Adventures of a Cast Iron Skillet

This past weekend I finally got around to re-seasoning my cast iron skillets. A few months ago, my mom gave me an old skillet that had once belonged to my great Aunt Ethel. Forgotten in a kitchen cabinet, my mom found it while cleaning out her kitchen. Not wanting to get rid of a family heirloom of sorts, she offered it to me when Matt and I moved to keep it in the family. She also gave me a little egg pan. But then, they both just sat on my kitchen counter for ages.

That is, until this weekend. I really don't know why it took me so long, it was easy enough and oh so worth it. I now have two, beautiful skillets to use for whatever, whenever I want! I feel so grown up. I've used them every night since the re-seasoning and the results have thus far been delicious.

Last night after much debate about what to eat, we decided on breakfast for dinner, one of my favorite meals! I just love breakfast; there's something oddly decadent about it. As a kid I would get ecstatic if we went to a hotel with a breakfast buffet. I would imagine I was some queen and pile my plate with eggs, pancakes, waffles, crepes, bacon, fruit, whatever. It was always delicious and always too filling. But I loved it anyway.

So when Matt suggested flaxmeal pancakes last night, I got all giddy again. First, because I was so happy we had finally made a decision. Second, because my mind instantly went to the sparkling (ok, not really) skillet sitting on my shelf.

We quickly bought the flaxmeal and headed home to start the baking.

I whipped up a delicious batch of Honey Lavender Flaxjacks and it was a dinner much enjoyed.

Tonight, I did something even more adventurous with my new iron friend; I made lamb burgers. Now I know that doesn't sound particularly adventurous, but here's the thing: I've been a vegetarian for 5 years.

Recently however, I've been eating small amounts of meat for several reasons.
   1. I live in a part of Virginia where there is an abundance of local, pasture-raised meat and dairy. Therefore, it is arguably more sustainable to eat a little meat now and again than to constantly consume protein sources shipped in from all over the country or even the globe.
   2. Matt and I would like to move to Mexico in the near future. Knowing that it would be more difficult to eat vegetarian all the time there, I started eating little bits here and there to ease my system back into omnivorism.
   3. Soy is ridiculously bad for you. Especially processed soy like Boca burgers and whatnot. And it is really easy to get tired of beans, quinoa and incomplete proteins from vegetable. Plus, your body needs fats. And it is equally as easy to get tired of coconut, nuts and avocados for this necessity. So very occasionally, I treat my body to complete, fatty proteins in the form of animal products.

I still have reservations about abandoning my vegetarian lifestyle all together, but that is a topic for another time. For now we're discussing lamb burgers.

For my first ever meat entree, it was pretty darn good. The lamb was locally bought at the Farmers' Market this morning and simply seasoned with onion, garlic and rosemary, and topped with some sage from my porch. Fried up in my cast iron skillet, it provided a nice punch of protein and iron all in a tasty little package.

Plus, now my skillet is taking in an array of seasonings, which I think would make great Aunt Ethel proud!


(Also, just a note on last night's post. I realized I messed up my syrup which is pretty disappointing. It just isn't reducing like I hoped and the berries didn't cook long enough. But today I talked to a woman I know in an herbalism program and she gave me ideas to fix it! So hopefully I'll get that done this week and all will be well.)