Solar Sunday

Of course the above photo has nothing to do with the topic but it was just so dad-burn cute I had to post it. They are just so rotten angelic.

Today is a great day to experiment with the solar oven as it is very cloudy. Supposedly if you get 20 minutes of sunshine every hour you can still cook solar. Since the heat index is only 97 today (yeah...this really is how we think in our state) I'm thinking you could probably just sit a casserole out and it would bake with or without the solar oven. Maybe after I perfect the solar oven I'll delve into that subject. Maybe not.

Last weeks cake (Independence Day Challenge Update) was a success and a disaster. The experimental cake baked in about 2 hours and while baking the entire back yard smelled yummy and orange-y. People talk like this when they have children and the heat index is 97.

The disaster was that it was so heavenly and moist I ate about 90% of it by myself AFTER I glopped vanilla frosting all over it. A valuable lesson learned. Avoid solar sweets since I have no will power whatsoever.

Toady we are cooking something more boring healthy. The following applesauce recipe is copied from Cooking With Sunshine a great solar cooking manual by Lorraine Anderson and Rick Palkovic. They say, "this is the most delicious applesauce we've ever eaten, as well as easiest to make." I'll let you all know after I've eaten 90% of it.

Yield: 4 cups
6 Golden Delicious apples, peeled,quartered and cored (I used organic Gala on hand)
Juice of 1 lemon (from our tree squeezed with a fabulous thrift store find of last week)
Dash of cinnamon (optional)
Place apples in dark pot, sprinkle juice over the apples, and cover the pot tightly
Bake in solar oven for 3-4 hours, until apples can be easily pierced with a fork
Mash apples with a hand masher or in a blender at low speed, adding a little cinnamon if you want.

Enjoy!