How to season cast iron

Now that you know a bit about why I love cast iron (and if you missed that little gem, you can catch up here), it's time for the next important little tidbit of information that you should know. Ready? Set? Go!

The first time I tried to cook eggs in a cast iron skillet (which I assume were for Wes, given my body's prejudice against them), the eggs had black on them and the pan had egg on it, and it was a pretty depressing experience all around. But now I know something I didn't before. My pan just needed seasoning. And we are not talking herbs here, folks.

Recently, one of my aunts gave me a cast iron skillet that she rarely used. It wasn't in great shape, but I was happy to give it a new home. I was super excited about this because it gave me a chance to experiment with a pan that definitely needed some seasoning. Seasoning is when you coat a cast iron pan in oil of some kind, to give it that non-stick surface. This is why a pan gets better over time, every time you coat it in grease, that coating gets increasingly non-stick. Of course, you can just cook only greasy foods for a while (think: bacon for days). But it's much easier to jump in with a head start! Without further rambling, here is how to season a cast-iron skillet, complete with before and after pictures!

Step 1
Clean.

Pre-cleaning

You need to give your pan a good scrub. The best way to do this is to use coarse salt, a bit of water, and a good scrub brush. You don't need to use soap or any commercial cleaners, and in fact you want to avoid these as they will further damage any seasoning that the pan might have. Scrub until you have removed as much of the rust, dirt, etc. as you can. Make sure you dry the pan well when you are done.

Step 2
Oil. 

Once you have scrubbed your pan, you want to smear the pan in a good coating of oil. Choose an oil with a high smoke point such as coconut oil, lard, bacon fat, etc. You do NOT want to use olive oil, because this has a low smoke point and will burn and get sticky and gross (trust me, I learned this the hard way). Coat the pan all over, top and bottom.

Step 3
Heat. 

Put a layer of tin foil on the bottom rack of your oven, to catch any drips.
Preheat your oven to 350. Place your pan upside down on the top rack. After 2 hours, turn off the oven and let your pan cool there. After it is cool, remove your pan and use a kitchen rag to clean off any excess oil if needed.

Post-seasoning - might not look pretty, but definitely ready for use!

To keep your pan in good condition, periodically coat the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of oil after cleaning (I just put coconut oil on a paper towel and rub it on the pan if it looks a bit dry).

NOTE: Every time you cook something with fat, your pan is getting a little more seasoned. The best cast iron skillets are black and shiny from their built up seasoning.

My oldest pan that is now nice and black and shiny after a few years of use

You can check out this video from The Prairie Homestead of how simple it actually is to cook eggs in a well seasoned skillet. It works! Even my 9 year old cousin can do it (we tried!)! 

7 Reasons why I love cast iron...and you should too!

When I first started caring about having a more simple, natural lifestyle, I began with the products I was putting on my body like deodorant, face wash, and lotion. I still think this is a great place to start! But the cool part about making one switch at a time, is that you just keep changing and improving your lifestyle until you branch into new areas! When I moved to school and had to collect pots and pans for the first time, I really dug into researching cookware. I had a hunch that the black coating on my frying pan (that flaked off into my pancakes) was prooooooobably not so great. And guess what? It's not! The best alternative I have found to teflon and other nonstick cookware is, by far, cast iron. (I don't intend to write an exhaustive research report on cast iron or the dangers of teflon cookware, but I'll put a few links at the bottom of this post.) Today I want to share a little bit about why I love cast iron cookware with you!

Here are the top 7 reasons why I love cast iron...

1. Cook on iron, eat iron. 
Cooking with cast iron actually adds iron to your food! This is great for anyone, but especially those who need to get more iron in their diets (women in particular tend to have this problem).

2. No toxins!
Cast iron cookware doesn't have any coating that is laden with toxins, and the material itself is safe to cook with. It is naturally non-stick, which is great since there few (if any) coatings that make a pan non-stick without including dangerous chemicals in the mix.

3. They can go in the oven.
Cookie skillets? Enough said. (Also shepherd's pie, apple oven pancakes, seared meat, fajitas, and about a bazillion other things!) But cookie skillets. For real.

4. Cost effective
The best way BY FAR to buy cast iron is second hand at a thrift store or garage sale. You can just re-season them for a fresh start (more on that in my next post on cast iron), which is also conveniently quite cheap!. I'm serious. The longer they have been around, the better they cook. Additionally, cast iron cookware regularly goes on sale, and even if it's regular price, you can easily find a skillet for around $20.

5. Durable
This is a follow up to the last point. They are nearly impossible to wreck, and you can pretty much always give them a second chance with a little re-seasoning. You can use sharp knives, metal utensils, high heat, and they will look like nothing happened (as for how the knives fare is a different story). You can take these camping, to the cottage, or even hang them up as decoration. It's a win-win.

6. You can pretend you are Rapunzel in Tangled
I don't really think this requires any further explanation.
NOTE: I rethought this statement, and I WOULD like to say that I am not suggesting that you should actually hit someone with a frying pan. I was more thinking playing movie clips on YouTube while using the frying pan and pretending you are awesome like Rapunzel. Not that that has happened at my house. OK, moving on.

7. They last forever.
This is generally a repeat of number 5. Cast iron cookware lasts FOREVER! Maybe even forever and a day. I dream of a cast iron skillet handed down from a great grandmother's farmhouse or something like that (I assume one of those farmhouses exists in my family, but I'm not actually sure). Especially if it had seen many days of bacon. Yes, they never get old, never go out of style, and you could even pass it on as a family heirloom if you were weird like me and that seemed cool.

Anyways, I feel like this post has gotten sufficiently weird and now is a good time to end. Moral of the story is, cook with cast iron.

Here are some more people with things to say about cast iron:
Dangers of Teflon Cookware - what you need to know
10 Reasons to Try Cast Iron - with a lengthy list of sources at the bottom
"Ever so humble, cast iron outshines the fancy pans" - NY Times article on cast iron
Does cooking with cast iron add iron to your food? - with links to research studies

Big Changes!

I'm back! I know, I know, it's been a while. While it might have seemed like I simply forgot about this little blog, I've actually just been super busy with some new and exciting changes! Today, I'm so stoked to tell you all about it!!!!

First things first, you might have noticed that the blog has gotten a major facelift! Two big things have changed... both the name and the logo.

Name
When I originally created this blog, I needed a name. I called it Purpsicle for a few reasons. When Wes and I were courting back at camp, he would make up silly names for me using my camp name (I think he gets a great deal of enjoyment out of finding new ways to make me roll my eyes lol). One of those was "Purpsicle" (my camp name was Purple, so... purple + popsicle = purpsicle...why that was a name, who knows). Somehow this one in particular was deemed hilarious and stuck around...and was still in existence when I started a blog years later! I liked that it reminded me of camp, it made me laugh, and was unique to me.

Fast forward a year or so to now...
I was starting an etsy store and wanted to link my blog, FB page, and etsy store together. Of course, someone else had the name Purpsicle, so I put some more thought to a domain name. That's when Purpcycle came to me. What the heck is that you ask? Allow me.

It's basically a combination of two concepts. The first concept is purpose. I want to have purpose and intentionality behind everything I do, whether it's my life, my blog, or my business. The second concept is the idea of a cycle - whether it's to recycle, upcycle, or participate in the cycle of life. Not neccessarily the idea of "what goes around comes around," but the idea that what we do influences other people's lives too. I never want to forget that my actions affect others, whether it's a smile, making a purchase, or throwing away trash. So, there you have it, a new name.

Logo
Having a new name warranted a new logo since the previous logo was now spelled wrong. This is where I start getting really excited!

I got in touch with my friend Alison from The Creative Co. and she designed a new logo for me. And I am in LOVE. Seriously, I can't get enough. Check out her amazing handlettering work on instagram @creativecollective or @alicastillo...I couldn't be happier.

And then, to top it off, my friend Kristi digitized the logo for me. You can check out her work on Facebook or on her website. You can check out more of her art here. And come back soon, because you will see a bunch more of Kristi's work around here in the near future!!

All this logo and name business leads me to...

Etsy! 

I've started an Etsy store. It's called Purpcycle too! Still very much a work in progress, but you can check it out here. I have had the domain name for a long while now, but I've finally been able to bring my ideas together and turn it into something tangible. I have many hopes and dreams to develop this further, and I am so excited to share that journey with all of you. It's been fun to have something to do outside of school that represents me a little more, plus I've always wanted to have an Etsy store. So yay! I'm going to post more on this soon, and will launch it more formally once I have updated info and listings there.

Essential Oils 
Another thing I have wanted to do for a long long time is to dive into the world of essential oils. I researched and researched for years (literally - ask my mom), before finally making the plunge and buying a kit. I could not be happier! I love them. Two things led me to finally order them. First, I was starting my Etsy store and wanted to use the best products I could and secondly, my friend got a kit too so I got to check hers out in real life. If you want to know more about the essential oils I use, you can check out my page above! I have lots of fun recipes and tutorials coming up about these, so stay tuned :)

What does this mean?
Well first of all, it means that any links are in the process of being updated because they no longer work. It also means that the posts on my Facebook page are no longer accurate, so I will be re-posting some old favourites in the next few weeks and taking down the old posts. Finally, these changes simply mean that there are very exciting things that are happening more often now. I have so many things that my fingertips are just bursting to type out, so hopefully that happens very soon!

A day in the life of a tea addict...

Recently, I found myself home all day with a pile of papers to write and a ton of snow outside my window. This meant one thing - there was going to be a lot of tea in my future. Not that there is anything new there...ahem. Anyways, I decided to document the tea I drank all day, so all you wonderful people could appreciate it too!

To be honest, I just wanted to know how many cups of tea I drink in a day...I always lose count but I know it's a lot - haha. Well, here is how the day unfolded!

Cup #1
Cream of Earl Grey

Along with Earl Grey Vanilla, this is one of my favourites. It's a perfect tea to wake up with, and I sipped it while sitting in my big green chair, reading and journalling. Perfection.


Cup #2 
Polish Tea

When my friend Tahlia went on a missions trip to Poland last summer, she got me this tea. It's so yummy! It's a black tea with fruit and hints of vanilla and even some little blue flowers... And the little tin it came in is adorable! I will definitely be filling it with more tea when it's empty.

Cup #3 
Organic Raspberry

At this point, I was ready to slow down on the caffeine and settle in for some serious homework. This tea is divine with a little bit of raw honey...mmm!

Cup #4
Sleigh Ride

This tea is from David's Tea's Christmas collection. It's fruity and delicious, but my favourite part is that it has little bits of popped popcorn! So fun!

Cup #5 
Eggnog

I love this tea because it tastes like eggnog, but it's tea! Generally eggnog makes me feel gross, but this is a happy medium. It is a rooibos tea and even has mini white chocolate chips in it that melt into your tea...

Cup #6
Peppermint

Time for bed! At this point I had a headache from a day of staring at my laptop and wanted to relax a bit before bed. Peppermint tea always hits the spot.

Well...there you have it! It was fun to look back at all the kinds of tea I enjoy in a day, and now I want to have a whole bunch of friends over for a tea party! So come visit me, OK?

I challenge you too - share your #dayoftea or #teaoftheday!