What can I cook using a microwave & a kettle?

[sparklyjewlz]

I have no kitchen at the moment, but I'm lucky enough to have a utility room with a fridge-freezer, microwave and kettle. I would be really grateful for recipe suggestions, for a family of 5, including 3 teenage DCs.

baked potatos

erm

do you have a toaster?

beans on toast

macaroni cheese is possible in a microwave, I think

I'm sorry, I'm no help

risotto

I do have a toaster, so I guess I'm not so badly off. I'm just a bit stressed at getting 5 big platefuls of hot food on the table every night (not helped by fact that DS1 is a fish- eating veggie and DH loves meat!)
Should I try to borrow a slow-cooker?

OMG AllThreeWays, that's perfect (even for DS1). Now if I can just get about 5 more recipes I'm all set.

I think your family will need to realise that its a very hard thing to do and cut you alot of slack or help you

they also need to not whine about what food is available and I think you need to eat some takeaways

I love that recipe, sometimes add a can of diced tomatoes too (adjust the liquid slightly) . Can also substitute shredded pre cooked chicken.
Wish I could help with more. Tend to only use my microwave for warming the milk for my coffee:)

If you buy some toaster bags then you can cook bacon (including vegetarian 'bacon') in them as well as heating up small portions of beans, fish fingers if you pop them in twice.

Microwave, you can cook scrambled egg, poached egg, omelette, meringues, soup and lots of vegetables and fish if you get a microwave steamer.

Slow cookers tend to require you to brown the meat in a pan first so may not help. What about an electric frypan? They will roast meat and potatoes for you, do veg in the microwave.

Boil eggs in the kettle but use a net to keep them away from element.
Can steam/cook most veg in microwave. Jacket spuds. Microwave sponge pudding (doesn't take long to make!)
Is there anywhere outside you could make a fire pit? You can cook anything on a fire- bread, roast spuds, stir fry, fish, meat, puddings, curry, you name it! Great fun and makes it an experience rather than a pain in the backside.

oooh what about buying a george foreman type grill?

oh and you can toast potato waffles from frozen by putting them in twice (I dont do this...honest...friend told me )

supernoodles?

Could you have a large salad one night, with maybe a pre-roasted chicken shredded into it (for the meat eaters) or just an assortment of potato salad/coleslaw/a baguette/cheese platter etc etc.

Takeaway one night.

Have you got a lovely fiend who will cook you something that you can just re-heat in the microwave?

cous cous?

jambalaya

I've made this before, it's lovely, although similar perhaps to the risotto above.

we had no kitchen or cooker for 5 months, was a horrid time

anyway, you can do potato gratin in the microwave. also, get those bags of frozen mixed veg, they will steam cook in the microwave. a slow cooker would help (i've never browned anything before using mine, just bunged it all in), you can cook casseroles and do baked potato's in the microwave. do you have a bbq?, we used ours a lot to do sausages, steaks etc on.

Chilli can be made in the microwave (just google microwave chilli for loads of recipes) and so can rice.

Vege burritos are easy too, just microwave a can or two of beans with a few veg thrown in then serve with tortillas (heating in microwave), grated cheese, lettuce, tomato etc

baked sweet potatoes are really nice - about 5 potatoes will take 15 mins in the microwave. Lovely with butter and philadelphia cheese.

Great! I'm planning on risotto, jambalaya (don't care that it's similar). I've found a chilli recipe here allrecipes.comRecipe/microwave-classic-chili/Detail.aspx. I think we can have salad one night and fish and chips on Friday. Has anyone tried cooking pasta in a microwave?

Lucykate, do you have a recipe for potato gratin (do you mean the ready cooked kind?) or a casserole?
Many thanks for all the great ideas!

to do potato gratin in the microwave, i used to slice them very thinly, layer them into a dish, then pour over a mixture of half milk, half cream (just enough to cover the potatoes) with some garlic and black pepper added to the liquid. cover with cling film and cook. cooking time varies, so just keep checking by poking a knife in until the potatoes are soft.

casserole wise, one of our faves is cubes of steak, a sliced red onion, diced carrot, about 1/2 a pint of beef stock, 1 cup of red wine and 2 tablespoons of redcurrent jelly. bung it all in the slow cooker and cook for about 4 hours. for the last hour, add either button mushrooms or chestnuts (or both). add some gravy powder at the end just to thicken the sauce.

will let you know if i think of anything else. i feel your pain, we had visitors one weekend and it took me over 3 hours to cook, what would of been if i'd had an oven, a really simple meal for everyone.

Thanks. Lucy: I will definitely try the potatoes. Haven't managed to get hold of a slow cooker yet (too mean to buy one ).

All3Ways, I tried out your risotto recipe and it was delicious. I think I'll be making that even after I get my cooker back!

You can cook pasta in a pan without any heat. Just put boiling water in a pan, add the pasta, put the lid on and it cooks in the heat of the water. You can cook rice the same way.

Great news [busmile]