Solar cooking after weeks of rain

I want to begin with a huge public thank you to Federico who built a beautiful cart from upcylced materials for the newest, largest, heavy solar oven. I am so grateful to move it out of my apartment, to store it outdoors so I do not have to navigate stairs while carrying it.

Now it can be easily pulled around the garage area to the current sunny location (just like a cat)

Also, thanks to Jimmy who made his shop and welding skills available to Federico for this project. They both kept it a secret from me until it was ready.

I am so happy with it and hope it will make it easier for others to cook with the sun, too.

After several weeks of cloudy – often rainy – days I decided to binge cook on a sunny day before the afternoon high winds set in.

I put the homemade “fig” solar cooker and the reflector solar cooker in the more protected courtyard. They are both light weight and may blow away in the wind.

Solar cooker on left roasted 4 lbs of carrots, 2 lbs at a time. Solar cooker on left roasted 3/4 lb chicken livers for our resident cat.

Below, the Global Sun Oven roasted a few lbs of chicken on a layered bed of onions and celery. While the oven was still hot after I removed the chicken, I baked a sun-oven appropriate version of Rhian’s g.f., vegan carrot cake. Optimal solar cooking time is 10 am – 2 pm and it was after 1 pm when I was ready to bake the cake. I put it into a wide pan instead of a loaf pan to hasten the baking time. That work-horse oven heated to 350 – 375 degrees.

Last year I taught a few solar cooking/ diy solar cooker construction workshops. I haven’t planned any for this year, yet. Interested people may contact me.

Solar cooked eggs

This is so low tech – I love it.

Eggs cook faster in a solar oven than in the cooker. I haven’t got the knack of predicting whether they will be hard or soft cooked, yet, so I just try one & decide whether or not to let them cook longer.

Eggs in DIY solar cooker

• place the eggs you want to cook in a cardboard egg carton
• remove the top of egg carton
• put carton in solar cooker or solar oven
• after temperature reaches 212℉, continue cooking until you think they’re done the way you like them.

Next LA Ecovillage solar cooker workshop Sat., Oct 15, 2022, 11 a – 1 p. Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cooking-with-the-sun-solar-cooking-workshop-at-los-angeles-eco-village-tickets-392699293157

How much food can a Solar oven cook when a solar oven doesn’t get much sun?

Ambient temperature was low 90s when I decided there might be enough sun breaking through to try cooking in the pre-heated sun oven: 1/2 lb. ham, 2 fish fillets, 2 chicken legs, 2 large sweet potatoes and green beans. I don’t recall what time I began, but by 1:45 pm voilà

In spite of daylight savings time, food is ready for solar cooking demo.

Apple-chip, poppyseed upside-down, vegan, gluten-free cornbread baking in solar oven

Dang! I thought DST returned in April, so when the clocks sprung forward last weekend, I realized that I’d have to adjust our solar cooking demonstration plans by cooking some of the food in advance.

Can you see the steam rising out of this cornbread?

No worries. I’ll just demonstrate using the sun to save energy by toasting the cornbread, heating the lentils and cooking the whole grains. We’ll also save time by letting everything heat and cook while we walk about the gardens and work on the compost!

In preparation for this event on Sunday, March 20, Sage and I counted the fruiting shrubs and trees: 26 varieties on the Urban Soil properties! Plus macadamia nuts along the public walkway. While we’ve planted some of these in recent years, we continue to reap the harvest made possible by Eco-villagers who lived here before Sage and I moved in.

Weather permitting, we intend to do this sun-cooking demo/ garden walk-about monthly, so let us know if you’re interested in future events.

Fossil-Free Solar Cooked meals at Los Angeles Eco-Village

Thanksgiving, November 25, 2021

Butternut Squash from garden and rice for Thanksgiving (2021) prepared in solar cookers in next photo.

Cork insulated solar oven from Portugal Collapsible solar reflector

Hartley and I conceived this impromptu Thanksgiving potluck the morning of and we had these meals ready to eat by 12:30. I was eager to test the newly acquired SunTaste solar oven from Portugal.

It was partly overcast and chilly that day, so those are very impressive solar cooking times.

February ’22 -Gotta’ practice cooking food in 90 min. or less for the launch of our Solar Cooker Demonstrations beginning March 20, 2022

Lentils – presoaked overnight – took too long in the round pot but cooked in 90 min. in the small roasting pan.

Grains in 90 min. or less:

Rice (pre-soaked)

Quinoa, Millet, Amaranth

Polenta with corn, coconut and okras

Gluten free foccacia – it’s more of a steamed bread and flavor of garlic topping seemed enhanced.

Beans – I’ve cooked them in the Global Sun Oven but mostly left them there all day. Will try again when sun is stronger to see if they will cook in 90 min.

8 year old Eddie learned to bake cornbread in Global Solar Oven.

Now it’s your turn! Want to see how simple it is to cook without fossil fuels? We’ll demonstrate each of the Solar cookers pictured in this blog beginning Sunday, March 20, 2022, 9:30 – 11:30 – and, if El Sol cooperates, we’ll eat what we cook, so bring your eating wares! Want to know how to sign up? Stay tuned – we’re working on it.

What didn’t work – pasta!

When asked about cooking pasta in a solar oven, the owner of Global Sun Ovens says I only made it once! I agree.

Fortunately, the chickens love that gluey pasta. (they also eat grubs!!!)