Creative Toasting: An appreciaton of toaster ovens, with “recipes”

Attention bachelors and bachelorettes! I have discovered a fast, tasty alternative to Ramen and microwaved frozen food. And all you need is a toaster oven.

The toaster oven is the intersection between the tastiness of oven-cooked food and the speed of a microwave. It cooks like an oven, with temperatures and broiling settings, but there’s none of that annoying pre-heating business. I don’t know about you, beautiful reader, but I hate having to wait. The toaster oven fulfills my laziness since the only steps are: 1: put food in oven, 2: set the temperature, 3: come back. And like a microwave, you can just set the timer and come back when it dings. Unlike a microwave, it doesn’t zap the flavor. Toaster oven food just tastes right.

My specialty is pizza bagels. And they are amazingly easy to make–all you need are bagels, pizza sauce, and cheese (recipe after the jump.)

This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2009.