Drop It Like It’s Hot!
Event Location: Cocoa-FL
Competition: Solar Energy Cook-Off
Division: 9-12
School: Lyman High
Team Name: Drop It Like It's Hot
Project Name: Lyman High Solar Oven
Team Size: 4
Team Name: Drop It Like It’s Hot!
Name Of School: Lyman High School
Student Names: Anuva G, Ellie D, Keira S, Callie W
Grade Level: Anuva- 9th, Ellie-9th, Keira-9th, Callie-9th
Theme: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (We took measures to ensure that our dishes are not too spicy!)
Competing Experience: Our team has been competing in the solar cook off for the past 2 years. We are now competing at the high school level. Our high school has competed in the solar cook offs in the past.
Winning Experience: Lyman High School won 1st in Culinary and Fresh From Florida Award in 2023. Our current team won 1st in Culinary and Fresh From Florida Award in 2023 representing Milwee Middle School. We also won 3rd in Culinary in 2022 representing Milwee Middle School.
Interesting Facts: Some interesting facts about our team include that we competed in this event throughout middle school. After completing middle school, we are still together and want to compete in this competition at the high school level. Our recipes are based off of our theme of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
Help Used: In order to complete the project, we used the help of our advisor for getting started on the competition. She helped provide some of the materials we needed for the project. We also utilized the internet for inspiration to help us with the brainstorming process. We used the assistance and opinions of our peers to help us finalize our menu.
The Idea: We chose this cooker so we could optimally and effectively direct sunlight towards our food so that it would efficiently cook. That is why we thought of the idea of incorporating large panels so that there is more surface area to catch the sunlight. These panels are adjustable so that you can change the angle based on the position of the sun so that the heat and energy actually reaches the food. We also have a main back panel that focuses light onto the plexiglass where we have kept sheets that enhance the rays so that it focuses a greater amount of heat in a single spot for items that require higher temperatures.
Temperature: The highest temperature that we reached with our solar oven was 233° F at around 2:00 PM on a slightly cloudy day.
Construction Materials
Most of the materials that we used are recycled so that our solar oven is as eco-friendly as possible
-Cardboard Box (recycled)
-Cardboard (recycled)
-Fire Blanket (recycled)
-Adhesive Spray
-Duct Tape (recycled)
-Hot Glue (recycled)
-Enhancing Sheets
-Spray Paint
-Acrylic Paint (recycled)
-Aluminum Foil (recycled)
-Dowels (recycled)
-Foam Insulation (recycled)
-Plexiglass (recycled)
Recipes
Sunset Agua Fresca (3 servings)
- 1 1/2 cups of ice
- 3 mangoes
- 3 cups of orange juice
- 6 cups of water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 lime
- 1 mint stem
- 1 bottle of chamoy
- Tub of mango popping boba
- Bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos
1. Cut the mango and remove the pulp.
2. Puree the pulp.
3. Add 1 cup of water and the sugar to the mixture and mix.
4. When sugar is completely mixed in, add the rest of the water.
5. Add the lime juice to drink.
6. Pour the orange juice on top and mix.
7. Crush the Cheetos into a fine powder.
8. Dip the rim of the cup into chamoy.
9. Afterwards dip the rim in the powdered Cheetos.
10. Pour drink into the glass and top with ice.
11. Garnish with small mango cubes and sprig of mint.
Mexican Street Corn (3 servings)
- 3 cups of corn
- 1/2 cup of mayo
- 1 1/2 limes
- 2 scallions
- 1/4 cup of cotija cheese
- Cilantro
- 1 jalapeno
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Flamin’ Hot Cheetos powder
- 1/2 cup of sour cream
1.Bake/heat the corn a little bit.
2. Once done take the corn and put into a bowl.
3. Add mayo and sour cream and mix to give a creamy coating.
4. Add chopped jalapeno, scallions, cotija cheese, salt and lime juice.
5. Mix well.
6. Serve on side or in bowl and garnish with Cheeto powder and cilantro.
Flamin’ Hot Tacos (6 servings)
- 6 tortillas
- One pound of ground beef
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 tomato
- 1 avocado
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons of fajita seasoning
- 1/2 of an onion
- 1 lime
- 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
- 4 leaves of lettuce
- 1 jalapeno
- 1 1/2 cup of shredded Mexican cheese
- 3 Tablespoons of Flamin’ Hot Cheeto powder
1.Heat tortilla to soften it.
2. Get ground beef and warm up.
3. Cut bell peppers and half of an onion and bake with fajita seasoning.
4. Chop lettuce, tomatoes, jalapenos and the other half of the onion.
5. Make salsa by combining tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, lime juice, salt and pepper.
6. Cut avocado to form slices.
7. Transfer sour cream into piping bottle.
8. Once tortillas, fajitas mixture, and ground beef are done remove from cooker and set to be assembled.
9. Add layer of meat.
10. Then top with fajitas mixture, shredded cheese, and salsa.
11. Fold into taco shape and add sliced avocados.
12. Pipe sour cream onto taco and sprinkle with Cheeto powder.
13. Top with fresh lettuce and serve.
Mango Key Lime Cheesecake (3 servings)
- 16oz Cream Cheese
- Graham Crackers
- 6 tbsp Melted Butter
- 1/2 Cup Lime Juice
- 2 Mangoes
- 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 1tsp Vanilla Extract
- Lime Zest
- Whipped Cream
1. Melt butter in the solar oven and crush graham crackers into powder.
2. Combine melted butter and graham crackers to form crumbly cohesive dough for the crust.
3. Flatten crust in bottom of baking dish.
4. Whip/beat cream cheese until smooth and soft.
6. Fold in mango puree, lime juice, lime zest, vanilla extract and sweetened condensed milk.
7. Once mixed spread smoothly on top of crust in baking dish.
8. Put in oven to set.
9. Serve with whipped cream.
Most of the fruits and vegetables in our food will be picked from our school greenhouse including the tomatoes, onion, scallions, and limes. We will also use one of our teammate’s home garden from which we will use the jalapeños, coriander and mangoes.
