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I love cooking with cast iron. I grew up watching both of my Grandmothers and my own Momma cook with it. As a matter of fact I’ve already told my Momma that I would like to have her cast iron and my grandmother’s cast iron willed to me! Because is there anything better than 75 year old perfectly seasoned cast iron cookware?! Smile! My daughter has watched me cook with it all her life and now I love seeing her love and care for her cast iron just as much as I do mine.
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So when MaryJane sent me a copy of her book Cast Iron Kitchen, I was so excited I immediately sat down and skimmed every page. That night I took it to bed with me and read every single detail! (Do you ever read cookbooks in bed?! I oftentimes have a stack of them on my nightstand!)
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I’m not going to ruin the suspense for you by sharing pictures of everything I’ve made out of this cookbook the last few weeks. But there is one recipe that is a total game changer for my family. (Don’t judge me on this okay?!) New Years Eve we had a big bon fire with all the yummy S’mores fixings. But I usually pass on the S’mores because they disappoint me in the fact that the chocolate doesn’t melt just right or the marshmallow isn’t that perfect golden color of sticky yumminess. And sitting there at the camp fire I suddenly remembered that MaryJane had a recipe for Skillet S’mores in her book.
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So later when we were back in my daughter’s house, I ran home and got the recipe and my daughter made us the perfectly amazing Skillet S’mores. Oh my word. I just have to say that we will NEVER make S’mores over a campfire again! These were the most amazing things with perfectly melted chocolate and sticky golden marshmallows! I mean seriously you guys… don’t you want to eat some of those?
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The other thing I made this week that I loved were the flour tortillas. I grew up on home-made flour tortillas and my Momma has the tortilla press and everything. I do not have it (yet!) so I just rolled mine out on the counter top. But these were so yummy. The recipe calls for Coconut Oil instead of shortening, which is in my Momma’s recipe. I was reluctant about using the Coconut Oil but was so glad I made them according to MaryJane’s recipe because they were perfect. And of course you couldn’t even taste the coconut oil in them.
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And then the Chicken Fajitas. Oh so yummy and honestly so easy. There is a butter/cilantro/lime mixture that you add at the end and make sure you don’t leave this out!
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Those are just a few of my favorites. But I’ve loved the Dutch Babies, the Hash-Brown Patties, the Giant Cinnamon Roll, the Chicken and Dumplings.
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And of course the Biscuits. Anyone that follows me here knows how I love Biscuits! In MaryJane’s cookbook she has six pages of all these fun varieties of Biscuit Bun sliders. So much fun to make!
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But I’m going to warn you. There is one big problem with this cookbook. MaryJane features every kind of cast iron cookware there is to be found… and you will WANT IT ALL!! I have a list now of what I’ll be purchasing as I can afford it and find it! (And going through my Momma’s cupboards again to see what she has!!) What I really love in the book is that every recipe shows, in one quick glance, what cookware you need for that recipe. I think that is one of the nicest features in the book. Oh, and the photography is swoon worthy.
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{Giveaway Details!!!}
MaryJane has graciously offered a give-away of her cookbook to one of you awesome readers! All you have to do is comment below about absolutely anything to do with cast iron cookware! One lucky winner will be chosen and I’ll let you know next month if it is you! (In the mean time, you can purchase an autographed copy of the cookbook here.)
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I’d like to end this blog post with a sentimental thank you. Back in November I wrote a post (here) about how winters are hard for me. And I want to thank all of you who so sweetly and kindly wrote to me and reminded me of all the positive things about wintertime. I took some of the advice given to me as well as making some of my own personal changes and I feel like this has been a winter of grace for me. There is so much to be thankful for in every season of life and YOU, my Farmgirl friends are one of those things. Thank you!
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Until our gravel roads cross again… so long.
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Dori
Love your post, Dori, I follow it every time you write….I too have an old cast iron fry pan which my mom used for years. When she passed we found the fry pan and I truly would not part with it. It’s hard to find one of the “old tried and true ones”! Keep up the good work on the posts, love reading them!
PS…I used your Frozen corn recipe to put mine up this summer. It turned out delicious!!
I was raised in Chicago and never even saw a cast iron pan until I was middle aged.
Now I live on a small farm, raise chickens, drive a tractor and am trying to embrace new ways of doing things. I confess to a fear of cast iron. However, I inherited a pan from my son, one he used as his camping pan. One of my resolutions for 2018 is to use it. I have several of Mary Jane’s other books and have been a subscriber to Mary Jane’s Farm since 2010. It’s about time, don’t you think???
I love your posts, by the way, Dori. Seeing how you’re raising your offspring gives me hope for America’s future.
One of my favorite things to look for at thrift stores and flea markets is old rusty cast iron cookware. After cleaning and reseasoning, you can have great cookware for a great price. I picked up an oval cast iron skillet labeled an omelet skillet at a flea mall in Alabama; but my friends here in Texas call it a fajita skillet! Well, whatever it is, it has since become my favorite
My Husband and I scour the flea markets for cast iron and re-purpose it for use. This has given us the opportunity to rid ourselves of any teflon, aluminum and other harmful cookware.
Re-purposing is half the fun,
Melissa
Well, my husband loves cast iron because it heats evenly and I have found a gf cornbread recipe for cast iron that is fabulous! I love that it goes right in the oven and turns evenly crispy golden brown. Yummy. We bought a dutch oven for no knead bread that is incredible too. Since it works great for soups and stew too we had to get another one cause can’t have soup without crusty bread! I’m certain I must have a square griddle for pancakes someday.
My mom used cast iron. I don’t have any pieces yet but I want to get some of my own. I saw this cookbook in the recent Mary Jane Farms magazine and I added it to my book wish list so I would love to win a copy. Thank you as always for your inspiring blogs. I love reading them!
Cast iron is my favorite cookware, love making anything from bacon to crepes in it. I have my husband’s grandmother’s old iron dutch oven, love it!
I love to cook with cast iron. It is the best.
I absolutely love cast iron. I received my first piece from an old country doctor who gave it to me to help with anemia. It worked for me. My cast iron experience continued when I worked as a living historian. I spent the whole winter cleaning every piece of cast iron in the park, from itty bitty pieces all the way to the cast iron stove. Talk about a labor of love. When my husband’s nana passed I was gifted her skillets and kettles. You are so right about the perfectly seasoned 75+ year old pieces,there is nothing finer.
I love cast iron cooking. I use my cast iron skillet everyday and have been doing so for years. All of the women in my family used cast iron and cherished each and every piece that they had. If you ever use it you will never go back to modern cookware. It is also environmentally friendly because it never wears out. I can remember my grandmother cooking fried chicken in her cast iron skillet. So good. She used her big cast iron pot outside to do her wash, make lye soap and scald the feathers off of her chickens when she needed one to eat and cook in the aforementioned cast iron skillet. Such wonderful memories and so much learned from a simple, humble bit of cast iron.
We love cooking with cast iron! When I cook for clients, and they don’t have it, everything sticks, and it’s just no fun. I got a great new cast iron brush from Lehman’s to make clean-up a breeze also.
Growing up, I didn’t even know there was anything other than a cast iron skillet, just various sizes! Probably my favorite biscuit is Sweet Potato Biscuits! Excellent with soup, gravy, or just honey and butter.
I LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! cooking in cast iron. And I really enjoy your blog too.
My Grandmother made the best hash in the world using her cast iron skillet on her wood burning stove. I just received a cast iron skillet of my own this last Christmas, and I hope to recreate Grandma’s hash and a lot of other wonderful goodies!
I have one cast iron skillet. My family loves a layered potatoe, ham, egg, and cheese dish and I decided to try it in the cast iron. I finished it off 8n the oven to melt the cheese. It was awesome! Crispy around the edges, soft and cheesy in 5be middle. I love one pot meals!
We only use Cast Iron skillets. I have 2 from my childhood. Love cornbread made in a cast iron skillet just like Mom used to make. Dad would have a glass of buttermilk and crumble the cornbread in it.
What a beautiful cookbook! I’m a cast iron newbie but I really enjoy using my pans. Thanks for an opportunity to win the cookbook.
Hi Dori:
I quit using cast iron when my wrist was injured, but now my son and I use it a lot. In fact, I asked for a cast iron griddle for Christmas and I got it. My son makes our breakfast sausage/muffin on it. I have two small round cast iron skillets that I use to make corn bread in and I have one even smaller that my son uses when he makes cheesy eggs for me by melting the cheese in it for the eggs. A few years back I got him a large cast iron skillet that he uses for many excellent dishes. We have about 5 cast iron skillets and the cast iron griddle, easy to clean, easy to season, and good for your health as you get iron back in your diet from using cast iron. And they do last forever. One of the finest cookware ever made. I would love to win the cookbook as I love biscuits too and they looked scrumptious and I have made tortillas using masa harina many times as I like the homemade ones better than the store bought ones. When I was a child I lived close to a Mexican family with 2 little girls and I was always there and their mother would make tortillas, spread butter on them and we ate them. Delicious and wonderful memories.
Nothing makes fried potato’s crispy like a cast iron skillet.
I love cast iron, pans… I bought a cast iron baking pan years ago with animal muffin forms. I preheat the cast iron baking pan and then put a corn bread mix in the forms. SO CUTE…children love them with chili or a home made soup…I DO also have skillets but love my sweet baking pan…
I love my cast iron. My mother gave me her Dutch oven and a 10″ skillet. I also have a large round griddle I use for tortilla’s. My favorite thing to do is going to antique stores vintage faire’s etc and look for the vintage cast iron (Wagner and Griswold)
I just love cast iron cooking. My sister is an avid user of cast iron and she is my inspiration. She introduced me to many of her recipes that she used for cast iron and they were so delicious. However, I have yet to invest and would love to win one.
I LOVE cast iron. We cook on then all the time. I have some from my mom & dad and my mother-in-law and her mother. This year for Christmas I made 17 aprons and gave 10 cast iron Dutch ovens, skillets, and griddles to our family. They loved them.
Right now I only have a cast iron skillet but I use it every opportunity I can. Skillet cornbread is SO good. I look forward to the recipes in every magazine and to win a copy if the book would be awesome! Then I would definitely have to add to my cookware.
Cast iron is the best. I wish I had my mom’s. Who needs Teflon!
I love cast iron cooking and do it often when I am camping!
Wow. Those recipes look fantastic. My mouth was watering just reading about them. That cookbook sounds yummy. I have a few pieces of cast iron and I use them regularly. I have a glass top stove and they say you shouldn’t cook with cast iron but I do and I’ve never had a problem. So I don’t know what the deal is. I would love to have the chance to make all those recipes in the cookbook.
Thanks for the giveaway. Happy cooking.
I love cart iron cooking. I’m still learning all the great ways to cook with it but am enjoying the education.
Received my chicken fryer as a wedding gift 50+ years ago. Cast iron cooking is the best!
Love my cast iron. Cook steaks and burger on the porch off the kitchen. Have a glass top range. was told not to cook with cast iron. Not sure why but guess it might break the glass top.
I’m with you Dori. S’mores over a campfire have always disappointed me too. I’d love to have MaryJanes Cast Iron Cookbook, so I can make the Skillet S’mores! I’ve got a collection of about a dozen cast iron pieces, which I use every day/week. Me in Idaho
I too grew up watching my parents cook our meals with cast iron. Mr dad’s pan roasted pheasant was divine! So sweet and juicy. I myself make a lovely artisan bread in my cast iron, fitted perfectly, and seasoned just right for the task. I have quite a collection started with all of my Dutch ovens used on a few wagon trains over the years. There is such an art and skill to using cast iron. I would love to develop these skills as the years unfurl.
My dad, not Mr dad!!
I absolutely love my cast iron pan! Thanks for your post it has given me new ideas to try! I’d love to win one cause I sometimes feel like it would be handy to have more than one in my kitchen.
Love cast iron. I remember as a kid my great grandma using it to cook everything! She passed a cast iron pot to my mom…..which she uses. Things taste so much better. Maybe it’s because of all the love that pot has seen over the years, the many meals that were made in it and fed so many….who knows. It’s the best! I use cast iron and love it!
I love my cast iron skillets and use them almost everyday. I dont use my oven…long story…off the grid and modern gas stoves still need electric. But one dish meals on an open fire or stove top is the way to go.
Dutch babies in cast iron are a favorite quickly followed by cast iron pizza.
My husband and I just purchased our first RV and we are about to set out on a 8 week adventure out west, I would dearly love to own this book. I just gave him cast iron pans for Christmas. What a joy it woulf be to win this1
Everything seems to cook better with a cast iron. Thank you for the opportunity to win this lovely book.
Marilyn
I love cast iron! Today we fried cheese quesadillas in my large pan for lunch. I’ve been collecting cast iron pieces for years and am enthused about learning more about it.
I didn’t start using cast iron until I met my husband. Now, I wouldn’t cook on anything else. We have quite the collection. I think my favorite is a mini cast iron skillet that I use to make Skillet S’mores, single serving, all for myself, a chocolaty marshmallow heaven!
I love me a cast iron Dutch baby! Simple and yummy!
So happy to hear you are having a fine season! Great post!! I grew up with cast iron cookware, this was with my grandparents and one of the skillets was from my great grandmother. I inherited it all and enjoyed it for many years but do to a condition I have, I no longer can use it. It all now makes my son very happy, he does ‘camp cooking’ too. Love MaryJane’s recipes. God bless.
my husband, who does most of the cooking (yes, I know how blessed I am!) swears by his cast iron pans. I am learning, and it is a grand adventure. We have a set in the house and camper. I always say I am getting my workout hoisting those pans!
I was not the kindest to my cast iron. While I believed it’s a staple of the kitchen, it was seldom used or appreciated (for the babying it requires) and had more than one trip through the dishwasher. I became an avid chef of Japanese cuisine,and that calls for a lot of time in front of the stove. Being as my husband and I were just starting out,we only had a few pans to our name,our cast iron skillet being one of them.
Forced to use the behemoth pan, I could no longer deny it’s superiority. The even heating,the ability to take a beating,even the nonstick for how much we flat out abused it.
Needless to say,it’s now my go-to pan,and I gladly put in the extra work of maintaining a seasoned cast iron skillet.
With cast iron,you give and you receive. 😉
The only pans I cook in are my cast iron…frypans, dutch oven, etc!
I’m a senior, so they’re pretty old too! 🙂
Love them!
I started collecting cast iron about 35 years ago. Now my son collects it too. I used to go to flea markets and swap meets to buy it. At one flea market I went to regularly there was an elderly gentleman who sold only cast iron. He always had every piece so nicely displayed. I began to look for him every month. He taught me so much about cast iron. Especially how to season it. I would say most of my cast iron was bought from him! And I still use it to this day!!
We had hash browns this just this evening with our cast iron skillet! We love to use them!
If someone stole all of my cast iron (I have 6 pieces) I wouldn’t know how to cook. :0)
I love using cast iron to cook. Love how things turn out.
Love my cast iron skillets.. I have 6! I use them all the time!