So this might not be a secret, but I found out about it and experimented with it last weekend. When making a pasta salad, boil the pasta in the rice cooker. It's so much easier and faster. Boil the water first and then add the pasta again, but it works great. Also, make sure you don't leave the pasta in the cooker for too long because macaroni and tube pastas like that will flatten. Strange I know, but definitely worth a try.