 Yesterday it was somewhere around 110 degrees in Okieland. Shoot, at 7 pm it was still 107! It’s that kind of stifling heat that just puts you in a bad mood. A lot of people are in a bad mood around here. The sad part is that the weatherman says that it will be this way for the next 20 or so days unless a miraculous tropical storm comes ashore and moves north. I never thought that I would hope for a tropical storm! On days like these, one has a tendency to get a little odd. Heat has a way of doing that to people. It’s getting so bad that we in the country are seeing Dairy Queen mirages, in the distance, way down the gravel road and in a film of dust. You take off at a jog, salivating for a frozen, cold, chocolatey Dilly Bar, only to wind up in a cloud of lime dust as the mirage disappears, without so much as a popsicle stick. It is truly sad. Yesterday, to keep myself from going crazy, I decided to do something different. I mean, REALLY different. I had received an email from a reader, and questions from a friend, regarding solar ovens. As I said in the last post, my experience has been with reflector ovens, but a solar oven seemed of utmost interest considering we Okies are not allowed to even say the word fire, let alone strike a match in our parched environs right now. And the thought of not heating up the kitchen gave real incentive. So, I did some research and chose this hottest day of the week to harness the rays of the brutal sun to make dinner for Mr. Fix-It. I settled on a meal of chicken breasts, carrots, new potatoes and onions and thought I would surprise him with this delicious meal. Somehow, I knew his reaction would be, “Chicken cooked in the sun? Nope. Not taking my chances. Sounds like ptomaine poisoning in a box.” However, he always loses and eats whatever I put in front of him. He hasn’t died yet. So the following is a step-by-step process for making a very simple solar oven. I kid you not – it works!!
 Fold the flaps of the small box inside the box or cut them off. Line the inside of the box with aluminum foil and press against the sides as smooth as possible. Tape the foil to the outside of the box or just fold it over in place.  Cut a sheet of construction paper to fit the bottom of the small box. I had to piece this one together and taped it together on the underside of the paper. As I was cutting the construction paper, I felt like Captain Kangaroo with safety scissors showing a craft project on television. I think it was that sound of cutting construction paper. OK. So the heat is getting to me. Just ignore me.  Wad up sheets of newspaper or newsprint and make a cushion on the bottom of the large box.  Center the small box inside the large box and pack wadded paper around the small box as insulation.  Measure the opening of the large box and cut the extra cardboard to measure 4″ longer and wider.  Cover the cardboard with aluminum foil and tape or glue onto the back. Note: I can see using mirrors instead of aluminum foil in this project and getting some hot heat!   Staple the cardboard to the back flap of the large box with the aluminum foiled surface facing toward the box opening. Tape the flap to the cardboard piece for extra strength.  I sprinkled garlic powder, paprika, thyme and pepper on boneless, skinless chicken breasts  I added new potatoes, carrots and onions into the bottom of a dark enamel pot. The pots or pans need to be dark and so cast iron or enamel work well.  Chicken breasts were placed on top of the veggies and 1 tbsp of Italian dressing, 1/3 cup of water and 1 tsp of chicken bouillon granules were added.  The pot is placed inside the small box (a thermometer is hanging from the handle of the pan) and plastic wrap is stretched tightly over the opening of the large box. The plastic wrap is taped to the sides.  Voila – I just covered the front flap with foil to make it look balanced. It’s the artist in me.  Now, I discovered a problem for Oklahomans. We have wind. REAL wind – you know, that comes sweeping down the plain ala the movie. So, I grabbed a trashcan full of 2 x 4 scraps and put it behind the cardboard reflector. I ran packing tape from the reflector around the trash can. That way, I could move the trash can and repostition the cardboard if I needed to in order to catch the sun right.  Within minutes it got up to 160º  I checked it about every 45 minutes but only looked at the food once. It cooked for 8 hours with the highest temperature reaching 190º. When planning your recipes, look at it like a crockpot slow cooker.  All done  It was delicious! Really. So tender! I think that the only thing I might have changed would be that I would add some cream of mushroom soup to the chicken! Now you can bake in the sun and not use a drop of suntan lotion!! |
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