Microwave Cooking for One

By: Marie T. Smith
Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company 
Publication Date: December 1999
ISBN: 978-1565546660
Reviewed by: Holly Connors 
Review Date: February 26, 2010

Microwave ovens are not known for cooking gourmet meals and indeed, that’s not the intent of Microwave Cooking for One. As the author states in her Introduction, the book was written to help people create easy, quick meals for themselves, whether they live alone, or perhaps have a spouse who is away on a business trip.

The author begins with an overview of various equipment, noting the importance of using the specific cooking ware mentioned to insure proper cooking of the meal, how to handle various leftovers (after all, cooking for one will leave a lot of half packages of perishable ingredients), timing and how to adjust for your microwave and finally, several tips such as knowing the wattage of your oven.

Recipes provided in Microwave Cooking for One cover the full range of meals, from breakfast, soups, fish, poultry, cakes, cookies and pies. I prepared several meals and found the instructions very easy to follow, and the food quick to prepare. It did take a bit of experimentation at the beginning to figure out the cooking times for my microwave and Smith does talk about this issue at the start of the book. In fact, each recipe has a (_____) space next to the cook time so you can insert the time that works with your microwave. Once I’d prepared a couple of meals, I had the conversion times figured out and it was quite simple from that point on.

Meals for the most part were tasty, and as stated previously, easy to prepare. With a couple of meals, I doubled the serving size and the food still came out nicely. The poultry was a bit mealy as was the beef but that’s the difference between preparing food with an oven versus a microwave. The book is a bit outdated with its microwave heating times and strengths, but overall, it provids a nice array of meals for the harried, hungry, single person.

Quill says: A good cookbook for the cooking challenged, rushed, person.