Welcome To My Blog

I love my SUN OVEN. This is the most amazing way to cook! Great for emergencies, camping, saving energy, or just for FUN. Get excited about using the sun for cooking, then give me a call. Connie Mason, The Sun Oven Lady

How The Sun Oven Works

Friday, December 11, 2009

Winter Cooking

Yesterday was very cold but mostly sunny with mid day high temp at 23 degrees. I set my oven out at 9a.m. when the temperature was only 9 degrees F. My oven reached 300 degrees even in the cold. I cooked a pot of beans for supper. I had presoaked them, then I cheated a little and brought them up to boiling before putting them in the oven. I took off and went shopping for a time and let them just cook. They were cooked by later afternoon, I then added seasonings and let them cook some more (in the house since it was too late in the day for any more sun). *See recipe below. (All ingredients from my food storage.) You can use any dried (or canned, if in a hurry) beans. I used a mixture of 1/2 c. each of Red Kidney, Black, Pink, and Pinto beans. We liked the mixture.

The colder temperature, along with the boiling liquid in the pot, created quite a bit of condensation on the oven glass. To cure that, I just ventilated it a bit by placing a Popsicle stick between the glass and the rubber gasket. This probably takes a little bit of the heat out of the oven, but not nearly as much as the fog on the window blocking the sun out.

Simply Delicious Beans
5 c. soaked, cooked beans, drained. (About 2 c. dried)
2-3 c. water
2 T. dried onion
1 1/2 t. beef bullion
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cumin
1/8 t. pepper
Pinch of ground ginger
Pinch of garlic powder

Combine all ingredients; bring to a boil. Simmer, covered 20-30 minutes. Serves 4-5
Variation 1: Add carrots or any other vegetable. If dehydrated, add additional water to rehydrate.
Variation 2: Add 1 t. honey and 1 c. salsa. Serve over rice.
*Recipe from the book "Emergency Food in a Nutshell"

Note: Soak beans (3 c. water to 1 c. beans) over night. Drain, add fresh water for cooking. OR: Bring water and beans to boil. Boil 2 min. then turn off. Soak for 2 hours. Cook in fresh water. Discarding soaking and cooking water helps to reduce the gas digesting beans causes. Eating them with rice makes a complete protein and helps with the gas also.

Friday, December 4, 2009

SUN OVEN Cooking Indoors


Some folks have asked whether you can use the SUN OVEN indoors or not. Well, here is your answer! Yes, it does work. Not as well as outside, but it works.

I have a South facing picture window in my living room. This time of year we get lots of sun coming through the window, so I decided to try it out. I set up one oven outside and one oven inside to compare. My front window has 2 panes of glass, plus a storm window with 2 panes of glass, some of which I believe is low-E.

The results? Even though the outside temperature was cold (around 40 degrees), the outside oven heated up faster and hotter than the one inside. I got about 300 degrees outside compared to 250-270 degrees inside. Not bad indoors, still hot enough for a slow cook. I put some cookies in and they cooked fine. It took them longer (almost twice as long) at the lower temperature.

Another good option: My garage also faces South. When I open up the garage door, I get about 6-8 feet of sunshine on the garage floor. I moved the car and set the oven up in the garage. This works well to protect the oven if the wind is blowing some outside.

Try your oven out for winter cooking. I'm finding things take a little longer because; (1) the sun is furthur away in the winter (make sure you adjust the leg all the way up to tilt the oven as the sun is also lower on the horizon), (2) there seems to be more haze in the atmosphere especially if we are experiencing an inversion.

Also the day is much shorter so plan carefully to get your food cooked before you lose the sun.