Solar Pasta Sauce and Meatloaf

Meatloaf and pasta sauce from the Sun Oven. What more could you want for dinner? And there's plenty leftover for sandwiches. The sauce was real simple. I put olive oil, minced garlic, salt, and sliced mushrooms in a dark enameled pot and put it in the pre-heated Sun Oven. After about half an hour I added a can of crushed tomatoes. The meatloaf is a mixture of ground beef, chopped onion, shredded carrots zucchini and savoy cabbage, egg, wine, and bread crumbs. I did saute the veggies for about ten minutes before mixing them in with the other ingredients and baking the loaf in the Sun Oven, so technically it's not fully solar cooked, but close enough. The pasta and the belgian endive were cooked on the stove. The pasta because while it's possible to solar cook it; as you can see in a previous blog post; it's much easier to boil it the traditional way. And the endive? That could have easily been solar cooked. If fact I had planned on solar cooking it, but I forgot - and then the sun went down.

Solar Meatloaf with Mixed Veggies

Fortunately accuweather.com isn't always right. Contrary to their forecast, yesterday afternoon was sunny and today there were no showers. That meant I could make my meatloaf and avoid freezing the ground beef I had in the fridge. I no longer follow a recipe for meatloaf. I just use whatever I have on hand. To make it less calorific I always try to mix in as many vegetables as possible. Today I used a mixture of onions, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms. After sauteing the shredded veggies in a frying pan with some olive oil, I allowed them to cool before mixing them with one pound of ground beef, a slightly beaten egg, and a slice of bread soaked in milk. For seasoning I used dried basil, mustard powder, salt, and pepper. I always line the roasting pan with a strip of tin foil; it makes it much easier to remove the loaf when it's done.

Solar Cooked Turkey Meatloaf

Now that the holidays are over I have a confession to make. There are a surprising number of holiday foods that I don't like. I won't even have a small taste of eggnog, pumpkin pie, any sweet potato dish that contains marshmallows, or canned cranberry sauce. I'm not crazy about turkey. I would never buy a ham but might have a small piece at a party. So this season I was very pleased to find two holiday recipes that will definitely be keepers - Chipotle Cranberry Sauce and Whipped Chipotle Sweet Potatoes. They were so good that today I made a turkey meatloaf in the Sun Oven just so I could make the side dishes. I couldn't find a turkey meatloaf recipe I liked, so I made one up.

Solar Turkey Meatloaf

1 tbls olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, shredded
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1lb lean ground turkey
1 egg, lightly beaten
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup dry white wine
4 leaves fresh sage, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, leaves only
salt, pepper

Saute onion, carrot, celery and garlic in olive oil until soft, about ten minutes. Allow vegetable mixture to cool and combine with remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Form into a loaf and place in a dark roasting pan with a lid. Place in preheated Sun Oven and bake until internal temperature reaches 180ºf.

Meat and Veggie Loaf

Today went well. I remembered to take the ground meat out of the freezer last night, I had all the ingredients on hand, and there was not a cloud in the sky. The meatloaf was in the Sun Oven by 10:00 a.m. I took it out around 1:00 p.m. I'm pretty sure it was done earlier; I got distracted. That's one of the good things about solar cooking, your food won't dry out so cooking times are not so important.

I used my basic meatloaf recipe and added some shredded carrots and zucchini to make it a little lighter. My favorite part is the aluminum foil loaf lifter. A trick I found somewhere online. Take a piece of tin foil, fold it in half, and put it on the bottom of the roasting pan with the ends hanging over the sides. When the meatloaf is ready just lift it out of the pan. Whoever thought this up is a culinary genius.
                                                









                                                                              

Solar Italian Meatloaf

Whenever I'm too busy to get something in the Sun Oven before noon I start getting antsy. It seems like morning errands always take longer than expected and then there's the constant threat of clouds rolling in,  making me feel even more uneasy. Today it was almost 2:00 p.m. by the time I got the meatloaf into the Sun Oven but luckily the sky remained clear and dinner was a success.
I got today's recipe from "The Toaster Oven Cookbook". It is my favorite meatloaf recipe. I serve it with spaghetti with tomato sauce, a green vegetable and a glass of red wine.

Solar Italian Meatloaf

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/3 cup red wine
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly with your hands. Pat mixture into a large loaf pan. Place loaf pan in a roaster pan with a cover. Place covered pan in pre-heated Sun Oven for approx. one hour.

Solar Oven Meatloaf

I managed to get to the grocery store yesterday to stock up on a few things. As much as I'm enjoying cooking with the sun everyday, it's messing with my routine. My normal m.o. is to spend most of the day deciding what to make for dinner. When it's time to start cooking, I discover that some crucial ingredient is missing and I have to abandon my well thought out plan. Once I get over my disappointment, I scrape together something with what I have on hand. Now that I've decided to start this year long solar cooking project everything has been turned upside down. Due to the nature of my schedule and the ever present possibility of afternoon cloud cover I've been doing most of the solar cooking in the morning. The bulk of our evening meal is generally ready by midday. It only needs to be reheated at dinner time. This means I have to be prepared. That is something I'm not very good at. I've tried planning out a week of meals, making a list and sticking to it like all the books tell you to, but with little success. Well, at least for today I was prepared. First thing I boiled some potatoes. While they were cooking I prepared the meatloaf. My first solar oven meatloaf. It didn't take any longer than making it in a conventional oven and it didn't heat up the house on this 112º day.