Coffee Pot Cooking: Cheese Manicotti

So, in case you weren't aware...I cook in my coffee pot.  Yeah, I know, it's kinda weird, but you'll thank me later!

"But...why would you DO THAT??"

Fair question.

1. I'm a college student.

2. We aren't allowed to have a microwave in our dorm room.

3. We ARE ALLOWED to have a coffee maker in our dorm room.

4. Because our dorms are set up kinda "motel-style," we have to walk down the outdoor hallway to get to the community kitchen.

5. Right now, it's COLD outside and I don't WANT to go outside.

6. This community kitchen is shared between, like, 30 girls, and it can get crazy busy in there.

7. Honestly, I just think it's kinda cool.

8. Personally I've found that some (not all, but some) of the food actually TASTES better when cooked on the coffee maker compared to the microwave (mostly because sometimes I use it like a grill).

"But...why would I ever need to do that?"

1. If you're in a similar college-dorm situation.

2. If you're in a hotel room and tired of going out to eat.

3. If your microwave AND oven BOTH go out SIMULTANEOUSLY and it's SNOWING OUTSIDE and you CAN'T get to the store to get a new microwave and you want WARM FOOD.

4. Or really if you just want the bragging rights of serving your friends a hot meal and being like, "Yo, this came out of my coffee pot."

Granted, it takes longer.
Why?
 Because this little contraption is supposed to make coffee, and it's only real intended purpose is to heat up water.
But really, as a college student, I've got plenty of things to do while I wait for my food to cook (namely facebook, youtube, oh yeah -- and homework).  Think of it like a versatile crock pot.

SO, what are we cooking today?

Well, it's Friday, and I don't eat meat on Friday -- so I went to Kroger and got me one of those little frozen meals -- Cheese Manicotti, this time.  And we're cooking it in the coffee pot for lunch!

HOW TO:

So, ignore the package directions of opening the package slightly for venting purposes in the microwave and just yank the whole top off.

You'll find out the big slab of manicotti and sauce is too wide for your coffee pot (unless yours is just bigger than mine -- mine is a 12-cup)
so break it up into chunks with a metal fork.

Well, break up the frozen sauce, leave the manicotti intact.

Anyway so you get it all in the pot, and it might stand at a kinda weird angle but it'll start looking normal as it thaws.

And ya turn on the coffee maker.










This is it 10 minutes in.










About 25-30 minutes in, you should see the sauce getting all bubbly in there, and you'll want to flip the pasta over so the top of it gets nice and hot.

3-5 minutes later, you will have a lovely plate of Cheese Manicotti.

Enjoy!





The oven directions said to bake for 25 minutes -- so the fact that I had it fresh outta the coffee pot in 30-35 minutes is enough to make me happy. :)

And yes, it was delicious.


Got something in mind you'd like to see made in the coffee pot?  I do accept challenges!!