As part of my new healthy lifestyle change, I am working on using Teflon coated pans as little as possible. Until this point I have only used cast iron pans at work, and they've been great. The ones at work are well seasoned and easy to clean. The other day I broke down and spent money on two new cast iron pans. I hate spending money on kitchen stuff, I'd rather use the dollars for something fun. However, I must say that I am absolutely loving both my new pans. One pan is large and I can cook enough food in it for both of us. The second one is just plain handy for me. It is smaller, about the size of a lunch plate. I end up using the smaller one almost every day. I can easily cook my breakfast patties and potatoes in it, as well as use it to slightly break down spinach and kale before putting them in smoothes. Now I'm wishing I had made the purchases sooner.
Cooking with cast iron is pretty simple, but there are a few things I'm learning as I go. For instance, once the pan heats up I like to lower the heat to keep the oil from getting to the smoking point as quickly. Also, I have to remember to not cook acidic foods in the cast iron pan. Cooking tomatoes or adding vinegar, for example, can cause the pan to pit.
Another recent kitchen purchase was a small food processor. I don't like to buy appliances because I just don't have room to store them. This one was small and so many recipes call for a food processor, that I gave in. So far I have only used it make cauliflower rice. As long as the pieces were small, it worked fine. Next I'm going to attempt hazelnut meal, which is called for in a meatloaf recipe.
Recent Meal Success: Stuffed Peppers and cauliflower rice.
Used the recipe from Practical Paleo, with ground turkey. I had a cold and couldn't really smell or taste the meal, but my husband liked it and considering it's a paleo recipe, that's high praise. He wasn't jazzed about the cauliflower rice, but that's fine.
Oops, looks like I ate the last pepper today without taking a picture of it first.
