Category — Solar Cooking

Maybe energy costs are driving you to desperate measures. Maybe you’ve read some of our solar recipe reviews here, and now your stomach is rumbling. Maybe you are just the adventurous type. Whatever your motivation, you can quite easily assemble a simple solar cooker that will allow you to solar cook right away (or as soon as the sun is up).

To make your own windshield shade funnel solar cooker, you will need:

[Read more →]

Today was a gloriously sunny day so decided to “fire up” the ol’ box-style solar cooker while we worked around the garden.

The first round was a batch of “Solar Granola Bars” and a broccoli cheese “Solar Soufflée.” This first round cooked in roughly 3 hours (11:30 - 2:30) Janice has posted the recipe for the Granola Bars elsewhere on the site — and frankly, I think they taste a bit too good to be saddled with such a depressingly healthy name. To me, they’re some kind of brownie. The soufflée contains three eggs whipped with a bit of shredded cheese and some chopped up broccoli leftover from dinner last night. This batch also had a generous addition of fresh garlic. Coat the cooking vessel with something to keep it from sticking (a spray of Pam, a bit of olive oil, butter…) The great thing about solar eggs is that they fluff as they cook so their texture is quite wonderful.

As we were eating our eggs, our daughter tasted them and wanted some for herself so she made another batch. Since the cooker was going to be tended, I quartered a couple potatoes and halved two small onions and drizzled them with oil. These “Solar Roasted” vegetables will be a great start on hash browns for tomorrow. The really nice thing about the box cooker I built is its capacity. We could have easily had another pot in there.

It’s supposed to nice most of the weekend. I wonder what we’ll make tomorrow.

One of the occupational hazards of solar cooking in Michigan is the weather. We really can’t count on sun every day. Nor can we depend on the brightly shining morning sun to stick around for the afternoon.

The other day, I prepared my so-easy-it-makes-you-blush Salsa Chicken. This dish consists of Salsa and Chicken. First I place the chicken in the round black pan. Then I add enough salsa or a can of tomatoes with green chilies to cover it. Put the lid on. Voila! That’s it. Into the solar cooker with the pan.

A half an hour later, the sun disappeared behind some substantial clouds, where I guessed it planned to spend the rest of the day. Potatoes, onions, garlic– I could have left in the cooker to eek out whatever rays they might capture. Raw chicken, I knew however, would not fair so well. So the chicken went into the refrigerator until closer to dinnertime. I then poached the chicken– not my favorite way to cook chicken, but a pretty good save under the circumstances.

The episode reminded me that, for me, solar cooking is an adventure, not a complete necessity. The almost invisible appliances of our kitchen are easy to take for granted. Having to resort to using the stove didn’t mean less fuel for heating or cooking over a fire because of a power shortage. Solar cooking is one option for us.

I came up with a new recipe today, based on this recipe for Grandmother’s Crustless Pie from solarcooking.org. Mine is actually very different, but the recipe collection from the site provided the inspiration. It’s not really a cobbler and not really a crisp either. I’m at a loss for the perfect name so Apple Oatmeal Crisp will have to suffice.

You’ll need:

4 apples, pealed and sliced

1/4 cup sugar

Cinnamon

1/4 cup butter

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 cup brown sugar

Butter a round black roaster. Mix the apples and sugar in the pan. In a bowl, combine the oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter and sprinkle over apple mixture. Cover and bake in solar oven. Cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.

This was an absolutely wonderful dessert for a hot, hot summer day with no extra heat generated in our kitchen.

Here’s another solar cooking idea that is so easy I would feel guilty calling it a “recipe.”

Wash 4 or 5 potatoes. Put them in a covered pot. (Do not poke holes in them. It’s completely unnecessary. Poking holes doesn’t help them cook faster. Plus it encourages oxidation, so your potatoes will end up with a series of little black dots in them. This is the voice of experience speaking.) Peel and quarter one large or two small onions and distribute them throughout the potatoes. Peel and add 2 or three whole cloves of garlic (or more, if you adore garlic). Cover the pot and place in your solar cooker until dinner time.

The result, depending on your family size and level of hunger, can be two meals accompaniments. We usually have a couple potatoes for dinner. They are moist and roasty, never mushy, with a lovely hint of onion and garlic.

For breakfast the following morning, we have potato hash. The cold potatoes are firm enough for dicing into neat cubes that are easily browned in a little oil. (Note Jim’s safe and efficient chopping technique.) When they are nearly done, add the onions and any garlic that wasn’t smushed on bread and eaten the previous evening. The onions are unbelievably sweet and almost caramelized. With a couple eggs, this is a wonderful meal to start the day.