The first week or so with our solar cooker...

A bit over a week ago we purchased a Tulsi solar cooker from the Rainbow Power Company and it arrived in the post within the week - how exciting.  We chose the Tulsi solar cooker primarly becasue it looked like it would be sturdy enough to take it camping and it was half the price of another well known solar oven on the market.  It only has a single reflector panel at the back and not the angled deflectors around the entire oven - but so far seems to be working well for a range of things...  here is a picture of the solar cooker from the LB Healing Products Grain Mills website which also has the specs on the Tulsi solar cooker.

We place the solar oven in the wheelbarrow so that we can chase the sun around the back yard.... it sits over by the chook pen in the morning and moves toward the lemon tree to chase the afternoon sun.  For most bakes in the solar oven we have to move the whellbarrow and oven only two or three times over the course of the day (mainly to avoid the shade from a tree in the yard).  It has proven to be a great break from my working on the computer in my home office.

It is also well insulated... so if I have cooked a meal in the oven during the day and I have to take the kids to soccer or music I simply close the cooker... disappear for and hour or two and come home to serve up a hot meal.... how good is that.  It has certainly taken the stress out of preparing a meal for hungry kids after their afterschool activities...

Here is a selection of the spoils produced in our first week or so with our solar oven. 

Our tomatoes before and after a couple of hours slow baking in the solar oven.....

... then baked further with some rissoles for the evening meal along with a pot of rice...

..a simple fruit cake... not quite as crunchy on the top as in the fan forced electric oven but nonetheless eaten quickly by the family..

... next an Indian meal for 4 adults and three kids.... all cooked in the solar cooker during the day... simply prepare and put in the oven, no stirring and no burning or catching on the bottom of the pot..

I baked (in the electric oven) some homemade ricotta and Naan bread to accompany the Indian food.. along with some yoghurt and cucumber dip... what a feast we had!

.. and finally... some apple and rhubard cobbler..... rhubarb is a great treat from the garden at the moment..

We have had heaps of fun with the solar cooker over the first week or so... it is cloudy and raining at the moment so the solar cooker is sitting out the back waiting for the sun shine again. 

With the Easter break approaching we are looking forward to packing our solar cooker on our camping trip to see what meals we can create....

What do you cook in your solar oven/cooker?  Or do you have a favourite recipe we could try in our cooker?