Saturday, July 11, 2015

Cast Iron Cooking, Yurts, and Campfires

Hello, everybody! I hope everyone had a fabulous Fourth of July! Something we love to do on those summer nights on the beach is to get a pack of industrial glow sticks for the kids. We head down in the dark and they can play tag in the pitch blackness... because they're wearing a brightly colored glow stick we can keep track of them, and they can find each other!
        These aren't the party sticks that fade out after a few hours. They're military grade and you can read by the light they produce. Great for camping!
 Now, I mention camping because not all of this trip is in a lovely beach house overlooking the sea. Oh, no... I have a few family members who prefer (why, WHY?) camping. Now, I can't quite make myself go all out camping (too much of that when I was a child!) but I can do a week in a
yurt .  (Click the link to read more.)
photo courtesy of Oregon State Parks
They're sort of a glorified tent and can be a great option for people who prefer... I don't know... a BED? And some HEAT? And a way to keep the bugs from crawling up into your blankets?
photo courtesy of Oregon State Parks
Some yurts are just gorgeous and even have showers. (*sob*) but these are part of the state park system and right on the beach so... no glamorous magazine yurts for us. Inside there are some beds and it's generally a place that children think is the coolest thing EVER but the mom is wondering how she'll cook when, although there's electricity, you aren't allowed to use it for cooking. That brings us back to cast iron. Remember the last post?
I finally learned that my pans shouldn't look like this.
Or this... Still upside down, too.
But like this! Ta-dah! Now, I'll get to the larger cast iron cooking in a bit, but first I have to mention this awesome thing I saw on my new favorite facebook page, Cast Iron Cooking.
Westlandcamping.com
 PIE IRONS. I'd never heard of such a thing. A lot of people have. A lot of people haven't. It seems regional. I'd like to say it's a Southern thing, since my Southern friends knew what I was talking about, but around here, nobody had. But I'm only guessing because my friend from Michigan knew what they were, too. Here's a video of someone making grilled cheese and ham sandwiches if you want to make yourself really hungry! As far as I can tell, you cane make pretty much ANYTHING in these. Fruit pies, nutella stuffed waffles, grilled sandwiches, puff pastries, hash browns and ham, chicken pot pie, fried eggs, a flaky apple pie, etc.
Sold by RomeIndustries.com
So, I ordered a few waffle irons (mine have long handles but I couldn't find a good picture), a few sandwich irons and a large round one for pizza. How fun is this? No more living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (with a side of sand). I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. But some recipes I'm going to use can be found here. (WARNING: that's a Pinterest link. Danger ahead. Time suck can be averted by not clicking!)
So, these can all be made in a skillet over a fire.
 I'll be making blueberry cobbler. Recipe is here.
Pizza nachos. Recipe is here.
Peach pie with cinnamon crust. Recipe is here.
Breakfast fritatta. Recipe is here.
And so many more. The camp is right on a lake, and the ocean is just the other direction, so I'm assuming there will be some fish to fry, too. :) I'm not a fryer, though, so I'll leave that up to hubby.  I' sure there will be some flubs and some inedible messes, but I'm hoping to really learn some great campfire recipes. And if not, by the time our week in a yurt is over and we're headed to the beach house, we'll all be MUCH thinner. And crankier. And every so much more appreciative of a stove.
Until next time, my friends! And don't forget, just one more week until Only Through Love releases! I'm biting my nails while I hang out on the beach. It's like waiting for a baby! *deep breaths* Until next time!

12 comments:

  1. looks like fun! I'm skipping the recipes for now...makes me hungry! I've always wanted to do the cast iron cooking- dutch oven or whatever it's called. need some a/c in my yurt though I dont like to rough it too much!
    Susanna

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    1. The best part about these yurts is that they're on the coast and the weather hits about 70F at the warmest day. We actually made sure they had HEAT. lol

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    2. We have yurts in a nearby state park. Now I want to go stay in one! :)

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    3. They're really fun, and definitely like camping but without sleeping on the ground. The mattresses aren't super comfy, but it's a nice inbetween sort of "camping".

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    4. I wanna come next time! :-)
      Susanna

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    5. The Fourth of July... mark the calendar!

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  2. Those recipes sound fantastic!! I'm already picturing what I can do with my fairly new iron skillet. :)

    I'm excited about your new book!!!! Love that cover.

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    1. I've had cast iron forever but just didn't know how to cook in it/ with it. Now I'm trying it out and loving it!

      I am, too! I never thought I would write this girl's story, since I like to write characters a little older (28-35) and she's about 21, but so many people asked about her since she first showed up in the first book at 17... so, there we go! Gamer, illustrater, comicon goer, cosplayer, programmer and ... heroine.

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  3. My son got a new piece of cast iron for me - a grill pan. I can hardly wait to use it!

    And the yurts are beautiful. I hope the idea spreads in this direction :)

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    1. They're lovely! They have windows that are just screens, but you can roll down some heavy flaps on the outside to keep the heat in if it gets cold. The best part is a giant circular skylight in the center that can be opened. But when the sun rises, the people sleeping in the center of the room get a face full of day light. No curtains there. But then... the birds are up then, too, so nobody is sleeping in.

      Jealous of your grill! Share the pics!

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  4. I love cast iron and cast aluminum. They have a true cook surface and even temperature, and they hold the temperature. That's great for so many things. (not candy making, because the temperature keeps rising.

    Virginia, we loved to make big meat pies or chicken and biscuits in our big cast iron frying pans. And I regularly re-season them with oil and warming them in the oven because my first ones looked like your rust bucket. Pretty funny!

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    1. The only cast iron I've used before this is enameled cast iron. I have some beautiful teal pieces from the Martha Stewart line they sell at Macy's. Definitely easier to take care of!
      I think my best success at the cast iron camping was the berry buckle... pictures forthcoming.

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