Category Archives: Hay Box

Thermal Cooking – Broccoli Cauliflower Soup

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What do you do when you live in an area that rarely gets snow and all the roads are closed? I always go outside to listen to how quiet it it.  I love the silence of the morning before everyone wakes up.

Silence – Wetumpka Alabama Snow

Well for one we don’t go to work since the roads are all closed.  Yeah, mother nature forced leave from work.  Ugh, nothing like using up 8 hours of vacation time today and 4 more tomorrow since I don’t have to report in until noon due to ice on the roads.  Talk about messing up a days work.  So after making sure both the chicken coops had fresh water, fee and getting the eggs in I decided to make some soup.  What kind of soup will I make?  Lately I’ve been trying to only cook from what we have in the pantry or the freezer.  In the freezer I had a large bag of stir fry vegetables (store brand labeled California Blend and I’m not sure why) and decided to try to make an Alder Grove version of Broccoli Cauliflower Soup+.  To make it interesting I made it in my Thermal Cooker. 

Here is my recipe:

Broccoli Cauliflower Soup

  • 28 oz bag of frozen Stir Fry Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrot)
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 4 medium size potatoes diced (I left the skin on so that’s a +)
  • 1 can diced tomatoes drained
  • 2 cloves crushed garlic
  • 6 cups water (or broth)
  • 7 chicken bouillon cubes
  • 1 or 2 teaspoons (heaping) tomato bouillon powder
  • 1 or 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning (add more to suit your taste)
  • salt and pepper to taste

In the thermal cooker pot I dissolved the bouillon cubes in the water.  Once dissolved I added all the ingredients and brought everything to a boil.  I simmered on high heat for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.  After the time was up I placed the lid on the pot and put it into the Thermal Cooker.

Wait 3-4 hours and it’s done.  Remove the pot from the cooker and enjoy.  If you want your soup thicker add a little cornstarch in water and stir into the soup.  Return back to the stove top and simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Top with cheese!  Enjoy!

Thermal Cooking aka Hay Box Cooking

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What is thermal cooking? Well it’s like a slow cooker, but it does not use electricity at all and all the magic happens inside the insulated pot. The short and sweet of it is that food is heated to boiling for a period of time 5, 10, 15 minutes and then put into an insulated structure. The interior covered pot will retain all the heat and the food will slowly continue cooking for several hours.This cooking concept is not new. While doing some research I found a newspaper article from the late 1890’s describing the same method. I also found a drawing in the book Experiment Station Work, XLI from 1907. If interested in reading the article it can be found over on the Internet Archive.

Well my cooker is not made from wood but the concept is the same. I was able to duplicate the method using a lidded pot and a cooler. Considering the cooler took up so much counter space and the hot pot warped the plastic on the inside of the cooler I finally decided to purchase a small crock pot sized thermal cooker.

It’s very simple to use and there is no worry from leaving an electric appliance plugged in all day. Continue reading →

Thermal Cooking

Posted on by
2

What is thermal cooking? Well it’s like a slow cooker, but it does not use electricity at all. The short and sweet of it is that food is heated to boiling for a period of time 5, 10, 15 minutes and then put into an insulated structure. The covered pot will retain all the heat and the food will slowly continue cooking for several hours.This cooking concept is not new. While doing some research I found a newspaper article from the late 1890’s describing the same method. I also found a drawing in the book Experiment Station Work, XLI from 1907. If interested in reading the article it can be found over on the Internet Archive.

Well my cooker is not made from wood but the concept is the same. I was able to duplicate the method using a lidded pot and a cooler. Considering the cooler took up so much counter space and the hot pot warped the plastic on the inside of the cooler I finally decided to purchase a small crockpot sized thermal cooker.

It’s very simple to use and there is no worry from leaving an electric appliance plugged in all day. Continue reading →