Pulled Pork Burritos

The first time we used our solar cooker, my daughter used this recipe from http://www.nimanranch.com/control/main/. They are a series of farms here in California that sustainably and humanely raise livestock. I understand that the fast food restaurant, Chipotle uses Niman ranch pork. I am fond of Chipotle carnitas burritos and think this is a good imitation with some minor changes. Pulled Ranchero BBQ Niman Ranch Pork

Percy Whatley
Awhahnee Dining Room
Yosemite, CA

3 lbs Niman Ranch Pork Shoulder, boneless

Spice rub:
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp California Chili powder
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground clove
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp Kosher salt or sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper, ground

Put your solar cooker in the sun to warm up. For sanitary purposes, this is an unnecessary step. However, it does situate the cooker where you’ll want it to be so that you don’t have to move it much.

Cut your roast into ¼ or ½ pound chunks.

Combine all spice rub ingredients and mix thoroughly by hand. Generously rub the pork shoulder with spice mixture.

Place in a dark enamelware roasting pan with 1/4 c water and place the lid on. The roast will produce some steam (which will inhibit the sun from penetrating the glass). To limit that, you can use large binder clips to hold the lid on tighter.

Cook for 4 to 6 hours.

Remove pork from oven and with two forks, pull the meat apart. It should fall apart or pull apart easily. It is a good idea to use a meat thermometer when cooking meat with any type of slowcooker. Ours was 175’ F and safe to eat. It looked just like it would if you used a conventional oven.

We made burritos with lettuce, cheese, beans, rice, and salsa. It was savory!

Chef’s note: my daughter didn’t like the sweetness of the meat. So, I did adapt this recipe here, reducing the “Eastern” spices and omitting the brown sugar. I think if we made BBQ sauce like in Niman Ranch’s recipe, the spices would have been appropriate. I thought it was delicious, myself!

Solar Cooking Basics

For our first attempt at solar cooking, I decided to cook a three pound pork roast. Sounds risky, you say, attempting to cook meat your first time, without the controlled heat of your oven?! Here’s something to put your fears to rest. Many people safely use slow cookers. Crockpots and solar box cookers operate on the same principle: food is cooked at low temperatures for an extended period of time. I know, it’s the low temperatures part that scares you. Crockpots usually have two settings. The low setting heats up to between 180 to 200 degrees (F), and the high setting heats up to about 280 degrees. If you look at my solar cooking charts below, you will see that the solar cooker operates on what would be the low setting of the crockpot. This is the setting that most people use while they are away from their food all day. Okay, I know that phrase “most people” isn’t very helpful when you’re worried about food safety. In How to Make and Use a Solar Box Cooker, the author states that “When the solar box is in the sun, temperatures quickly heat to 120 degrees F, where germs stop growing, and then to 150 degrees F-where PASTEURIZATION kills ALL parasites and disease organisms except heat-resistant spores. Foods cook at 180-200 degrees F-temperatures hotter than pasteurizing, so any food that is fully-cooked is also pasteurized.” If you are still concerned, do some research. This is good stuff to know, even if you’re not using a solar box cooker. Here in the United States, we have a government food safety agency. They have an informative website: http://www.foodsafety.gov/. I inserted a cooking thermometer into my roast, and it indicated that the internal temperature was pork safe at 175. That is another tool to put your mind to rest.

Time	Oven	Outside	Wind	Notes
10:30 a.m.	0	74	0	Put oven in sun
11:00	175	74	0	Clear sky today
11:30	175	77	0
12:00 p.m.	210	79	0
12:30	200	79	1	Smells good!
1:00	185	82	5
1:30	185	83	5
2:00	225	85	6
3:00	185	86	4	Condensation
4:00	225	88	3
5:00	225	88	4	Ready to eat!

Solar cooking works by channeling rays of the sun and containing them in an insulated box. If it is windy or cloudy, it affects the efficacy of the solar cooker. It is, however, still possible to cook when it’s windy. It’s even possible to cook when it’s cloudy, as long as the solar cooker is exposed to sun at least thirty minutes out of each hour.

The second time we used the cooker, I decided to make baked potato soup. I used a recipe from a crockpot cookbook, which called for five pounds of potatoes! I’ve had difficulties cooking potatoes in the crockpot before, and even in the oven with a chicken. They are stubborn little tubers! And, stubbornly, I followed the directions and filled my roasting pan with cubed potatoes and some chicken broth. You can see that the temperature hovered around the same neighborhood as when I cooked the pork roast, somewhere between 175 and 200 degrees. But when I checked the potatoes at 4:00, they were still hard. So, I rushed them into a big pot and boiled them aggressively for half an hour. The potato soup was delicious. I’m going to try it again in the solar cooker. I am really intrigued by the solar box cooker and think with some experimenting it can be just as easy to cook with as my modern, resource depleting kitchen appliances. It is empowering.

Time	Oven	Outside	Wind	Notes
10:15 a.m.	0	76	4	Partly cloudy
10:45	125	76	4	Partly cloudy
11:00	190	78	4	Partly cloudy
12:00 p.m.	210	84	Calm	Partly cloudy
1:00	200	85	4	Partly cloudy
2:00	175	86	6	Very cloudy
3:00	175	88	7	Very cloudy
4:00	175	88	6	Partly cloudy

How to Make a Solar Box Cooker

I don’t know what I was thinking, building a solar box cooker at the end of September, but, you know, sometimes it’s now or never. I think it was that slippery “tomorrow” that postponed the project for so long in the first place! So, here we go…. Here’s what you’ll need:
a fairly large workplace
a fun team
1 large cardboard box (mine was 17 ½” wide by 23 ½” high by 19” long)
1 small cardboard box (this was 14” wide by 9” high by 19 ½” long)
2-3 large sheets of cardboard (for supports, lid and reflector)
1 pane of glass (I got this at Michael’s for about $10; it was 16” by 20”)
stack of newspapers
75’ regular thickness aluminum foil (I had to buy this; it was about $4)
silicone caulking (I got this for about $4)
water soluble glue (you probably have some Elmer’s glue around the house)
old paintbrush
old cup
tape measurer
scissors
Exacto knife
vises
weights
6 twisties
1 stiff hanger
wire cutters
pliers
dowel or stick for the prop
sturdy straightedge
paint (optional)
small dark enamelware pots (I got a 4 quart roasting pan for around $10)

AND—last, but not least, you’ll need: some time (this project took me—who is more comfortable reading about doing things more than actually doing them—three days to complete)

I tried to find as much stuff as I could around the house. The few necessities that I ended up buying cost me about $28. Not bad. I figured it was a lot cheaper than buying a solar box cooker, as well as 100% more satisfying. In addition to the “flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants” instructions here, there are helpful resources for building all different kinds of solar cookers. Check out these great websites (some of which include instructions):

http://www.solarcookers.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cooking

http://www.solarhaven.org/SolarCooking.htm

http://solarcooking.org/

See if your library carries these helpful books. I used the instructions in the second one to build our cooker:

How to Make and Use a Solar Box Cooker: Easy Cooking with Sunshine by Beverly Blum

Cooking with Sunshine: The Complete Guide to Solar Cuisine with 150 Easy Sun-Cooked Recipes by Lorraine Anderson and Rick Palkovic

The last book also has recipes, but I thought I could convert recipes that could be made in a crockpot into solar cooker recipes, too. So, I also researched crockpot and slow cooker cookbooks. For its tasty sounding recipes and whole food ingredients, I particularly liked:

Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger

Day One

To begin, make sure your boxes nest inside each other with enough clearance between the sides for insulation (about 2” on each side). You’ll also want your small box to contain your cooking pot with about 1” headroom. The dimensions I chose are nearly ideal; there is enough room for heat to collect, and it’s not too deep to obstruct the sun.

The boxes you choose will determine how you seal the top part, depending on if you have top flaps or not. Make sure you look through all the instructions first and imagine how you will seal off the top. Because I couldn’t find a large enough box to contain my smaller box, I had to use a REALLY tall box and lay it on its side. Then I cut out a side to form my opening, through which I’d place the smaller box. However, I was a little haphazard in my cutting and shouldn’t have been. If you need to cut boxes down, take your time to make sure all your sides are even. That way when they’re nested, the edges will meet without gaps through which air could escape. I had to go back after I foiled everything and painstakingly measure and cut the sides.

After you’ve imagined how your boxes will fit together, you can begin!

We started by creating the reflector panel. This will eventually sit on top of the cooker to channel the rays of the sun inside. To begin with, turn your large box over, set it on a large piece of extra cardboard, and trace around it. Cut it out. With your sturdy straightedge, crease one of the longer sides 1” to 2” from the edge. Set it aside to foil later.

Next, my daughter and I cut 4” squares of cardboard to raise the small inner box up off the floor of the larger box.

Pour some glue in an old cup and mix with one part water. Now you can glue the squares together in equal stacks. We made a stack for each corner and one for the middle. You will have to determine how many you need to support your inner chamber. Set them aside to dry.

The next step is a little messy; try to keep your hands clean so that you don’t dull the shiny foil with glue. Good luck! Glue foil, shiny side out, onto boxes. Cover the inside and outside of the small box, and just the inside of the larger box. Overlap by at least an inch. There is no need to cover the flaps. Here they are, all shiny.

Make your reflector shiny, too. Don’t forget to overlap your foil by an inch to make sure your heat doesn’t escape.

Now position your cardboard stacks into the bottom of the large box and glue them down.

Clean your brushes and your workspace. My cats LOVE boxes, so I needed to make sure they were covered! We then let everything dry overnight.

Woo-hoo, we’re getting warm!

Day Two

We started by creating a lid from large pieces of extra cardboard. So, if your large box didn’t come with a lid, you’ll need to make one. Again, turn your large box over, set it onto another large piece of cardboard, and trace around it. Then trace 3” to 4” around each side to make the edges. Cut out along this outer edge. Then cut a slit to the inner line at each corner. Using your trusty straightedge, crease along your line to form the edges. Now you are ready to fold them over and attach them. After you’ve overlapped a corner, use a knife or scissors to poke two holes 1” apart through the overlapping pieces. Then, thread a twisty through both holes and twist securely in front. Make sure to pull the flaps tight as you fasten each corner.

Turn your lid over, center your glass piece in it and trace around it. Then draw a line 1” INSIDE that line. Cut following your INNER line. In this way, you are making the window just slightly smaller so that the glass can be affixed and rest securely on top. However, don’t glue it yet! You’ll want to wait until after you’ve painted everything.

Now you need to see how your boxes fit together. Insert the small box into the larger one. Add or remove cardboard from stacks to bring the two box edges level.

Once your boxes are level, crumple newspaper to fill the gaps in the bottom of your box. You’ll want to quarter your newspaper sheets and ball them up tightly. They will loosen up a little after you’ve placed them in the box.

Before you continue, you’ll need to look at your boxes together again. Can you still imagine how they will seal together? If you’re not going to use your flaps and create toppers for all sides, now is the time to cut the flaps off. I chose to use the smaller box’s longer flaps and cut the shorter ends off. Since I modified my large box, it didn’t have flaps.

Okay, now you can continue filling your walls with insulation. Center the smaller box inside and start filling it up. You may have noticed the lack of pictures that include us, but this is a sign that we were getting dirty. Our hands were black after crumpling the newspaper!

At this point, take a deep breath and take your time. You want to make sure you seal your box well. Bend the longer sides neatly over the edge of the large box and glue. You may need some vises, depending on how strong your glue is.

Look closely at my pictures to get an idea of how to create the end caps. Cut them out of excess cardboard, crease and cover what will be the inside flap in foil. Place them in their spots and make sure that they’ll seal well.

Now you can glue them inside and outside the boxes. Use vises here, as well, to hold the caps in place while they dry. We also put 2.5 pound weights on top to make sure they sealed well. Notice it’s nighttime.

If you decide to paint your cooker, now is a good time. Paint the lid and the box.

Once the paint is dry, affix your glass with the silicone caulking. This type of glue is important, as it allows the glass to expand with the heat and not break. Let dry.

Glue reflector to lid and weight.

Gettin’ warmer!

Day Three

Cut hanger, bend ends in an inch or two. I had my husband do this part; the wire was difficult to cut and made some dangerously sharp edges. If your child is going to be using the cooker, make sure and sand the wire points down. Glue one 5” strip of corrugated cardboard to the back and one to the lid of box. It needs to be your right side, as you are facing the front of the box. Use two twisties to attach your stick to the hanger as a reinforcement. When the glue is dry, you can insert the ends of the hanger into the corrugated holes and prop up the reflector, as necessary.

Put a black cookie sheet inside with an oven thermometer and set in the sun for the day to completely dry and breathe.

Notice where the sun is in your yard and play around with the reflector to maximize the light in the cooker. Where does the sun kiss your yard? This exercise gave us a chance to become more intimate with the sun, not just as a novelty, but in a survival sense.

The cooker is light enough that you can pick it up to move it when necessary. And, it was awesome! It got to 175 degrees in half an hour! We put it out at 8:45 a.m. The outside temperature was 68 degrees with a 9 mph wind. By 12:30 p.m., it was 79 degrees outside, and 250 degrees inside our cooker! It stayed there until the shade swallowed our yard. So even though today was the first day of Autumn, it isn't too late in the year for solar cooking.

Now you’re hot! You’re ready to cook. I brought our cooker in for the night to avoid deterioration from condensation. Tomorrow we’ll actually try it out!

Through the Eye of the Needle

I was born in Great Falls, Montana on December 1, 1972. It was a tumultuous time. Women were fighting for equal rights. The U.N. Conference was fighting for the environment. American soldiers were in Vietnam fighting against communism. Meanwhile, Watergate exposed the widespread scandal in the Nixon administration.

When I was seven days old, The Blue Marble photo of the earth was taken.

“Apollo 17 was the last manned lunar mission. No humans since have been at a range where taking a whole-Earth photograph such as The Blue Marble would be possible.

The Blue Marble was the first clear image of an illuminated face of Earth. Released during a surge in environmental activism during the 1970s, the image was seen by many as a depiction of Earth's frailty, vulnerability, and isolation amid the expanse of space.”

"The Blue Marble." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 29 Jul 2008, 18:19 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 9 Aug 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Blue_Marble&oldid=228649194>.

When I was a kid, I cherished my Native American heritage. I went to pow wows and rendevous and longed for a life more connected to the earth. I daydreamed about growing up and living in a beautiful place where I could live off the land. I imagined being cradled by mountains and trees and the wild. I pictured a waterwheel next to a sparkling year-round creek. I could use the water for bathing, drinking and my garden. I envisioned teaching part-time at a nearby school. I knew that Mother Earth would provide if I lived respectfully with her.

We moved to California when I was in junior high. And, as I approached college-age and started thinking about a career, my vision changed to journalism and then to music performance. In college, I switched from music to English.

I dropped out of college. Although I veered from my vision, I have no regrets. I travelled and yearned to learn from life. I did a lot of soul-searching. I made radical choices—good and bad. However, some of my choices led me into my darkest hour. When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t recognize myself. I thought there was nothing left—that I’d lost my soul. My mom always said that everything happens for a reason, but it took me many years to decipher why I needed to go through that.

No matter how authentic we believe we are living our lives, there are survival mechanisms to filter our experience and protect us. The downside is that these mechanisms also cloud our true nature. We collect personnae and all manner of accoutrements as we go. But eventually, something’s got to give. This true nature yearns to be expressed and danced. And when that happens, to some degree or other, we all encounter our personal hell. We go through the eye of the needle. It makes us face what is essential and strips away the monsters we’ve been carrying around.

I sincerely felt that this was it. I was done. I’d experienced my midlife crisis in my early twenties. I fell in love. I was on the road to health. Everything was uphill from there! I never wanted a tattoo, but I always thought that if I did get one, it would be The Blue Marble. This image has gotten me through many subsequent needle eyes.

After my daughter was born, I found a career in business administration and became intrigued with Organizational Leadership and Management. However, my original vision never evaporated completely, and I found myself spellbound by it. I got my degree in Elementary Waldorf Education. And I serendipitously found myself drawn to homeschooling and finally back to living sustainably.

I want to share my quirky, perfectly imperfect experience. I want to encourage people to face their monsters and unabashedly dance their dance—whatever that is. My wish is that we can find communion with our original nature, each other and this remarkable life on this remarkable planet—Earth.

To Read a Book...

I love reading books. I even had a dream once, that I was feeding my yoni pages from a book. Wouldn't you like to know?! It IS like making love—meeting something so intensely—caressing it, pouring over it, dog-earing it, tasting it—that you don't know where the book ends and you begin. And then, collecting quotes to carry around in the afterglow.

I like to share these quotes with others. These quotes are often articulations of my intimate thoughts. But I just realized how prophylactic they are! I am using someone else's name to say what I want. How I yearn to love people the way I love books—to have juicy conversations.

But if, and when, these juicy conversations do arise, the prophylactic goes back on, walls are erected and wars are started.

Here's what Thich Nhat Hanh says:

"Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.

If you have a gun, you can shoot one, two, three, five people; but if you have an ideology that you think is the absolute truth, you can kill millions."

It is in definitions that wars get started—when you start to identify something—or yourself—as being a certain way. We say--I AM my: ethnicity, gender, religion, temperament, socio-economic status, country, degree, likes and dislikes…thus forgetting that you're a being in flux. Then these definitions become dogma and pretty soon you believe that Earth is the center of the universe. Are you willing to kill to "have it your way"?

The juicy conversation is left there, withering…. Baited breath. Small deaths.

Sumptuous Solstice

Saturday, December 22, 2007
Long ago, the answer to the question, "What's for dinner?" was simple. Go look in the garden or the larder. In my adult life, the answer is not so straightforward. The "garden" is often across continents, and the larder is my overabundant supermarket. The choices can be overwhelming, the experts confusing. What to eat? What not to eat? And, in the confusion, the "simple" alternative often has the most pull; fast food. Yuck! No wonder I never really liked food!

But, we have begun to spiral back around to the source of our food. Revolution! Although I have not tended my skill well enough to grow my own food, I do get it from growers I've met and trust. I have been buying a monthly share of Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) on and off for years. It wasn't an easy transition for me, because I didn't have a relationship to food. Leeks? Squash? Broccoli Raab? My vegetables, along with the strange hodgepodge of food that I got from the store, took on a life of its own in the depths of my refrigerator. So what changed? I started reading. I've shared some really interesting resources at the end. I realized that I can't go on supporting the current food culture. However, because I don't have much money, it seemed like an extra expense. But remember the science experiments in my refrigerator? I don't throw out as much food anymore. That saves me a good chunk of money. Our share breaks down to be $15 each week. Not bad, really.

The farm that my food comes from is called Full Belly Farm. Each week we get a box is like Christmas. Everything in the box is seasonal and flavorful. It is truly an offering, and I want to do it justice. I pore through cookbooks and recipes, eyes a-sparkle. Then I make a weekly menu plan and supplementary shopping list. Each item I get is put to use to create new, tantalizing recipes. Each bite fills me with a profound nourishment. And I am transformed.

Although we are blessed with a window of blue skies and sunshine, today I am feeling winter's pull. Yes, even the Breadbasket of the world has its winter. Beginning this week, we will not be getting our weekly box of vegetables. The earth and farmers need a break. I appreciate the connection and deep satisfaction they bring. And, mouth watering, I look forward to the next growing season and the Christmas they bring every week.

Here's a wonderfully carnivorous winter meal from Full Moon Feast by Jessica Prentice. Being a former vegetarian, I know you could cleverly adapt this meal:



Sausage with Potatoes and Cabbage

Serves 2-4

• 2 tablespoons bacon drippings, olive oil, lard, or other fat
• 2 whole fresh sausages in casings
• 2 leeks, sliced thin, including much of the green part (or 1 large onion sliced thin)
• 1 small head cabbage (or ½ large head, shredded)
• ½ teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)
• ½ bunch greens (chard, kale, collards; or mustard, radish, or turnip greens), sliced into ribbons
• 3 medium potatoes (such as Yukon gold), diced
• ½ cup hot water or stock, or more as needed
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• ½ cup sauerkraut (store bought or homemade recipe below)
• Sour cream or crème fraiche

1. Heat the bacon drippings, oil, or fat in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the whole sausages and brown on both sides.
2. Add the leeks (or onions) to the pan around the sausage and sauté. When the sausage is cooked through, remove it from the pan and let it cool.
3. Add the shredded cabbage to the pan along with a pinch of salt and the optional caraway seeds. Continue to sauté a few minutes, until the cabbage begins to wilt.
4. Add the greens and stir gently.
5. Add the diced potatoes, another pinch of salt, and the hot water or stock. Cover, reduce the heat somewhat, and steam until potatoes are just tender. Add more water
6. Slice the sausage into ½ inch thick pieces and add it back to the pan, stirring to incorporate and heat through. You can also leave the sausage whole or cut it in half.
7. Add plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper. Taste and adjust.
8. Remove from the heat and stir in the optional sauerkraut.
9. Serve in a shallow bowl with a big dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche.

And, if you are really an adventurous food alchemist, make your own sauerkraut. This recipe is also by Jessica Prentice. But take my advice, make sure you don't forget about it if you culture it in the dark of your bedroom closet. Whoever lives with you will tear up the house trying to find what died in the wall!

Quick Kraut

Makes about 3 cups

• 4 cups (tightly packed) shredded cabbage
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1. Put the cabbage in a bowl and sprinkle the salt over it. Using your hands, begin to squeeze and massage the cabbage to release the juices.
2. Once it is thoroughly wet, add the caraway seeds.
3. Pack the cabbage into a 1-quart, widemouthed mason jar, pressing down with your hand to release the juices.
4. Fill a 1-pint, narrow jar (or any jar that has a bottom narrow enough to fit in the mouth of the 1-quart jar) with water and screw the lid on. Place this second jar into the mouth of the 1-quart jar and push on it until the liquid from the cabbage rises above the vegetable matter inside.
5. Set this on the counter, with one jar nestled inside the other, and drape a cloth napkin over the top. Keep at room temperature for about a week, pressing down on the weight jar at least once a day and making sure that the liquid stays above the vegetable matter.
6. After a week of fermenting, taste and see if you like it. At this point you can remove the weight jar, screw a lid onto the kraut jar, and transfer it to the refrigerator. You can also experiment with fermenting it for longer as long as you keep a close eye on the liquid level. If too much water has evaporated, mix ½ teaspoon of salt with 1/3 cup filtered water and pour this into the jar.

Some Resources

Documentaries:

The Future of Food

The GMO Trilogy

Books:

Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Cookbooks:

Full Moon Feast by Jessica Prentice

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

The Real Dirt on Vegetables by Farmer John Peterson

Website:

Local Harvest

Heroes

We were in rush-hour traffic limbo between suburbia and an anti-war protest. Our greasy spoon waiter looked like he'd been transplanted there from a hallucination as he nervously giggled through our order. He entered our ticket into the computer and pivoting back, asked us what we would do if it was the end of the world (whatever that meant to us). We all talked about it and he said, "You ask me why I ask," (we didn't)--dramatic pause--"No reason." There was a moment of innocence where we were all naked together. Bemused, we all set out for San Francisco. At the rally, a guy approached us, and we got into an intimate discussion on what is freedom and what is the root of war and how can we co-exist, considering our differences. None of us really had an agenda beyond listening to each other. We found out later that he was a communist. My little sister (being homeschooled with a Christian curriculum) turned to me and said, "Sis, he's a communist? My books describe them almost like demons. He was nice." There are those moments, when the world as we conceive it drops away, and we are as children, meeting each other.

These are my heroes.