If I were stuck on a deserted island there is one thing I wouldn't want to be without - my cast iron frying pan. Truly. I'm in love. I think it's the best $10 I ever spent. I first met my cast iron frying pan almost a decade ago at a garage sale. I had always wanted one and when I saw it all rusty with a tag for $10 hanging from the handle I was sold and in love. We were to be together forever. I brought it home, gently cleaned and seasoned it and gave it my love. The love fest continues as my pan has repaid me with thousands of glorious meals ever since.

I cook with my pan every day. Sometimes 2-3 times. I'm and egg girl so eggs in the morning are a must for breakfast in my home, and my pan cooks them so beautifully. I've gone through countless non-stick crappy pans in my time. But my Cast Iron baby works for me every time.

It's great for cooking breakfast, whether it be sausages, omelets, eggs sunny side up, fried potatoes, pancakes, french toast. Or how about a frittata?  Just mix it up and then bake it in the oven.

I think that's why I would want it on the deserted island. It can withstand so much. It's near impossible to break. You don't need soap to wash it. It can withstand very high temperatures. It's amazing.

But it's not just for breakfast. I cook dinner in it most nights. A few years ago there were a lot of storms where we live and we ended up being without power for 10 days. Honestly, I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have my handy skillet. I was able to feed my family with the skillet and the wood stove for ten days. It made those ten days tolerable. We felt like we were camping for the first three, then we all just got grumpy. But we ate extremely well.

I've roasted whole chickens and beef roasts with it. I make my spaghetti sauce in it. Bake apple cobbler. You can knock a burglar out cold with one or keep an errant husband in line. So many uses. And clean up is a breeze. No soap, just hot water. A quick scrub and we're done. The less work I have to do the better. There's that lazy streak again. Seriously, they are a wonderful investment and they last a lifetime.

So if you don't have one, you don't know what you're missing. And if you do have one and think it's only for camping get to know it better!

Since we've been talking food and packaged food in particular in my past few posts and since I am feeling all warm and fuzzy about my cast iron frying pan I'm going to share my spaghetti sauce recipe. It took me a long time to find this recipe. Its simple. Cheap. Good for you and tastes great. When I say to my family that I'm making pasta they smile. They all love it. Its like comfort food. I've even served it to guests for a casual get together. It fail proof.

Rambling Spaghetti Sauce (Marinara)

1 Big honking can of crushed tomatoes (look at the ingredients)
1 med onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery, finely diced
2 garlic, minced
1 T olive oil
1 Bay leaf

Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Saute onion, carrot, celery and garlic in oil for a couple of minutes. Stirring constantly. Add crushed tomatoes. Put some water in the can (about 1/2) and swish around to get all of the tomato and pour into pan. Stir to combine. Add bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then turn heat to low and simmer for 25 mins.

After 25 mins or so put on water for pasta, while the sauce continues to simmer away. Cook pasta according to directions. Just before pasta is cooked add two ladles of the pasta water to the sauce and stir to combine. Remove bay leaf. Salt and Pepper to taste. It's ready to go.

Serve your pasta with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. If I'm feeling fancy i garnish it with some fresh chopped parsley. It looks beautiful. Molto delizioso.

For a meat sauce (yum) brown 1lb of ground beef or ground turkey in pan. Strain. Wipe out pan and continue with the above recipe adding the drained ground meat to the sauce before adding the crushed tomato.

That's the basic recipe. You can add mushrooms or olives which are great they add this wonderful saltiness to the sauce. Some spinach thrown in just before serving is good too for some added color as well as beta carotene and vitamin B's.

Can't get any easier than that. Homemade. Simple. Tasty. Cheap.

I hope you like it!

I don't know about you but I was brought up with packaged food. KD (guilty pleasure), a can of cream of mushroom soup and some meat makes just about anything, Hamburger Helper (ewww). And then there were flavour packages - taco seasoning, onion soup mix, spaghetti sauce mix. There are 1000's of them. Their purpose is clear. Simplicity. There is nothing wrong with simplicity - it's what I personally strive for. But most if not all of these items are absolutely full of preservatives, fillers and who knows what else. Stuff our bodies do not like and certainly do not need. But we all want simplicity right? What to do?

I love to cook, and I love the food that I cook to taste good but when it comes down to it I like it to be quick. I'm not one to cook all day unless I'm using a slow cooker - which I have yet to have a good meal come out of - what is up with that?

So here are a couple of popular mixes that you might like to try. Next time you go to grab a box or flavor packet, perhaps try one of these instead.

The first is a simple Taco Seasoning mix that has no salt and I think tastes great. Nothing in the ingredients list contains the letter 'x' or ends in 'ide' or 'ose'. My wonderful sister-in-law who lives in Mexico will probably laugh and say 'ay caramba Cayla' at my answer to Taco Tuesday - actually we're sister-out-laws which is just the way we like it. But over here in Canada it works quite nicely. We don't know any better eh?

Taco Seasoning Mix

3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp red pepper flakes (or cayenne)

This makes enough for a typical package to use in a recipe. You can adjust the pepper flakes to your family's taste, but it's a good place to start. You can use it in any recipe that calls for taco seasoning mix. Simple. If you want to make a big batch you can just get out your calculator - but I just make it fresh. I don't even measure anymore. Another great thing about this recipe is now you are in charge of the salt. I typically don't add any, but you may want to. The thing is - you know how much you're giving your family which is what we all want right? To be back in charge of what we feed our family?

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Another one that was used over and over again by my mother was a box of dry onion soup mix. Sunday pot roast, on potatoes, in hamburgers, and dips. It was used a lot.

I use a recipe that doesn't use beef bouillon. The reason is simple I asked myself "how do they turn beef broth into those little cubes?" Hmmm ... remember I don't just blatantly trust anymore so I found one without the Beef Bouillon. This recipe has salt and sugar in it. I typically cut the sugar. But the goal here is to know exactly what you are putting in your food, right. With this recipe we do.

Dry Onion Soup Mix Substitute

8 tsp dried onion flakes
1 1/2 tsp dried parsley (I've used fresh too just increase qty)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground pepper

(compare the ingredients - which would you prefer to eat?)

If you don't like the Turmeric you can cut it. Your burgers will have a yellow look to them when you use it which can be funny to some. But I think this recipe is flavorful and delicious. Of course tweak things to your family's tastes, but it's a good place to start. You can use it in casseroles, meat dishes, roasted potatoes, that blasted crock-pot or any recipe that asks for a packet of instant dry onion soup mix. Like the taco seasoning this recipe is the equivalent of one packet of the soup mix. You can make it in advance and put it all in a jar waiting for your next pot roast if you like. It will keep for up to six months.

Give these two a try. You never know, you may just like 'em. Or you may say "Ay caramba Cayla' what the heck was that? Fingers crossed.

Anyone who knows me knows I love food. I love good food. I love to cook. I love to eat. I'm hungry just thinking about it.

As I said in an earlier post my journey has been a slow one. My changes didn't happen over night 'cause I'm cheap, lazy and I mull... and mulll... and mull. I started to become aware, like a sloth becomes aware of a piece of fruit dangling at the end of the branch. It takes me a long time to get there, but I do eventually. Which I hope will happen to some of you who actually read this. Is someone reading this? Someone? Anyone?

Anyways, after the death of my sister Joyce from Ovarian Cancer I started to make changes at home. Nothing like watching someone you love die to jolt you out of your complacency. It started with the way I cleaned my house. I got rid of the chemicals. Then I was thinking about my sister's eating habits and it got me wondering again. I decided to educate myself and read everything I could get my hands on with regards to nutrition. Nothing too heavy duty. If People magazine had an article on how Brad Pitt goes organic I was all over it baby. Over and over again I kept reading "Read the labels.". Reading the labels. Read the labels? I have to bring my glasses to the grocery store now? You want me to read the fine print? It's not like I'm signing a power of attorney ... or am I?

You see I was one of those people who just trusted that the food supplied on my grocery shelf was basically good for me. I mean I knew that if I ate Twinkies all day I'd get sick and fat ... ter, but that was because of the fat and sugar right? But eventually and sloth like I started to read some labels. And soon I was questioning- Why did my can of tomatoes have more than tomatoes in it? And the package of Taco Seasoning - I couldn't even pronounce half the ingredients and the sodium was through the roof. (I knew this 'cause Jennifer Aniston talked about sodium somewhere) Why did the spray can of Pam have propane in it? Are you serious? Propane??? I was shocked. The more labels I read the more I started to realize that I had been filling my body and my family for years full of stuff that I had no idea what it was and couldn't even pronounce. I'd always been told "garbage in, garbage out" so I couldn't help but ask myself could this stuff cause some of the illnesses that are so rampant today? Could it have had something to do with my sister's illness? Did I want to feed my family this junk? Did I want to feed me this junk? Did I want to take that chance with my family and my health?

And so I started. I took things slow, again. Little by little. Trial and error. Once again, I wanted to find natural foods and recipes that were easy to prepare and taste as good if not better than their preservative laden and more expensive counterparts. This is a work in progress and I am far from perfect. But I'm well on my way. I am not saying all of this to make you all think I am better than others. I just want to share what I have figured out. Hopefully help someone. Share the little I know with you. Nothing is new here. It's all be done before. You hear it over and over and over. Then one day it clicks. That's what happened to me, and maybe it will or already has happened with you.

Before starting this journey I constantly got migraines. I popped liquid Advil like they were candy. I was sick all the time with Colds, the flu and of course killer headaches. I noticed a while ago that I don't get the migraines anymore. It was like this slow realization. I hadn't had one in years. Doesn't take me all day. Don't get me wrong I'll still get a headache, but it's usually from lifting something too heavy earlier in the day. I hardly get sick either. It will start, I'll get that old familiar feeling and miraculously I'll be able to fight it off. It's rather impressive actually. And honestly I think most of it has to do with changing my eating habits.

What can you do? Start small like I did, just maybe not so sloth like. Start by reading labels. Go look in your cupboard. Next time you're shopping try to find canned or packaged goods with ingredients you can understand. That's a great place to start.

I'm going to post a few recipes over the next little while that I've discovered. They will be easy to prepare and can easily replace some the of the 'packaged' stuff we pick up all the time. Give one of those a try. I promise there will not be any recipes for Tofu or Quinoa. (although quinoa is quite good) Why not experiment with new recipes or seasonings. Don't just grab the can of mushroom soup, or packaged seasoning. Think about it first. There is a different way. A better way. A better way for you and your family. Be aware. Don't think that just because its on the shelf its OK for your body. You'll be glad you did. Honest.

Oh - I'd be happy to see one of your recipes and post it for others to see (after I've tested it myself of course) . No seafood recipes though ... I hate seafood and it's my blog :)

Cayla