Someone’s in the basement with Dinah…..

Lauren on June 16, 2009

11 comments

Someone’s in the basement with Dinah…..

Remember how I bought that roaster last summer to bake bread in and only used it once? That was stupid.

Well, I’m giving it another go this summer. In the interest of cheap heat management (i.e. ‘I’m not cooling this house down only to have a giant box of heat in the kitchen ruin everything’-craziness), I’m going to see how many things can be successfully baked downstairs….. right alongside the tools and spare lumber.

Not quite brown enough.

Enchiladas were a success, as were brownies.

Breakfast bars were so-so – the first batch was overdone and the second was underdone. (I blame poor basement lighting for that. “Is it brown or just shady?”)

A frozen pizza took forever. (I blame operator error for that – I didn’t have the heat turned up high enough.) I even had a preheated flowerpot saucer turned over on it for it’s thermal mass, but something went wrong. I’ll have to try it again sometime.

See, the problem with this system is that every time you lift the lid to check on your food, the heat goes right out of the thing. Oh well – a whole summer of dinners will work out the kinks.

Sorry, Lloyd.

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11 Responses to “Someone’s in the basement with Dinah…..”

  1. Kristi Says:

    I’m sure YOU can rig up some kind of little peep-hole window to check on the done-ness of your meal, right??

    Reply

  2. Peggy Says:

    That looks delicous!! Maybe you should eat in the basement too…then the color would continue to look right!

    Reply

  3. Brad Says:

    You should cook a turkey in there. That would only take, what, 72 hours or so?

    My suggestion? Eat breakfast cereal. No heat generated. Plus, it’s fortified with essential vitamins and minerals.

    Reply

  4. christina Says:

    I use mine on the back porch…it’s like a million degrees out there anyway, so when you open the lid the temp doesn’t change. The only reason we even use the cooker is so the dog doesn’t eat it first.

    Reply

  5. Amy Says:

    Wait, you don’t have an oven? I don’t think I could live without one.. : (

    Reply

    • Lauren Says:

      We have an oven, but it’s in the kitchen and makes the first floor so HOT when it’s on in the summer. My deepest wish is to have an adorable apartment-sized oven that lives in the basement to use in the hot months, but that’s not gonna happen.

      Reply

      • Amy Says:

        ohhh, ^_^ that’s cool then, I never thought of anything like that. Maybe you could find a free stove on freecycle.

        Reply

  6. Karla Says:

    Have you given any thought to a toaster oven? I love ours.

    Reply

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