Cook with Cast Iron Cookware and Keep the Change

Posted by Doyle Bailey for the Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cook with Cast Iron Cookware and Keep the Change:

My suggestion is in two parts:

First Part:

Make a change that will amp up the flavor of all kinds of dishes. It does not matter if it is sweet, spicy or smoked, garlic is loaded with healthy nutrients and you will love the results.  You may be thinking that garlic’s  most common use is to ward off vampires. Even if you are of “Team Jacob” (from the Twilight books, which I enjoyed), these little cloves from the lily family can help maintain normal cholesterol levels and contain the compound allicin, which has an anti-fungal action and is what imparts that pungent odor. Even as I write this blog post I have a pot of beans cooking with onions and garlic and the kitchen smells delicious.

Garlic & Press/Wikipedia Photo

Lawrence E Karol writes in the March 2010 issue of Body + Soul Magazine:

“In the kitchen, garlic embraces everything it encounters–vegetables, meat, pasta–and when roasted, it’s practically a confection.”

Do not be an “alliumphobe” = fear of garlic, onions or leeks.

Make the change to cooking with garlic and I suspect you will keep the change.

Second Part:

Make the change to cooking with cast iron cookware, if you have not already done so.

Your purchase of cast iron cookware is more than a purchase. It is an investment. Long after you have forgotten what you paid for your cast iron cookware, you will remember the quality of the cookware.

This ultimately means more change to keep in your pocket since you will not be purchasing new cookware every few years.

Lodge Cast Iron Cookware

Your cookware is a legacy you can pass on to your children and grandchildren.

Some of Our "Family" of Cast Iron Cookware

Cast Iron Grill-Grate Lets You Grill Great

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Lodge’s BBQ GRILL-GRATE

Lodge Cast Iron BBQ Grill Grate

grills your vegetables and will not let them escape into your campfire. It  holds them on the grill. It measures 15 x 11 inches . It also holds those delicate fish in place. This cast iron grill cooks your steaks, sausage, bacon and other meats evenly without flame damage. It is great for camping and grilling on the beach.

You can really grill great with the Lodge Cast iron BBQ Grill/Grate

TASTE THE FOOD NOT THE COOKWARE WITH CAST IRON COOKWARE

Cast Iron Cookware Will Help Keep You and Your Family Healthy

Could your pots and pans be making you sick? If you are not cooking with cast iron cookware you might want to remember:

• that other non-stick cookware is required to carry a warning that the fumes emitted during cooking can kill your pet bird (if your Tweety Bird isn’t safe, what about you and your family?)

• to look at a “non-stick pot or pan” and see how much of the coating has flaked off. Where did that stuff go? Do you suppose you might have eaten it with your food?

• that you may need to toss your “non-stick cookware” or get Tweety, all of your family and you out of the kitchen when you cook.

Cooking in Cast Iron Cookware can actually be a vital component of a healthier lifestyle.

1. If your cast iron cookware is well-seasoned, is is virtually stick-free and thereby requires little or no oil, which is important for heart-healthy recipes.
2. You can use a cast iron skillet to cook healthy veggies and lean cuts of meat.
   

   Lodge 12 Inch Skillet to prepare any of the other dishes you would cook in a "non-stick" pan. Cast iron is not just good for the heavier "comfort foods" but you can prepare healthier, lighter fare with cast iron cookware.

3. Cooking is cast iron can also boost your intake of iron since trace amounts of iron gets absorbed into the foods you cook. That is better than the stuff that flakes-off the “non-stick” cookware you may be using.

Keep “Tweety Bird” Your Family and Yourself healthier by cooking in Cast Iron Cookware. It will allow you to TASTE THE FOOD NOT THE COOKWARE.

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cookware with Benefits for Everyday and Gourmet Cooking: Castiron Cookware

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Castiron Cookware combines the versatility of cooking for everyday and for gourmet.

Lodge Cast Iron Cookware

You can cook just about anything in cast iron. Of course castiron cookware is best known for its good old fashioned cooking but do not let this reputation fool you. Due to its even heating qualities (heat retention and distribution),and the fact it can be used in the oven and on the stove top, you can cook just about any food, including gourmet in it.

Cast iron cookware offers:

1. a large selection of pots, pans, and cookware shapes. You can choose from cast-iron griddles, grill pans, serving pots, Dutch ovens, pizza pans, roasters, casseroles, waffle makers, muffin pans, corn bread pans, camping cookware, bread bakers, dog’n brat, panini sandwich toasters, pie irons roasters and more.
   

   Cast Iron Cookware

2. multi-use pans A single pan covers a multitude of dishes. A single cast iron skillet can be used to bake a cake, make cornbread, sear a fillet, roast a chicken, fry potatoes, or stir-fry vegetables. You can get a cast iron casserole with a grill pan lid and have two pieces for the price of one.
   

   Kinetic Casserole Enamel Grill Pan

3. cast iron cookware does not particularly care where you use it. You can prepare a dish in enameled cast iron cookware and take it to the table and serve from it there. It is so attractive that it will enhance your table with a presentation appeal and it will keep your food warm throughout your dinner due to its heat retention. Cast iron camping cookware is at its best at your backyard fire pit cookout or at your camp site in the great outdoors.
4. cast iron cookware can cook almost anything (including gourmet dishes). “Cast-Iron Cooking for Dummies“  by Tracy Barr has great techniques for cooking and recipes as well.
   

   Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cast Iron Cookware Shop Offers Camp Cookware and Accessories

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Cast Iron Cookware Shop offers great options to compliment your camp cooking gear.

Camp Cooking Is Fun!

Get ready for your camping and outdoor recreation activities with cast iron cookware products and accessories from Lodge and Rome.

Rome Firepit Cookout Set

A rugged Lodge tripod made of hot rolled half inch solid bar stock with 24 inch galvanized chain. The tripod legs measure 43 1/2 inches. Use with any cast iron product that has a bail handle. such as a Lodge Dutch Oven, camp dutch oven or cast iron kettle. Cook your food over the campfire and keep it at serving temperature in your castiron pot. This tripod travels well in car, truck or camper. (dutch oven not included)

The Rome Firepit Cookout Set includes a round cast iron pie iron, a square cast iron pie iron, a S´more Maker, and Hot Dog-Marshmallow Roasters.

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet/ Fry Pan

What The Cast Iron Pot Said to the Cast Iron Kettle

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight

The Cast Iron Pot said to the Cast Iron Kettle:

“Ever since you whistled at me I have been captivated by your charms. I supposed I was ‘pre-seasoned‘ to succumb to you. However, our romance at times is quite a ‘fine kettle of fish‘. You tend to reach a boiling point with me quite easily and sometimes you are a little over the top with your family pedigree of enameled cast iron cookware relatives.

Enameled Cast Iron Fry Pan

Admittedly they have an aesthetic appeal but at the heart of the matter, you and I, and even they, are made of the same stuff ‘cast iron‘. We all come from good stock. Our romance will endure and we will share many happy times together in the kitchen long after other cookware  has lost its ‘non-stick’ quality and has been discarded. We will ‘stick together‘ but the food will not  stick to us.”

Lodge Red Enamel Dutch Oven

Cool Cast Iron Camping Cookware & Accessories

Some really “cool“  Camping Cast Iron Cookware and Camping Cookware Accessories are really “hot” for  2010 camping.

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet

There are some really good reasons to get to the great outdoors and camp.

Here are some:

• the soul deadening pace of modern life. Even if you win the rat race you are still a “rat”.
• the ceaseless activity that drains our vitality.
• being harried and hassled by life’s demands
• being stuck on fast forward and running on empty
• add your reasons and comment below

Some Reasons to Go Camping:

• camping is fun and family friendly
  

  Camping is Cool

• camping allows you to be who you are and want to be in a place you want to be. Tension is who you think (or others think) you should be. Relaxation is who you are (Chinese Proverb).
• camping is still affordable
• fun activities while you camp offer numerous possibilities. Use your imagination
  

  Rome Panini Presses

• no doubt you can think of others. We would love to hear from you.
  

  Rome Popcorn PopperLodge

  

  Rome Firepit Cookout Set

  

  Round Pie Iron by RomeS'More Maker

• 

  Camp and Cook In Cast Iron

Cast Iron Cookware With a Spinach Salad Popeye Would Love

Every good cook should have a spinach salad in their repertoire and Chef Paul Prudhomme’s is one Popeye would love and so will you. The Chef points out that along with the traditional elements in the salad, the tasso and cane vinegar give it a decided Louisiana flavor.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil (where would Popeye be without Olive Oil?)

9 ounces tasso, or any premium-quality cooked ham, cut into 1/4- inch cubes

1 medium-size onion, cut into julienne strips

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into julienne strips

1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into julienne strips

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup dried currants

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup cane vinegar or any sweet vinegar

1 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned

Two 10-ounce packages fresh spinach

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat a heavy 10-inch skillet
   

   Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet

   over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the olive oil, tilting the pan so the oil spreads over the entire bottom, then add the tasso, spreading it evenly. Cook, stirring and scraping the bottom occasionally, until the tasso is lightly browned, about 4 to 5 minutes. During this time notice that the seasonings from the tasso mingle with the oil.

2. Add the onion, stir well and scrape up any brown bits that may stick to the bottom of the skillet, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is brown around the edges (as its sugar caramelizes), it’ll lose its acid taste as well), about 4 to 5 minutes, then stir in the bell peppers, garlic, and citrus juices and cook, stirring occasionally, until the colors of the peppers become very bright, almost glowing, then darken as they are lightly browned from the heat, about 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Stir in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, currants, raisins, and grapefruit. Cover, remove from the heat, and let cool to room temperature, during which time the currants and raisins will plump and absorb the other flavors.
4. Remove (when the dressing is cool) the stems and any bruised leaves from the spinach and wash well. Shake or spin the spinach dry, place it in a large serving bowl, and pour the dressing over it. Toss lightly to coat all the spinach leaves and distribute the ingredients evenly. Serve at once.

Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Tastes: Exciting Flavors from the State that Cooks. This is a good one.

You may not be Olive Oil cooking for Popeye, but you will all enjoy this savory salad prepared in a cast iron skillet.

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight

Cast Iron Cookware Camping Essentials

Essentials for Camping

When camping, it is important to eliminate the non-essential and pack as lightly as possible. While not exactly light, there are two pieces of cast iron cookware that I will always take with me.

ONE:  a cast iron camping dutch oven

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

The cast iron camping dutch oven is small enough to pack easily and large enough to feed a family or group. The flanged lid will hold hot coals to facilitate cooking and to keep ashes out of the pot. The cast iron camp lid can be turned upside down for use as a griddle. The dutch oven legs provide stability and safety for use over your campfire or fireplace. This camp dutch oven is a skillet, saute pan, casserole cooker and fry pan all in one. A castiron pot is a lifetime investment. In our family cast iron cookware is passed down from one generation to the next. The cast iron dutch oven was originated for outdoor cooking and for centuries has done it’s job.

Add to Your Outdoor Cooking Enjoyment

Two: a cast iron 10 inch skillet

The cast iron skillet is ideal for eggs, bacon sausage, pancakes and omelets for breakfast. You can fry saute, make desserts like stewed apples and other fruits.  You can grill your meats. The cast iron skillet also can serve as a grill, and griddle.

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet

Supersize Your Wallet Not Your Body with Cast Iron Cookware

Good News for Dieters

How can you super-size your “assets” not your, er…body?

Research has shown that dieters who are offered a financial reward as an incentive to lose weight are five times more likely to meet their goal when compared to other dieters who have no potential monetary reward.

This has led to a number of incentive programs:

• companies have started offering everything from gift cards to cruises to employees who shed excess pounds in an effort to cut overall health care costs.
• Corporate Sponsors give cash prizes to obese participants who drop enough weight in a year.

What a healthy and well conceived idea! It is a win/win proposition for sponsor and participant.

This leads me to a question: Is there a pot

Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

that can help you get rid of or avoid acquiring a “pot” and save you money at the same time? Cast Iron Cookware Shop proposes the following for your consideration:

• cooking in cast iron cookware can be conducive to cooking healthy meals of veggies at home and avoiding the “bloat” that can go with “fast food“. Cast iron cooked meals are “slow food” and can lead to enhanced communication in the family.
• cooking in cast iron can save you money in the long run. Yes, you can find less expensive cookware but you will be replacing it relatively soon. Cast iron cookware is an investment and not just a purchase. You will still be enjoying the quality of your cookware long after you have forgotten what you paid for it and you can pass it on to your children and grandchildren.
• cooking in with cast iron cookware instead of eating out is cost effective and will save you money.
  

  Lodge Cast Iron Cookware

If you want to super size something in 2010, cast iron cookware offers you an incentive to use the cookware that will allow you to taste the food not the cookware.

Offers Incentives for Cooking