Half a Cup of This = Breakfast for Four. Secret Method.

The microwave will expand half a cup of Cream of Wheat into hot breakfast for a grownup and three children; no lie. Call it porridge, like our ancestors did. Here’s how:

Step 1: Heat 2 and 1/3 cups water (rough measure: a drinking glass filled to the top, plus two full shot glasses) until it boils. Set this aside.

Step 2: Melt 2 or 3 hunks of margarine or butter in the bottom of a medium-large glass bowl. In the microwave, this melting will take about 1 minute on full power.

Step 3: Stir half a cup of Cream of Wheat (the “2-1/2 minute” kind, not instant) into the butter. (Half a cup is about the size of a cigarette pack.) Return it to the microwave. Microwave this on high for 2 minutes, or until it starts to foam, and the wheat smells toasty. Stir again.

Step 4: Stir the heated water into the butter/wheat mixture. Mix well. It will look like too much water, but it isn’t. Return to the microwave and cook it on full power for 2 minutes. Stir again. Cook it 2 more minutes or until thickened.

While it’s hot, stir in salt or sweetener to your taste. Serve with what you have: milk, sliced banana, or stir in some grated Velveeta cheese. A 28-ounce box of Cream of Wheat will give you ten breakfasts like this, so it is well worth $3.35.

Humpin’ Hannah’s One-Pot Gumbo

Take one sausage (I found this one way in the back of my freezer). Cut it up and put it in a pretty-big pot and heat until it begins to sizzle. Stir it around. Then throw in about two good handfuls of frozen diced green peppers. Then right away open up and pour in a can of okra & tomatoes, plus one more can of plain water. Cover the pot and cook this until it’s heated, about 15 minutes. Then open up a thawed package of imitation “crabmeat” and cut up as many pieces as you like, and throw them into the pot. Heat up the gumbo, and then taste it to see if it needs salt, pepper, red pepper flakes or hot sauce; add any and all of these to your taste.

If you have some chopped-up greens, throw them in and cook a while. You can’t overcook this gumbo. Serve the gumbo over cooked rice. Makes 2 huge or 3 normal servings.

Be sure to refrigerate leftovers because of the meat and seafood in this. Humpin’ Hannah was a real-life tavern owner during the hippie times.

Tex-Mex Meat Pie

Tex Mex Meat Pie: This hot dish has meat and vegetables but no beans. I had to rush and take this picture before I scarfed any more of it. Recipe can be baked (30 minutes) or microwaved (8 minutes, in a glass pie plate only). I buy and use frozen diced green peppers because that way there’s no chopping or waste.

1 green pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 teaspoons oil

3/4 of a pound of ground beef

1-1/2 cups salsa, or 2 of those cans of tomatoes that include diced green chiles, drained

6 corn tortillas (it is OK if they are dried-out)

chopped pickled jalapenos, to your taste

cubed or shredded cheddar cheese or Velveeta for the top

1. Cook the peppers and onions in oil until tender. Stir in the ground beef, breaking it up, and cook it along with the vegetables until it’s not pink anymore.
2. Spread 1/3 of the salsa on the bottom of a 9-inch glass pie plate. Put 3 of your tortillas on top of the salsa, overlapping. Spread half the cooked meat mixture on top of the tortillas.
3. Make another layer with 1/3 of the salsa, 3 tortillas, and the rest of the meat. Sprinkle the top of this with your jalapenos and the last 1/3 of salsa. Top with the cheese.
4. Microwave uncovered for 8 minutes on High, if you are using a glass pie plate. In a small microwave, try 10 minutes. If you are using a metal pie plate, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

This will feed four normal appetites or three big ones. People have used stale fritos or tortilla chips to substitute for the tortillas.

Chocolate Bread Pudding in the Microwave

Eight minutes in the microwave will do it. Eat hot or cold, for breakfast or dessert. Pour some milk or coffee creamer over it for fun or for more calories.

Microwave Mocha Bread Pudding

1 small bar of chocolate, cut up; or 1/2 cup of chocolate chips; or 1/2 cup of chocolate syrup

1 cup cold black brewed (not instant) coffee

1 cup milk

1 big spoonful oil or melted margarine

1 egg, beaten with a fork, or 2 big spoonfuls of egg subsitute

1/4 cup of sugar

About four or five cups of dry bread cubes, but not rye, sourdough, or pumpernickel

1/4 of a small spoonful of cinnamon (if you like)

1. Chop up the bread into cubes and put them into a big glass or pyrex bowl.

2. Put chocolate, coffee, milk and oil in a medium-sized glass or pyrex bowl. Microwave on high for three minutes. Then stir in the eggs and sugar. Pour this liquid over the bread cubes and mix it all up. Sprinkle cinnamon on top if you want.

3. Microwave on High setting for 8 minutes. (Microwave it too long and it will be dryish.) Let stand 5 minutes. Eat warm, or chilled. Makes 4 huge servings, 6 medium ones.

Rice and Beans with “Crabmeat”

Rice and Beans with Crabmeat (If you can’t cook at your place, go to a Chinese takeout and ask for a container of plain cooked rice. They might charge you 50 cents. For this recipe it’s best if the rice has cooled down.)

1-1/2 cups cooked rice

1 can of black-eyed peas

half a fresh onion, chopped (red onion is nice)

half a spoonful of salt

quarter-spoonful of black pepper

dash of hot sauce

half a package, defrosted, of that imitation “crabmeat” you’ll find in the freezer at the store, also known as “surimi seafood.”

2 big spoonfuls vinegar, or pickle juice, or lemon juice

2 big spoonfuls of canola or olive oil

Directions: Drain and rinse the canned beans. Put them in a medium bowl with all other ingredients. Pick apart the crabmeat into small shreds. Mix everything well and eat. Chopped tomato is nice on the side. In the picture you see I threw in some parsley. 2 Big Servings.