I'm a simple woman, give me a cast iron skillet and a wooden spoon and I'm a happy camper.. er cooker.. I also prefer my wire whisk to an electric mixer, and a hand held can opener for those things that still don't come with the handy pop top.

I'm not entirely old school tho, there is one gadget in my kitchen Id fight you over and that is my ninja food processor. But aside from that I like mostly the old school stuff, the stuff grandma used.

I am the proud owner of a meat grinder that I haven't tried out yet but I'm excite to try, I even bought the sausage casing to try my hand at making sausage, Ill let you know how that goes when it goes.. I bought boneless country ribs to try out in my meat grinder this week, but I read after buying that I can grind meat in my ninja!!! Wish someone had told me 30 dollars ago. But its gonna be great, Im gonna love it. I just know..

As much as I love the ninja tho, I don't use it every meal, what I do use every meal is my wooden spoons, and my cast iron frying pan. Those are my babies if I were the type of person to call inanimate objects babies. They do require an extra amount of care, but they are worth it.

It makes me feel more like a food "artist" than a "cook". Just like an artist has to clean her tools, my kitchen tools require that extra amount of love and attention too make them last too. That extra effort I put into them make them more personal to me, and I swear they make a world of difference flavor wise too.

My cast iron skillet.. You can buy these new at walmart, or online pre-seasoned, but I got mine from my mama and from yard sales and seasoned them myself. Seasoning it is not as hard as you may have heard, Here is how to season a cast iron skillet.



My dad owns an antique shop and I have seen him use a grinder when he gets them in extra rust or the seasoning is caked on and it needs to be redone. But here at home I have always done well with just a brillo pad or piece of steel wool to clean off the rust or gunk. After it is rust and gunk free  i simply spray it with cooking spray and wipe to evenly coat my pan and then pop it in a warm oven. My cast iron lives in my oven, even when I'm using the oven to cook other things not in the cast iron it still lives on the bottom rack oil and heat is what seasons your pan and living on the bottom rack is actually good for it it cooks that oil into the pan and prevents rusting. A lot of people say they don't wash their cast iron they just rinse and wipe out, I cannot imagine eating from an unwashed pan, I do wash it, lightly, (lightly is all it takes when its seasoned well) and respray with cooking oil spray each time I use it. The main, most important things you should always remember with cast iron is  1.Never let it air dry, because it will rust 2. Never Never put it in a dishwasher. If you have never tried cooking in cast iron give it a try, there is a difference...

Then there is my wooden spoons, they are nothing special, bought cheap at walmart in a little sack of 4 or 5 different wooden utensils, But I have come to love them. I cant really tell you why in so fond of them, but they are my favorites. Mom has wooden spoons that she has had as long as I can remember, and I like to think they will be passed down to me. I mean its a silly thing to want to inherit but its on my list... Not that I want her to die, or am planning her demise, but I do like the wooden spoons in the event they are up for grabs i certainly don't want my POS sister in-law cooking with MY mama's spoons. To care for my wooden spoons I always hand wash them and once in a while rub them with coconut or olive oil and let them sit overnight to absorb the oil and keep them from splintering and drying out, then i wipe them down real well and I say wipe but what i mean i guess is polish.. Kind of like Ralph Macchio in Karate kid did with the "wax on" "wax off" method. I have been home making for 20+ years and my wooden spoons have been with me most of those years. The oil coating on both the cast iron and wooden spoons helps to repel the gunk and odor that might otherwise be absorbed into your favorite cooking essentials. As with the cast iron NEVER put in the dishwasher.



On a side note, something i recently learned (proving you are never to old to learn) Is that if you lay a wooden spoon across a boiling pot it will keep whatever you are cooking from boiling over. (I have only tried this will pasta but I have read it works with other things as well. Don't quote me on it about other things tho cuz I don't know for sure)