Solar Ovens Email:
Thanks for expressing interest in the invention convention club! Below you will find the details about our first meeting, please let me know if you have any questions! Since this activity is dependent on the SUN SHINING, please check email the morning of the event if the weather is questionable!
What: Solar Ovens
When: Fiday September 3, 2010 10 AM--we will build the ovens when we get there, get the food in them and the kids can play while the food cooks.
Where: Miami Riverview Park Loveland, OH (see directions at the very end of email), we will meet under the large shelter behind the playground.
What will be provided: Pizza box, black construction paper, scissors, glue, straws/dowels, newspaper
What each family needs to bring: item to cook (S’mores, hot dogs, small pizza, English muffin pizzas or see suggestions below), aluminum foil, piece of plastic (size of pizza box) or plastic wrap, tape. You will also want to bring drinks for your family and additional lunch items if you think your kids might get hungry.
A solar oven is relatively simple to make! We will be making pizza box solar ovens as a group or you can feel free to bring the materisal to make a different kind of solar oven (see suggestions below the pizza box oven information or feel free to bring any other solar oven you have seen directions for). I would love to see different types of ovens so the kids can compare the results!
What we will do as a group:
Build a Pizza Box Solar Oven
You will need: 1 pizza box (provided), tape or non-toxic glue, scissors(provided), black construction paper (provided), clear plastic, aluminum foil, wooden dowel/straw (provided), item to cook.
Directions:
1. Draw a border (at least one inch) around all four sides of the top of a pizza box. Cut along three sides leaving the line along the back of the box uncut.
2. Gently fold the flap back along the uncut edge to form a crease. Wrap the underside (inside) face of this flap with aluminum foil. Tape or glue it so that the foil is held smoothly and firmly with not too much tape showing on the foil side of the flap.
3. Open the box and line the bottom with black construction paper. Tape it along the edges.
4. Cut a piece of plastic an inch larger than the lid opening on the box top. Tape it on the underside of the lid opening. (Heavy plastic laminate works best, but if you must use plastic wrap, make sure it is pulled tight.)
5. Add another piece of plastic to the top of the lid opening. This creates an insulating layer of air to keep heat in the box.
Cooking Tips: This shallow solar oven is ideal for heating S'mores, English muffin pizzas, warming store-bought cookies or biscuits. It won't get super hot, though, so you can't bake or cook things like a turkey or chicken in it. On a sunny day, take your pizza box oven outside. Lay a folded towel, blanket, or thick newspaper underneath the box for insulation. You may need to prop the oven up on one side so that it sits at an angle facing the sun directly. Place a treat inside the box. Open the reflective flap and use a dowel/straw to adjust the flap so that it bounces sunlight into the box. (The shadow of the flap should go straight back from the back of the box.) Wait about a half hour, then you can enjoy your sun-warmed treat!
Other cooker ideas:
Insulated cooker:
You need is a box (about one foot deep) with an aluminum foil interior, a clear glass or plastic cover, and a reflective backdrop (such as a large piece of aluminum-covered cardboard). Two boxes, one inside the other, with crumpled newspaper inbetween will help keep heat in. Cut the box's sides at a slant so the back is higher than the front. This will allow the sun to shine in without having to tip the box at an angle (and thus spill the food). Experiment with your own design.
Foods are best cooked in a black pot to absorb the heat. Cast iron works great. If you don't have a glass top for your solar oven, you can use glass-covered pots to capture the sun's rays. Heat-resistant plastic oven bags also work well. Don't use shiny pots or aluminum foil wrap.
Foods you can cook in a solar oven include: potatoes, rice, beans, vegetables (no water needed), hot dogs, fish, chicken, pizzas, nachos, frozen bread dough, cookies, brownies, and s'mores. Keep in mind that cooking times will be twice as long as conventional methods, but you won't have to worry about the food burning or overheating.
Solar cookers can be used for six months of the year in northern climates and year-round in desert or tropical locations. Solar ovens work best with full sun between 10:00 am - 2:00 pm, although in Arizona those hours can be extended. The reflector will need to be adjusted and the oven will need repositioning from time to time to keep the sun shining directly on the food.
Caution: Temperatures in a solar oven can reach 200-425 degrees F, so wear oven mitts and don't burn yourself. Also, don't look directly at reflected sunlight.
Make a "Pringle" Can Cooker
1. Eat all of the potato chips in a Pringles canister. Wipe out the inside. Notice that the interior is lined with foil, which is perfect for reflecting sun rays. A solar cooker with a curved shape like this is called a parabolic trough.
2. Cut a long slit from one end of the canister to the other, leaving about 1 inch closed at each end. Now cut a slit "across" each end of the first slit, about 1 inch on either side of it. Gently pull open both sides of the long slit so that the sun can shine into the canister.
3. Punch a hole through both ends of the can (the metal bottom and the plastic lid). Push a skewer (or unpainted wire coat hanger) through the metal end of the canister. Put a hotdog on the skewer. Put the plastic lid on the canister, and push the end of the skewer through the hole in the lid.
4. Set your cooker out in direct sunlight on a table, rock, or other object that is raised off the ground. (Hopefully where animals or insects won't get at it!) Adjust the trough so that the sun is reflected onto the hot dog. Rotate the skewer periodically to heat the hot dog on all sides. You can also cook marshmallows and kabobs this way.
Recipes:
Solar-Cooked Corn on the Cob
Wrap an ear of corn, with some inner leaves left on, in plastic wrap. Then place it inside a black sock - a clean one, please! Cook in solar oven until soft, unwrap, brush with butter, and sprinkle with salt.
Solar-Cooked Pinto Beans
Soak about 1/2 pound of pinto beans in water overnight. Drain the beans and add fresh water to cover the beans by about 1/2 inch. Add a pinch of salt, some chopped onion, a little garlic, and a slice of bacon if you like. Put this into a covered dark pot and cook all day in a solar oven. The beans are done when they are tender.
Solar Stew
Combine 1-2 pounds beef stew meat (cut up into small pieces), 1 can (16 oz.) potatoes, 1 can (10 oz.) cream-of-tomato soup, 1 package dry onion soup mix, 1 can (7 oz.) peas (drained), and 1/3 cup ketchup. Bake in solar oven until done.
The following recipe is cooked outdoors in the sun but doesn't require a solar oven:
Solar Fresh Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
4 large, fully ripe tomatoes, peeled and thinly sliced 4 smashed garlic cloves 30-40 fresh basil leaves, chopped ¼ cup olive oil ½ teaspoon salt 3-4 twists of pepper mill 6 cups milk (skim for nonfat yogurt, whole milk for rich yogurt) 1/3 cup nonfat dry milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon commercial yogurt (such as Yoplait or Dannon; plain or flavored is okay) You will also need a thermometer.
Links:
http://solarcooking.org
(The Solar Cooking Archive is an excellent site with lots of information, articles, photographs, illustrated solar oven construction plans, teaching guides, solar cooking news from around the world, a slideshow, audio presentations, links, and additional resources.)
www.solarhaven.org/SolarCooking.htm (A nice site with photos, recipes, and links.)
www.thirteen.org/edonline/lessons/solar (A solar cooking lesson plan for teachers, with activity ideas and questions to ask students.)
www.sunoven.com (Sun Oven website and recipes with photos: Girl Scout Camp Supper, Banana Bread, Baked Pears, Basmati Rice, and many more.)
www.solarnow.org/pizzabx.htm (Instructions and illustrated diagrams for making a pizza box solar oven.)
Directions to Park:
Take I-275 to exit #52 (Loveland/Indian Hill) and turn LEFT at the bottom of the exit ramp. Follow to the first road on the right (Hopewell) and turn RIGHT onto HOPEWELL. Follow about .3 mile to Branch Hill-Loveland Rd (you should see a small brown sign on the right hand side of the road pointing to the park) and turn LEFT onto BRANCH HILL-LOVELAND RD. Follow about 1.5 miles to the park entrance on your RIGHT. MIAMI RIVERVIEW PARK.
