Pass the Peas?

The nice thing about microwave cooking is that it is hard to burn something.

If you put a pot of water on the stove, set it to high and walk away to study for a while, forgetting that you left a pot full of water on the stove, you could end up with the pot boiling dry and possibly melting. 

True story.  My husband did this back when we were dating.  Luckily there was snow on the ground outside, so when his room-mate found the re-hot misshapen pan on the stove, he opened the kitchen window and thew it outside into the snow.  Funny, he was using a potholder to toss it out, and it, too ended up out in the snow.

If you leave something in the oven and forget about setting the timer, you could end up with a pan full of charcoal.

Nope.  I've never done that.  Certainly never cooked chicken to the point where even the dog refused to eat it.

But, microwaves were supposed to stop that.  You set the food into the microwave, choose the cook time, and voila!  The food is cooked, with NO burning!  Granted, if you cook your food too long, it gets rubbery and gross, but it doesn't really burn.  Even metal in the microwave doesn't burn.  It sparks, but it doesn't catch things on fire.  

Oldest child will be entering his last year of college this fall.  He has decided that he needs to learn how to cook for himself, as he is tired of eating peanut butter and jelly last night.

He has mastered the grilled cheese sandwich.

Over the weekend, he decided he was going to master pancakes.

Husband helped him, and he did make a very good batch of blueberry pancakes.

Last night, when I was making dinner, oldest child decided to help me make dinner.  He announced that he was in charge of the veggies.  He pulled a bag of frozen peas out, put them in a glass bowl, and set the timer on the microwave.

You know, I didn't ask any questions.  I figure the kid, who is 21 years old, and going into his last year of college, is old enough to read the cook time on the back of the bag.

That is where I made my mistake.

You know, frozen peas weren't really meant to be microwaved for 10 minutes.

They actually don't burn.

Instead, they explode, and/or catch fire.

After you finally get the smoke detector to stop howling, you have a giant green mess to clean up in the microwave. 

The good news is, as soon as you stop the power, the peas stop exploding.

The bad news is, it's a hell of a mess to clean up.  1 pound of peas.  Most of which exploded over the interior of the oven.

What happened to the handful of rubbery, gross peas that were left? 

Oldest child ate them.  Why?

"These are better than the last batch I made"