Even on days when I’m taking a break from cooking I still like to set up my Sun Oven. It comes in handy for all sorts of things. Keeping a pot of coffee warm, heating up a frozen meal for lunch, and making Sun Oven Sun Tea  are just a few of the things that come to mind.

Today I used it to roast some garlic.

Roasted garlic has almost as many uses as a Sun Oven. Spread it on bread, use it in soups, mix it with some sour cream for topping baked potatoes.

Just take a head of garlic, remove the excess papery skin, put it in a small, dark pot or metal mug, cover, and pop it in the Sun Oven 30 to 40 minutes. Let it cool then squeeze the garlic out. If you don’t have a small lid use a dark tea towel as a cover. A muffin tin works great if you want to make a big batch.

I finally got a chance to use my new baking dishes with the silicone lids and I’m very pleased. So pleased that I might have to make a non-birthday trip to Ikea to get the larger ones. I didn’t make anything fancy.

I drizzled a bit of olive oil on some asparagus, snapped the lid on, and popped it in the Sun Oven. The lid fits so snuggly that I was afraid it would trap too much moisture and the spears would be soggy, but after an hour or so in the Sun Oven on a partially cloudy day they came out just fine.

The black lid does make it pretty much impossible to see what’s going on, however, I knew they were ready by the tell-tale condensation build up on the cooking chambers glass door.

The oat flour gives these tea infused muffins a slightly chewy texture. If you’re like me and don’t really use a lot of oat flour, look for a well stocked grocery store that sells it (and other ingredients you only use occasionally) in bulk. That way you’re less likely to find a partially used and expired bag of the stuff in the back of a cupboard one day.

Sun Oven Tea Infused Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk

6 Earl Grey tea bags

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup oat flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg, at room temperature

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup whole milk plain yogurt

1/4 cup honey

Preparation

Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat. Spray the indentations of 2 6-cup muffin pans with cooking spray or arrange silicone baking cups in 2 rimmed baking pans.

Heat the milk in a small pan over medium heat until small bubbles start to form around the rim. Do not boil. Remove from heat and submerge the teabags in the warm milk. Cover and let steep for 45 minutes.

Whisk the all-purpose flour, oat flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl until well combined. Set aside.

Lightly beat the eggs with a whisk in a large bowl. Whisk in the melted butter, yogurt, and honey until well blended. Remove and discard the teabags from the milk. Pour the milk into the egg mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth, then stir in the flour mixture until moistened.

Fill the prepared tins three-quarters full. Bake any excess batter in a second batch. Using a rack to separate them, cross-stack the tins and bake in Sun Oven until lightly browned, 40 to 50 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out almost clean. The top tin may bake slightly faster than the bottom one.

Makes 12 to 16 muffins.

The new dehydrating racks were the perfect excuse I’d been looking for to invest in some silicone baking mats – just in time for the holiday baking season.

The first thing I wanted to experiment with was a batch of crunchy crackers. I was so excited to try them out that I completely forgot about the weather. By the time they were ready for baking, the skies, as predicted, were overcast.

This batch was baked on the dehydrating racks and the silpat mats in my conventional gas oven. I don’t know why, but I was surprised to find that they didn’t taste quite as good as solar baked crackers. I’ll wait for a more favorable forecast for my next batch.

And in case you’re wondering, the mats measure 11.75 in. x 8.25 in.

People who cook often like to collect cookware and if you’ve been following this blog you’ve probably noticed that I’m no exception.

The bulk of my cookware collection predates my foray into solar cooking and being able to use most of it in the Sun Oven was a key factor in my original decision to purchase one.

Many of the pots and pans I’ve picked up over the years probably would have been culled from my cupboard by now had it not been for solar cooking.  I’m always coming up with creative ways of using them in the Sun Oven. Silicone bakeware is a perfect example. I’d picked some up at a thrift store years ago and was never impressed with it. It’s still not the first baking pan I’ll reach for, but it comes in handy when I want to cook two things at the same time – such as the soup and frittata in the photo. Stacking pots can be a bit of a balancing act and I’ve found that silicone is less likely to slip. It’s also very easy to clean and really is as non-stick as it claims to be. I still probably wouldn’t pay full retail for it but it has earned a permanent spot in my collection.

Finding the right sized cookware for your Global Sun Oven can be frustrating – or part of the fun. I get most of mine at thrift shops or yard sales. Camping supply stores are another good source if you don’t have time to scour the second hand shops. I’ve gotten to the point where I can tell at a glance if a pot or pan is the right size for the cooking chamber but I used to carry a tape measure with me at all times.

If you use your GSO a lot you’ve probably noticed by now that the standard 13x9x2-inch baking pan doesn’t quite fit in the cooking chamber (that’s not entirely true and I’ll come back to that point later). For a better fit look for one that’s 9x8x2 with no extra rim. Or even better two that can be cross-stacked. The two 9x8x2-inch grey pans in the picture above are the newest addition to my cookware collection (the aluminum pan is 13x9x2). The gray one with no handles is destined to become a favorite. As you can see by the way it fits perfectly on the leveling tray it’s almost as if it was designed for the Sun Oven.

But the one with the handles – not so much.

The extra 3/4-inch on each side is just enough to keep it from fitting.

So why did I buy it? Because I know a few tricks and it was too nice of a pan to pass up. First, the leveling tray can be removed, then both the gray pan with the handles and the standard 13x9x2-inch aluminum pan will fit;  just remember to use a rack or a trivet to keep them from sitting directly on the floor of the cooking chamber.

Or the larger pans can be wedged against the front and back of the cooking chamber.

When using the Sun Oven without the leveling tray you won’t be able to tilt it as much. It’s best to cook during the middle of the day, when the sun is highest in the sky, so there’s no need to use the leg to adjust the angle.

]]> http://www.sunoven.com/archives/2032/feed 0 http://www.sunoven.com/archives/1992 http://www.sunoven.com/archives/1992#comments Sun, 17 Jul 2011 04:06:37 +0000 Gabrielle http://www.sunoven.com/?p=1560

My cousin Liz makes the best coconut macaroons; so good that she sells them made to order. Today we were finally able to bake a batch in my Sun Ovens.

It was pretty much a day of experimentation, mostly trying to find the best way to fit the most macaroons in the Sun Oven at the same time. Her recipe (which unfortunately I forgot to get from her) makes about two dozen rather large macaroons.

I went over to her house equipped with mini-muffin pans and a square tart pan. My plan was to use the muffin pans which would have each held 12 cookies, that was until I saw the size of the cookies. The mini-muffin pans were definitely too small, and, as my cousin explained, the macaroons are very sticky; any bakeware would need to be lined with parchment paper.

We managed to fit four on the square tart pan and popped them in the Sun Oven while we rummaged around her kitchen for another suitable baking sheet. The first batch of four was baked to perfection in 18 minutes, the same as in a conventional oven. That was good, but we wanted to fit more in at a time. We opted for standard sized muffin pans with paper liners. Unfortunately the macaroons stuck to the liners. They were still good enough to eat and we all had fun eating the stuck on bits, but not good enough for professional baking.

I see another day of experimentation in our future.

These crisps are not very sweet on they’re own so be sure to serve them with vanilla ice-cream. If you don’t have a set of black metal mugs you can use custard cups or ramekins, but the cooking time will probably be a little longer. I love my metal mugs, they come in handy for all sorts of things. I got mine at a thrift store but, they can be found at camping supply stores. Six of the metal mugs just fit on the leveling tray or you can use a metal cooling rack and do two layers of three to allow for better air flow.

Solar Berry Oatmeal Crisps

Ingredients

2 12-ounce packages frozen mixed berries

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

vanilla ice cream

Preparation

Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat.

Toss frozen berries and cornstarch in a large bowl. Let stand until the cornstarch dissolves, tossing occasionally, about 20 minutes. Divide berry mixture among six metal mugs. Toss brown sugar, flour, oats, nuts, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add chilled butter; using fingertips, blend butter into mixture until coarse crumbs form. Divide oat mixture among mugs, sprinkling evenly over berry mixture. Bake crisps in GSO until topping is golden brown and fruit filling is bubbling around the edges. Cool crisps at least 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Solar cooking is easy, but getting into the habit of using your Sun Oven can be hard at first. The biggest challenge for me was planning. You don’t have to plan a week’s worth of meals, but you will have to start thinking about what you’re going to make for dinner early in the day or even the night before. It’s so much easier when you have all the ingredients you’ll need on hand when you get up in the morning. Having said that, there’s still plenty of room for spontaneous, spur of the moment, solar cooking. Today, after getting my pre-planned main course going bright and early, I found some baby veggies on sale at the grocery store. I snatched them up, tossed them in with some olive oil, and added them to the Sun Oven to cook along with it. Now all we needed was a nice loaf of bread and we had a meal.

Making meatloaf muffins has many advantages. They cook faster, make portion control easier, freeze well, and are fun to eat. Use your favorite meatloaf recipe or use mine which can be found by clicking here. Serve them with mashed potatoes or make some solar tomato sauce for spaghetti and meatballs. Don’t worry if you don’t have a fancy cast iron pan like the one in the picture, any muffin pan, or even silicone cupcake molds, will work just fine; if not better. Whatever type of cookware you use, it will need to be covered with tin foil and a tea towel, or placed in an oven bag.