2 Sun Cooked Meals baked at once!

 I switched out my regular corned beef and cabbage with a braised lamb and 5 grain stew for St. Patrick's Day. In addition, I made a new food storage recipe for turkey and stuffing casserole. I decided, "what the hey-diddly-dooo"...and stacked the pots to cook all at once in my New All American Sun Oven  from Honeyville! It had been a while since I did a lot of new stuff in my solar oven but cooking with the owner of Sun Oven International, Paul Munsen,  inspired me! As a random side note, on St. Patrick's day I decided wearing a kilt to church wasn't going to happen, so stacking pans while I was away would have to do it. Then of course that is when my son got sick and I had to stay home anyway. No. I didn't wear a kilt. I know you were curious.

The best part of doing two meals, was I didn't have to cook dinner the next day. I simply cooled the stuffing meal and put it in the fridge for re-heating later. It was ready to go. Two meals at a time is an awesome way to do dinner! I'm hooked!

Food Storage Turkey Stuffing Casserole
Thank you to Honeyvillegrain.com for the specialty ingredients!

2 1/2 cups Honeyville Freeze dried turkey (about 1 1/2 lbs fresh chopped turkey equivalent)
1 cup Honeyville freeze dried mushroom
1/2 cup Honeyville  freeze dried bell pepper
1/2 cup Honeyville freeze dried celery
1/4  cup Honeyville dehydrated onion
1/2 cup Honeyville milk powder
1/2 cup Honeyville cheese sauce powder
1 tsp Chef Tess French Provencal essential seasoning

4 cups Chef Tess Homemade Stove Cook Stuffing

It is possible to make this a shelf stable meal (up to 6 months) if you use a PET container with a metal lid and ring. I like using this one...a lot. My son Face asks for it weekly! To do so, place the turkey mixture in the bottom of a half-gallon jar and place the stuffing mix in a bag on top.  Remember it is important that the stuffing be very very dry for storage! 

To prepare: Combine the turkey mixture with 4 cups warm water. Allow to hydrate about 10 minutes. Top with dry stuffing mix and lightly push the stuffing down into the turkey mixture. Cover and bake in the solar oven at 300 degrees for least 35 minutes ( up to 6 hours covered if you are out and about) 

Now for the stew...

Tess' Lamb and Oat 5 Grain Sun-Cooked Stew
1 lb fresh cubed lamb, boneless
3T olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves minced garlic
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup baby carrots
2T tomato paste
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp fresh rosemary
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 cup whole oat groats
2T Whole rye
2T Whole red wheat
2T whole white wheat
2T Pearl barley
2 1/2 cups water or stock

Directions: Place the sun oven pan on the stove and bring olive oil to a very hot temperature. Sear the lamb in the pan until brown. Remove from the heat. Add remaining ingredients and cover with a tight fitting lid.

Place in a solar oven and bake until cooked through, about 3 hours. It can be kept in the solar oven up to 6 hours without any loss of quality. 

I simply stacked the two pans, put the lid on the top and put the solar oven facing south toward the sun in my yard. I walked away for 4 hours and when I came back, we had a delightful dinner waiting! 

There you go! Two new meals to make in a solar oven!

Always My Very Best, 
Your Friend Chef Tess

Solar Cooked Fire and Rain Barley Pilaf

This recipe can be made in a Solar Oven , or a crock pot. It's a whole grain barley pilaf made with big chunks of roasted garlic, sun dried tomatoes, toasted almonds and amazing flavor. Vegetarian, full of character, and still it manages to look totally fabulous. It's the barley version of my husband. Hello baby.

How does it do it? It's all that sun. It makes it happy. Kind of like me living in Arizona...where we get sun! So if you are just joining me on my many cooking journeys, grab on to your space satellite. Wait, that's not a satellite, it's my solar oven...

I got my oven for Mother's Day last year. After I cried, I didn't wait 20 minutes before I was cooking with it. I have loved it ever since. Before I had the industrial made solar oven, I had one I made from cardboard, rolled up newspaper, aluminum foil, glass, felt edge liner, and a mirror. It worked for cooking legumes and a few baked goods. I just wanted something more permanent. Hence my joy at getting this Global Sun Oven. Here's the link: Global Sun Ovens...My Choice for Solar Cooking. I also have it on good authority,( ha ha, my own)...that the home made ones work as well.

"Everyone should know that they can make their own solar cooker in about an hour from a single cardboard box, aluminum foil, a plastic bag, and a dark pot. Here is a link to free plans:The Fun-Panel" --Tom Sponheim Solar Cookers International

Tom Sponheim contacted me recently about adding a page to the Solar Cookers International website about Chef Tess Bakeresse. It sounds like my kind of zany fun. Seriously though, let's get back to the food.

Here's what you'll need for Fire and Rain Barley Pilaf

1/2 cup of garlic (yes I know it seems like a lot! It gets really mellow and roasted so don't panic)
I used the peeled garlic. I found it--organic on sale. so now it's official, I'm good.

1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (packed in oil),drained and chopped

I make my own sun dried tomatoes. More to come on that subject as the tomatoes progress with our dear Jim (Organic Tomato Farming ) guru extraordinaire. I also infuse the packing olive oil with lemon, orange and black pepper...however, any jarred variety will work.

Here's a glimpse into the jar...

In a dark covered pot (my cooker came with one) combine the garlic, tomato and the following:

1 cup pearled barley

1/2 medium onion chopped

1/4 cup sliced toasted almonds

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup yellow or green bell pepper, diced

Add the cooking liquid 3 cups vegetable stock or beef stock if you aren't vegetarian) and season generously. I used:

1/4 tsp each:

oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, dill

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp kosher salt

Cover and put in solar oven. My oven gets well over 350 degrees most of the time. It took 2 1/2 hours to bake. If you use a crock pot, 2 1/2 hours on high should do it.

Just out of the oven it looked like this. Just a little stir to mix in all the good stuff...

You may also add cheese after baking if you are not vegan vegetarian and want a little something more. I love it with 1/2 cup low fat cream cheese added to it at this point.

Grab a fork.

I actually served it with braised red cabbage and some totally non-vegetarian Shallot Herb Roasted Pork with Lemon Cream Sauce a... . That's what I love most about this dish. It can be a main course, or a side dish.

There you go.
Oh...it also freezes beautifully for a quick addition to soup or as a meal in and of itself. Try folding in cooked asparagus. I almost die from the sheer pleasure. Really.