Lately, I’ve been trying to bake on a cast iron stove. It is really hard to
regulate the heat. Not easy like in a modern kitchen, just set the heat in
the stove and leave. I just tried muffins in a cast iron muffin pan. One thing
I have learned is it is better to cook to slow than fast. A hot fire is not as good
as a smaller warm fire. I have a regular stove that we always use, but it is fun
to experiment on the wood burning one. How they cooked all that food back then
is amazing. I guess it’s just trial and error and I have been having more error than
anything.

If you have been using your cast iron cookware for camping, you know
what a great job it does. Do you use it in your kitchen? If not, why not.
It does the same great job indoors as it does outdoors. Have you tried
using it on your BBQ grill?. It does a great job there as well. You can cook
your burgers on one side of the grill and use your cast iron on the other side.

Try it, you will like it.

If you like to go camping or are new to it, walk around the campsite
around dinner or breakfast time. You will see quite a few people cooking
on cast iron cookware. Why? Because it is durable, can be used on your
stove or directly over an open campfire. Seems to me that cooking outdoors
on cast iron, especially breakfast for me, always tastes better than when you
do it a home. Same skillet, same food, just seems to taste better. Probably has
something to do with being outside and just enjoying life.

Summer is just around the corner and the horses are excited about
riding and camping. They love to go to new places and ride. Actually,
they walk and I ride. I have 2 essential items I take when we go. Food
for the horses and my Old Mountain Cast Iron Cookware for me to cook
on. I usually like to cook my meals in a dutch oven. I love one pot cooking.
When we get back from a ride, I will start my meal in the dutch oven over
an open fire and then go feed the horses. After that I can just relax and eat
a good meal. Come on summer get here.

The only time of week we cook breakfast is Sunday mornings. After a week of
cereal, toast and other fast eating items, it is a real treat. I always cook it and
I get up earlier than my wife. I pull out my cast iron pans and start getting
everything ready for when she wakes up. I cook eggs in one, hash browns in
another and ham, or bacon in the third. To me, nothing smells better than
breakfast being cooked. With the fresh smell of coffee and bacon in the air,
it is a great way to start the day.

With summer coming to an end and fall seeming to be going by very fast, winter
will not be far behind. It will be getting dark out much sooner and the time you
have to enjoy outside in the daylight will be shortened. That means when you get
home from work, it will be dark and not as pleasant outside. So, it’s time to think
soup. We are now getting our favorite soup recipes out. We like to make enough
in our cast iron dutch oven to last for several days. That way, we can come home
from work and dinner is already ready. All you need to go along with the soup is
a salad or some good bread.

I love fishing and bird hunting, but wish I was a big game hunter. That way,
I could go back up into the mountains and get more use out of my camping
gear and cast iron pots and pans before the snow fly’s. But, life being what it
is, I am stuck at work with no more days to take off until next year. I cannot
even take my horse up in the mountains to ride, with all the gun fire, he thinks
they are aiming at him. So he gets to stay home and eat and be happy.

When my wife’s brother and kids came to stay with us last weekend, I made some
french toast on my cast iron griddle. The next morning the littlest one wanted to
know if I was going to make more toast with the girdle. I told him it was a griddle,
not a girdle. A girdle was something women wore. He couldn’t quite grasp the word
difference and kept saying girdle. The other boys started saying girdle as well and
eventually got us all confused. I think next time, I’ll just put the girdle away and use
the frying pan.

If you keep some tortilla shells in your refrigerator, you can almost always
make a fajita. Any kind of leftovers will work, shrimp, extra meat, vegetables
and even eggs. All you have to do is lightly coat one side of 2 tortilla’s, put
the ingredients in the middle and cook it over low heat on your cast iron griddle.
Don’t cook it to fast or the outside of the tortilla’s will burn before the inside gets
warm. When it is done, take it out and cut it like a pizza. This only takes about
10-15 minutes for start to finish.

Get it in while you can. Can you believe that it is August already.
Before you know it, you will be shoveling snow and saying what
happened to the summer. Sure, we all get busy when the weather
is nice and it seems like the weekends get caught up in doing
chores around the house. Put down the paint brush, pick
up some cast iron pots and pans and get in your car and go
enjoy the weekend someplace else beside the house. At least
you won’t be driving in the snow.