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The Best Microwave Uses You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

by Regina

breads, cakes, cookware, corn, eggs, How-Tos, ice cream, kitchen gadgets, lemons, limes, microwave cooking tips, onions, pasta

I love kitchen gadgets — from the completely mundane like my cheese shredder, to the more technical like my microwave. So picking just one that’s my most favorite isn’t easy.

Believe it or not, I would have to say it’s the microwave.

I use my microwave for a whole lot of things, and it really cuts down on the cooking time for me. In my opinion, microwaves are probably the single most useful kitchen gadgets around because you can use them for everything from defrosting meat, to popping homemade popcorn, to cooking an entire meal in a hurry!

I honestly could not live without my microwave.

Here are some cool things you can do with a microwave that you might not have have heard before…

  • Make smores. You don’t have to wait for your next camping trip to enjoy this tasty little treat! Just top a graham cracker with a piece of thin chocolate and a marshmallow. Put it in the microwave for about 7 seconds.
  • Peel an onion. To peel onions more easily, place them in a covered container and microwave for 1 to2 minutes at 100% power. This also helps to remove the “hot” flavor from the onions you wish to serve uncooked (like onion slices to use on hamburgers).
  • Sterilize garden soil before planting seedlings. Simply spread the soil on a flat dish and heat on high for 90 seconds (or until steaming). This makes the soil fit for growing precious seedlings.
  • Dry herbs. This is great if you need dried herbs fast. Just be careful and watch while you’re heating them in the microwave to make sure they don’t smoke or start on fire.
  • Make heating pads. These are great for a pet’s aches and pains, as well as kid-size ones or full-blown adult sprains. You simply fill fabric pouches with uncooked corn (or rice) and microwave!
  • Soften brown sugar. According to Real Simple magazine, you keep the sugar in its plastic packaging, add a few drops of water, and heat on medium for 10 to 20 seconds.
  • Cook pasta. A good ratio of pasta-to-water is 1 cup of pasta to 1 quart of water for elbows. For spaghetti use a little less water. For penne pasta, use a little more water. Microwave on high for about 20 minutes.
  • Get more juice from citrus fruits. When taken straight from the fridge, lemons and limes are harder to juice than if they’re warmed slightly. To get the most juice, microwave for 20 seconds before squeezing.
  • Get extra life out of dried-up mascara. Place your mascara stick next to a cup of water inside the microwave. Heat on high for 30 to 40 seconds.
  • Make eggs of all styles. Yep, you can microwave “fried” eggs, hard-cooked eggs, poached eggs, and even scrambled eggs.
  • Cook corn on the cob. Sure, you could grill it, or cook it in a pot of boiling water. But it tastes better when corn on the cob is microwaved — it’s as if it retains more of the sweetness and it steams rather than “cooks”.
  • Roast garlic. In less than 8 minutes (compared to 45 in the oven), you can have fresh roasted garlic!
  • Soften ice cream. How many times have you tried to dig a spoon into ice cream only to have it bend? The freezer can turn any half gallon box of ice cream into a rock! Softening it in the microwave for a few seconds really does the trick.
  • Make brownies. It’s so much faster than baking! It just takes 1-1/2 minutes for a cup of brownies, or 6 minutes for a plate full of brownies.
  • Dye material. Combine fabric dye with cold water and the item you want to dye in a bowl. Cover and microwave on high for 4 minutes.
  • Make cake in a mug. It takes less than 5 minutes to make cake for snack!
  • Dry flowers. Drying flowers is faster when you use a microwave! It’s worth noting that flowers with thick petals don’t dry well this way, and more delicate petal flowers (like pansies) dry quickly so be careful to watch.
  • Make bread. There are lots of microwave bread recipes online — from microwaved English muffin bread to how to make microwaved loaves of bread for soldiers.
  • Decrystallize honey. If your honey that has solidified, it can be brought back to liquid form by uncovering the jar and heating in the microwave on medium for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
  • Make kitty litter cake. Seriously. This one’s for humans, but it looks like it’s for the cats! You need the microwave to make the tootsie rolls look like, well… you know.


So, what else can a microwave do?…

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