A Man, a Can, a Microwave: 50 Tasty Meals You Can Nuke in No Time (Man, a Can... Series) (Board book)

~ (Author), The Editors of Men's Health (Author)
Key Phrases: joe sauce, cover tightly with plastic wrap, canned tomato paste (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bound in the kind of thick, stain-proof pages usually employed for preschool boardbooks, this cookbook dumbs down basic recipes to inventive new lows. The Men’s Health magazine team responsible for the similarly silly A Man, A Can, A Plan again explain how to microwave canned food into something approximating dinner. Rather than saute or simmer, readers are instructed to "dump" and "nuke" ingredients, as in a recipe for Sweet and Sour Meatballs, which requires a can of crushed pineapples, a can of sloppy joe sauce and a pound of frozen precooked meatballs. Other recipes not for the faint of heart include Slab O’ Ham with Redeye Gravy (essentially microwaved slices of canned ham in a coffee/pork sauce gravy) and Hot Slam Dunk, a dip that calls for mayonnaise, sour cream, canned artichoke hearts, spinach and a few other ingredients to be microwaved together for several minutes. (The authors award "Extra credit" to those who pour the mixture into a hollowed-out loaf of pumpernickel.) Nevertheless, despite its frightening culinary intentions, there’s a nice sense of fun in this cookbook, and a few decent ideas to boot. Why not microwave chocolate syrup, whole milk and vanilla extract together for Liquid Bliss? It’s a reliable, no-brainer way to make hot chocolate. And there’s nothing nauseating about the canned yam-based Sam-I-Am Casserole—butter and brown sugar mask a variety of sins. While this might make a great (gag?) gift for the newly independent frat guy or confirmed bachelor, it’s hard to imagine any but the hardiest kitchen-phobes making frequent use of this book, especially when it’s so easy to just order in.
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Product Description

First came A Man, a Can, a Plan: 50 Great Guy Meals Even You Can Make. The Sunday Star-Ledger cheered it as a "foolproof, not to mention spill-proof guide to manly success in the kitchen." And the Detroit News exclaimed, "Dude, this cookbook is for you."

Next came A Man, a Can, a Grill: 50 No-Sweat Meals You Can Fire Up Fast. Cookbook author Andrew Schloss, who wrote Cooking with Three Ingredients and Dinner's Ready, called the recipes "easy, flavorful...streamlined and smart. Real food-so good that no one will ever guess your secret is in the can."

Now there's A Man, a Can, a Microwave-and all those "dudes" who helped put the "Grill" book on the New York Times how-to bestseller list will be pleased to know that David Joachim and the editors of Men's Health haven't lost a beat. The 50 guy-friendly, nuke-able meals using packaged ingredients are fun to make and great to eat-and include such tasty dishes as "Italian One-Dish Fish," "Teriyaki Beef with Broccoli," and "Painless Paella." With step-by-step recipes and full-color photos, A Man, a Can, a Microwave, like the previous books in the series, is a perfect gift for anyone learning to cope in the kitchen. Make sure he has a can opener-and a hearty appetite!

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Product Details

• Board book: 46 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (April 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157954892X
• ISBN-13: 978-1579548926
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,386 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dine with the Man, September 15, 2005

By	G. Jurczyk "[e-mail]" (Dearborn, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this book for over $16 at Borders when it caught my eye. Look what you save buying it here! I don't regret it, though, the book is THAT good. Each recipe shows the ingredients in photographs, laid out in series:

photo of canned product, such as tomato)
+ this (photo of another canned product)
+ this (photo of meat or veggie)
= (photo of the finished meal)

Ingenious. No more wondering, am I buying the right kind of canned tomatoes for this recipe?

The first thing I made was Paella. It was done in under 1/2 hour and the leftovers tasted (incredibly) even better the second day.

I'm a working mom, cooking for my husband (DH) & 2 pre-teenagers who are into all sorts of activities. Although I love to cook gourmet meals, my family could be starving before such fare is ready. These are fast, tasty, and have child-and-husband-friendly-ingredients. I've saved out a portion and microwaved it fast for DH when he has had a late work night and usually I'm too cooked out to do that. And the cleanup is next-to-nothing, getting me out of the kitchen and not having to face a disaster of a kitchen when we get back from evening activities.

We had the turkey with stuffing last night... the kids actually bragged to their friends about that dinner-- and it was so easy. As if all this weren't enough, I think I'm saving $ too, because I'm not resorting to fast food because I'm too tired to think about what to make. It's that easy to have the ingredients on hand for these meals.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Offbeat but highly useful!, August 17, 2005

By	Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This neat little cookbook has some fifty quick and easy recipes that can be prepared using nothing but a microwave oven and a few ingredients. The recipes are organized into eight categories: beef, chicken, pork, fish, turkey, beans, veggies, and chocolate.

During a recent heat wave, my wife and I were redoing our menu, searching for meals that would require a minimum of baking and boiling, and as such keep from heating up the house. Well, this book came as something of a godsend! The recipes are all easy to make, use the microwave oven, and taste great. Yeah, I know, how can something cooked entirely in a microwave taste great? Well, take my word for it, these meals succeed!

So far, we have tried the Gobble-It-Up Sandwiches, the Teriyaki Beef with Broccoli, and the Coconut Curried Chicken, and loved them all. We highly recommend this offbeat but highly useful cookbook to everyone!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for guys who must fend for themselves in the kitchen, October 11, 2004

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

A Man, A Can, A Microwave is a board book for guys who must fend for themselves in the kitchen either because they are bachelors or their wives have gone off to visit mother for a week. Here are listed "idiot proof" instructions (complete with photos of the ingredients and their order of inclusion) for making fifty quick and easy, palate pleasing, hunger satisfying meals that can be made in the microwave in under 15 minutes. The recipes are divided up into sections dedicated to beef, chicken, pork, fish, turkey, beans, veggies, and even chocolate! From Maximum Microloaf (which combines Carnation Evaporated Milk; extra-lean ground beef; and a can of Manwich Sloppy Joe Sauce) to Toast Under a Tuscan Bean (which combines a can of Goya Cannellini Beans; a box of Melba Toast - Onion Flavor; and a can of Hunts Petite Diced Tomatoes), these are "good eatin', man pleasin'" dishes that are as easy to assemble as they are delicious to devour.