Solar Cooking: Beef Stew and a Garden Update - Reaping the Work

Cooking some beef stew today in the solar oven.  The difference today is that i'm going to add the ingredients in stages based on the cooking time so we don't have a bunch of mush.  Changes after cooking are annotated with a *

Recipe:

1 lb stew meat

4-5 medium potatoes

1/2 onion

2 stalks celery

3 carrots

2 tbsp steak seasoning

1 bay leave

2 tbsp dried onion

1 tbsp salt

1/2 can tomato paste

1 cup water (*change to 1 1/2 cup)
1 tbsp corn starch

1. Pre-heat the solar oven
2. Put the stew meat in the middle of the pot
3. Quarter the potatoes, about half a golf ball sized, and place around the stew
   
4. Mix the water, tomato paste, and seasonings and pour over the roast
   
5. Place the roast in the solar oven and adjust the aim
6. Cut the celery, onion and onion flakes, and carrots and set aside
   
7. Cook the roast for 2 hours
8. Add the corn starch and stir well
9. Add the carrots
10. Cook for another 30 minutes
11. Add the remainder of the vegetables
12. Cook for another 30 minutes and allow the stove to cool slowly by not adjusting the aim (target temp around 200)
13. Enjoy when you are ready.

Results:

Wow, the meat almost melts in your mouth.  This was really fantastic and timing the vegetables going in was a great call.  This was a great recipe.  I did add 1/2 cup more water a little later so I'll adjust that.

Lessons Learned:

Nothing to change or add to this one.  A winner.

Garden Update:

Just wanted to show a screenshot of the excel doc I created to track how much we were recouping from the garden throughout this year.  I didn't keep track of what I spent to compare but now that I have a template I can do that as I go along now.  The workbook actually has 4 tabs, rain collection requirements calculator for both agricultural use and personal use, a plant 'needs' calculator based on family size, recoup calculator you see below, and a cost calculator to bounce of the recoup.

I based the recoup on organic prices I researched and this would have to be updated occasionally.

I'm willing to share it, I'm continually trying to improve it.  Just ask if you want a copy.