Solar oven - pantry meal / Cranberry Orange Chicken

This recipe comes from my mother. I love the tang and the sweet/sour effect of the cranberry sauce and orange marmalade. I also put in Rosemary and a bullion cube. It all comes from (or can come from) the pantry.  I mix enough "sauce" to cover my chicken pieces.

Candycane beets and Turnips (you can use potatoes, carrots, squash...)

Ready to go out.

Cooked all day in the Solar oven...

Mmmmmmmmmmm carmelized! The rosemary looks sad though.

I thickened the sauce with a flour slurry but you could eat it without. Mash the veggies (have used carrots or any other root veggie or squash - I must try acorn squash!) and serve the sauce over them. I just pile the chicken on top.You could just serve it over instant rice or instant mashed potatoes or better yet, cornbread. I must be hungry.

BBQ ribs in the solar oven.

Ribs in slow cooker bag inside solar oven.

Before they went into the oven - just the rub on them.

My oven.

Done, carmalized - Mmmmmmmmmmmm

Rib Rub

Yield: Makes a little more than 1 cup
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    1/4 cup paprika
    1 tablespoon black pepper
    1 tablespoon salt
    1 tablespoon chili powder
    1 tablespoon garlic powder
    1 tablespoon onion powder
    1 teaspoon cayenne

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients together and transfer to an air tight container. Maybe stored up to six months.

Planting Asparagus

Hole dug to 16 inches deep and blocks placed (the hard part) - composted manure laid in the bottom then filled to 12inches deep...

Organic material (composted leaves and house veggies/weeds - two years old) mounded in middle of bed with Asparagus crowns laid out on top

another angle

covered over and watered in - dirt higher on the outside edges - as the asparagus emerges dirt will be filled in to almost cover weekly until the mound is in the middle

The asparagus is doing well. You never pick the first years crop. The plant needs to build up it's root system. You can lightly harvest the second year. You should be able to harvest pretty vigorously after that.

Cleaning out the food storage - 1/2013

Well it is that time of the year when I clean out food storage and decide what has to be eaten this month. (a.k.a. what canned goods expired last year.) I try to keep up on rotation but...
This is our front entry closet. I still have room to the left for coats and brooms/mops etc.There are only two of us and my goal is a three months supply.

Before

New shelves built and food sorted

Cans dated with sharpie (beans and meat shelf)

Boxes dated (expiration year only)

Cans that outdated in 2011 and will be used in next few weeks - not bad! Most manufacturers only date their canned food for 24 mos. We all know it will last longer. I will look more closely at the expiration dates on the cans in the grocery store going forward. Boxed food goes stale faster and I like to use that in date.

 This does not include my dry goods pantry or my spice cabinets.

Roasted Eggplant with Sausage Gravy Solar Oven - Video

Ingredients, dried red jalapenos in jar...

eggplants and sausage patties/onions.

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gravy mix on top of great

dehydrated tomatoes

mash sausage and mix with gravy

Gravy put on veggies and put back in solar oven

Porcupine Meatballs - not a total failure. Read bottom of page.

Meatballs with raw rice in them - could use rabbit, chicken, turkey, venison...

Condensed tomato soup added per recipe

Cooked in the dutch oven all day

Experiment interesting- I'm not going to post the recipe because I didn't think the meatballs or the sauce were any good. We did eat them but it tasted like bland meat balls in tomato soup - go figure.

OK, lessons learned...

1) Tons more seasoning in the meatballs

2) Canned or homemade marinara

3) More liquid (or smaller pan) so liquid covers meatballs and any rice that pokes out.  Rice was "crunchy"

4) Great use of rice as a meal stretcher - kids will love the look

Will definitely try it again with Grandma Prego's recipe.

WAPI - Water Pasteurization Device

Water Pasteurization Indicator (WAPI) - small tube filled with a soy wax that melts at 149F

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It's a simple thermometer that indicates when water has reached pasteurization temperature and is safe to drink.  I put mine to the test today in the solar oven and it worked! (OK, I knew it would)

Solar oven cold

Water, WAPI and jar cold - note wax is solid                                                

Oven HOT enough to kill bacteria - two hours later (outside temp 52F when we got started and 69F at finish)

Melted but in water - hard to see on screen

Lifted out of the water, wax melted.

Still melted - hung with one end up so the wax will harden to one end (It cools and hardens quickly!)