FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Carole Mito put together a meal of Chicken & Broccoli Casserole, with rice and two desserts, all in the microwaves behind her.

A microwave-cooking marathon
proves that hot, homemade
meals can be a quick fix

---

By Betty Shimabukuro
betty@starbulletin.com

One box cake mix. One can pie filling. Three eggs and a microwave. Could it be any easier?

The way Carole Mito looks at it, if a home has a microwave oven, home cooking is an everyday possibility. No excuses. Not from kids on their own for the first time, not from double-income couples with little free time, not from over-scheduled families. No excuses.

To prove the point, Mito specializes in microwave marathons -- cooking demonstrations in which she'll prepare a dozen dishes in 45 minutes as a bank of microwaves purrs and beeps behind her.

Come watch at noon Sunday on the main stage of the BIA Home Show at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. On the menu: chawan mushi (a Japanese custard normally steamed), beef tomato (a local favorite normally stir-fried) and a whole chicken with oyster sauce (normally stewed). Plus a variety of other entrées and desserts, including an Apple Cinnamon Spice Cake that somehow turns into a soft, light bundt cake despite having no oil and no water.

On Monday, Mito held a trial run at Servco Pacific, where three microwaves and a conference-room table served as her stage.

First, three cups of rice and 3 1/2 cups of water went into microwave No. 1. Then marshmallows went into microwave No. 2. Cubes of chicken breast into microwave No. 3. Out came the melted marshmallows, which were mixed with Rice Crispies and patted into a pan (one dish down). Out came the chicken, to be layered with broccoli and condensed soup and returned to microwave No. 2. Meanwhile, she was mixing up that spice cake. And the rice kept cooking ...

It was kind of like watching performance art.

Mito is perhaps best known as a supreme designer of ribbon leis. She teaches that art and other crafts (which, unlike microwave cooking, are leisurely pursuits) at Carole Mito's Craft Design, a shop on North King Street. She also hosts a cable craft show.

But before all that, she was a Tupperware manager -- for 20 years, in fact -- and that's how she became a disciple of the microwave.

When Tupperware developed a line of microwave cookware, Mito found it was a big help to her customers and her distributors to provide recipes, especially adaptations of local favorites. So she published two cookbooks -- "Carole's Favorites: Microwave Local Style" (1993) and "Carole's Cooking II: Island Style by Microwave" (1994). She's still selling both books, at her craft store.

"What I wanted was simplicity -- basics -- but to taste good," she says. Her recipes are designed to be do-able by a 9-year-old. "As long as a child can read and follow directions, they can do it."

Mito's first microwave, purchased more than 30 years ago, was "a heavy-duty bugger" that she didn't really use for cooking. "I only used it as a warmer-upper."

Most of what she did cook was overdone and not too appetizing.

Microwave ovens have improved over the decades, and specialized cookware makes it easier to use them to full advantage, Mito says, yet most people still only use theirs to warm up leftovers, or maybe make popcorn.

Too bad. The microwave could be making life easier.

"When we come home we're all tired, everybody wants to eat," she says. "It's nice to have something good that's fast."

Broccoli & Chicken Casserole

5 chicken breasts, cubed
2 packages frozen broccoli, thawed and drained
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 to 1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Microwave chicken pieces 7 minutes on high. Drain.

Place broccoli in bottom of a 3-quart microwave-safe dish. Place chicken cubes over broccoli. Combine soup, mayonnaise and garlic powder. Pour over chicken. Sprinkle with cheese. Microwave uncovered 9 minutes on high. Serves 8.

Approximate nutritional analysis (using 1 cup mayonnaise): 440 calories, 33 g total fat, 7 g saturated fat, 70 mg cholesterol, 1,070 mg sodium, 11 g carbohydrate, 26 g protein.*

Variations: This dish could also be made with leftover turkey, salmon or canned tuna.

Apple Cinnamon Spice Cake

1 box Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix, sifted
1 can apple pie filling
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Margarine to baste pan

Combine cake mix with pie filling, then beat in eggs and add cinnamon. Mixture will be thick; do not over mix. Pour batter into a 3-quart microwave-safe bundt or tube pan that has been basted with margarine. Level dough by pressing down firmly with a spatula. Cover. Microwave 12 minutes on high.

Immediately turn cake onto a serving plate. Slice and top with whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Variation: For Black Forest Cake use devil's food cake and cherry filling.

Home show The BIA Home Building and Remodeling Show: Place: Blaisdell Exhibition Hall Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. tomorrow and Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday Admission: $4 ($1 for seniors on Sunday only) Call: 847-4666, Ext. 206 Cooking events Microwave cooking: By Carole Mito, noon Sunday Demonstrations: 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and Friday; 11 a.m., 2 and 5 p.m. Saturday Chef's Duel: 3:30 p.m. Saturday

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