Who Needs A Fucking Microwave??

[Ting Ho Dung]

I wanted to heat up a hot dog before going to the Orlando Guitar Expo. Many of you are aware that I have posted that I do not eat processed meats. That I am a shitty chef. But still manage to cook for my family each and every day and have sit down meals every night. Well, the microwave went bang and my hot dog was cold after 30 seconds in it. I wondered what to do and was quite frankly at a loss for ideas. It's been thirty years that I've enjoyed Microwave. So I got out a 2 quart pot, put in a little water, laid a colander over the steaming water. Placed said dog and a bun in the steam. Done in five. So it wasn't 30 seconds and done. But it was 5 and done.

So my question for you engineers and smart people; What do I save, other than time, for running a 1000 watt microwave for one minute as apposed to a small eye on the stove for 5 minutes?

I think the stove top is probably healthier if you can call a dog healthy. Why??? because there are no microwaves????

My wife went to the grocery this evening and got some Digeorno pizzas. Why??? because she didn't know how to warm left overs without a microwave. Degeornos in the oven @ 400 degrees @ 20 minutes. She would have cooked them anyway. But the oven was still warm so I put some leftover lemmon pepper chicki from last night in a skillet and placed them in the oven. Already spent energy heated the skillet and chicki up. opened the door after the chicki was bubblin' and let the heat out into the house. Already spent energy mind you.

Yeah, so I'm frugal. Not cheap. Just thinking about weather I should replace a microwave @ 400 bucks or buy a guitar with it. All a microwave is good for is reheating things in 30 seconds. You smart guys tell me what the BTU expense of heating a cup of water in a microwave as apposed to on the stove. You health nutz tell me what the ill effects of microwave vs convection heat may be.

Make sense?

[JohnnyB]

Maybe that's why we have always been a skinny family, other than me. We eat sensibly. Very little processed meat. Very little bread and pasta. Chicken, steak, pork ribs, broccoli, legumes of every kind. Other than beer, does that mean we are gluten free? Does rice contain gluten? We like brown rice about once every few weeks. One friend told me we eat like the Adkins diet. I don't know what that is either. I'm going to try the stove top popcorn. Haven't done that since we were first married. It'll be fun.

The only gluten sources in your list are bread, pasta, and beer. Grains with gluten are wheat, rye, spelt, and barley, though it can be added to other things. White bread flour has a high gluten content. Gluten is what makes the dough sticky and elastic, enabling it to rise more. Bread flour is the secret to making a pizza crust that doesn't come apart when you toss or spin it, and what makes the baked product pleasantly chewy. To use gluten-free flour for baking, you have to add some amaranth gum to get the elasticity.

Grains without gluten include rice, corn, amaranth, and also flours made from various legumes. Brown rice is totally OK. There are lots of gluten-free chips available--potato chips, Fritos and other corn chips, rice chips, multi-grain gluten-free chips and crackers, etc. Now I'm starting to make my own gluten-free coatings (e.g., rice crackers in the food processor to make crumbs) for gluten-free fried fish.

That list of crackers and chips only applies to the simple versions. E.g., basic tortilla chips and Fritos are just corn, oil, and salt. But when you get Nacho Cheese-flavored, the list of ingredients is as long as your arm, definitely contains milk solids, and probably has gluten as well. That's why we started popping our own corn; we were also eliminating milk products, and almost all the microwave popcorn is dusted with whey.

There are also gluten-free beers available. As with anything like this, some are better than others.

Your family diet actually sounds more Pritikin than Atkins to me.

[Punkavenger]

What my diet currently consists of is ... chicken, brown rice, avocados, lettuce, tomatoes, organic corn tortillas, gluten free oatmeal, green tea, agave nectar, yams, butter, eggs, chilies, dark chocolate and red wine

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

Gluten-free organic vegan is our preference. Been vegan nearly 3 years and our diet is 60/70% organic now. We started growing our own fruit/veg this year too and started running last month so I dunno why I'm still 10 pounds overweight :o/ Must be the non-alcoholic beer...

[Ting Ho Dung]

What my diet currently consists of is ... chicken, brown rice, avocados, lettuce, tomatoes, organic corn tortillas, gluten free oatmeal, green tea, agave nectar, yams, butter, eggs, chilies, dark chocolate and red wine

Are you on that diet for your High Blood Pressure?

Gluten-free organic vegan is our preference. Been vegan nearly 3 years and our diet is 60/70% organic now. We started growing our own fruit/veg this year too and started running last month so I dunno why I'm still 10 pounds overweight :o/ Must be the non-alcoholic beer...

Good for you. I was a vegan for a few years back in the 80s. Gave it up for Lent or something. I don't remember.

[LostArt]

my microwave sits idle on the counter.

only reason why I even have one is because no one wanted it when we finally sold my mom's house.

my wife seems to use it a few times a year and so does my nephew.

in all honesty I don't even know how to turn the thing on

[Armitage]

I worked at a drive-in movie theater for a couple of summers. We used coconut oil. We also put in a a heaping tablespoon of salt into the kettle with the coconut oil and popcorn kernels.

If you want to scare yourself, look up movie popcorn...

"Researchers found movie theater popcorn offerings range from 400 to 1,200 calories, with one to three days' worth of saturated fat and up to 1,500 milligrams of sodium."

[Punkavenger]

What my diet currently consists of is ... chicken, brown rice, avocados, lettuce, tomatoes, organic corn tortillas, gluten free oatmeal, green tea, agave nectar, yams, butter, eggs, chilies, dark chocolate and red wine

Are you on that diet for your High Blood Pressure?

Gluten-free organic vegan is our preference. Been vegan nearly 3 years and our diet is 60/70% organic now. We started growing our own fruit/veg this year too and started running last month so I dunno why I'm still 10 pounds overweight :o/ Must be the non-alcoholic beer...

Good for you. I was a vegan for a few years back in the 80s. Gave it up for Lent or something. I don't remember.

I actually ended up having to go on BP medication. Thanks for asking. I had almost forgotten how horrible that experience was myself. Yikes!

Diet and exercise, weight loss, supplements etc. didn't seem to effect my BP whatsoever. Dr. said it's probably just genetic and/or having to do with getting older.

Meaning "Uh, we dont fucking know, next!"

I'm improving my diet / working out etc. because A. I still want to get laid occasionally B. Sometimes my painting/carpentry work is very physically demanding and I need to work in order to survive.