Stocking up on Split Pea Soup

Split pea soup, I've probably made this in the Sun Oven more times over the past year than anything else. It freezes well and is one of Martin's favorites. Hopefully he'll heat some up while I'm away. If not it will still be good when I get back. My freezer is going to be so well stocked. If Martin doesn't eat the stuff I'm preparing for him while I'm away we'll eat it when I get back. July will be a month of solar defrosting.

It only takes about an hour to make split pea soup in the Sun Oven. That left me plenty of time to cut up and roast a rutabaga and some butternut squash to go with it. I like the way the green and orange complement each other for a pleasing vegetarian meal.

Solar Split Pea Soup - Always a Good Choice

Yesterday's parchment paper party was about as much excitement as I can handle in one week, so today it was back to an old favorite - split pea soup. It turned out to be a good choice. The weather was marginal, as far as solar cooking goes. At one point it was completely overcast and, as luck would have it, that was during the only two hours I was not at home. But no need to worry. Even if the Sun Oven's temperature did drop while I was away the soup doesn't have any ingredients that could easily poison us, just oil, onion, carrots, celery, split peas, and marjoram.

A Double Batch of Solar Split Pea Soup

We're having yesterday's solar braised lamb shanks for dinner tonight so today's solar cooking project will also be consumed at a later date. Martin will be fending for himself the next few days. I'm going to San Diego for a weekend with my favorite fitness instructor, Cathe Fiedrich. The last time I went to one of her events I left Martin with three days worth of meals ready to put in the Sun Oven so I wouldn't miss any days of my blog. That was way too much work. Since then I've decided that if I'm out of town the blog goes on hiatus. Luckily Martin (unlike me) doesn't mind eating the same thing, two, or even three, days in a row. With this nice pot of solar cooked split pea soup and a few pizzas in the freezer he should be o.k. until I get back on Sunday.

Once again I used my six quart black enamel pot. To fit it in the Sun Oven you have to remove the leveling tray and place a rack or a trivet on the floor of the cooking chamber to allow for air flow.

Post Pi Day Pasta and Split Pea Soup from the Sun Oven

Our Pi Day get together was a success. We had enough food to feed an army and I forgot to take a picture of it. When everyone had gone home I was also too tired to update my blog. The solar cooked dishes were the two panfortes, the blueberry pie, and pulled pork that I made in the Sun Oven yesterday. That was only the beginning of the feast. Pretty much everyone brought a dish, most of which fit the Pi theme. We had two banquet tables covered in food. Needless to say, preparing more food was the last thing I wanted to do when I got up this morning. Somehow I managed to get a pot of split pea soup going. Not very exciting, pretty much my go to dish on days like today. I really wanted to make something new to blog about, but I didn't have the energy to come up with anything. 

Well, today was my lucky day. Right about the time I was taking the soup out of the Sun Oven I got a call from April. We were introduced to each other by Paul Munsen of Sun Ovens International. She is about to launch a Sun Oven rental business that sounds very promising. In the course of our conversation she told my how she cooks pasta in a Sun Oven, something I thought could not be done. Here's how she does it, just take equal parts of water and pasta and a little oil, put everything in a  dark lightweight pot and in no time you'll have pasta "al dente". I was amazed at the results. I didn't have any sauce on hand and no desire to make any so we ate it with butter and parmesan cheese. 

Solar Cooking for Convalescents

The sun was back in full force today, and we were both under the weather. Martin is recovering from minor surgery that he had on Tuesday and I have a killer toothache. I was looking forward to pampering him with some good solar cooked meals, but first the rain, and then this dental disaster, put a damper on my good intentions. I managed to stay upright long enough to get a pot of split pea soup in the Sun Oven this morning. I spent the rest of the day drifting in and out of sleep. Pain medication really does make me drowsy. First thing tomorrow morning I'm off to the dentist. Keeping my fingers crossed that it's just a cavity and he can work his magic and get me back on my feet.

Second Best Solar Dish Ever

There probably won't be very many new dishes coming out of the Sun Oven while our guests are here. I'm not one of those cooks brave enough to serve untested recipes to company. Tonight we had solar cooked split pea soup as our first course with grilled turkey sausages, baked potato wedges, and kale for our main course. Martin said that solar split pea soup is his second favorite after chicken with two lemons.

Solar Cooked Leftovers and Soup

With lots of leftovers from last night's dinner I wasn't really inspired to do much solar cooking. Split pea soup seems to be my go to dish on days like today. We had some for lunch with grilled cheese sandwiches -possibly one of the best food combinations on the planet - and for dinner with the leftover chicken and rice. There's even a little left to go in the freezer for another lunch on a cloudy day.

Slow Cooked Solar Split Pea Soup

No new recipes today. Just a nice pot of split pea soup. My dentist had to replace a failed implant yesterday and for the meantime I have a gaping hole on the upper left side of my mouth. I figured the less chewing I did  the better. This soup is so easy to make that once I got it in the Sun Oven I completely forgot about it for hours. Just the kind of thing you want when you're not feeling too good.

Split Pea Soup

Looking back over my previous blog posts I detected a pattern. Whenever I can't come up with anything new I make split pea soup and that's exactly what I did today. My recipe, if you can call it that, is very simple. Diced onion, carrots, and celery sauteed in some olive oil. Add two cups of split peas, about five cups of water, a tablespoon or so of marjoram and leave it in the Sun Oven until the peas are falling apart. Puree it with a hand held blender, add salt and pepper to taste and you're done. I used to simmer a ham hock or a smoked turkey leg with it, but I think the soup is just as good without meat. I always try to make as big a batch as possible because this soup freezes very well, but with Martin around there usually isn't much left. Luckily, especially since I stopped putting the meat in it, it's about the easiest thing in the world to make.

Sunday Solar Favorites

After yesterday's big meal I wasn't feeling very creative today. I baked some bread in the morning and made a pot of split pea soup in the afternoon. Add to that the left over pulled pork and we had a nice relaxed Sunday dinner. Now that I've been using my Sun Oven almost every day for two months I hardly think of it as solar cooking, it's just plain old cooking.