How To Cook a Meal in a Coffee Maker

Okay so I guarantee some of you saw that title and went "uh...who would ever do that?" But when I saw that I immediately wanted to know more! Let me explain. Both my boyfriend and I travel a lot for our jobs. Hotel rooms & 18-hour days means lots of meals on the go. We're also both celiacs. Which means eating out = not happening. So I realize this may be a rare circumstance we find ourselves in, BUT I know there are tons of people who say "Oh I wish I could eat better, but I'm just always on the go for work". Sound familiar? So this does take a bit more effort than simply grabbing a burger around the corner, but if you're trying to eat healthy on the go, hey it's the price you pay. I've gotten used to constantly over-cooking and having some ready-to-go meals in the fridge. But when you're going to be gone for 3 or 4 days at a time, that chicken you cooked on Wednesday is going to look pretty scuzzy by Saturday. From steamed broccoli and couscous to scrambled eggs and poached salmon, the possibilities appear endless.

1. Steam: The basket at the top is a great place to steam vegetables. You can throw in broccoli, cauliflower or any vegetable that cooks in about the same time as those.
2. Poach: The carafe at the bottom serves as a simple vessel for poaching fish and chicken. You can also use it to hard-boil eggs or make couscous and oatmeal.
3. Grill: This technique is a bit more advanced — and time-consuming. But if you're really itching for a grilled cheese sandwich or a cinnamon bun in a motel room, the coffee maker's burner can serve as a miniature grill.

Recipe: Coffee Maker Dinner With Poached Salmon, Couscous And Steamed Vegetables

1. Add chopped broccoli and cauliflower into the basket until it is halfway full.
2. Add the maximum amount of water into the coffee maker's reservoir. Run the coffeemaker until the reservoir has just enough water left in it to cook the couscous. Stop the appliance.
3. Dump out the water in the carafe. Add the couscous to the carafe.
4. With a fork, mix up the vegetables in the basket to ensure even steaming. Then restart the coffee maker until the cycle finishes. Let couscous sit for 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
5. Keep the vegetables in the basket (it takes two cycles to steam-cook them). Place the salmon in the carafe. Add some soy sauce, ginger, garlic or whatever seasoning you'd like. Fill the reservoir with about 3 cups of water and run the cycle.
6. Let the salmon sit in the hot water until it's opaque and flaky (for us it took only 7 minutes). Remove salmon and vegetables. Plate.

  I strongly suggest you test this out at home a few times before relying on it. Or maybe start off with just the veggies - after all, under/over cooking veggies is not going to effect your meal as bad as under/over cooking meat. If you do give this a go, let us know in the comments!