Thwarted Again

by BC
(St. Louis, MO)

My solar oven weather trials haven’t really improved! I tried a new rub on a whole chicken fryer, put it on a bed of carrots in my black pot, and placed it in the solar cooker. It was intermittently cloudy, and the oven was barely at 200 degrees when I put it in the cooker. Within one hour, big, angry, dark clouds rolled in, so I had to take everything inside. I transferred the chicken and carrots into my slow cooker. The temperature gauge barely registered 100 degrees when I took it out of the Sun Oven.

As an aside—and this has nothing to do with solar cookers--but I am so stymied by this weather!!! I’m wondering if the “chemtrail” conspiracy theory people have a point: Why all the clouds?! We have not had one perfectly clear, hot day in months!!! I really think that’s weird for summer weather in my area. Even today, the forecast was supposed to be totally clear, and it was so first thing this morning…in the 60’s, not a cloud in the sky! Looked to be a perfect day for solar cooking! But then those intermittent white, puffy clouds rolled in by mid-day! What is up with that?! I feel it’s not normal.

I am still not deterred because I know I can cook foods in my solar cooker even at lower temperatures—it just takes longer. I’ve found a good recipe for gluten-free chocolate zucchini bread, which I tested in my house oven yesterday when it was cloudy. It is delicious, and I look forward to trying it out in my solar cooker soon!