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Valentine’s Day is just a couple of weeks away, and if you are on the lookout for some quick and easy recipe ideas to impress your loved ones with, then you have come to the right place. Even people who do not usually cook, should be able to take some cooking ideas and turn their Valentine’s Day meals into something memorable and momentous.

Since love and Valentine’s Day are generally accompanied by heart shapes, the color red and loads of chocolates and other sweet somethings, this is what we will concentrate upon when suggesting love recipes that you can use to impress your loved one on this special day.

Cooking Ideas For A Valentine’s Breakfast

Strawberries have long been known as an aphrodisiac, and the color that they impart to food makes them the perfect ingredient for a valentine breakfast. Cranberries are also another tasty and healthy choice for a breakfast ingredient. Make sure that you serve some cranberry juice during breakfast to add color and romance top the meal. One simple love recipe that you can try for breakfast is strawberry French Toast. Beat together two eggs, a cup of milk and a tbsp of sugar. Dip some fruit or regular bread in this mix and shallow fry in butter or vegetable shortening. Chop fresh strawberries and top the French Toast with these and some strawberry preserve or sauce to serve a tasty and lovely looking brekky. You can also make heart shapes with the strawberry sauce or pieces on top of the bread. Serve along with red roses on a breakfast tray and your lover will be floored!

If your guy or gal likes pancakes, then here’s the recipe for an easy and tasty one that you can serve on Valentine’s Day. Whisk together 2 cups of baking mix( buttermilk), 2 eggs and a cup of milk till the mixture is smooth. Drop in chopped cranberries/chocolate chips/ strawberries into the mix and pour this batter onto a greased frying pan. Turn over when the mix bubbles and cook till lightly browned. Cook some berries with a little sugar in a thick based pan to make your own topping. Serve your pancakes with berry toppings or with oodles of chocolate sauce for a sexy looking breakfast.

Cooking Ideas For A Valentine’s Dinner
 
You can make a Valentine’s Day dinner special by giving it a red color theme. Serve deep red tomato soup for an entrée. You can make a heart shape on top of the soup with a little cream. For the main course, you can serve some red hot tandoori chicken (if your partner likes Indian food) or a pasta dish with red sauce like Arrabiata if you are into Italian food. A seafood main course with oysters will not only be very “gourmet”, it might also be a sexy aphrodisiac.  While a typical Valentine’s dessert should be laden with chocolates and cream, you can try and keep it light and healthy by serving a selection of fruits topped with a little confectioner’s or brown sugar or dipped in chocolate. Remember that while you can always go for a rich dessert, a very heavy dinner might leave you both too full for any kind of action afterwards!

Setting up a new kitchen is no easy feat by any means. This is especially true if you have never cooked before, because often, you will never get to know what you need in your kitchen till you are in the middle of trying out a new recipe. Most beginners often shy away from buying cookware because they are generally unaware of what is good and useful and what is simply good to look at and costly to buy. Good cookware often does not come cheap, but with the beginners’ cookware buying tips provided here, you know what will suit your needs best when it comes to cookware.

What To Buy: If you are a new cook, then you might want to look at readymade cookware buying sets that generally include most of the basic cookware that you will need. Generally a set comprising of a saucepan, frying pan and a couple of pots will suffice of you are planning on regular American food. However, if you like Chinese, then you should definitely buy a wok as well. If it is Italian that you like, then you might need more than one saucepan because these dishes will require you to make different sauces. So decide upon the kind of food that you are planning to cook before you buy your cookware. If you want to cook what your mom does, then think of what she has in her kitchen when buying your own cookware.

What Size To Buy: Often, enthusiastic beginners end up buying pots and pans in sets of four or five with each set comprising different sizes ranging from extra small to extra large. However, this will not only empty your pockets, it will also clutter up your kitchen with a number of useless cookware pieces. Others might buy cookware pieces that are generally too big for their cooking needs thinking that they might have to cater for guests. However, cooking for a small number of people in a pan that is too large will often end up taking the taste and pleasure out of your recipes. The key too determining size is to buy medium sized pots and pans where you can easily cook a meal for one or two and go up to at least six people. Mid size is the way to go for almost all cookware that you are buying in single pieces. Buy a set of three to four different sizes for one item that you plan to use the most, like the saucepan or the pot.

What Material To Buy: While pots and pans are available in almost all kinds of materials ranging from copper and aluminum to steel and cast iron, you will find that most have their own advantages and disadvantages. Most people buy steel cookware because it conducts heat evenly, is long lasting, strong, non reactive and economical.  If you are into quick and easy cooking, then a combination of steel and non stick pots and pans should do it for you. You can pass on copper and cast iron till you move to more advanced cooking.

Are you one of those people who has the bad luck of having your gourmet dishes failing on you just when the appetizers have already been served and the guests are waiting for the main course with their wine glasses in hand? In fact, it often happens to the best of cooks that our lovingly prepared meal ditches us in the middle and dinner turns to disaster as you discover that your vegetables have turned soggy and you have added too much salt to the gravy. If you are faced with a similar situation the next time you cook dinner, despair not, because our quick fix solutions to fixing common cooking disasters will help you make the best out of such situations.

Too Much Salt in Gravy: It has often happened to me that as guests pour into the kitchen to exchange pleasantries and small talk, I end up sprinkling too much salt into whatever I am cooking. The quick fix to too much salt in a gravy is to quickly slice a potato and put the slices in the over salted gravy while it simmers. Take out the slices before you serve.  If your gravy can take a couple of tomatoes, then chop some up and add to the gravy. This generally ends up making gravy tastier, zingier and there are no traces of excess salt left in the dish.

Cake Sinks In The Middle: You take out your nicely baked cake to cool on the rack and after fifteen minutes, you find that your cooked lump of dough has a big dent in the middle. Definitely un-servable to dinner guests as is! However, you can still put it to a number of good uses to make lovely dessert. If you have some canned or fresh fruits ready, pierce the cake all over the top with a knife, soak with fresh fruit juice or syrup from the can, put all the fruits on the top to make an even top and pour on whipped cream or some fruit sauce for a fruity cake desert. You can also cut up the cake and serve in separate bowls as a trifle after topping with ice cream, fruits and flavored sauces.

Lumps in the Sauce: You might follow instructions to a T when making white sauce, but it can still turn out to be lumpy. While stirring it and breaking down lumps by a spoon might solve the problem in some cases, the best things to do is to either put it in the blender and give it a whiz or to pass it through a thick sieve. Your sauce will instantly get back the smooth and creamy consistency that you wanted in the first place.

Overcooked Vegetables: Mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables often have a tendency of turning into mush, especially when you have invited guests over. The best way of using the veggies to your advantage as a main course is to mash the over done vegetables properly, add fresh bread crumbs, some corn flour and salt to taste. Fashion this mix into patties or cutlets, dip into a beaten egg, cover with bread crumbs and fry to make crisp vegetable cutlets for your main course. Just make sure you add enough bread crumbs so that the mixture becomes solid enough to hold shape.

Different people at different times often think about joining cooking classes or joining a cooking school. Of course there are a number of reasons for which people often want to go down this road. While the ones who aim for cooking or culinary schools generally aspire to become professional chefs, the main crowd that gets into cooking classes comprises people who just want to learn a particular style of cooking or hone their cooking skills for personal reasons. Depending upon what your aims are, we will give you a brief rundown of the things that you need to consider before you go on and join a school to learn cooking.

Cooking Classes For Personal Reasons: Many of us are often faced with situations where we wish we were better cooks. Every time guests drop in or we throw a party, we pledge to ourselves that we would take cooking classes so as to prepare a better spread the next time. If you want to impress your friends and family with your cooking skills, or if you are planning to start cooking at home, or if you simply enjoy cooking as a hobby, then taking cooking classes can prove to be an enjoyable and worthwhile experience for you.

Most of these classes often run for very short periods like one to three months with just a few hours every week. You can join a class to meet new people, relax and enjoy the company of like minded people and to make new friends. These classes are not competitive at all, you can learn in an easy and casual atmosphere. It is a great way of getting out and learning something while enjoying yourself. And the best part is that you will learn how to cook a number of new recipes pro style. If you are not short of time and money, then these classes come highly recommended. In case managing any of these two things is a problem, then learn cooking tips, techniques and recipes online to save on both time and money.

Cooking Classes Or Culinary School For Professional Advancement: Some people consider joining cooking school in order to make a career as a chef. However, if you think that you are going to get a cooking program of your own or get a high paying job with a five star hotel the moment you pass out of school, then you need to think again. The first thing that you need to realize is that cooking school is not cheap. You might need to take out a loan to pay for your culinary degree. Combine this with the fact that starting salaries in the hospitality and restaurant business are not nearly high enough to make ends meet comfortably.

You will definitely need a couple of years of experience on the floor before you get a well paying job. Also consider the fact that you will most probably spend the rest of your life sweating in warm kitchens, standing all day, taking directions and criticism from others and getting very few perks( unless you are actually employed by a five star). If you feel that you know everything there is to know about cooking as a job (opportunities, pays, perks, promotions, competition, costs etc), and you still want to go ahead, then you should definitely embark on the search for a good cooking school.

Personalized gifts are always appreciated in a day and age when most people have almost everything that can be bought in stores. Instead of giving out flowers, chocolates and prepackaged toiletries as favors in your parties, during holidays and to hosts and hostesses, why not create gifts in your own kitchen? When you give people something that you have made all by yourself in the kitchen, you not only let them know about your love for cooking, you also make them feel special by giving them something that you have made personally. Given here are some cooking ideas for making gifts in your own kitchen.

Cookies and Cakes: Cakes and cookies are all time favorites when it comes to cooking to gift. These are the best things to make in your kitchen if you are a good baker. Even if you are not, you can try out a few simple recipes for dry cakes and cookies. Some much appreciated and gifted baked goodies include chocolate chip cookies, walnut cookies, coconut macaroons, oatmeal cookies and chocolate cookies. Fruit cakes like Dundee and pineapple upside downs are also a good idea. Make sure that whatever you bake will last for a few days outside the fridge and be carried around without breaking up. You can gift the cookies in glass cookie jars wrapped with ribbons or decorate your cake tins with bows and ribbons to make the gift look nice and festive.

Vinegars and Oils: Flavored oils and vinegars are getting popular as more and more people turn towards salads as meals and accompaniments. You can easily flavor wines, ciders, vinegars and oils using herbs and spices. Pack them up in interesting looking glass bottles and tie on the top with twirling ribbons to get a gift that is both classy and useful. Some combinations that you can try are cilantro, lime and jalapenos in synthetic white vinegar, lemon and tarragon in white wine vinegar and basil and garlic or garlic, oregano and onion in olive oil.

Tea and Coffee: You can also gift your friends your own personalized brew. For tea drinkers, you can create spiced tea by combining one part peppermint leaves to one part of regular tea leaves. Add some spices like cinnamon, cloves, all spice and dried orange or lemon peels in small quantities. Let this mixture stand for a week before transferring to a steel or glass jar to gift. Your friends will love this aromatic and unique brew. You can also gift people cappuccino powder created in your own kitchen. Mix two cups of drinking chocolate powder with two cups of dry dairy creamer, a cup of powdered sugar and one and a half cups of instant coffee. Add a teaspoon of cinnamon powder for flavor to this mix and pack in jars tied with colorful ribbons. 3 tablespoons in a cup of water will make instant cappuccino. Make sure that you tell the receivers of these gifts how to use your instant tea and coffee mixes.

Hosting a child’s birthday party is both a pleasant as well as an unpleasant experience. While you want throw that best bash for your little one and to see all the guests enjoy themselves to the hilt, you also know that this is going to be one of the most trying and tiring times for you. Keeping the fact that you will be responsible for the décor, the invites, the games, the gifts and baby sitting to hordes of kids, we provide you here with some cooking ideas for simple to make, easy to handle, children friendly foods for a kid’s birthday party.

Snacks and Finger Foods: Most small kids find it very tough to handle plates and eat properly, especially when there are so many other things that they can do. However, you cannot really send your child’s friends back home with an empty stomach either. The best way to cater for your little guests is to have a large number of finger foods that the kids can pick up and stuff while carrying on with their games. If your guests’ parents will not mind, then French fries in different shapes and sizes, wafers and sausages or chicken fingers, nuggets etc. make for filling and tasty snacks. Of course, supplement these high fat content finger foods with fruit and vegetable sticks served with a couple of nice dips, harmless popcorn and low fat crackers and pretzels.

Adult Food In Kid Sized Portions: Children generally love pizzas and burgers, but when they get adult sized slices or portions, they generally end up making a mess out of it. If you do not want children dropping off the insides of their burgers or the tops of their pizzas when eating, then cater for mini pizzas and mini burgers that each child will be able to handle independently. Apart from the fact that this will make for a cleaner party, you will also save a lot of food from being wasted since most children should be able to finish off these small portions easily. Another advantage is that mini pizzas and similar food is easier to serve since you just need to hand one each to each child instead of cutting slices or portioning large burgers.

Drinks: While most kids simply love soda, you might not be very loved by their parents if that is all you serve at your child’s birthday party. To make for a balanced drinks table, serve different flavored sodas along with juices, ginger ale and lemonade. Try not to serve drinks that leave strong stains like grape and pomegranate juice or pink and orange soda etc.

Cakes and Ice Cream: No kid’s birthday party is complete without a cake and an ice cream. While you will have to cut and serve the cake only in the middle of the party, serving ice cream to hordes of little children can get to be a troublesome task. One thing that you can do is to scoop out as many portions as you need way before time, roll the scoops in fruits, nuts, choco chips or sprinkles and set in the freezer on top of a waxed baking sheet. Once the scoops are solid, you can wrap it up in plastic bags to take out and serve on waffle cones or cups during the party.

Buying cookware for a kitchen is not a very tough or tricky task. You can in fact go into a store and pick up anything that you like. But if you want cookware that is really efficient, cost effective and long lasting, then you might need to put some thought in there. Cookware today comes in all kinds of shapes, sizes and materials. Apart from the regular materials that have been used to make cookware since ages, there are a number of new materials that keep entering and leaving the market. While at times, they turn out to be good, they might turn out to be really bad too. However, the text here will help you make the right choice when it comes to buying cookware.

When buying cookware, it is best to stick to traditional materials until and unless you are in the mood to experiment with “xenon blasted titanium pans” or some such hyped up, costly and unheard of before product. Most cooking pans and pots are made from steel, copper, aluminum, cast iron or a permutation and combination of these. Among these metals, copper is the best conductor of heat, followed by aluminum, iron and steel. However, the problem with copper is that it is hard to maintain if you use it rarely, and that it reacts with a number of sour and acidic foods. The same is true of aluminum too, so both of these materials, while being the best choices for cooking food evenly and properly, should not be hoarded in large quantities. However, you can keep a couple of some copper or aluminum utensils for specialty cooking. You might have to restrict your number of copper utensils because of the high cost also.

Cast iron cookware is something that is cheap and conducts heat nicely, but will not come with any great suggestions or recommendations unless you are anemic and need to increase your intake of iron. If you fail to season your cast iron cooking pans and woks extremely well, you will find a lot of your food changing color due to the high iron content that it will get from your pan.

Stainless steel is the best choice if you are looking for a cooking pan or pot that is easy to maintain, non reactive and economical. Yes, stainless steel is value for money. It will last and keep well and it is a fairly good conductor of heat too. If you need large pots, pans and cookers, then stainless steel would be the best option.

If you want to listen to some personal opinion, then non stick cookware is the best for all kinds of cooking purposes. It is generally light and conducts heat nicely, making for evenly and perfectly cooked food. The best part of course is that the food does not stick to the pan and gets cooked pretty fast when compared to steel and iron pans. Many of these non-stick pots and pans are made out of aluminum and then coated with Teflon to make for lightweight pans that make cooking real fast. The only disadvantage is that if you are not careful with washing and stirring, you might land up with utensils where the non stick coating gets scratched or worn out easily.

The best kitchen would be one that has some of all kinds of cooking utensils in different shapes, sizes and materials. If you can afford it, then always go for the best of the range, because this kind of cookware will last and make you kitchen proud every time you look at it.

All parents want their kids to eat and drink healthy foods. However, this is not always possible, because most of the time, this is simply “not” what your kids want. Many mothers often try to control their children’s diet by packing extremely healthy lunch boxes for their kids, thinking that the kids will eat anything when they are really hungry in school. While this strategy is simple and easy, it often backfires, what with today’s kids being smarter than most of us grown ups.

You might end up finding that your healthy lunch is being traded for something ‘not so healthy’ by your street smart kid. If your child is one of the simple, innocent ones, then she might just be dumping the major portion of her lunch into the garbage bin. Packing lunches that are healthy while appealing to the taste buds of small children is not easy, but these cooking ideas and tips will hopefully make it easier for you.

• Ask your kids what they want. This is the first thing to do if you want to start cooking healthy lunches for small kids. Of course, you will not be surprised with the answers that you get—chocolates, cakes, fries, wafers, soda and every other thing that you actually do not want your kids to eat. However, once you know what they want, tell them why they should be eating what you will pack for them and how good it is going to be for them. Instead of telling them vegetables are good for health, tell them how they will be smarter, taller and stronger if they start eating what you pack. And of course, start including small portions of your kids’ favorite food too, maybe on alternate days, as a reward for eating healthy food the rest of the time.

• One of the easiest and healthiest ideas for cooking kids’ lunches is leaving it raw. Both fruit and vegetable salads are extremely nutritious, and you can make them kid friendly by cutting it out like fries or pick me up portions that can be eaten without a fork. Kids love finger food, and to further snazz up their salads, make sure it has enough colors in it. Use at least three fruits or veggies of different colors, and add one or two healthy dips. They will stay fresh till lunchtime and if they are colorful enough, your kid will eat it.

• Cereal will definitely need to be the major portion of your child’s lunch box, since this where all the energy is going to come from. However, packing whole wheat bread vegetable sandwiches is not going to make you the world’s favorite mom anytime soon.  To make sandwiches more appealing to your kids, you can try cutting them down in easy to eat pieces and decorate them. Making smiley jam or ketchup faces etc. will make them highly appealing for small children.

• One of the best cooking ideas for kids lunches are home made bars. Home made muesli and cereal bars can be made in a bunch whenever you have time and be added to your kid’s lunch box every day to provide for a major portion of his or her calorific requirements. Make sure that you use a balanced mix of cereals, nuts and dry fruits so as to cover as many nutrients as possible.

All of us with family and friends are often blessed (and sometimes cursed) with unexpected company at or right after mealtimes. Catering for surprise guests generally becomes a tough job when they land up just as you put the dinner dishes in the dishwasher. However, with our short and sweet list of surprise cooking ingredients to stock in your kitchen, you will never be at a loss for cooking ideas for surprise guests, no matter what time of the day or night they land up.

Quick Cooking Cereals: Small pasta like angel hair, bow or even shells can be boiled in minutes to form the base for a main dish or salad. If you have pasta in your cupboard, you can whip up a meal by either adding cooked or uncooked vegetables to make pasta or a pasta based salad as your main course. The same goes for quick cooking rice. Cook rice in the microwave, it will be done within 5 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté some chopped veggies like onions, peas, carrots, beans and capsicum along with some salt and pepper or some Chinese sauces in a wok, and pour in the cooked rice and fry some more. You are ready to serve Chinese style fried rice to your guests!

Frozen Vegetables and Non-Veg: Chopped frozen vegetables will cost slightly more than regular ones, but they are extremely convenient and they can last in your freezer for ages. These veggies can come in very handy to make a salad or a side dish. Add some boiled pasta or croutons for a light salad or add a heavy dressing if you want something slightly rich. You can also stir fry your veggies within minutes to make a side dish for your pasta or rice or bread. And these are a blessing if you want to have pizza within fifteen minutes. For those who like non vegetarian food, stock some packages of ready to eat chicken or fish nuggets, sausages or salami etc in your freezer.

Instant Stuff: Guests dropping by unexpectedly should not mind getting instant soup and noodles. But to show them what a proud kitchen you keep, you can add a little portion of your frozen vegetables or cooked chicken to instant noodles or soup. This not only adds nutrition to the food, it also imparts it a different taste and flavor that will make your instant very unlike “instant”. Remember that a little garnishing in these cases goes a long way. You should also stock up on pizza bases, because you can make a great pizza with these things within fifteen minutes when you use your frozen veggies and chicken nuggets as toppings.

Different Types Of Sauces: Readymade sauces and dressings can do wonders for any dish that you have to make instantly. If you have one Italian sauce, then you can use it on your pizza or to top off boiled pasta and your fresh, home made meal is ready for your guests. Similarly, with a couple of sauces like pesto, remoulade, teriyaki, hoisin or salsa, you can dish up an aromatic, flavored dish within minutes. Flavored vinegars and oils are great for salad and veggie lovers and some desert sauces let you convert plain ice-cream into a Sunday with the addition of a few fruits( of course canned!)

So go ahead, stock up and let the cook in you experiment with these easy to use, versatile ingredients. Trust me, you will never get anxious about unexpected dinner guests in your life!

Grilling is an interesting cooking technique that all home cooks should know about. It provides a nice change from supermarket and regular food and has its own charms. Unfortunately, most of what we produce on our home grills bears only passing or coincidental resemblance to what we eat in grill bars and good restaurants. While grilling is such an art that people have written books and guides that will tell you how to do it right, a few simple grilling tips and tricks will help you get the hang of it more quickly:

Always Preheat The Grill: Most of us using gas or electric grills wait till the last moment to fire up our grills. This results in the food getting charred on the outside while being raw on the inside. If you want food that is evenly grilled to perfection, always preheat your oven for at least 15 minutes before you start putting the food on it.

Prep Your Food: The taste of your grilled food is eventually going to be as good or bad as the taste of your marinade. Even a good marinade can fail to make an impression if you do not give it the proper time to seep into the food to be grilled. Marinate fish for at least half an hour and meat for at least four hours before cooking. However, let all the marinade drip off the food before you place it on the grill to avoid flare-ups.

Temp Your Food: Grilling is a temperature game, and the temperature of the grill and the food that you put on it is going to make a huge difference to the end product. Never keep chilled meat or fish on your grill, because this will result in uneven cooking. Always ensure that the food that goes on your grill has already attained room temperature if you want perfect results.

Keep Your Grill Clean: Having the remnants of last time’s grilling party on your grill will not make for good results. No. It will make for food that tastes of things it shouldn’t be tasting of. The best time to clean your grill is right after you have used it and when it is still warm. Take off the residue using a fine wire brush and wash it before you keep it for next time.

Keep Practicing: There are a number of skills involved in cooking that are more of an art than others. Grilling and baking are just some of them. When it comes to grilling, remember that practice makes perfect. The more you grill, the better your grilled food will taste because you will understand the idiosyncrasies of your grill, its hot and cold areas, the marinades that work the best, the time taken for food to attain perfect taste and all the little nuances that distinguish a gourmet griller from an amateur one. Till then, happy grilling and all the best!

With the kind of lifestyle that we are leading nowadays, time has actually become the most precious commodity. If you have to cook when you get back from work, then you must have wished a number of times how you could have used the same time soaking in a hot bath or relaxing on the couch in front of a TV instead of slaving over the stove. While no amount of tips and tricks can actually save you from going into the kitchen, these tips will definitely ensure that you spend lesser time there.

Keep stuff ready for cooking. We might not realize it but defrosting and washing food takes quite a lot of time. In order to save up on this, plan a little ahead and save yourself the hassle of defrosting. If you are planning to cook some meat from your freezer for dinner, take it out of the freezer and keep it into the fridge around the time that you have breakfast. Take care to keep it in a vessel that will take the leaks and save your fridge from getting dirty. This way, you will find that your meat is thawed and ready to cook in the evening. No microwaving and no running under the water. All you have to do is put it into the pan and you are done.

Defrost fast. You can defrost frozen vegetables in no time at all by putting them in a bowl full of warm, instead of cold water. By the time you pan is ready, your vegetables will be as soft as fresh.
 
Use the right equipment. Machinery and equipment have been created in order to increase human efficiency and to save on time. So if you want to spend lesser time in the kitchen, make sure that you have all the correct equipment ready. Keep a set of good knives and chopping block so that you can deal with all your cutting needs efficiently. A simple knife is simply not enough for all your needs, and every kitchen should have at least a peeler, a chef’s knife, a serrated knife, a paring knife and a bread knife. If you can afford it, go ahead and buy a food processor, and you will be able to chop your vegetables in seconds instead of hours. Invest in some non-stick pots and pans, since they also cut down cooking time considerably and you do not have to keep stirring food continuously when using one. This means you can easily go and catch snippets of your favorite soap instead of being glued to the stove.

Multitask. Many people first prepare all the stuff needed for cooking—chop vegetables, assemble spices and sauces, wash and chop meat and only then put on the pans and pots on the stoves. With a little thought and planning, you can start cooking the moment your first ingredient is ready for cooking and keep on preparing and adding the others as and when the time comes.

Cooking is generally time consuming and tedious, and most people with busy jobs and busier lifestyles really do not fancy cooking much. At the same time, we all get fed up of eaten store bought frozen food or calling for takeaways all the time. Nothing equals home cooking when it comes to taste and nutrition, and eventually we all have to end up spending time in the kitchen. However, you can easily shorten your time in the kitchen by using the microwave for cooking instead of just using it as a heating and defrosting device. Modern microwaves with convection and grill make it possible to prepare delicious food in a short span of time. Apart from making the usual steamed vegetables, instant noodles or rice in your microwave, you can also use it to prepare finger licking good meat. Just follow these simple microwave cooking tips for cooking meat and you will start using your oven more and more often for making non vegetarian food.

• The first thing that you should pay attention to when cooking in the microwave is the kind of container you use for your food. While plastic containers that are microwave safe are usually good enough to heat food, use only utensils that are specially manufactured for microwave cooking if you really plan to cook. Glass and good quality microwave proof plastics are best for microwave cooking. Using any other material, including cheaper quality of plastics might lead to chemical transmission into your food, which will not only spoil its taste, but also make it dangerous for consumption.

• When you plan to cook meat in the microwave, it is a good idea to defrost it by keeping it in the fridge twenty four to twelve hours before cooking. This is because when you defrost meat in the microwave, it gets partially cooked in places. On top of this, defrosting takes almost as much time as cooking, so you won’t save much cooking time if you defrost in the microwave. 

• The microwave oven is most suitable for making dry meat dishes instead of stews and gravies. In order to make your chicken, lamb or beef soft and tasty, you should always marinate it before putting it in the microwave. Dishes that use marinades or sauces turn out best in the microwave because the spices and flavors have already permeated the food before you put it in the oven. Pierce the meat to be cooked with a fork or a sharp knife all over and then coat it with salt, spices or sauces—whatever you plan to cook it in—at least four hours before cooking. Leaving it overnight in the fridge will give you the best results, however. Once the meat is marinated, all you need to do is take it out and put it in the microwave.

• Remember that turning and moving around meat in the microwave is important if you want your meat to be thoroughly cooked all over. Keep turning meat pieces every ten minutes or so and move them around in their container so that they are thoroughly cooked.

• Always keep your container covered with cling film till the meat gets tender. Once it is three fourths cooked, you can remove the plastic covering and let the excess moisture vaporize. This would ensure that your meat is not hard and dry when cooked.