Today I used my Global Sun Oven just like a "crock pot". Most often that is how I use it but today felt especially cool after the seminar I attended on Saturday. A lot of people are surprised to find that the Global Sun Oven can be used as a slow cooker using the insert from their crock-pots! At the Solar Cooking Seminar with Paul Munsen, (President of Sun Ovens International, Inc.)he told us a few things that are less known about using the solar oven. I realized I had already been using it for my slow cooker, but when Paul said it...I just felt so cool. Like, "hey...I thought of that too..." The cooking times with the slow cooker recipes are exactly the same as the "low" setting. So, any recipe you have for the slow cooker...can be done solar.
You will need to remove the metal shelf within the unit and just put the pot right on the bottom of your cooker.
This is a six quart insert that fits just perfectly in the Solar oven. I keep it on a rolling Craftsman Tool cart that has been a perfect perch for my oven out in the sun.
Chili cooked perfectly in the solar oven instead of using the electricity and heating up the kitchen! How cool is that?! In Arizona, the cost of cooling my house goes way down if I don't use the regular oven and the slow cooker on the kitchen counter. The solar oven has offered a great alternative method for cooking that my family loves.
Cool! I didn't know you could remove the metal thingee. That opens up all sorts of possibilities. I also use mine as a slow cooker.. been known to throw a frozen roast and veggies in in the morning (aiming it toward the mid-day sun) and come home after work to a perfectly cooked meal. YUM
ReplyDeleteCrazy huh? Paul said you can use an oven bag an cook a turkey in there! Now that's something I never thought of doing in July!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! When my oven conked out on me, I used our bbq grill to bake bread on a pizza stone...turned out great
ReplyDeleteTurkey? What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post! I hate to display my ignorance, but I don't have a slow cooker and I'm pretty new to solar cooking too. So I'm a little unclear on how this approach differs from using the baked enamel pots that I got (as an optional accessory) with my Sun Oven? I guess I'm asking what the slow cooker pot does for me? (Is it better at trapping heat or moisture or something?) I'll get a slow cooker if I need one, but do you have any advice on what to look for so I can be sure it fits, etc.? Thanks again for sharing this info!
ReplyDeleteThe advantage of using the slow cooker insert for me is that I can get more capacity than I can in the insert that comes with the solar oven. Only difference. If you have more than one of the solar oven pans that come with it, you can now stack them, but at the time I wrote this post I didn't have more than one of the smaller pans. So, this worked great as an alternative.
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