Here Comes The Sun

Zephyr, contemplating his next delicious bite.

Jubilee's first ice cream cone!

A year ago, we decided to start saving some money for purchases that would help us live a more sustainable life. Today Jon is taking a friend to the airport in a nearby city and, while there, he'll pick up a solar water heater. Also, Wednesday, late afternoon, our solar oven was delivered!

That day was uncharacteristically overcast, so it was too late to have any fun. Although I was away from home yesterday during peak solar cooking time (10-2), when I arrived home I got busy. First, some peanut butter honey cookies:

Jon thinks this is one of the sexiest pictures he's ever seen. He's wanted a solar oven for years!

They did take longer to bake, about 18 minutes, although the recipe calls for 12. But we bake on stoneware, so they take a few minutes longer than recipe times in our gas oven as well. Here is the finished result:They were happily consumed by my book club. Of course, Jon, Zephyr, and I sampled our share as well.

I wasn't going to stop with cookies! Here's our dinner baking:


It's called Secretly Delicious Spinach Pie. I'm not sure what the secret is. It's basically a quiche, with a tortilla for the crust. And here it is, finished:
That's veggie bacon, of course. It is super yummy, and easy. Let me know if you want the recipe. Katie, who keeps popping up in my blog lately, sent it to me.

I tried to bake a second one in the solar oven to serve to book club, but the sun was leaving our yard to quickly. The temperature on the oven dropped substantially, even though Jon moved the oven around the yard several times, trying to catch the last few beams of light. I had to throw it into our conventional oven for a few minutes to finish baking.

Luckily, our family likes eating dinner at 5 pm, so the solar oven will be a good match for us. It's still dark out this morning, but I can't wait to get something in there today! Maybe a loaf of bread? Banana chocolate chip cake? Previously, I've always missed baked goods in the summer. It's just too hot where we live to turn the oven on very often. This year, it will bake-a-palooza all summer long!

As long as I'm here, I'll add a couple of child-related "things we never want to forget." On Wednesday, we parked at the co-op, then walked over to Walgreens to see if they had the electric razor Jon wants. Zephyr was zooming up the sidewalk ahead of me, pretending he was a train engine. "I'm the express, like James!" he gleefully yelled. On the way back, he started taking tiny steps. "Look at how slow Lady's going," he pretended he was another favorite engine. I glanced into the parking lot just in time to see a woman pausing before climbing into her truck, looking towards us, puzzled expression on her face, probably wondering if she had just been insulted by a passing preschooler.

Zephyr has been filled with admiration for his baby sister lately. Also on Wednesday, they were playing a game with sunglasses that had Jubilee in hysterics. "I like Jubi's smell when she laughs!" Zephyr decided. Closely examining her sunglassed face, he told her, "My favorite part of you is your tiny nose."

Then last night, Jubilee was running around naked in the moments before being pajamad. "I love you, Jubi," declared Zephyr. "I love every part of your body. I even love your booty! She does have a sweet booty. I like what it does when she walks. It shakes around!"

ps Just one last pic proving that I got over the fear, mentioned in my previous post, of the new child bike seat. As I peddled to the end of the block, Zephyr said, "Dada goes fast. But you're just learning." We road on to the park, Zephyr screeching, "Emergency bike to the rescue! WOOoooWOOooo" doing his best siren imitation. It was a lot of fun, and just a little scary!