I'm a Firecracker Queen!

See my crown? I'm the featured Firecracker Queen of the Week on Jules Cohn's A Little Bite of Life blog! You can find the interview here. I hope you'll visit, leave some comment love, and take some time to discover a really unique blog with heavy focus on how to make your own blogs better! Have a great day! And, thank you, Jules.

P.S. I feel soooooo bad. [sniff, sniff] Some of you are telling me that Blogger says the page doesn't exist. When I clicked on the link, the same thing happened to me. I re-entered and tested the link. It worked. I hope you don't have any more trouble. It does work if you copy and paste it into your address bar. Or, you can go directly to the blog, A Little Bite of Life, and it will take you the current post. From there, you just have to scroll down to the May 24th entry! Sorry. Blogger been giving me fits these past few weeks, too.

Announcing the Winners of my 100 Followers Giveaway!

Congratulations! We have five WINNERS to my 100 Followers Giveaway! A special thank you to all of you who have visited and decided to stay to discover more about solar cooking for mainstream cooks. Entries were given a number and all numbers placed in a deep basket. Late last night, my sister was asked to pick five numbers from the basket, held high above her head.  These five winners were sent an email notice, as well, so that I could send them their copy of A Month of SUNdays - Solar Cooking at Home. It's not only a cookbook for solar chefs, every recipe works equally as well in conventional ovens.

The winners have been placed in chronological order. Congratulations!



Entry #6 - Ruby from Ruby's Musings

Entry #8 - Dilli, a follower from Georgia

Entry #11 - txazlady from The Solar Cooker - An Adventure in Solar Cooking

Entry #14 - Christine from Write-Brained 

Entry #16 - Nicole from Destination Unknown 

I hope all of you will continue the journey of mainstream solar cooking with me. I love your comments and so look forward to your visits. Have a great day, now!

100 Visible Followers - Means It's Give-away Time!

What a wonderful surprise! Here I was, going about my business, and then looked over at my followers thingy and -- OMG -- I've reached 100. And, the counter has again returned to zero, but, this time, you're going to see my invention, a solar oven for the mainstream cook, the SolarChief(R) Isn't it pretty! Many more details will follow -- this is just a sneak peek for you wonderful people who have been patient and following me lo these many months.

Never thought I'd get to 100 followers; honest. Just wanted to add recipes, tips and techniques to folks that were solar cooking, using my cookbook "A Month of SUNdays -- Solar Cooking at Home" and continue to share that great experience. Solar cooking is still very much a niche in America but we're growing strong trying to use less fossil fuel energy and put some money back in our pockets.
Book II is almost ready for publication and my SolarChief(R) solar oven will be debuting on May 28th at the Midtown Market on the Commons in the North Hills Shopping Center, Raleigh NC! That's my new 'home' for sales through November 19. A beautiful shopping mall and I'll be there every other weekend from 8am until Noon. Phew! What a month. 

100. That's a magic number; right? And that means I should find a way to celebrate with you. A little give-away, perhaps? I'd love for it to be diamonds, Blahnik shoes, Gucci bags, but that just isn't in my budget and I've already given away 35 cars (just a joke, to see if you were paying attention! 8-)  But, what I can do is give five of you a free copy of my cookbook -- a great beginner's way of discovering solar cooking for yourself!
If you would like to participate, leave me some comment love on this post and let me know why you would like to be a winner besides discovering the joys of solar cooking. Or, if you already are solar cooking, what do you like best about it? Comments will be numbered and on May 24th, at 11:55p.m., the five (5) winning comment numbers will be drawn and on May 25th, the winners will be announced in the Winners post, as well as notified by email. Good luck, to all of you! And, thank you for being followers!

First Harvest May 2011

Nothing is prettier than your first bountiful harvest! .

L-R: Swiss Chard, Lettuces, Spring Onions, Broccoli Heads & Leaves

I didn't take a picture of it, but this is one of those double-wide baskets with a big curved handle that has totally disappeared under this bounty. The broccoli headed up beautifully, this year, because we had quite a few cool days BUT -- and, this may be the real reason -- I planted everything a month, earlier, to see if I couldn't beat the heat that made everything try to go to seed. The lettuces had already started to bolt because of the 80-degree days we've had in the past few weeks, but the leaves were still prime. Spring onions are just starting to bulb, but I usually leave them in ground through the year and just take harvest for the meal.

Versatile Blogger Award - OMG!

Blogger almost lost this post! Had to go Facebook to recopy the balance of this, but I've lost all my comments. Goldarn-it!... Anyway, it's back and hope that's the end of the Blogger Boo-Boos.

***Blush!*** I've been given the above award from Chile Chews, a blogger I've been following since almost day one of my own blogging journey. This is the goto lady for wonderful posts on her adventures and insistence of living a self-sustaining lifestyle and how to accomplish it. I'm still delighted that she follows me, because I'm an omnivore and most of my recipes would have to be rebuilt to suit her vegan tastes, but she hangs in there. I think what I like about her best is that she isn't in your face about her beliefs -- she just does.

Cabbage Rolls on Sweet Yam and Carrot Bed

Those who know me, know that I love cabbage and the many ways it can make meals so visually appealing. You can stuff a whole head, make individual rolls, or, enjoy a heart-warming soup -- it's always good, and good for you. I don't know what happened but, when my sister brought home some garden-fresh sweet fingerling yams and I saw that cabbage in the fridge, it was Katie-bar-the door time in my kitchen. Never expected this to become one of those jaw-dropping delicious meals that stay in your mind for days. The flavors danced on the tongue -- sweet, tart, piquant, vibrant -- pop! pop! pop! -- each one taking its own moment. Each item retained its own texture. Hands down; a keeper! When you pop over to this week's It's a Keeper Project, don't forget to check out all the other great linkys.

Layered Pasta Ricotta Pie - Solar Baked

Happy Easter, Everyone! Here's a great take-along dish for parties and get-togethers that will serve 8-12 people, depending on who's doing the cutting! If you plan on making your own pasta sauce, make it the day before to let the ingredients 'marry' and it will cool down enough to make folding in the egg whites less harrowing. If it's too hot, the whites could disappear and we don't want that to happen. It really is a beautiful dish for presentation and the trio of tastes make it sparkle. What you don't eat, refrigerates well, and makes a great lunch.

I had some nice onions, greens, and herbs to choose fresh from the garden and that makes everything taste so good. Sweet basil, German thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, parsley, and oregano, ready for chopping.

Lentil-Rice Medley with Garden Salad

The garden was too much temptation. Only a fresh garden salad and a lighter protein-filled meal would do, so I grabbed this and I grabbed that and I added this and I added that and came up with a really delicious light warm-weather meal. I think you'll like it, too. The salad is on the left and the Lentil-Rice Medley on the right.

The best thing about a spring garden is that there's always something to put in a salad. As you can see, though young, there's already a variety of

Solar Lacquered Turkey Wings

Lacquered Turkey Wings

Turkey wings were on sale and I just couldn't resist. Having worked with chicken most of the year, I'd forgotten that turkey wings are BIG! I had to cut these up and just use the 'drumstick' portion, saving the rest for another scrumptuous meal.  (Hey! I'm just quoting my sister... ) Add a garden-fresh salad, garden fresh sweet potatoes and beets for the sides and this turned out almost too good for company! So good, it's been entered in Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday #33. Check out some other great recipes there, too!
Fresh salad took nothing more than a trip to my garden and combining three lettuce varieties, some young chard, spinach, green onions, garnished with store-bought carrot. If you've never had a fresh from the garden

Ultimate Blog Party April 1-8 An Introduction to Solar Cooking

When invited by my blogging friend Tammy of Life is Not Just Paper and Glue to join the Ultimate Blog Party 2011 hosted by the twins, Susan and Janice, I couldn't resist. It doesn't hurt to bring new followers up-to-date and so I'm taking advantage of this great opportunity. I do want to thank you.  So, you'll get to see postings you might have missed and I'll get to meet new friends -- DUH, Winning! (Oh, Lordy, I can't believe I did that!)

I've been solar cooking for the last five years, using the commercially-made Global Sun Oven(R) and using mainstream recipes. While you may have thought cooking with the sun was just for campers and the Girl/Boy Scouts, I'm here to tell you that you've been losing a lot of money not taking advantage of this great energy source. FREE is always good -- and, the meals are delicious. Here are some of my favorite posts.

In celebration of Portugal Day 2010, I made this delicious Portugese Paella. It's beautiful and fills anybody's appetite.

Are Mainstream Chefs Different?  No, not at all. To see that there is little difference between the way you're cooking, now, and adding a solar oven to your arsenal of cooking appliances, I think you'll enjoy the savings and the delicious meals.

We look just like the rest of you!

When it's cold outside and you want a nice hot soup to take the chill off, why not try making Pumpkin Soup in Its Own Bowl? It saves on plates and make a wonderful presentation; don't you think?

Do you ever feel bad because unkind things have been said about your cooking? I think reading An Honest Opinion is a Matter of Taste will help you put everything in perspective.

Oooh, I can't leave without just a little more on solar cooking -- My recipes are a mixture of original, gourmet, quick fix, slow cooking, anything that you would want to prepare for your own family, to show that there are very few limitations in using a solar oven. I wrote my cookbook, "A Month of SUNdays - Solar Cooking at Home," to specifically show how easy it is to adapt your own cooking habits to solar cooking.


I hope I've piqued your interest enough that you'll take a peek at my other posts to discover all the great meals you can make with a solar oven while saving money. And, of course, I hope you'll come back, often. Thank you, for your visit. Now, I'm off to visit you!