'Death' dessert amazes, main dish marginal

Students are shuffling down the sidewalk in their American Eagle mules and flipping up their hoodies against the chilly autumn breeze. As the weather gets cooler and students find it harder to go to class, fall is clearly upon us. For this edition of Micromeals, the appetizer and main dish will help comfort slipper-bearing students and get them ready for winter hibernation. The dessert - though just as appropriate for slippers and cool weather - is in celebration of Jamie's upcoming birthday. By far, this meal took the longest - the microwave was nearly smoking by the end of the long, strenuous run. I started out with chili, a classic I thought would warm us up and help us remember the end of summer and non-microwaveable chili cook-outs. Annoyingly, the recipe specifically called for two cans of chili without beans, as well as two cans of kidney beans. I don't know why a can of chili with beans couldn't have just consolidated the two requests and, as I scoured the shelves of labels that read "CHILI WITH BEANS," I considered cheating. But for the sake of the column and my readers, I complied with the nit-picky recipe. When it came time for the cooking - or zapping - I dumped the chili without beans, the drained cans of beans, a can of condensed tomato soup, a cup of water and a half teaspoon of chili powder into a massive Tupperware. I recommend cutting the recipe in half. I microwaved the medley for about nine minutes, stopping to stir about every three minutes, or when I heard a loud pop. The chili was decent with crackers or chips, but lacked something. The chili powder gave some flavor (though it was probably unnecessary if students don't want to buy a whole container for half a teaspoon), but it was missing... kick. The chili was good enough to eat, but I was hardly scooping second and third helpings. The main dish - and the one with the longest cook time - was macaroni and cheese. There was no cheating here: I started with uncooked macaroni pasta, butter, milk and a block of cheese. The half-pound of macaroni went in the bowl with two cups of water, three tablespoons of butter and a quarter teaspoon each of salt and pepper. I microwaved the five ingredients for five minutes uncovered, another five and a half covered and five more uncovered at half power. As the brittle pasta cooked and softened, the smell was pervasive and reminded me of my cozy kitchen at home. At the end of the process, I added the final three ingredients: two and a half cups of milk, a third cup of flour and 12 ounces of chopped cheese (I used cheddar). The whole bland dish went in the microwave for about 25 minutes at half power - I considered zapping it for about 12 minutes at high power, but I resigned to my mediocre chili and waited. When the microwave beeped its finale, I pulled it out and mixed the micro-mac. It was looking promising as I started to break up the melted chunks of cheese and stir it, but the sauce never got smooth. As I was eating, and especially as the mac and cheese started to cool, the texture of the cheese was somewhat lumpy. I realized later the flour was most likely the culprit of the sauce chunks, but none of the ingredients has been officially indicted. Besides the texture, the macaroni and cheese was still a good enough comfort food for the dorms, but it can't compare with the Kraft or Annie's Homegrown mac and cheese of our childhoods. Finally, in honor of my roommate Jamie's birthday, we thought it only appropriate to make a cake for dessert. The name of the recipe was "Death by Chocolate." Death consisted of a boxed cake mix - moist chocolate - and Oreo cookies. I mixed the batter according to the box and added 10 broken-up Oreos. An advisory for this recipe: either cut the recipe in half or be prepared with a "gigantor" container. I found a friend with a gigantor Tupperware, so I stuck the bowl with the batter and floating Oreo chunks in the microwave for 15 minutes, during which time the cake shrunk in from the sides and grew upward. After I maneuvered the upwardly mobile cake out of the microwave, I zapped a container of chocolate frosting (without the top or foil covering) for a minute and poured it over the top of the cake. Molten chocolate dripping, the cake was rich and amazing and awe-inspiring - the crowning gem of the $25 meal. "I'm shocked and amazed," Jamie said. "And you can quote me on that!" andreavasquez@dailynebraskan.com