When I found myself in the situation where my children were grown and my husband was often away on business trips, I eagerly read all the cookbooks about cooking for one that I could find. However, I never found any recipes in those books that I could use because the portions were too large and the food was not appealing.

In my search for cooking ideas, I attended a microwave oven demonstration, and there I found my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The microwave oven seemed to have all the answers for individual-oriented households, in a working household, or — last but certainly not least — in a cost-conscious household. This magical invention could satisfy individual food needs and keep the kitchen spotlessly clean as well. Shortly after purchasing my microwave, I cleaned up my conventional oven (the housekeeping job I hated the most!) for the last time and have not used or cleaned it since.

If you are old enough to remember typing on a typewriter, you’ll also remember that you had to go through some adjustments and up some learning curves to adapt to using your computer. With the microwave you have to learn to cook by time and not sight. You should follow recipes exactly until you become accustomed to the differences from conventional cooking. You will learn that the size and shape of utensils is important, and that weighing food produces better results.

Once you’ve become accustomed to and appreciate cooking in the microwave oven, you’ll enjoy the speed of having a meal on the table in a quarter of the time it used to take you. In fact, just as you are spoiled by the speed of a new computer, you’ll also be spoiled by the speed of microwave cooking. Once you’ve made something as delicious as Stuffed Shrimp in less than 10 minutes in your microwave, you’ll find it difficult to go back to spending an hour in the kitchen using conventional cooking methods.