Meals in Mugs

When I saw the title of Camilla Saulsbury’s new cookbook, “250 Best Meals in A Mug,” I thought, “What a great idea! Wish I’d thought of it.”

In the past I’ve written recipes for microwaving brownies in a mug. Over the past couple of years, Internet food sites have featured mug recipes for things like mac and cheese and French toast. And there are plenty single-serving ramen and cup-of-soup packets on the market.

Saulsbury, of Nacogdoches, Texas, used the idea as a springboard for quick and easy recipes that range from bread and muffins, soups, main dishes, pasta, snacks and desserts. She has written over a dozen cookbooks. I met her when she won the $100,000 National Chicken Cooking Contest in 2005. During her cook-off days, she also won the $50,000 Build a Better Burger Contest, and $25,000 in the cookies episode of the Food Network’s Ultimate Recipe Showdown.

Some advantages include portion control, convenience, and saving money.  Sure, there are cookbooks out there with recipes that yield one or two servings, but who wants to dirty a bunch of pots and pans for such as small amount of food?

For breakfast, you could zap yourself a Banana Blueberry Muffin in two minutes, or a Hearty Hash Brown mug (frozen diced hash browns, an egg and cheddar) in about three minutes. Lunch or dinner might be Eggplant Parmesan Mug, oozing with marinara sauce and melted mozzarella. Or Tamale Mug Pie, using frozen beef meatballs, frozen corn kernels, and salsa. Chicken recipes such has Buffalo Chicken Mug and BBQ Chicken Mashed Potato Bowl are streamlined by using canned chicken. Since keeping small amounts of fresh meat, chicken and seafood on hand is inconvenient for quick mug meals, her recipes call for fully cooked frozen or canned versions, such as frozen cooked meatballs, and breakfast sausages, canned salmon, crab, shrimp, tuna or chicken.  And, since soups and mugs are made for each other, there are lots of interesting soup recipes.

One of the downsides is trying to portion some of the ingredients; for instance, some recipes call for 2 tablespoons of a beaten egg. Perhaps one solution is to buy already-mixed eggs that can be poured from a carton (Egg Beaters comes to mind), so you can just measure out what you need. Or crack the egg, mix it up, measure out what you need and refrigerate the rest for tomorrow’s mug meal.

The soup recipes often call for frozen veggies, so you can shake what you need out of the bag and re-seal the bag for another meal.  Saulsbury points out in her book that frozen produce can sometimes be more nutritious than fresh. When it’s shipped long distances, fruits and vegetables can lose vitamins with exposure to heat and light.

In choosing a mug to cook with, Saulsbury advises checking to make sure it’s microwave-safe. Your best bet is to look on the bottom of the mug for a “microwave-safe” imprint.

“Avoid using hand-thrown ceramic mugs, as they are unlikely to be microwave-safe and may contain trace amounts of metal,” she writes.

Most of the recipes call for a 16-ounce mug. It may look like you’ve got plenty of room with a smaller cup, but I’ve found that brownies and other baked goods rise during cooking, will overflow a small mug. I personally prefer using large, wide-mouthed mugs for cooking soups and stews; they seem almost like you’re eating from a soup bowl.

Saulsbury writes that straight sides allow for more even penetration of microwaves, so she uses them for making cakes, custards, muffins, breads, egg dishes and cookies. She also likes to use mugs with circular bottoms when making egg dishes, cakes, breads and muffins, because ingredients in the corners of square-bottomed mugs tend of overcook.

And, the thinner the mug, the shorter the cooking time.

Never use a mug with gold or silver decoration in the microwave. It can cause the microwaves to arc, and can damage the oven.