Book excerpt: Beat the Clock - Cooking for One or Two Table of Contents Introduction Cooking for Just One and Two Microwave Cookery – Insta-Cooking Why Beat the Clock Cookery Healthy Eating Tips The Positive Psychological Power of Too Much Ice Cream in the Freezer! Say Cheese Potato Cheese and Pickle Hash Stir Fry Pork with Vegetables Bacon and Liver Brochettes Quick Ham/Gammon Casserole Sweet and Sour Pork Lemon Curd Soufflé Omelette Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction Those days of leisure are gone, when the womenfolk of the family spent hours and hours in the kitchen, thinking up recipes, after collecting all the ingredients present in the cellar or in the garden. That was when they were going to use their creativity in order to make up hearty, nourishing meals for the whole family. In fact, in olden times, it was the responsibility of one particular person to cook for the whole family, and she would not be bothered with other duties. That was because everybody knew that her forte was cooking and she was happy, cooking in the kitchen, brewing up recipes, contacting her friends for new tips and techniques, concocting some marvelous surprises and some fabulous failures, and so on. And the full family appreciated this effort on her part. Times changed, and the joint families started to go nuclear in the 20th and 21st century. Instead of a full family living together and eating together and playing together and praying together, many families started moving away from the main family and setting up their own households.