Stormy Weather Ahead!

by Joyce
(UT)

On Monday night I checked the forecast for the week and saw that the next few days would be very Fall like and unsettled with thick clouds and even occasional rain.
So I did what any dedicated Solar Cook who lives off the grid would do! Even though I had to work the next day, I knew I had to get ahead with some cooking because I had company over the weekend which wiped me out of most all of my cooked ahead foods.
I prepared my foods in kits so I could easily and quickly put them together at work and cook them outside the office.
This is what I got cooked that day starting about 10:30 a.m. and ending at about 5:00 p.m.
A doz. Multi Grain Rolls, 6 Hoagie Rolls, a doz. whole wheat Bread sticks, a batch of Raisin Rum Oatmeal filled Cookie Bars,2 loaves of squash bread, Yummy Curry chicken, and Tuna Casserole. These went in the freezer to join the meatballs that were left from the weekend.
All that and I still got my work done!
This was the process: First I mixed up and kneaded the Hoagie/Bread stick dough so it could be raising. I use the quick rise bread machine yeast even though I don't use a Bread machine because it raises the dough in half the time of traditional yeast.
While that dough was doing its thing, I mixed up the Multi grain (non yeast) rolls and got them into the 1st sun oven. Then I quickly threw the raisins, sugar and rum flavoring into the Hot Pot so the raisins would plump out, be soft,and make a thickened filling for the cookie bars. When the rolls were done, I mixed up the cookie dough but the raisin filling wasn't quite ready so I mixed up the squash bread and got it in Sun oven # 2. They cook for an hour and a half so before those 2 loaves were done I was able to get the cookies in the oven.
Then since the raisins were gone from the Hot Pot I put in the rice for the Chicken Curry. By the time the Bread was done the Bread sticks and Hoagie Rolls were ready for the ovens so I baked them off and it was time to go home.
I arrived home about 2:30. Got the Ovens preheated again and quickly got the Chicken Curry in one of them. In the other, I put the Tuna Casserole and in the Hot pot, eggs.
by 4:30 I really had to stay on top of it, refocusing about every 20 min. to keep the temps at around 325 degrees and by 5 they were down to barely above 300.
The Tuna Casserole was done and the Curry was close so I put it in my Hay box Cooker ( An older Coleman Cooler lined with blankets) and let it finish cooking.
We ate half of the Curry for Dinner at 7:00 and packed everything else away for the rest of the week. Now let the stormy weather come. I'm ready!!!



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Whew! that's a lot of cooking, and to do it all solar cooked, now that's impressive.

Most people don't even cook that much using standard and traditional methods.

... I envision though a time when we see church parking lots, workplace parking lots, parks and beaches full of solar cookers; cooking people's meals while they are engaged in their everyday activities... ;)

Nathan
Admin.