More meals from the sun

I have made many meals in my solar oven in the past few weeks.

Due to the fact that RMan and I both have slightly raised cholesterol levels, we have been advised by our GP to eat chicken, fish or ostrich - especially RMan who loves his meat.  Ostrich is plentiful in this country, and is as versatile to prepare as chicken or meat.

So when I spotted a pack of ostrich goulash in the local shop's fridge, I thought I'd give it a try.

Yummy, tender and as easy as pie.  The only time I used conventional power was to brown (and seal) the onions and the chunks of ostrich.  Onions, carrots, tomatoes and herbs came from my garden too :-)

Then I also made a lasgane using ostrich mince.  Again - the only conventional power used was for browning the onions and mince, and making the bechamel sauce.

I don't know about you, but whenever I have cooked a lasagne before, it always seems to make such a mess when it overboils in my oven.  So I got clever, as the last thing I want on the floor of my solar oven is a sticky, overcooked mess.  I placed the lasagne dish inside another dark pot.  That way any mess would be contained.  It was :-)

Even though the cheese will not brown, as in a conventional oven, the lasagne was such a success - it was ready by 2.00pm and RMan couldn't resist testing it before I popped it in my hotbox.  Both he and RSon voted for a repeat - in fact, just as I was heading to bed, I caught RSon in the fridge having thirds, or was that fourths...?

But - I'm even more chuffed.  There was enough mince left over to make ostrich canneloni.  That has been divided into two portions, par cooked and placed in the freezer.  It will make ideal food to take with us the next time we go to the farm where I will complete the cooking porcess in our very basic solar oven (the fancier one I leave in Cape Town - so that I can experiment properly J ).

Please - don't tell our GP that we're consuming cheese once in a while...  It's as bad as eggs - cholesterol-wise.

I also made breadcrumbs in the solar oven - stale left-over bread whizzed up into crumbs, spread out on a tray and popped it in the oven and Hey! presto!  breadcrumbs a short while later :-)  And boiled potatoes for mash.

Lastly, another meal I made was spinach canneloni...  That has got to be my most favourite meal ever!  The solar oven cooked it perfectly.  Again, the only power usage came from the bechamel sauce - even the spinach leaves were pre-wilted in the oven.

Does anyone have any favourite recipes they would like me to try and convert, and try out, in the solar oven?  Please mail me at: dani atsign ecofootprint dot co dot za