Not Your Mother's Microwave Cookbook: Fresh, Delicious, and Wholesome Main Dishes, Snacks, Sides, Desserts, and More by Beth Hensperger (16-Aug-2010) Paperback

by Beth Hensperger

Almost everyone has a microwave oven – but hardly anyone knows how to get the most out of this ubiquitous appliance. Enter Not Your Mother's Microwave Cookbook. Cookbook author extraordinaire Beth Hensperger has unlocked the secrets of the microwave, and in this comprehensive volume, she spills all. Here, you’ll find all the tools you need to put speedy, sophisticated, delicious, from-scratch meals on the table morning, noon, and night. Your day of microwave cooking might begin with an Avocado-Cream Cheese Omelet, Family-Style Cream Maple-Cranberry Oatmeal, or a Cereal Bowl Vegetable Frittata. Come lunchtime, enjoy a satisfying Cream of Roasted Tomato Soup with a Grilled Cheese Sandwich or a One-Minute Apple Quesadilla. For dinner, try the Petrale Sole Amandine or Barbeque Chicken Thighs, accompanied by Asparagus in Wine or Roasted Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary. And for entertaining, how about Middle Eastern Eggplant Dip with Pita Crisps or the indulgence of Hot Chocolate with Vanilla Whipped Cream for a Crowd? Even dessert-lovers get their due with Lemon Panna Cotta, Coconut-Macadamia Shortbread, and much more. If you’ve been using your microwave just for basic kitchen tasks, you don’t know what you’re missing. Take fresh look at that powerful little oven on your For mealtimes made easy, there’s simply no better solution.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Beth Hensperger is a passionate professional- and home- baker who is both extremely creative and extraordinarily prolific as an author and developer of quality recipes. Her training included a ten-year apprenticeship as a restaurant and hotel pastry chef as well as having her own custom wedding cake business and attending classes given by some of the top bakers in America. Though restaurant trained, she considers herself more of a dedicated home baker than a chef.
Beth’s writing career began when she was chosen as the Guest Cooking Instructor for the March 1985 issue of Bon Appetit. She is now the author of fifteen cookbooks, many of them best sellers. Her most recent books include: Williams Sonoma Breads (Weldon Owen), Bread For Breakfast (Ten Speed Press), and The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook (HCP). The Bread Bible (Chronicle Books) is the recipient of The James Beard Foundation Award for Baking in 2000. Beth's Basic Bread Book (Chronicle Books), a sequential text for the beginning home baker, published in the Fall of 1996, was chosen as one of the best baking books of the year by People Magazine. She has been nominated twice for the IACP Julia Child Cookbook Awards. Her books are all represented at the prestigious Culinary Collection of the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
When she isn't up to her elbows in flour, Beth is a monthly food columnist with the San Jose Mercury News "Baking By the Seasons". She is a regular contributor to Cooking Pleasures, Food & Wine, Shape Magazine, Bon Appétit, Veggie Life, and Pastry Art and Design Magazines.

Reviews

[pml · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our gas oven is currently refusing to ignite, so I picked this cookbook up on the local library's Overdrive system yesterday.
Beth Hensperger is as thorough in her recipes and technical microwave oven specifics as she was with her rice cooker cookbook. I'm looking forward to trying some of the vegetable recipes, and possibly the frittata as well. Unfortunately the e-book is plagued with more formatting errors and typos than my sanity can tolerate. Yes, there were multiple throwing book impulses (never good when using an e-reader).
Three stars despite the horrid editing (which begs for a one star rating). Possible revision after recipe implementation.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of people treat the modern microwave as a glorified popcorn popper and a machine to heat up TV dinners. Microwave ovens have been capable of doing so much more for at least the past 40 years or so. This cookbook is an excellent example of preparing gourmet dishes in the microwave with a minimum of work and without heating up your house during the summer.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of time-savers and ways to keep the kitchen cool. If you like vegetables, and getting dinner to the table quickly without tying up every burner on your stove (I do) it's a good cookbook.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave 4 stars for the good information given at the beginning of each chapter which details how you should cook different types of food in the microwave. The recipes were not as interesting to me but I wanted to expand my microwave cooking beyond potatoes and popcorn.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book teaches you how to make your own microwave popcorn! The pre-recipe section has some really clear and interesting explanations of how different foods, dishes and cooking techniques hold up in the microwave, too.

I'm still sorting through the recipes, but it looks like Beth Hensperger has outdone herself with another fine addition to the "Not Your Mother's..." cookbook series.

Post-reading note:
I had to move out of my large lovely kitchen due to finding black mold in the house in October; my cooking reading & experiments have been put on hold until another beautiful kitchen is obtained.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good recipes in here and some clever ideas that you might not have tried with a microwave. I refuse to use a hot stove during a South Texas summer, so a good microwave cookbook is a must. If you have this book, you are all set to make yummy meals.

[Dorcas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teen programming ideas for those going off to college :)