Microwave Oven

The hassle and time-consuming nature of roasting chilies and creating a chili sauce are often discouraging to cooks who seek to prepare a particular Mexican dish from scratch. So instead of enjoying the fresh taste inherent in home-roasted chilies and homemade chili powder and salsas, the cook ends up substituting a preseasoned, processed product from the supermarket that tends to mask the wonderful fragrance of the prime ingredient. Enter the microwave oven. With the proper technique, even traditional fare such as Mexican cuisine can be completed in about one-third the conventional time.

Have you ever wished you could call home and ask your VCR to tape a TV show? Or maybe you've wished you could remotely command the house air conditioner to go into overdrive 'cause you're bringing home a gang from the office. This dream of the fully automated home - including a computer and telephone-controlled audio/video system, microwave oven, burglar alarm, lighting and heating system and even an automatic curtain opening or plant watering apparatus - has already been realized in Japan by Mitsubishi.

Techno-dolts. They're all around us. These poor unfortunates are, by the millions, baffled by their videocassette recorders; intimidated by their personal computers (many still sitting in the original cartons); flummoxed by their microwaves; befuddled by the extra buttons on their phones; scared of their food processors; stymied by the office's new copy machine. You know who you are. Techno-dolts are not necessarily stupid. But they are confused. They are lawyers, engineers, editors, business executives . . . "You're talking about almost everyone, really," says John Bear, author of Computer Wimp, a self- help book.

In a sense, Phyllis Levy has changed the eating habits of millions of Americans. Ironically, she never learned to cook and admits to being a klutz in the kitchen. "In my role here, I don't have to be able to cook," she said. "I have to be able to eat. " Levy, 33, is a marketing executive for Campbell Soup Co., one of the country's largest food companies. Five years ago, she supervised the team that developed Campbell's line of Le Menu frozen dinners. Those dinners, designed for rapid heating in a microwave oven, have turned out to be godsend for the rest of America's culinary incompetents and a bonanza for Campbell.

Elaine Deliberto of suburban Chicago cooks with two microwave ovens. "If it's not microwaveable, I don't want it," says the mother of four sons and a daughter and the grandmother of five. Deliberto and her husband, Ross, celebrate every birthday, holiday and graduation with family parties, just as their parents did in Chicago's Bohemian and Italian neighborhoods. Deliberto still cooks the family's favorite ethnic recipes, but she does it the modern way - with a microwave oven.

MICROWAVE SAFETY For National Burn Awareness Week, which begins Feb. 3, the National Burn Awareness Task Force is urging you to be careful when using your microwave oven. Microwave-related burns are on the rise, and it is children who seem to suffer the more serious ones, says the coalition of medical professionals, firefighting groups and burn foundations. Children should be old enough to manage the hot food and surfaces safely before they are allowed to use a microwave oven. Also, they should never open a microwave oven door when their faces are level with the front of the heating chamber, the group says.

One of the joys of microwave cooking is easy cleanup. By using disposable paper and plastic products, clean-up is faster still. Here are some tips from the Better Homes and Gardens test kitchen for using paper and plastic. Paper Towels: Use only all-white products. Look for paper towels that are FDA approved for the microwave oven, made from natural fibers and have no coloring. The hot, moist conditions in the microwave oven may cause toxic dyes from color paper products to bleed onto food.

Truffles are elegant, easy to make and delicious. After shaping, they can be rolled in cocoa, powdered sugar, chocolate sprinkles or ground nuts. Pecans, walnuts or almonds - from the bulk food bins - work well. Truffles also can be dipped in additional chocolate. To do this, place the truffles on a baking pan lined with wax paper after rolling them. Freeze the truffles until just firm, about one hour. In a small, microwavable glass dish, place 12 ounces of chocolate - bittersweet, semisweet or milk chocolate.

Although you may hesitate to roast a pricey saddle of lamb in a microwave oven, you can't miss when it comes to the less choice cuts - the tough cuts, to be blunt about it. To prove how adept the microwave is at simmering lamb shoulder into submission, we've worked out a microwave version of the succulent lamb stew that Myrtle Allen (sort of the Julia Child of Ireland) serves at Ballymaloe House, her historic country-house hotel tucked into the green folds of County Cork near the village of Shanagarry.

The microwave oven is a useful accessory to the barbecue grill. Although the barbecue grill produces a flavor unmatched by any other cooking method, you can have great-tasting results in about half the time by combining the microwave oven with the outdoor grill. Outdoor cooking takes time - time to get the coals hot and time to grill the food slowly. If the coals are too hot or too many, the food will be burned on the outside and raw on the inside. By partially micro-cooking before placing on the grill, you save up to half the time.

Museum recalls 'Freedom Riders' MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Several of the "Freedom Riders" who were attacked by a white mob in Alabama's capital city in 1961 as they tried to integrate Southern bus stations returned to a former Greyhound station Friday for its dedication as a museum. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia said he teared up when he walked through the station where he was beaten on May 20, 1961. He said the celebration Friday showed how far the nation had come. When the Freedom Riders set out to integrate bus stations in 1961, then-Alabama Gov. John Patterson called them fools.

DAYTON, Ohio - Jurors in an Ohio woman's third trial found her guilty yesterday of killing her baby daughter by cooking her in a microwave oven. China Arnold was convicted of aggravated murder in the death of 28-day-old Paris Talley in August 2005. Arnold could receive the death penalty. The sentencing phase will begin Monday. Prosecutors have said Arnold, 31, intentionally put the baby in the microwave after a fight with her boyfriend, Terrell Talley. Assistant Prosecutor Dan Brandt told jurors that Arnold's actions were "even more purposeful" than a slaying with a gun or knife.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Phillies manager Charlie Manuel remembers the night he knew he had to lose weight. It was early last season, and he was at home, watching a replay of a game. "I walked to the mound," he recalled in his office here. "I went out to congratulate the guy" for winning. "I was pulling my pants up, and my belly was over my belt. I knew I was heavy, but I didn't know how heavy I was. " Manuel weighed 286 pounds - 125 pounds more than he carried on his 6-foot-4 frame at Parry McCluer High School in Buena Vista, Va., and about 85 pounds more than his typical weight over his 15-year career as a player.

Shepherd's Pie is a trendy treat on many restaurant menus. This traditional British pub dish is made with lamb, vegetables, and sauce and topped with mashed potatoes and cheese. This is a one-dish meal that usually cooks slowly in the oven. I've shortened the time by sauteing the meat and vegetables in a skillet, cooking the potatoes in a microwave oven, and placing the dish under the broiler for a few minutes. Beef, veal, or pork can be used instead of lamb.   Shepherd's Pie 1. Preheat the broiler.

Consumers eager to avoid suspect plastics won't find the going easy. Labeling is not always required for all ingredients. But toxicology experts say taking the following steps can lower possible risk. Avoid placing hot food or liquids in plastic containers. Use glass, ceramic or stainless-steel containers instead. Heating plastics to high temperatures promotes the leaching of chemicals out of containers and into the food or liquid they hold. (Freezing liquids in plastic bottles poses no such risk.

Well-heeled American homeowners continue to be eager to fill their kitchens and bathrooms with over-the-top designer gadgetry. In the trade, it's known as "living life to the fullest. " And every spring, the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show trots out the latest appliances and fixtures aimed at helping to satisfy that desire. Few of us have $35,000 to spend on the Miele commercial washer-dryer duo that's finding its way into the McMansions of upper-crust New York City suburbs.

The kitchens we visited reflect flexibility in appliance size and configuration. Take Gregory Fierro's Kenmore Trio refrigerator. Side-by-side doors cover the refrigerator part at the top; the freezer bottom's a pullout drawer. "It was the best solution to getting a large refrigerator [25 cubic foot] with minimal door swing and full-size shelves," Fierro said. (Price: $1,699 to $1,999). Want something slimmer than the Trio, which is almost 36 inches across? Kenmore makes full-size fridges all the way down to 21.75 inches wide - that's 9 cubic feet and sells for $279.

In 1922, Albert M. Greenfield constructed the Bankers Trust building at 15th and Chestnut Streets. Three-quarters of a century later, in 1998, his grandson Albert M. Greenfield III reclaimed the historically certified, Federal Revival property from dereliction, keeping it in the family and bringing it up to date by reconstructing its interior to create Pennsylvania House. The 162-unit apartment building is geared to the city's young population - most of the residents are young professionals and graduate students.

From compact studio flats to two-story penthouses with full staircases, two bedrooms, and 2 1/2 baths, the more than 20 floor plans of 1930 Chestnut offer a variety of living styles in a spanking-new environment. The 22-story, historic building (circa 1924), once home to medical offices and Aldine Trust Co., was recently gutted and reconstructed into a residential rental property with 144 apartments and two floors of proposed retail space. Selected units are distinguished by long entrance halls, center-island kitchens, breakfast bars, powder rooms, laundry rooms, skylights and clerestories, lofts and loft-bedroom suites, dining rooms, and dens.

After an electrical fire destroyed her Camden residence 16 years ago, Ezailah Hassan found herself homeless. It was Sister Margaret Mary Hynes who salvaged Hassan's life, moving her and her five children from a cramped motel room to a two-story, three-bedroom home on South Fourth Street, where she still lives. "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be in the home that I have now," Hassan said. Hassan was one of hundreds of people who streamed into Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church yesterday to mourn the woman who inspired new beginnings for so many.