BOOK REVIEW/OFFER

There’s a little known secret in the world of cooking: cooking with a microwave oven is easy, efficient, healthful, and comprehensive. In fact, the microwave is very versatile, in that it can do all that  traditional ovens and stovetops can do—it just does things slightly differently. However, most people only use their microwaves to heat things up, and rarely take advantage of the creative cooking that is possible.

In the early 1980’s three professional home economists, having discovered the benefits of microwave cooking, began exploring ways to get this new technology more thoroughly introduced to the public. A few microwave cookbooks were available, but they were sketchy efforts, produced by the microwave manufacturers, and were sorely deficient in creativity, cooking expertise, variety, and other factors that make fine cooking an art.

So these three ladies decided to write their own cookbook, and to publish it themselves. Subsequently, due to their dedication and belief in this new technology, they created and tested hundreds of recipes, using their extensive knowledge and experience to put it all together in Simply Scrumptious Microwaving. To promote and sell the book they travelled the country, promoting their book at bookseller’s conventions and in bookstores. They gave cooking demonstrations wherever microwaves were sold, appeared on TV, and gave countless interviews with the press. Their sales efforts soon paid off, and the book was so successful, that Doubleday of New York and David & Charles of London picked the book up, and soon it was the most successful microwave cookbook ever. Final sales numbers were over 250,000 books sold.

This book is a classic, and is now out of print. Its legacy is that it has spawned numerous other microwave cookbooks, and now almost every home in America has a microwave oven. To ensure that creative cooks can expand their expertise beyond the traditional stove, a few original copies of this book are available to interested readers of this website.

Based on the success of Simply Scrumptious Microwaving, and Simply Scrumptious Microwaving For Children (no longer available), a third book was written, The Microwave Cook’s Complete Companion (over 700 recipes), which expanded the options of the original book. Both books are now available and can be ordered by sending check or money order to Lorela N. Wilkins, 5544 Stonehaven Drive, Stone Mountain, Ga, 30087. Simply Scrumptious Microwaving, 214 pages, is $20.00, and The Microwave Cook’s Complete Companion, 484 pages, is $24.95. Shipping is free.