Solar Cooking

I wrote a story a few months ago about a Solar Cookoff that was held here.I thought it was awesome to cook something using only the power of the sun. I always try my best to save energy and recycle so this was something I wanted to do to save even more energy. We have plenty of sunshine and so it was a perfect project.

I made my own solar oven the next weekend. Two cardboard boxes, newspaper, plexiglass and lots of tape and foil. It took me a day to make this thing and less than $10. I gathered supplies from all over town and had fun using a ruler and math to build something with my own hands. This, coming from a person who works at a desk all day...

It's not pretty but I've made oatmeal cookies, beans and Latin chicken in it. It gets to about 200 degrees, the same temperature as a slow cooker on a low setting. Just recently I made the chicken and it took all day while I was at work, the same as if it were in a slow cooker, but I didn't have to plug it in.

Beans in the solar oven.

I think this thing is great and I feel we are wasting too much of the sun's energy. It's just pounding down on every inch of the Earth and we're not doing much with it. I would have no idea how to do the math, but I didn't use any electricity to make two meals and some cookies. I plan to make more foods in the solar oven. A quick "slow cooker recipes" search brings up so many delicious ideas.

The Latin chicken, by the way, was delicious. It has black beans, red peppers, sweet potatoes, hot salsa, cilantro, lime and a few hearty spices. I served it over rice and it was great.