Becoming one with my cast iron skillet.......and a pretty killer product review.

I didn't own my first cast iron skillet until a year or so ago
when a friend had purchased one for me for Christmas. I didn't
get what the big deal was. And I'll be honest--I asked a buttload

of questions when I got it, too. I drove everyone crazy about how

to keep one seasoned, how to clean it, how to cook in it, how to love

my cast iron skillet. Because I just didn't get it.

Until I did.

This all ties together. Trust me.

I have another blogger friend, http://kitchengirljo.blogspot.com/,
who whispered in my ear about a product that she was asked to test drive
but for personal reasons, she opted out. (I think her personal reason
was to boot my butt into blogging again, but I can't prove it.) She

was right, though.) The name of the company is Lancaster International

Trading Company, http://lancaster-trading.com/, who imports and

distributes sun dried apricots and sun dried tomatoes. When I got the

package, I was quite excited. As you can see, it was carefully packaged

with beautiful packaging. I'm pretty much a sucker when it comes to any

kind of dried foods but these products were just GORGEOUS.

I was so tickled over this new product to play with that I went on
a hunt right away to find new recipes to use these beautiful little

gems. Through google, I found a wonderful recipe for Chicken Parmesan
with Sundried Tomato Sauce at a fabulous website called

Good Life Eats. I've never cooked with sun dried tomatoes EVER

but I figured that now was as good of a time as any. Not only was it

my first time cooking with sun dried tomatoes, it was my real first

time cooking with my cast iron skillet that a) wasn't egg-related or

b) cornbread.

To tell you the truth, I was a freaking ROCKSTAR. I don't often

brag about how awesome I am, but dude, I rocked it out. I should

have jumped right in to cooking with my cast iron a year ago and

gotten rid of all my other pans. (And really, I plan on doing this

immediately. No, really.) The sun dried tomatoes were off the charts

delicious. I used the recipe on Good Life Eats as a base. I always like

to play with recipes a little to see if I can't put my own spin

on them. The end result was absolutely fabulous. As you can see

from my pictures......they speak for themselves! They're practically

runnin' their mouths!

Here is the recipe, if you decide you want to try this awesomesauce

for yourself. Again, I used the recipe from Good Life Eats as a base,

this is MY version. What I like to do is cook the chicken breasts first,

then let them sit in a warm oven while I cook the sauce in the same skillet

that I did the chicken. It cuts down on dishes AND I think it adds another

layer of flavor to the sauce. It's completely up to you on how you do it, really.

Just DO it!

Sundried Tomato Sauce:

Couple turns of olive oil

1 medium sweet onion, diced

2 red bell peppers, diced

4-6 garlic cloves, minced

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1/2 cup red wine

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 (14.5-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

2 teaspoons dried italian seasoning

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup Lancaster International Trading Company sundried tomatoes

Healthy glug of balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

For the Chicken:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt, if desired

4 (4-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Couple good glugs of olive oil

For the Sauce: Add the olive oil to a large cast iron skillet and

heat over medium-high. Add onion and red peppers and saute for

3-5 minutes, until translucent. Add garlic and saute a minute more.

Add the tomato paste, the wine, the tomato paste, the diced/

crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning and bay leaf, stirring well to

combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil, then stir in the sun dried

tomatoes. Reduce heat and let simmer for at least 15 minutes or until

sun dried tomatoes are tender. Stir in balsamic vinegar and season with

salt and pepper (if desired).

For the Chicken: Preheat oven to 350°. Combine the flour, parmesan,

garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl or plate

with a rim. Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of saran wrap

and with a tenderizing mallet, pound the breasts down to half the original

size. Coat each piece of chicken on both sides in the parmesan mixture.

In a cast iron skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken

pieces to the pan, cooking cook 5 minutes per side - or until golden.

Add chicken to a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Top each chicken breast

with mozzarella. Bake at 350° for 5-10 minutes (or until chicken is cooked

through and cheese is melted.

When assembling the chicken parmesan on the plates, I like to set

the chicken and pasta on the plate, then spoon the sauce over the

chicken and pasta. I'm not one of those who cooks the chicken in

the sauce or mixes up the sauce with the pasta. If you feel like doing

it that way, go nuts.

I hope you'll try this recipe out for yourself, as well as the products from

http://lancaster-trading.com/. Both the sun dried tomatoes and apricots

were delicious, I'm quite blessed to have had the chance to sample their

outstanding product. Much thanks go to http://lancaster-trading.com/

and http://kitchengirljo.blogspot.com/ for this wonderful opportunity.

**DISCLAIMER** Lancaster International Trading Company provided me with a gift pack of the products described for me to try. As always, any thoughts and opinions given on "Double Wide Skillet, Single Wide Budget" are my own.

Love, Me?

Okay. It's been a year since I posted last. I have no good excuses or
reasons why I let it go for so long. I think about blogging all
the time. But for one reason or another, I can't seem to make it work.
There's always something that's keeping me from something I love.

Ooooooooh, I'm gonna sit on my a** on the couch and fondle the remote.

No. That's not always what happened. Just a majority of the time.

Truth be told, it's been one. long. year.

We picked up from our home state and moved way out of our comfort
zone to a brand spankin' new state. Since then, it's been a struggle
to keep afloat and find solid ground. Even though it's almost been
a year, we're still working to find that solid ground. It's really
tested our marriage, our sanity, the very core of who we are as a
family. I really didn't feel like I wanted to air the dirty laundry
of my personal life because it was bad enough I had to see it myself.

And truth be told, I'm struggling with my food addiction.

I won't get down to the nitty gritty because, we'll.......I think it's
time for me to stop wallowing and going over the things I do wrong. I
need to focus on what I do right. I've got one heck of a voice, I've got
a knack with cooking and I think I know how to connect with people.

Basically, this post is stating that I'm back. I'm going to blog and I'm
going to find my way back to what I love.

And I hope that what I love turns out to be me. For once.