reading Seattle wants to ban microwave popcorn

Potato chips are, as a general rule, fried, greasy and unfortunately addictive, as illustrated by the longtime Lay's slogan "bet you can't eat just one. All these traits make them the bane of many health food activists' existences, but those same activists might go a little easier on the popular snack food if they knew you can easily make a non-fried, fat free version that is just as crispy as the "real" thing at home All you need is a microwave.

This Japanese potato chip maker allows you to make chips in the microwave. All you need to do is slice up a potato into fine rounds and place in the stand, then microwave until crisp.

It sounds implausible, but microwaving chips really does work. I've done it myself with great success thanks to the recipe for Uncle Bill's Microwave Potato Chips, which doesn't require a potato chip stand to work. The chips actually do crisp up well, especially if you take care to slice them thinly and evenly. In the photo above, the chips that I made are on the left, while the chips made with the chip-maker (not made by me) are on the right. I cut my potatoes freehand with a sharp knife, but using a mandoline will produce results even faster and guarantee consistency. Make sure to season your chips with salt and pepper or seasoning salt before microwaving them, as it is difficult to get the salt to adhere to already crisp chips.

Or it might be the very best, I don't know. #1 is probably still the Smart Ones Fire Grilled Chicken & Vegetables I reviewed last year, but this other one is coming on strong.

It's the new Boston Market Grilled Chicken with Mesquite BBQ Sauce and Ranch Mashed Potatoes. This, in a word, is fantastic. The BBQ sauce actually tastes like real BBQ sauce. The mashed potatoes, which are usually one of the worst parts of any frozen entree or dinner, are the best frozen mashed potatoes I've ever tasted. They may even be better than the powdered stuff you buy in a box (if you are prone to do that). They're not all mushy and bland tasting (or worse, crusty and styrofoam tasting). The ranch flavor adds a nice kick too.

I'm not saying you should buy this in place of any BBQ chicken and mashed potatoes you might make at home. But hey, we all eat frozen foods at one time or another during the week, so I'd have a few boxes of this in the freezer for those times.

Continue reading Octopus in a bag?

About a week ago, I posted a little guide on how to grill corn on the cob, which is my favorite way to cook corn. It is not, however, the only way to cook corn. The website How to Cook Corn on the Cob has photo guides to grilling, steaming, boiling and microwaving corn. It might not be headline news, since you have probably used at least one of the methods before, but all four are great guides for those who are new to corn cookery or simply want to give another method a try.

One other useful tip -although not necessarily for the health conscious - is to roll the hot corn along the long side of a stick of butter, which is the easiest and most thorough way to cover the corn before sprinkling it with salt, pepper and whatever other spices you like to use. Compound butter is also a great way to dress up corn.