Saturday was perfect! Lots of sunshine…temps in the 70s….a kitchen that was torn apart because of painting….and a roast that begged to be eaten. In between paint strokes, DH brought the solar cooker up from the basement and cleaned it up a bit so I could cook. He was very helpful, but I suspect he not only found this an easy diversion from his difficult task, but HE suspected that it might be the only way he would get fed on Saturday.

Some of you may remember that I purchased this solar cooker about this time last year, but it did not arrive until well into the heat of summer. Unfortunately, it has yet to pay for itself in energy savings…but in entertainment dollars it has its own account built. Since it was so beautiful outside, I decided that there was no better time than the present to get back in the groove of cooking outside.

At approximately 10:45 A.M., I had my pan full of FROZEN roast, cut up potatoes and carrots, and a bit of onion to add some interest, all ready to place in the cooker. DH had the cooker set on the saw table out in the side yard. As I placed the pot into the cooker, I quickly became disappointed. I had chosen the wrong pot…it was too big for the cooker. It was then that I remembered this from last year. Back to the kitchen I went to find a smaller roaster. After searching and searching for the lid to the smaller pot, it was Hais who found it in the first place she looked.

Back to the cooker I went. We set it all up…latched the cover, connected the reflectors, turned it toward the sun…and I stood there thinking..somethings not right. Geeez! The sun is still a bit low in the sky! I needed to turn the cooker on the other side! DH was becoming increasingly concerned about where my mind had gone, but we finally got it all turned around and on its way to cooking by 11:15 A.M.

The beginning temps were 150° , but soon reached 170° by 11:24 and by 12:15 P.M. it was on its way to some real cookin’ at 225°. Around that time, I added another pot with frozen black-eyed peas to the simple solar cooker and placed it on the ground. Every hour or so, one of us would go outside to check the temperature and the track the sun, making any adjustments that were needed. Around 2:50, the temps were hovering around 250° and remained there until the sun began its western descent. When I brought the roast in, there was a shadow falling partially on the cooker and yet the temp was still around 225°. Since I had not opened the pot once to check on the roast during this time, I was not certain what to expect. I figured that if it was not finished cooking, I could move the cooker further out away from the house to continue cooking..or I could nuke it or pan fry it as a worst case scenario.

We were pleasantly surprised with the outcome, so much so that we finished off the entire meal in no time flat. Guess all of that painting built up a huge appetite.

I enjoyed this solar cooking experience so much that I decided to become a Global Sun Oven Dealer. More about that sooooon!