solar cooking

[yitlan]

Not sure if this belongs here, but I just got a sun oven and would love stories, tips, advice, RECIPES! Our home gets terribly hot in the summer and I'm excited that I can make meals and not turn on an appliance in our hot kitchen!

Thanks!

[Earth Angel]

Hi Yitlan...We're in NM as well...The Taos area. I don'thave a solar oven but have seen them at various functions and I believe the recipes are the same as for a conventional oven..... We had the most wonderful cookies baked in a solar oven at the Telluride Bluegrass fest and the lady we spoke with said they were just ormal choco chip cookies....I believe they cooked at lower temp though for just a bit longer.....
Where did you find your oven? How large is it? Would love more details...I'm also interested to see the responses you receive from more knowledgable folks!

[yitlan]

Hi Earth Angel! I received the oven as a gift. It's this one:
http://www.solarovens.org/sossport.html

I've read altitude lengthens cooking time, so I need to factor that in. It's going to be one big experiment for awhile!

OT, but are you aware of the bills up to protect midwifery in the state? I know the Taos practices are really getting the word out. If you'd like more info, PM me.

Anyway, baking would be great! I have a NO OVEN policy in the summer. The heat is just unbearable. I broke it once last summer to make paella for a special date with dh. That was it. I'm not going to try to cook anything til spring time, but I'm the kind of person that researches the heck out of something first!

[Earth Angel]

Yeah, unfortunately I am aware of the problems with the insurance...a good friend is a midwife up here and I have offered help in whatever form I can provide...I posted it in the finding your tribe area for NM but didn't get any replies...hopefully folks are writing in support of our midwives though....I couldn't imagine our community without the birth center here...and they rely on Medicaid for 80% of their patients.......The whole thing just sucks...but hopefully they will find a simple solution!

That oven looks great! We are in the mountains outside of Taos so the heat isn't a problem...but still a solar anything is nice!

Hope you get some helpful replies

[blueholly]

We made our own solar oven and anything you can make in a regular oven, you can cook in a sola oven. It just takes longer to warm up, check the thermostat, cook. I first started making pretzels and cookies in it - much to the delight of my friend's 5yo twins, who think all food comes from the grocery store.

I do have a Cooking with the Sun book. Anything in particular you'd like to have recipe-wise?

When we put our's out in the driveway, we put up a sign "Solar cooking in progress." We live on a corner and everyone slows down to look at our contraption. Even one ol' bubba one day said,"What the hell is that?!" LOL.