Participants in the re-energy.ca Solar Oven Challenge have submitted their tried and true solar oven recipes over the years:

Desserts

Gourmet S'Mores

Ingredients
1 tube of Pilsbury cookie dough or home-made chocolate chip cookie dough
1 bag of mini-marshmallows

Preparation
Add mini-marshmallows to cookie dough and stir.
Drop batter by tbsp onto baking sheet and place in the solar oven.
Allow to bake (we got enough heat that the marshmallows melted nicely to mix in with the cookie dough, and the cookie dough actually crisped a bit).
Remove the cookies and place between graham wafers.

Spectacular Solar S'Mores

This variation on a classic works very well in a small pizza box solar oven.

Ingredients
peanut butter
chocolate chips or butterscotch chips or white choc chips (or combinations of all)
mini marshmallows
graham crackers

Preparation
Check for allergies/restricted diets before having the students make these. Allow each child to put his/hers together how they want. It works best to leave them "open face" so that you can see the ingredients melt. 16 crackers fit perfectly in a small pizza box solar oven. Within 3 hours of baking things were definitely "cookin'".

Sustainable Banerry S'Mores

Purchase local and organic and if imported look for fair trade and organic products.

Ingredients
bananas
berries
chocolate chips
graham crackers
marshmallows

Preparation
Place the bananas, berries, chocolate chips and marshmallows on a graham cracker and place in the oven. Wait until chocolate and marshmallows melt. Remove from the oven and place another graham cracker on the top. Enjoy!

Solar S'Mores

Ingredients
Marshmallows (mini are fine)
Chocolate chips or pieces of chocolate

Preparation
Place the marshmallows and pieces of chocolate in a glass bowl and mix.
Place the glass bowl and ingredients in the solar oven.
Remove from the solar oven when the chocolate and marshmallow has melted.
Place some of the chocolate/marshmallow mixture on a graham cracker.

Solar Power Puffs

Ingredients
4 tbsp unsalted butter
8 oz semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (coarsely chopped)
½ cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cup flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 cup icing sugar (sifted)

Preparation
In a saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter. In a bowl, mix the eggs and sugar until the batter is thick. Add the vanilla and melted chocolate and stir.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the above mixture.
Drop batter onto a baking sheet and place in the solar oven until cooked. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly and then roll in the icing sugar. YUM!

Main Courses

Mama Nature's Greena Pizzeria

Ingredients
small pitas
tomato sauce
grated cheese
pizza toppings such as mushrooms, ham, pineapple, etc.

Preparation
Spread the tomato sauce on top of the small pitas. Place the pizza toppings on top of the tomato sauce. Cover with grated cheese.
Place in the solar oven and cook until the cheese melts.Pizza-reffic!

Busy Teacher Tin Foil Dinner

Ingredients
ground beef (or hamburger patties work well too)
onion/garlic
mixed frozen veggies
frozen hash brown potatoes
salt/pepper/seasoning Salt
aluminum foil

Preparation
This is simple enough to have students do the cooking. Remember to have everyone wash their hands!

In a frying pan, thoroughly brown ground beef with diced garlic and onions. Add veggies and hash browns and cook through. (Just in case!) Add seasonings (or students can put their own seasonings on individual portions).

Cut aluminum foil into pieces that will hold one portion of the food. Place one portion of the food in the middle of the aluminum foil (add seasonings if that hasn't already been done). Fold the aluminum foil over the food and fold to make a tight food packet. Heat for several hours in the solar oven! Students can eat straight from the packet. Enjoy!

Franks & Beans with a Twist

Ingredients
hot dogs, sliced and diced (or veggie dogs)
brown beans (maple flavor is yummy)
pineapple tidbits
bacon pieces (precooked is easiest)
brown sugar to taste (optional)

Preparation
Mix all of the ingredients together (if not a really sunny day you might with to preheat the mixture). Cook for several hours in the solar oven (you can't overcook this recipe). Enjoy the sunshine by eating outdoors!

Salsa Hot Dogs

Ingredients
hot dogs, sliced and diced (or veggie dogs)
salsa
grated cheese

Preparation
Place the hot dog pieces in the bottom of the cooking container. Cover with salsa and cheese. Cook in the solar oven until the cheese is melted and hot dogs are cooked. Spoon out of the container onto buns or bread. Actually tasted pretty good!

Brown/White Rice Surprise

Ingredients
1 cup brown or white rice
1 tsp salt
2 cups water
pre-cooked meat such as chicken

Preparation
Mix ingredients and place in a 1 quart dark pot with lid or 1 quart mason jar.
Place in a solar oven at 250 degrees or so and cook for 1 hour or until done.

Let's Heat it Up Casserole

Ingredients
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups rice
2 cups water
1 cup corn
2 cups broccoli
1 cup salsa
1 cup cheese, shredded
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation
We precooked our chicken, then we added all the ingredients except for the cheese and stirred everything together.
We then took the cheese and sprinkled it over the top.

Refreshments

Solar Sweet Cider

Ingredients
250 ml apple juice
1 Tbsp caramel syrup (Starbucks)
whipping cream
caramel sauce

Preparation
Combine the juice and caramel syrup in a jar with a lid. Place the jar in the solar oven. Cook until the liquid is warm. Pour into a mug and top with whip cream and caramel sauce.