Cordon Bleu Cooking School

Kids can use the microwave at a younger age then cooking in the oven if taught accordingly. Begin by teaching proper use of the microwave and handling objects taken out of the microwave.

Then try simple recipes such as:

1. Steamed broccoli and cheese-add a small amount of water less than ¼ cup with broccoli florets. Place a microwavable plate or plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and cook for 4-5 minutes until broccoli is tender. Sprinkle with Parmesan or other cheese desired and stir.
2. Warming up food is a good start that kids can learn the basics of the microwave.
3. Pop popcorn whether using microwavable popcorn or by placing a ¼ cup of popcorn kernels in a brown paper bag with 1 Tablespoon oil. Staple shut and pop for several minutes until kernels stop popping. Season with different flavors like cheese or taco.
4. Try various recipes for fondues or hot dips such as pizza dip or artichoke dip.
5. Simple fudge recipes that call for melting chocolate and stirring ingredients together are great for the microwave.
6. Baked apples are another simple and great treat.
7. Meatballs can be cooked in the microwave and then added to a jar of spaghetti sauce to warm up.
8. Breaded chicken patties can be cooked in the microwave and then add a slice of ham and slice of cheese for a quick chicken cordon bleu meal.

Always teach your children kitchen safety and the importance of using supervision at all times. And kids will love the freedom of using the microwave and being able to help put quick and easy meals on the table for the family.

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Cooking Quick Low Carb Lunches

Lunch is an important meal for low carbers. But who has the time to cook?

Instead of cooking lunch, one good solution is to cook more food the night before when you are cooking dinner. If you are having ribs or chicken for dinner, make a little extra so you can have it for lunch the next day. It doesn't take any extra time and with convenience of a microwave your lunch will be ready in no time. In fact, ribs and chicken can also be just as tasty cold.

Another good idea is to do most of the cooking on days when you have more time. You can take one day and prepare some foods that will provide good lunches for you all week.

Chicken

Buy a whole chicken, clean it and boil. You can use it to make chicken salad to stuff into a bell pepper or tomato. You can also slice the chicken to make deli style lunch meat. Wrap it up in a piece of romaine lettuce with some mayonnaise. Yummy.

If you want to get a little more fancy you can wrap some ham around some Swiss cheese, then wrap the chicken slices around the ham and heat it in a microwave. It's a great low carb cordon bleu. You'll feel like you're dining with royalty.

You can also buy packages of chicken legs and wings and fry them up with no breading. The skin gets crunchy and tasty. These make great grab and go snacks and lunches.

Ham

Boil a ham and slice it. This will be good for making ham and cheese roll-ups. You can also dice up some of the ham for omelette's in the morning or ham salad that you can heap on pork rinds.

Beef

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