"microwaving" news and stories

Great news! Here's a kitchen gadget everyone can afford. Your popcorn just got way more awesome.

The Nordic Ware Microwave Corn Popper comes highly recommended by my very practical friend Shannon, who reports that it's really fast, doesn't need oil, and is a snap to clean. Sounds good to me!

This thing is $8.99 from The Kitchen Store, and microwave and dishwasher safe. You just put in the corn, put it in the microwave, and perfect, fluffy popcorn comes out. It's a stroke of Nordic genius.

I only wish it were pretty, so I could pass it off as a holiday gift. Guess I'll just have to get one for myself!

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Ever have a potato chip craving at home but didn't have the chips on hand or didn't feel like dealing with the regret afterwards? If you have a microwave and a knife, we have a way to satisfy your craving and your waistline at the same time!

I know there's a race to make electronics smaller, but this is this a little ridiculous. Inventorspot reported today on the world's smallest microwave, which made its debut at this springs Chicago International Home and Hardware Show.

The IWaveCube is so named because of its dimensions: about one cubic foot. That doesn't leave a lot of cooking space. I mean, what are you going to cook in it? The only place where I can see this being useful is in an office break room. I gather that people in an office setting generally only need to heat up small portions of food or cups of coffee, and the IWaveCube could handle that without taking up too much space.

No word on when it'll be available, if it's not already. Do you see this being a useful new kitchen tool?

Getting that crisp and tasty skin on a perfectly cooked baked potato might take a while, but there's one shortcut that can get you good results really quickly.

Some microwave meals can be an exercise in following instructions. I'm perfectly capable of following the instructions - if, that is, I read them.

I was recently sent a bunch of Amy's frozen meals to sample. My reviews will be coming to Slashfood soon. I have lots of experience with Amy's products and I love them. I've been a longtime Amy's evangelist and that was before they sent me free stuff.

I had not, however, tried their hot breakfast cereals. To cook the lunches, I always ignore the instructions such as "make a 1 inch slit in the over-wrap" (did I bring my ruler to microwave?) and simply open the side of the over-wrap. I cook each meal for five minutes regardless of the recommend cook time and have never had a problem.

Well, it turns out the breakfast cereals cook for a different amount of time. The first one I tried was the Rolled Oats Hot Cereal Bowl. The directions said to cook for 4 minutes. I took that to mean all the breakfast cereals cook for 4 minutes. Not so. The Cream of Rice requires 3 1/2 minutes. In the photo above, you can see what happened at 4 minutes - a breakfast cereal eruption.

Am I the only one to ignore microwave directions?