Solar Cooking Tips

From Jan on the AEZ list: Premade casserole type dishes like enchiladas, lasagna, shepherd’s pie, etc are particularly satisfying and effortless, except for the clean up. Baked potatoes/yams are also super easy. And I’ve seen premade (frozen) burritos. The all afternoon “stew” does require a little attention because a pesky wind can knock over your cooker or you will probably have to rotate your cooker to maximize heat. Not a big deal, just a consideration. For those of you who didn’t think to bring a solar cooker, think again, because you did! I have made nachos (pre-grated cheese is best and cleanest) in a car and once in Leslie’s tent – it was so darned hot in there.

For higher maintenance cooking like baking (brownies, corn bread, muffins and wedding cake), premix your dry ingredients into a zip lock bag large enough to hold both wet and dry ingredients. Label that bag with a list of the wet ingredients to add. To mix just add wet ingredients, zip it closed and mix with your hands on the outside of the bag. Now you can pour it into your greased pan. And, yes, your baking time will double in a solar “oven”.

Now about cleanliness. I’m not a freak about it, maybe it’s just a pet peeve, but I want to make a note about Tomato based sauces, ie. chili and spaghetti sauce. They are super hard to clean up after taking your already tortured grey water to a whole new disgusting level. When you make that type of dish for dinner watch your otherwise generous helper people disappear at clean up time.

From Cathe on the AEZ list: You can cook about anything. Just takes twice as long.

Mostly I just let it slow cook until I a read to eat. But I do watch greens and baked goods

Most pastas don’t do well in the solar oven unless you do not boil them in water first. Cook the in the pasta sauce. In the case of lasagna, butter the dry lasagna noodles with the cottage cheese or ricotta, then add the sauce.

A nice first dinner could be an organic chicken surrounded by carrots and potatoes. Put it in at 1 and slow cook it until dinner.

From Gonzo on the AEZ list: We tend to go super-SUPER simple on our solar cooking: cans or plastic packages of soup, stew, etc. from Trader Joes that we place on the roof or dashboard of our van in the morning. By lunchtime, they are hot and yummy. After lunch, we load up the car again for dinner! We usually eat out of the packaging to minimize clean-up and waste. Yum…all food tastes so good with playa dust for seasoning.

From Tony on the AEZ list: I have found things like lasagna, tamale pie, etc work real well. I pre layer then in cheap aluminum pans (think of the disposable kind only I reuse them) which I have spray painted black. Then I freeze them.

On the playa I take them out of the cooler. Let them thaw and then stick them in a solar oven to bake!

Cooking on the Solar Death Ray 3000

http://people.tribe.net/5969572e-afaf-4c36-97d4-b7be3d08f572
Use a universally useful clamp-together cooking device: pudgie pie, pie iron, toast-tite!
http://www.gleasoncamping.com/browseproducts/Round-Pudgy-Pie-Iron—Cast-Iron.html

They also come in square: http://www.pieiron.com/

Paint black with flat black high-heat barbecue paint for best results on the SDR3000!

Pie Iron Recipes! http://www.greatcamps.com/pie-iron-dinners-recipes-contest-7.htm

From Jan on the AEZ list: To cook fish, I’d probably wrap a thin wire to the end of a bamboo pole (like a fishing pole), attach a fishing hook to it and dangle a hooked cube or slice of fish to that. Then there would be no fishy toastite clean up to do.

Weiner on a Stick!

Fresnel Lens Cooker

From Ray-Bees on the AEZ list: I recently made a smaller version of the SDR3K using a Fresnel lens and found it very helpful to mount a pyramid of steel struts leading to a point somewhat behind the focal point. This makes it very easy to find the “hot spot” and stick your wiener in there. Wait, that didn’t come out right.

Jazzy Jeff’s Playa Ice Tea

A not-too-sweet refreshing beverage for those hot dusty days.

Bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add 12 tea bags: black tea or whatever. Adjust tea bags to suit your taste! Let steep for several hours. Or place in fridge overnight. Remove tea bags and wring to get all the flavor out.

Add 1 cup of lemon juice: fresh or bottled
Add 1 cup of sugar: or to your taste
Add 8 cups of water or enough to make 1 gallon: stir well.

For the playa, pour ice tea into plastic jugs and freeze. NOTE: fill jugs only about 3/4 full as tea will expand as it freezes. Use the frozen jugs of tea as your ‘ice’ in your coolers. When it thaws, it’s delicious and ready to drink.

**Mr. Wagon’s Playa Salad**

Japanese Salad:

1 head cabbage shredded
4 green onions chopped
4 T. sesame seeds toasted
4 T. sliced almonds toasted
2 pkg Top Ramen noodles

Mix first 4 ingredients. 1/2 hour before serving break noodles into the cabbage mixture, add the dressing and toss well.

Dressing:

4 T. sugar
1/2 c. sesame oil
1 t. pepper
6 T. rice vinegar
1/2 c salad oil
salt to taste (optional)
seasoning packets from Top Ramen noodles

Mix and shake.

Hemp Nut Health Smoothie

Anti-Cholesterol Diet Approved!!

6 Oz COLD Soy Milk [Vanilla flavor is good!]
55 grams frozen OJ concentrate [~1/10 of a 16Oz can]
8 Oz container fat-free Yogurt [Vanilla flavor is good!]
1/2 Cup/67g Oat Bran [yes, Oat Bran– as in Quaker!] (frozen)
1/4 Cup/33g Hemp Nut [Cannabis Sativa L.] (frozen)
1 frozen banana [sliced up to save your blender]
~200g frozen strawberries

Put the liquids, Oat Bran and Hemp Nut in blender, along with the sliced up frozen banana. Run at low to moderate speed until uniformly mixed, then start adding strawberries, and increasing the blender power as required until all fruit is added and the mixture resembles the thickest milkshake you’ve ever tasted.

Try organic blueberries, mixt berries, peaches, key lime yogurt– variety!

(My K-Tec blender odometer reads 763 this AM!)

SOLAR DEATH RAY 3000

Solar cooking with the power of a BILLION suns

You bring it. You cook it. You eat it.

Eye protection and a new clean skewer provided. Please bus all cookware to your cleaning facility

Sorry, closed at night

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