Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Steam

Hmmm. Can putting plastic in the microwave give one cancer? Just wondering. It seems like my e-mail spamming contacts sent a message on the topic a few zillion times, but those messages are so often a load of hooey that a girl can scarcely count them as a credible source. My concern stems from a desire to make meal prep healthy, easy, and minimally messy. The latest whatzit to catch my culinary attention is a total convenience item. And one always pays for convenience.
The creative geniuses at Zip-loc have made the loveliest little steamer bags. Just pop the munchings and crunchings into the bag, dial up the cook time on the microwave, and enjoy freshly steamed goodies. This is rapidly becoming the cooking method of choice for veggies because I can simply slip a sprig of rosemary from the yard into the baggie with my spuds, sprinkle sweet potatoes with a bit of cinnamon, or mix peppers and cumin with squash to produce easy side dishes steeped in flavor without drowning in fat and calories. The "Hmmm..." comes from the use and toss bags. I suspect there exists a reusable microwave steamer, but I have thus far been too lazy to google such a thing.

2 comments:

The Big Burbs said...

Email the Eco-Women... they would know. ;)

Anonymous said...

I think the plastic bags are fine. I have an electric steamer which works better though. You should not microwave in those white styrofoam take home containers though.
R