Pre-Flight Croissant

The croissant are in the Sun Oven, along with a cup of oatmeal. My bags are packed. The coffee is brewing. It's a few days early but this is my last day of my solar cooking year. I'm leaving for France, hence the croissant, this morning. I'll be back in a couple of weeks. I do plan on continuing with my blog, only with less frequent updates. Thanks for reading!

Prepping for the Solar Potluck

Wednesday and Thursday were both cloudy which gave me plenty of time to get ready for tomorrow's solar potluck at Catalina State Park just north of Tucson. So of course I put everything off until this morning. I was so busy getting ready that the only solar cooking I got done today were a couple of Trader Joe's mini croissants. No small feat considering that you have to remember to take them out of the freezer the night before. As usual they were excellent. It's a good thing they have to proof nine hours or you'd pop another one in the Sun Oven right away. It's kind of a built in portion control system.

No picture today. I took one, but we're already in Tucson and my camera cord is at home. I'll make up for it tomorrow with lots of pictures of the potluck.

A Busy Day of Solar Cooking

It was a beautiful sunny day and I was able to make the most of it. I put the Sun Oven out first thing so it would be ready to go as early as possible. For starters Martin had a Trader Joe's chocolate croissant. He remembered to take it out of the freezer before going to bed last night and it was deliciously golden brown in time for his (late) breakfast.

Next up were the pumpkin muffins, and this time no mix! I made them entirely from scratch using a recipe I found at allrecipes.com. With a little bit of creativity I managed to fit two muffin pans in the Sun Oven at once. Who knew that canning jar rings could be so versatile? Even though I cut the recipe in half it still yielded two dozen muffins, but with only two muffin pans I had to bake two batches. I froze most of them. It's a good recipe, low in fat, and the muffins were moist and tasty. I used a little less sugar than called for and they and would cut back even more next time.

Finally we have a batch of BBQ chicken legs. They're easy to prepare and cook quickly. I'll have a few for dinner while Martin is out with the boys.

Going into my sixth month I'm still amazed at how much I can get out of this small, odd looking, little appliance and the power of the sun.

Clouds Curtail Cooking of Chocolate Croissant.

On a day like today I realize I'm totally spoiled. Arizona is a perfect climate for solar cooking, the Global Sun Oven is, in my opinion, the best solar cooker on the market and I get to take advantage of both. Even today, with less than ideal weather conditions, I managed to bake some bread.
 I slept in this morning and woke up to a partially cloudy sky. I put the Sun Oven out to preheat first thing. I had taken two chocolate croissant out of the freezer before going to bed. At 350 calories each I consider these a special treat and had been looking forward to enjoying one all week. Unfortunately after they had been in the Sun Oven for ten minutes the sun went behind a large cloud where it looked like it was going to stay for a while. I wanted to savor my croissant with my coffee that was brewing so I finished baking them inside.
In the meantime I was second guessing my decision to bake bread today. I don't mind turning the indoor oven on for the short amount of time to bake a croissant but bread is another story. It's not so much the cost, I just prefer the taste and texture of solar baked goods. I rarely baked bread before owning a Sun Oven, now I do almost weekly. Of course I needn't have worried. The weather was not ideal, but it was adequate. The baking time was simply longer. Unlike with a conventional oven a longer cooking time does not affect the quality of the food. So with intermittent sun and a little patience by mid afternoon we were able to enjoy some freshly baked bread.

A Day in the Life of a Sun Oven

I had every intention of using the minestrone left over from Monday to make a risotto for dinner tonight. I'm still on the fence about making risotto in the Sun Oven. Rice prepared in the Sun Oven, especially when cooked in the same pot as chicken, is delicious; it's texture, however, is not creamy like stovetop risotto. I was hoping that with careful timing I'd get more risotto like results. This meant the Sun Oven would be idle until late afternoon. The weather was also iffy.
For the first part of the morning it was mostly cloudy. I put the Sun Oven out anyway so Martin could bake his daily croissant; how quickly habits are formed. Before leaving for a morning appointment I warned him that he might have to bake it in the indoor oven. He didn't. The sun came out long enough to get the job done.
When I got home there were even more clouds on the horizon, but it was still mostly sunny. I took advantage of the preheated Sun Oven to whip up some huevos rancheros. After lunch I decided to get a head start and cook the onions for the risotto. That's as far as I got. By early afternoon the clouds had taken over; we even got a few drops of rain. I wound up having something else for dinner. I'll give solar risotto another try tomorrow. The weather forecast looks good.

Solar Baked Croissant

I recently discovered these frozen croissants from Trader Joe's. You let them defrost overnight, pop them in the oven in the morning, and they're delicious. By oven I mean the indoor oven; I get up too early to bake them in the Sun Oven. Martin, however, insisted that they could be solar baked. I was unwilling to wait until midmorning for my breakfast so Martin decided to bake one for himself. It came out perfect. So perfect that from now on I may have to add a midmorning snack to my normal daily meals.
I also made one of my favorite solar dishes today, Chicken with Two Lemons.