Cooking without fire

woodpecker · 02-05-2009, 10:56 PM

Does this concept amaze you? Can you think of some great recipes? Right now, I can think of certain fruit juices and salads. Some sweets can also be prepared without lighting your stove. I will be glad if you share some great recipes you know.

alaine · 02-05-2009, 11:23 PM

You mean a raw food meal? You know, there are people who do that for their whole diet. I tried it out -- it's rough.

It's a great thing to do in the summer, though.

I don't have any recipes on hand, but you should try a summer chilled soup. Usually, they'll be tomato based, or cucumber based. Pretty amazing!

Kitten · 02-08-2009, 10:48 AM

Pickle wraps and pinwheels are two of my favorite no-cook items. We usually have them appetizers, side dishes, snacks, etc, but I love them, so they're the first things that came to mind.

Pickle wraps involve thinly sliced ham being cover in cream cheese. Place a pickle at one end, roll up, and then slice into bite-sized pieces. Pinwheels are also a roll. Mix cream cheese with diced black olives, green chilies, green onions, and some salt. Spread out onto tortilla shells, roll up, and let refrigerate a bit to reharden before slicing into inch slices....they look like "pinwheels." They're good dipped in salsa, too.

For meals, sandwiches are always an easy one, and variations of them using tortillas, pitas, etc, are always good.

heretoday · 03-04-2009, 12:23 PM

My mom makes a killer ice cream pie that's good summer or winter.
She makes it all by eye, so I can't give you exact proportions, so it's to taste.

She makes (usually two at a time, the other frozen for later use) the "crust" out of semi-sweet chocolate and coconut (oops, just realised you need to get the chocolate soft; OK, maybe you can put the bowl on a heating pad

) anyway, you press it into a glass pie-plate. Then you just scoop in your favourite ice cream and mound it as high as you like. This is especially good if you use ice cream you've made. We've had strawberry, mint chocolate chip, cherry vanilla, but use whatever you like. The combo of crust and ice cream is what makes this delicious!!!

Kitten · 03-04-2009, 03:05 PM

Mmm, that sounds delicious, heretoday. I suppose you could always heat the chocolate with a lighter or something if there's truly no source of modern heat, haha.

Taggart · 03-05-2009, 08:20 AM

I like spinach and mushroom salad. You toss that in a ranch dressing after washing the spinach and slicing the mushrooms. It's very good and a nice change from Caesar salad every now and then.

heretoday · 03-06-2009, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kitten

Mmm, that sounds delicious, heretoday. I suppose you could always heat the chocolate with a lighter or something if there's truly no source of modern heat, haha.

Yeah, Kitten; when you talk about chocolate, there's always a way

! One thing I forgot to mention, if you do freeze up an extra pie, always take it out of the freezer an hour before you intend to slice it. It freezes up about as hard as a rock!

heretoday · 03-06-2009, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taggart

I like spinach and mushroom salad. You toss that in a ranch dressing after washing the spinach and slicing the mushrooms. It's very good and a nice change from Caesar salad every now and then.

Taggart, I love that salad!

Taggart · 03-07-2009, 08:06 AM

I've had another interesting salad that started with romaine lettuce. You added mayo or coleslaw dressing, mandarin orange segments and roasted pine nuts.

I like that as a summer salad.

Twiceshy · 03-07-2009, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodpecker

Does this concept amaze you? Can you think of some great recipes? Right now, I can think of certain fruit juices and salads. Some sweets can also be prepared without lighting your stove. I will be glad if you share some great recipes you know.

Since the topic is "cooking without fire", I assume you aren't talking about raw food.

There are solar ovens that draw heat from the sun and focus it for cooking purposes. I also saw a technique using a car's engine while driving long distances.

SageMother · 03-07-2009, 02:47 PM

There was a show called "Living with Ed" on HGTV where Ed Begley talked about green and offgrid living. Ed Begly has one of those solar ovens.

I think a few Urban Homesteaders use them as well, along with blender bikes.

heretoday · 03-08-2009, 04:32 PM

I've heard of those solar ovens, and the car ovens as well. I don't know if I'd want to eat anything that got that close to an engine!
My parents used to have a "camp toaster" years ago. It was made of polished aluminum, and you placed the bread on it and put it directly in the sun. It didn't quite toast, but it kind of crisped-up the bread.

SageMother · 03-08-2009, 04:42 PM

We will probably see more of these little gizmos showing up as people start finding ways to cut their expenses.

Kitten · 03-09-2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heretoday

Yeah, Kitten; when you talk about chocolate, there's always a way

! One thing I forgot to mention, if you do freeze up an extra pie, always take it out of the freezer an hour before you intend to slice it. It freezes up about as hard as a rock!

Definitely...always a way!

And as for car ovens, I remember seeing a while back, a unit that you plugged into your car lighter outlet and you could cook in it.

katharina · 03-10-2009, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taggart

I've had another interesting salad that started with romaine lettuce. You added mayo or coleslaw dressing, mandarin orange segments and roasted pine nuts.

I'm not much of a salad person at all. I guess if I suddenly wouldn't have the "fire" via stove or microwave, I may have to get used to eating them more often though, huh?

02-05-2009, 10:56 PM	#1 (permalink)
woodpecker Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 30	Cooking without fire Does this concept amaze you? Can you think of some great recipes? Right now, I can think of certain fruit juices and salads. Some sweets can also be prepared without lighting your stove. I will be glad if you share some great recipes you know.

03-04-2009, 12:23 PM	#4 (permalink)
heretoday Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 396	My mom makes a killer ice cream pie that's good summer or winter. She makes it all by eye, so I can't give you exact proportions, so it's to taste. She makes (usually two at a time, the other frozen for later use) the "crust" out of semi-sweet chocolate and coconut (oops, just realised you need to get the chocolate soft; OK, maybe you can put the bowl on a heating pad) anyway, you press it into a glass pie-plate. Then you just scoop in your favourite ice cream and mound it as high as you like. This is especially good if you use ice cream you've made. We've had strawberry, mint chocolate chip, cherry vanilla, but use whatever you like. The combo of crust and ice cream is what makes this delicious!!!

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02-05-2009, 11:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
alaine Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 30	You mean a raw food meal? You know, there are people who do that for their whole diet. I tried it out -- it's rough. It's a great thing to do in the summer, though. I don't have any recipes on hand, but you should try a summer chilled soup. Usually, they'll be tomato based, or cucumber based. Pretty amazing!

02-08-2009, 10:48 AM	#3 (permalink)
Kitten Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 35	Pickle wraps and pinwheels are two of my favorite no-cook items. We usually have them appetizers, side dishes, snacks, etc, but I love them, so they're the first things that came to mind. Pickle wraps involve thinly sliced ham being cover in cream cheese. Place a pickle at one end, roll up, and then slice into bite-sized pieces. Pinwheels are also a roll. Mix cream cheese with diced black olives, green chilies, green onions, and some salt. Spread out onto tortilla shells, roll up, and let refrigerate a bit to reharden before slicing into inch slices....they look like "pinwheels." They're good dipped in salsa, too. For meals, sandwiches are always an easy one, and variations of them using tortillas, pitas, etc, are always good.

03-04-2009, 03:05 PM	#5 (permalink)
Kitten Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 35	Mmm, that sounds delicious, heretoday. I suppose you could always heat the chocolate with a lighter or something if there's truly no source of modern heat, haha.

03-05-2009, 08:20 AM	#6 (permalink)
Taggart Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 154	I like spinach and mushroom salad. You toss that in a ranch dressing after washing the spinach and slicing the mushrooms. It's very good and a nice change from Caesar salad every now and then.

03-07-2009, 08:06 AM	#9 (permalink)
Taggart Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 154	I've had another interesting salad that started with romaine lettuce. You added mayo or coleslaw dressing, mandarin orange segments and roasted pine nuts. I like that as a summer salad.

03-07-2009, 02:47 PM	#11 (permalink)
SageMother Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 156	There was a show called "Living with Ed" on HGTV where Ed Begley talked about green and offgrid living. Ed Begly has one of those solar ovens. I think a few Urban Homesteaders use them as well, along with blender bikes.

03-08-2009, 04:32 PM	#12 (permalink)
heretoday Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 396	I've heard of those solar ovens, and the car ovens as well. I don't know if I'd want to eat anything that got that close to an engine! My parents used to have a "camp toaster" years ago. It was made of polished aluminum, and you placed the bread on it and put it directly in the sun. It didn't quite toast, but it kind of crisped-up the bread.

03-08-2009, 04:42 PM	#13 (permalink)
SageMother Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 156	We will probably see more of these little gizmos showing up as people start finding ways to cut their expenses.