I have a confession, though. I forgot the salt in this recipe, so I slathered the butter on afterward…which I would have done anyways. They came out nice and moist, I’m a microwave believer now!

So without further ado:

Hey. Psst. I had to look up how to spell “without further ado”, and I found many many forums that debated whether it’s actually “without further adieu” or “without further a-do” or “without further ado”, my favorite however, is “sans plus de cérémonie”. Oh how posh that sounds!

6 minute Microwave Cornbread

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable shortening (Crisco), or regular ol’ butter
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup buttermilk (3/4 cup milk minus one tablespoon, plus 1/2 tbsp white vinegar and let it sit for 10 mins)
1/3 cup milk
1 egg

1. Melt the shortening.

2. Measure out your cornmeal. My mom gave me these jars. Aren’t they beautiful??

3. Combine with flour and baking soda and baking powder and salt! Don’t be like me, remember the salt.

4. Add the milks and egg and mix.

5. Prepare your dish, or dishes in my case. I really really like these Pyrex bowls.

6. Fill about halfway and microwave 6 minutes. Of course, be rotating it halfway through the cook time if you don’t have a rotating tray!

7. Remove and let it sit for five minutes, covered.

Pop them out of the dish and eat it with something goopy and wonderful like chili!

Here’s how you do it:

Microwave Chili

1/2 medium onion (about 1/4 cup), diced
about 1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chili powder
2 1/2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 can diced tomatoes (I used the “chili-ready” version, but any kind is fine, 2-3 fresh ones would be even better!)
1 can black beans

1. Dice your onions and mince your garlic and add to the bottom of a microwave safe dish. For this, I wanted a shallow pan so I used my trusty 9″ pie dish. Don’t judge me. Pie dishes are no longer just for pies! Drizzle some olive oil on top and microwave it for 2 minutes.

I didn’t have any fresh garlic, so I used this cheat. Oh the shame.

2. Add 1 tablespoon chili powder to the onions and garlic after you’ve taken them out of the microwave. Also, add 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika, all the cumin and cayenne pepper.

Your dish will look like a red dirt terrain. It’s awesome!

3. Add your tomatoes on top of the red terrain. Yes, I cheated by using the “chili-ready” diced tomatoes. But these recipes are all about simplicity, remember?? We’re college students with only microwaves who don’t care about recipe cheats!

4. Place the dish in the microwave for another 2 minutes. I’m constantly rotating my dish halfway through all these cooktimes.

5. Remove and add the beans. You could also add corn and scallions. I just didn’t that day! Add another tablespoon of paprika and pop it into the microwave for 4 minutes to finish cooking.

6. Remove and set on a flat surface for 5 minutes.

The good thing about this recipe is that it had such a small mess! This was it! I absolutely detest washing dishes so this was nice. Very very nice.

Top with a little (or if you’re me, a lot) of cheddar cheese and eat eat eat!

This is the dessert installment in the microwave meals project. This brownie is nice and dense, but moist at the same time! Incredible, no? The best part: you only need a single bowl to mix all your ingredients in. Wooo baby!

Here’s how you do it:

Microwave brownies

2 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder (I use trusty Hershey’s, but any brand will do)
2 level tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla

1. Beat egg until light. It’ll look like this.

2. Add the sugar to the mixture and mix it all up.

3. Add your cocoa powder, and again, mix.

4. Add your vanilla and, you guessed it, mix it all up real good.

5. Melt the butter and add that to your mixture. Make sure you don’t overheat your butter, you don’t want to cook the egg in the batter!

6. Pour into little custard cups or any kind of microwave safe dish. I got these little Pyrex cups (they came with lids!) just last week and I absolutely love them. They’re incredibly useful in the microwave too.

7. Place in the microwave with a few ice cubes. When you do individual cups like this, always make sure you have a larger pan underneath it. Just in case.

8. Microwave for 6 minutes. If you don’t have a rotating tray like me, turn the trays 180 degrees halfway through the cooktime to ensure even cooking.

Take out of the microwave and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then, flip out onto a dish and enjoy with whipped cream or ice cream! This recipe will make two cakes of this size so tweak the recipe to fit your needs!

This is the second installment of my microwave meal project. Here you go, Sara. The easiest microwave meal recipe ever.

Microwave “Baked” Potato

1 (or more!) medium to large potato
1 microwave

1. Wash your potato(es) reallllly well. Don’t dry them! You need the moisture on the skin.

2. Now stab stab stab your potato with a knife or fork.

Like my nail polish? It’s new.

3. Wrap your potato(es) in a paper towel and place on a microwave safe plate.

4. Set in the microwave for 6-8 minutes depending on the size of potato. Also, if you don’t have a rotating tray in your microwave like me, turn the plate 180 degrees halfway through the cooktime to ensure more even cooking.

5. After microwaving, remove the plate and cover with aluminum immediately. Let it sit for 5-7 minutes.

6. Uncover and enjoy! This is Neil’s potato. He likes his with corn and grated cheddar cheese.

This is my potato. I like cheese a whole lot. There’s also sour cream and butter underneath that. Oh boy!

Next up: microwave dessert!

I like that you do a lot of cooking and you’re food looks especially delicious but I am going to be a freshman in college. I don’t think I’ll have time to cook food and plus I don’t have a kitchen in my dorm[...] Can you suggest any meal that doesnt require a stove or oven?

After seeing this post over at 101 Cookbooks, I realized that this is a serious problem encountered by many stove and oven-less college students! I’d gotten lucky with my apartment “dorm” life and had never known a life of just a microwave and meal plans.

So here’s my attempt at producing meals using only the microwave.

However, I have to be honest, this isn’t actually a “pudding” or a “casserole” or anything fancy like that.  A pudding would have heavy whipping cream in it. A casserole would have eggs in it. This has neither. It is a simple side dish that makes regular ol’ canned corn a bit more exciting. And yes, canned corn can be exciting.

Here it is:

Microwave Corn “Pudding”

1 can corn (any brand)
2 tbsp milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp grated cheddar cheese

1. Open your can of corn. I use an old school can opener and I love it so.

2. Spread in a microwave safe dish and add 2 tbsp of milk.

3. Salt and pepper it as much as you like.

4. Now, you don’t have to, but I absolutely love cheese, so I added 1 1/2 tablespoons of grated cheddar cheese. Then, mix all ingredients lightly.

5. Dot with butter. You don’t have to go all crazy here, even though it’s tempting. This is just to keep the corn from drying out while it cooks. 1 tsp should be plenty.

6. Set in microwave for 5-6 minutes. I don’t have a rotating tray so I turned the dish 180 degrees halfway through the cooking process.

Maman, I washed the inside of my microwave before I made anything so the pictures would come out nice and clean. Are you proud of me??

7. Remove from the microwave and set on a flat surface for 5 minutes. The corn will still be cooking during that time, so it needs that extra chill time. Afterwards, dish out and enjoy!

Next up: microwave “baked” potatoes and microwave brownies!