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Farm Kitchen:  Solar Cooking - Any Tips and Recipes To Share?  |
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wooliespinner
True Blue Farmgirl
1311 Posts
Linda
Manchester
Ohio
1311 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 27 2013 : 11:19:22 AM
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I decided to hurry up and defrost the peaches. The recipe I use for peach cobbler requires the peaches to be heated up on the stove with sugar until they are hot and bubbly. So I decided since it was sunny to hurry up and make the peach cobbler. So its in the oven and will see how it turns out. I hope I didn't wait to late in the day to make it.
If it does not get done I can always finish in the oven. Will let you know how it turns out. The recipe for this peach cobbler is a Paula Deans recipe and yes it has a stick of butter.
Linda
Raspberry Run Farm
Nubian Dairy Goats |
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wooliespinner
True Blue Farmgirl
1311 Posts
Linda
Manchester
Ohio
1311 Posts |
Posted - Sep 27 2013 : 1:23:01 PM
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Well just pulled the peach cobbler from the solar oven. It was a huge success! The top believe it or not is golden brown and it just turned out beautiful. My oven reached around 335* today. The recipe calls for 350* so thats pretty good. I am so excited to know I can make peach cobbler in the solar oven with super results.
Peach Cobbler
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Prep Time:15 minInactive Prep Time:-- Cook Time:45
Ingredients
4 cups peeled, sliced peaches
2 cups sugar, divided(if peaches are sweet use less)
1/2 cup water (I do not add the water)
8 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour(made my own)
1 1/2 cups milk
Ground cinnamon, optional
(I added vanilla to the batter, nutmeg and 1/4tsp of almond extract to the peaches
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the peaches, 1 cup sugar, and water(I didn't use any) in a saucepan and mix well. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Put the butter in a 3-quart baking dish and place in oven to melt.
Mix remaining 1 cup sugar, flour, and milk slowly to prevent clumping. Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon fruit on top, gently pouring in syrup. Sprinkle top with ground cinnamon, if using. Batter will rise to top during baking. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes.
To serve, scoop onto a plate and serve with your choice of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
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I just found a recipe for apple cobbler and it looks like a perfect recipe for the solar oven. Thats gonna be the next one I try.
Here is the recipe for that one.
Apple Cobbler
Ingredients
7 to 8 large (9 cups) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored, sliced 1/4-inch
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 Land O Lakes® Eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup Land O Lakes® Butter, melted
Ice cream, if desired
Directions
Heat oven to 350°F. Place sliced apples in ungreased 13x9-inch baking pan.
Stir together 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in small bowl; sprinkle over apples.
Combine remaining cinnamon, flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder and salt in bowl. Beat at medium speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over apples. Pour melted butter over topping. Bake 45-55 minutes or until lightly browned and apples are tender.
Serve warm with ice cream, if desired.
Linda
Raspberry Run Farm
Nubian Dairy Goats |
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wooliespinner
True Blue Farmgirl
1311 Posts
Linda
Manchester
Ohio
1311 Posts |
Posted - Feb 11 2014 : 12:35:25 PM
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Thought I would bump this thread up. I have been wanting to try using the solar oven in the winter while snow was on the ground. Well today was the day it was FINALLY sunny and not snowing,sleeting or cloudy or all of them. We went down to -8 and finally at 10:00 it was around 7 degrees and super sunny and clear not a cloud in the sky.
I browned a roast and onions really quick and put in in the solar oven around 10:20 it was still frozen in the middle. The oven has been around 300 to 325 degrees most of the day and its super cold outside.The sun is so bright that when you go outside it bounces off the snow and is blinding. I can hardly see when I come back in the house. I checked the roast at 2:00 and it was super tender so I added the potatoes and carrots. They are almost done.
I am amazed how well this has worked on such a cold day. I had to keep the solar oven on the last adjustment because the sun is at such a low angle. I have not had to readjust the leg....just turned it to follow the sun.I did put a log on the leg so the oven would not tip forward.
If its sunny tomorrow I think I am going to use it again. It helps to save on the gas for the stove.I think tomorrow I will make the peach cobbler again with blueberries mixed in.
Hope you ladies try your oven on a sunny day this winter and see how well it works.
Linda
Raspberry Run Farm
Nubian Dairy Goats |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Feb 11 2014 : 12:50:15 PM
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Wow! Linda! I am SO excited that you've been able to try it in the winter! We were just talking about this with friends recently, and I have been so disappointed to not have been able to try it yet due to all the doomy-gloomy gray weather! I really can't wait to try it! I'm so happy that you've had such a great experience with it in the cold - that is just so AWESOME!!!
Keep us posted!
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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MagnoliaWhisper
True Blue Farmgirl
2817 Posts
Heather
Haysville
Kansas
USA
2817 Posts |
Posted - Feb 11 2014 : 4:50:10 PM
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I am going to buy one next year, I can't wait. I found one I really like, and the price is not too bad. Till then, this summer I am going to make a dollar tree one. (I don't think the dollar tree one will work too well in the winter here in Kansas, but I think it will work in the summer. So going to give it a go. Still can't wait to get a real one next year though!
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2014 : 04:04:08 AM
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Oooooh! I'm so excited for you Heather! Awesome! Can't wait to hear how it goes! :) Hugs - Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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LuckyMommyof5
True Blue Farmgirl
500 Posts
Suzanne
OH
USA
500 Posts |
Posted - Mar 12 2014 : 6:17:09 PM
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I have wanted a solar oven forever and after reading all the postings here I decided to take the plunge and ordered one. It's a portable, but comes with racks and cookware, so I'm pretty excited! It's supposed to arrive next week.
Anyone have a reccomendation on any solar cookbooks?
Farmgirl Sister #3243
"The real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong." - Laura Ingalls Wilder
"A [wo]man is rich in proportion to the number of things which [s]he can afford to let alone." - Henry David Thoreau |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Mar 12 2014 : 7:06:31 PM
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Suzanne - SO excited for you! What brand did you purchase? I think you're going to love your solar oven!!! Mine came with a recipe book, but truly, I mostly just use my own recipes that I use everyday... You can really use pretty much any recipe you already make - you just have to tweak it a bit. For example, you'll require less liquid, but you'll also need to plan on cooking it a lot longer, as the temp in you solar oven will probably not go above 300 degrees. To get some specific recipes, here is a link to the recipe page of sunoven.com: http://www.sunoven.com/archives/category/daily-solar-cooking-recipe . If you go to the bottom of the page, you can flip back to earlier posts. There's also a list of recipes by category for you to check. Just scrolled down about one-third of the way down that page on the left hand side. Lots of neat ideas! I know there are also videos on their site somewhere that will teach you how to use your solar oven and give you some great tips. One problem I was having was that moisture was collecting on the glass of the oven, which actually reduces the chamber's temperature. They suggested putting a toothpick between the glass and the rubber gasket to let just enough moisture out of the oven to maintain the temperature. It worked like a charm! Anyhow, if you do an online search for "solar cooking recipes," you'll find a wealth of ideas, tips and more! There's even a solar cooking society out there, if you can believe it! You truly will find limitless resources to pull from. Your best and probably favorite resource will soon become our farmgirl sisters, though, I'm sure! ;)
Can't wait for your oven to arrive! I'm sure we'll all be excited to chat and exchange notes! Yay!
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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LuckyMommyof5
True Blue Farmgirl
500 Posts
Suzanne
OH
USA
500 Posts |
Posted - Mar 12 2014 : 8:03:41 PM
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Thanks for the encouragement, Nini! My husband has been skeptical, but supportive, of my interest in us exploring solar cooking (but I must say, even though he is a doubter, he usually ends up being a huge cheerleader in the end for new things we try!) So, I decided (after reading lots of good reviews for it) to order a Sunflair solar oven. It's supposed to be lightweight and easy to move around, comes with racks and pans (Granite Ware , I think) and a thermometer. The Sun Ovens I was also interested in looked amazing, they just weren't in our budget this year. But, like I said, the Sunflair ones got great reviews, and they are supposed to be so portable you can even take them camping.
I know there is a learning curve with solar cooking, I just hope I get the hang of it and don't get discouraged. But if you don't try, you never learn, right? Plus I just find the idea of "unplugged" cooking really exciting!!
How long have you had yours, Nini?
Farmgirl Sister #3243
"The real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong." - Laura Ingalls Wilder
"A [wo]man is rich in proportion to the number of things which [s]he can afford to let alone." - Henry David Thoreau |
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wooliespinner
True Blue Farmgirl
1311 Posts
Linda
Manchester
Ohio
1311 Posts |
Posted - Apr 23 2014 : 09:29:50 AM
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I am wanting to get recipes for cooking in the solar oven that are more in tune with hot weather meals. Most of the recipes I have made involve meals that are more hardy cold weather meals. I would like lighter recipes for hot weather. The only thing I have made in the solar oven so far has been cornbread, potroast, beefstew, roasted chicken,spaghetti and meatballs, peach cobbler, rice, steelcut oats, corn and potatoes. Thats it so far. I would just love making lighter fair for when its super hot outside.
Anyone with some tried and true good recipes or suggestions I am all ears.Thanks.
Linda
Raspberry Run Farm
Nubian Dairy Goats |
Edited by - wooliespinner on Apr 23 2014 09:31:26 AM |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Jun 16 2014 : 3:45:36 PM
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Hey girls! It's been a while. SO little sun here in Western PA, ergo SO little solar oven cooking! Just wanted to drop a quick "heads up" to all of you interested in purchasing a Sun Oven... SunOven.com has a SunnySide Coupon available through June 30th: https://www.sunoven.com/sunnyside-coupon?gclid=CKCmtsS6_74CFY1lOgodQHUApQ $80 off their Preparedness & Dehydrating Package, OR $50 off the All-American Sun Oven. :)
Also, they have a deal going on their Cloudy Day Cube Stove, if you're interested: http://www.sunoven.com/CloudyDayCubeStove $29.50 for one, $49 for two. Check out the video toward the bottom of the page - so neat! I love the versatility of this little guy... My son just made two rocket stoves out of recycled cans for us this spring for his homeschool speech/demo, and I love them; but I am thinking this might be a really nice thing to keep on hand in the event of inclement weather as well! At least with the cube stove we have more fuel options, and we won't have to worry about sand leaking everywhere... We'll see!
Good things should simply must be shared!!! :)
Oh! And Linda - I will have to start thinking about recipes for you. Have you tried dump cakes in your solar oven for desserts? Mmmmm... Duuuummmmpppp Caaaaaakkkkke..... I'd bet it'd be great for making pulled pork, sloppy joes, chili dogs and nachos, too! I am interested in trying to expand its uses as well. Will have to give it some thought. Let's see what we can come up with together!
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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Edited by - Ninibini on Jun 16 2014 3:48:42 PM |
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wooliespinner
True Blue Farmgirl
1311 Posts
Linda
Manchester
Ohio
1311 Posts |
Posted - Jul 10 2014 : 10:22:07 AM
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I made a pulled pork in the sun oven yesterday.I did not brown the pork shoulder this time. I just put Nature's Seasoning salt all over it with a little parsley and about 1/2 cup of water. It cooked in the sun oven about 4 1/2 hours. I took it out and cut the meat off the bone and removed any fat and it was super tender. I then put it on top of the stove and let the liquid reduce down which took about 10 minutes and left a little of the liquid in with the pork. I didn't want to dry it out and it really concentrated the broth and was really packed with good flavor.
We put it on buns topped with BBQ sauce and it was so good I could have eaten the whole thing. It was nice not heating the house up all day for it. I also served it with homemade coleslaw and fried zuke rings from the garden.You gotta try this in your sun oven its really great.
Today I am trying to boil water to make tea for my kombucha.
I am also going to try browning hamburger in it today to make bean and hamburger soft tacos if the sun stays out. We have a few tomatoes coming in from the garden and a little lettuce so wanted to have soft tacos so I could put the tomatoes and lettuce on them.I don't have enough lettuce to make us all a big salad but plenty for the soft tacos.
I am making my sun oven pay for itself. I am really saving on the propane and not heating the house up. Yeah!!!
Linda
Raspberry Run Farm
Nubian Dairy Goats |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Jul 10 2014 : 5:46:12 PM
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Oh wow, Linda! That pulled pork sounds marvelous! :) Yum! How did the ground beef turn out? Great idea!
Has anyone tried dehydrating in their solar oven? My oven collects so much moisture on the lid that I have to insert a toothpick in one corner between the glass and the gasket to let it "breathe." I'd love to try using it for dehydration, but I don't know if it will really work!? What do you think?
Linda - I swear... The only days we've had sun long enough to use it, I've had so many appointments that I didn't even try! I am really skeptical about setting the oven to the mid- or late day sun and just letting it do its thing... Have you tried this, girls? I would love to "fix it and forget it," but when I use it, I'm out there moving and adjusting the oven every 20 minutes or so. Plus here they could be calling for sun all day and out of the blue we get a miserable rain storm... (Something to do with the lake effect from Lake Erie and the terrain where we live - crazy stuff!) I'd just hate to leave something and take off and have it poured or hailed on... 'Wonder if that's just because of where I live... Do you all find you have to adjust your oven frequently, too? Have you had any success just setting it and forgetting it?
I was really considering canning butter in mine... I saw a how-to video on YouTube and thought, gee, what a great thing! Have any of you tried?
Thanks for your help!
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Jul 11 2014 : 05:05:06 AM
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Oooohhh m`goodness! Girls! I just watched an amazing video demonstration on cooking steak in a solar cooker! The guy heated his cast iron grill/griddle in it, coated it with oil, cooked a thin steak for three minutes on each side, and it turned out juicy-beautiful! You have GOT to check it out. I'm on my Kindle, so I can`t copy and paste the link for you, but you will find it on YouTube. Do a search for jnull0 (that's a zero) and then type in "steak in solar cooker." If you can't find it I'll post a link for you later. You just HAVE to check it out!!! (Linda: He is the brother of The Mrs. Volfie from ourhalfacrehomestead!)
Do you know what this means?! This guy just boosted the value of our solar cookers through the roof! My grill/griddle is too long for my solar cooker, but I bet my cast iron skillet will fit! I bet we could solar grill thin burgers, chicken, hot dogs, veggies and more with just a little practice! And maybe even do pancakes and French toast, too! I'm simply blown away! What do YOU think?! :)
Hugs,
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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Edited by - Ninibini on Jul 11 2014 05:16:02 AM |
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wooliespinner
True Blue Farmgirl
1311 Posts
Linda
Manchester
Ohio
1311 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2014 : 06:29:23 AM
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That sounds too cool Nini. I will have to watch that video.The bean,beef tacos came out super good in the solar oven. The seasonings really soaked in. We are having the opposite problem. My little area keeps missing the rain and we are in a drought. My pasture is burnt and so is my yard. If it weren't for the mulch in my garden it would be fried too.
Linda
Raspberry Run Farm
Nubian Dairy Goats |
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nubidane
True Blue Farmgirl
2873 Posts
Lisa
Georgetown
OH
2873 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2014 : 07:53:47 AM
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I am trying that roast today Linda. How many of those did you get? I had to dig and dig and only found 1. There might be some more, but I was hoping to get at least a few. I have a TON of different steaks.
Anyway, home today typing and it is gorgeous, so I am taking advantage. Loving this cool weather. Didn't turn the AC on yet, but the last few days were
B-R-U-T-A-L.
Wanted to tell you guys about the best chicken I have ever made. We have one of those beer can chicken stands http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Bar-B-Q-06126X-Chicken-Cooker/dp/B0026TB5XY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1405435635&sr=8-3&keywords=beer+can+chicken There are fancier ones, but this is the one I have.
I have found that you can use any liquid in the can, and it tastes no different.
Anyway, I coated the chicken with s & p only, put on the can, put the whole thing in a roasting pan, made a foil tent over the top of the whole thing, and put it on top of our chimney pot with a good fire. In about 1 1/2 hours, it was done.
The meat tastes better than the best smoked meat (pork, chicken, or brisket) that I have ever had
It was SOO tender, and the flavor was a smoky, delicate yum. The can elevates the chicken some, so the open flames were kept at bay a bit.
I will definitely be doing that again!
Oops, sorry, this isn't a solar recipe, I got carried away!
"We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” – R.R. |
Edited by - nubidane on Jul 15 2014 07:54:26 AM |
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Cozynana
True Blue Farmgirl
1123 Posts
Kem
1123 Posts |
Posted - Sep 02 2016 : 1:21:46 PM
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| Anyone still using their solar oven? I had two grandsons from two different families. We did red baby potatoes. One grandson knew he didn't like red potatoes. I asked him to try them. He did and ate three helping. I did not use any water with the process and they cooked to perfection. I would like to try some other things like precooked sausage and sauerkraut, and some type of cookie. I can't get my oven to go over 300 degree max so I am a bit limited. If anyone has the secret for achieving higher temps please post. I go out and rotate towards the sun, have a clean window, etc. Just need to see what I am doing wrong. I live where the sun shines almost all the time so that should not be an issue. Promised myself I would use mine more this summer, but have not been as diligent as I thought I would be. |
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Farm Kitchen: Solar Cooking - Any Tips and Recipes To Share? |
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Solar Cooking - Any Tips and Recipes To Share?
