Category — Solar Cooking

Here is another simple recipe that will delight you (with its ease) and your guests (with its flavor).

Ingredients you’ll need:

Jiffy Apple-Cinnamon Muffin mix

1.5 teaspoon cornstarch

1 egg

3/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Combine the muffin mix and the cornstarch in a bowl. Add the egg, sour cream and oil and stir to dissolve most of the lumps. Spread the batter in the bottom of a pre-cooksprayed round lidded pan. Bake in the solar oven for 5 or 6 hours.

Our cake was brown and crisped on top. The bottom was more moist than a regular cake, although it was thoroughly cooked. It reminded me of an English pudding so I served it warm with a swirl of caramel on the plates.

Here is a short-cut recipe to a yummy dessert.

I was feeling a bit lazy so I started with a Jiffy Devil’s Food Cake Mix. This is just the right size for making a small cake. With the mix in the bowl, I added a small box of instant chocolate pudding mix, 1 egg, and a tablespoon of oil. Mix to get out most of the big lumps. Spread the mix in the bottom of a pre-cooking sprayed round pan.

Cooking a cake will take 5 or 6 hours of a sunny day. Try not too peek when solar cooking because you are letting the heat out of the pan every time you do. Plus you cannot burn your food so leave it alone.

The cake will turn out very moist and rich. You can eat it warm out of the pan because there’s not much cooling needed. Also, the cake does not set up exactly like a traditional oven baked cake, so expect a softer style of dessert.

And plan to use a spoon.

Solar cooking with potatoes requires an early start on a sunny day. Preparation is so easy however that you can have these babies out in the cooker in a matter of minutes.

Wash 4 or 5 potatoes. I usually pick the small ones and those of about the same size, if I can. Place them in the cooking pot. If you wish, you can add a small peeled and quartered onion. Or you might try a clove or two of garlic. If you are feeling mighty adventurous, you could add both. You can also dress them up with a teaspoon or your favorite herb(s) sprinkled over the contents. Cover. Bake. Eat. That’s it.

As said, potatoes need a long stretch in the solar cooker. I aim for at least 6 hours. The final result is a moist and tender potato, sort of a baked potato with a tenderer skin. Dress them up with butter and they are completely delicious.

Here’s another recipe so easy that I’m almost embarrassed to use the word “recipe.” The chicken is so incredibly tasty, however, that you will want to take full credit for the results.

I use 4 - 6 skinless chicken thighs. Spray the bottom of a lidded pan that will hold all the chicken pieces in one layer or with little overlap. (I like easy cleanup). Add the chicken pieces. Cover them with about 3/4 to 1 cup of salsa. Put the lid on. Place in the solar cooker for at least 6 hours.

The chicken will be so tender and so flavorful that you and your family will be dazzled. Try not to blush. Go ahead and take full credit.

Cooking eggs with the solar cooker is embarrassingly easy. One almost hesitates to use the word “cook”; you sort of assemble. It may be possible to do something wrong here, but I haven’t managed to find a way yet.

Since you can’t burn food in a solar oven, the food cooks, and then peacefully waits for you to eat it.

To make light, fluffy, omeletty eggs, I crack 4 eggs into a bowl and beat a little. Add 1/4 tsp garlic powder, or another herb you like. Add a tablespoon of milk. Mix. Add a 1/4 cup of sharp cheddar cheese and then turn the mixture into a quart-size pan with a lid. We use inexpensive black speckleware, often found in the camping section of department stores. It’s lightweight structure and dark surface are a perfect combination for solar cookingware.

Cooking times will vary according to the temperature and amount of sunshine. On an early May day in Michigan, I found my delicious eggs were ready in 4 hours.