How To Use a Microwave

Two years ago, when we went to San Diego for Mark's step-mother's funeral, there were literally hundreds and hundreds of flowers all over the house for the funeral. Mark's father didn't know what to do with them, so Natasha asked if she could dry them. She had heard about using a microwave to dry them, so we gave it a try. One minute, one rose, one microwave up in flames! It arced and spit flames at us as we hurriedly tried to shut the thing down! Kicking myself for having to now buy a new appliance I don't even want, while I had a brand new one at home not being used, we bought Mark's father a new microwave before the day was out.

Fast forward to our home, which came complete with a brand-new built-in microwave when we bought the house. If we removed it, the kitchen would look very odd, not to mention that the range hood is built into the bottom of the microwave. So what we do with it? It works well for melting wax to wax your legs with (but I don't recommend that painful experience!). We use it once in a great while for heating up those homemade rice heating pads. But mostly, it works best for storing placemats in - until a friend decides to use it to heat up pizza!

Here's a great experiment: Take 2-3 plants, identical in every way, and place them side by side inside. Water one with tap water, one with microwaved water, and one with any other kind of water you'd like to experiment with, if desired. Watch what happens. Remember that what the water does to your plants is what it does to your body as well.

Microwaves not only zap ALL the nutrients out of whatever you are cooking, they cause free radicals to form as well. I've seen too many people die from cancer. That's not for me.

Life without a microwave is NOT easy. I will not pretend it is. But it's not really hard either. My favorite way of warming things up is in the dehydrator. We have an Excalibur dehydrator that has an adjustable thermostat up to 185 deg. I often defrost foods in there. It is especially great for breads and bread products. They taste just as fresh as when we made them. I can warm up butter (I MELT it on the stove or in the oven if I'm preheating the oven anyway). I use it to raise bread dough at a perfect temperature. We have a WhirlyPop popcorn stovetop popcorn maker (I recommend the stainless steel version) for popcorn. It takes 2-3 minutes for a large batch and never burns. It also has a little butter cup that drips butter while you are popping for some incredibly good popcorn! I boil water in a kettle. Mostly I just do everything the old-fashioned way - heat. Once I got used to it, I didn't mind it at all.

Hey, life without a microwave is really pretty good! And I don't have to worry about leaving the butter knife in the butter dish!