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My Solar Cooking Adventures
as a first time user...

Learning on the Fly: Solar cooking for dummies

    If experience is the best teacher, then I will someday be very well-educated.


My name is Mary Beth, and I am a penny-pinching mother of two who recently discovered solar cooking. I cook daily for my family due to multiple food allergies, and the idea of being able to let the sun do some of my cooking for me was intriguing.  

So, armed with no actual solar cooking knowledge and only a Sun Oven that I bought from Craigslist, I am embarking an adventure to see if I can cook in my solar cooker everyday for the next six months.

I'll be posting my experiences - the good, the bad, and the ugly - so that others can take part in the journey of learning to solar cook with me.  We have a vegan in the house, a gluten-free child, and a GAPS eater here, so there will be recipes for everyone. Come along and join me on my adventure! Laughter and advice welcome :) 

You can also follow me at my blog: http://solarcookingchallenge.wordpress.com/

Here is how I have used my Solar Cooker

How about YOU? What have you learned with your particular solar cooker(s) that makes you effective with it, and what advice and ideas would you share with others?

What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Quinoa Salad 
I saw this great recipe for a one pot quinoa meal. I have been trying to eat more quinoa, and I hate dishes, so the one pot idea really appealed to me. …

Disaster Week with my solar cooker 
I have tried to post this several times, but I keep having disasters of solar cooking experiments. Alas, I think this will have to be a “worst of” list …

Avocado Pasta 
I guess I am a glutton for punishment. Much like my ongoing banana bread tries, I am still trying to get pasta to turn out just right in the solar cooker. …

Tomatillo Soup 
We received a basket of tomatillos on Saturday, and I was excited because I had never used them before, but had always wanted to learn! They look like …

Soggy Chips 
I have been reading more vegan cookbooks, and there were a few new dishes that I wanted to try out. At least two of them were snacks. Snacks are a little …

Portobello Fajitas 
You know, one of the very few drawbacks of solar cooking is that you have to cook before 3:30 most days. After that the sun just isn’t direct enough to …

Sharing the Solar Oven 
When you get married you have to learn to share. You share a house, desserts at restaurants, pool towels, etc. Now that we are doing so much solar cooking, …

The Chicken that almost wasn't 
Yesterday was an unexpectedly gorgeous day. Sunny in the morning, then overcast and gently breezy all afternoon. It’s the kind of weather they put on Disney …

What I've learned from 1 month of solar cooking... 
Well, I really can’t believe it’s already been a month of solar cooking. I know that sounds trite, but it’s the truth. It’s gone by fast, and before …

First time using our Sun Oven 
We did it! We started solar cooking! Yesterday morning was our first (and hopefully not final) attempt at cooking in our solar oven. If you are new here, …

6 Months Later... Not rated yet
Well, we made it. It's been 6 months. I haven't been able to cook in the solar cooker everyday, and it has definitely gotten more difficult now that it …

Apple Chips 2.0 Not rated yet
I am a glutton for punishment. For those of you who were around for my many different banana bread trials, you know what I mean. Now, I am facing the same …

Cookie Week Not rated yet
It’s been a cookie week. My mom came on Tuesday, so I made oatmeal raisin cookies (the good kind) to harold her arrival. The next day was preschool, and …

Chocolate Cookies Not rated yet
Someone posted in one of my mom’s groups a blogger who has great vegan, gluten-free, recipes. I have tried a few of them and loved them all, so when I …

Solar Oven Apple Chips Not rated yet
I am a glutton for punishment. For those of you who were around for my many different banana bread trials, you know what I mean. Now, I am facing the same …

Potato Skillet Not rated yet
We have a nice vegetable and fruit wholesale group here. For something like $15, you get a basket of assorted fruits and vegetables that are supposed to …

Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus Not rated yet
You know you have officially become a southwestern eater when you put salsa or cilantro on everything. Seriously. Avocados, tortilla chips, jalapeños, …

Thai Red Curry Lentils Not rated yet
I was so excited to try this recipe that a friend recommended. It had all the makings of success for me: 3 ingredients, no real prep, and can be completely …

It's all Greek to me! Not rated yet
My immediate apologies to anyone who has had authentic Greek food. A friend of mine was telling me about some eggplant she had bought for a good price …

Solar Peanut Butter Cookies Not rated yet
So, in honor of my cookie binge, I tried to make bar cookies out of peanut butter cookies in the solar oven yesterday. Peanut butter cookies are so fatty …

Cupcakes Not rated yet
My son's birthday party was canceled due to illness. Yuck. Sitting on my counter were two sad bags of cake mix that I had purchased for the party. I …

Ghee Not rated yet
Sorry for the hiatus. I meant to have a nice few posts about how brilliant solar cooking is while camping. I mean, what could be better? You can cook …

Easy Ranch Beans Not rated yet
I needed to cook up some beans for a dinner party and did not have enough time to do them from scratch so I took a large can of Ranch style beans added …

Solar Teff Not rated yet
As usual, I never meant to make teff at our house. (For those of you not familiar, teff is an African grain.) I had wanted to make injera, which is the …

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Solar Crayons Not rated yet
I made pasta for dinner last night, which I will post another time, but the real fun yesterday was solar cooking crayons. Yep, crayons. And NO, they are …

Solar Cooked Birthday Cake-GAPS Carrot Cake Not rated yet
It's my husband's birthday, and he can eat enough foods that I can try to cook a cake for him this year. I attempted something that was supposed to be …

Solar Menu Planning Not rated yet
It was a busy day for solar cooking yesterday. My husband needed a squash, I needed to reheat some frozen lentil joes for dinner, and the kids wanted …

Solar Tortilla Soup Not rated yet
I love soup recipes - they seem to feed everyone and leave me with extras! Here is one my favorites that I recently tried as a solar meal. This is another …

Solar Apple Jam Not rated yet
I have been reading about chia seeds lately. Apparently, they are not only super nutritious, but also very useful in baking. I had been putting them …

Solar Oven Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oat Muffins - YUM! Not rated yet
Today was my first shot at baking in the solar oven. I bought a small muffin tin at Goodwill and whipped up a batch of the kids’ favorite pumpkin muffins. …

Solar Oven Strawberry Crisp for Vegans Not rated yet
One of my favorite desserts growing up was a fruit crisp. They are all warm and gooey… yum. We had a rhubarb patch behind our house, and I often remember …

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