Steak (cast iron)

Ingredients:

- sea salt

- pepper

- canola oil or ghee

- butter

The gist:

You cook the steak slowly in the oven, then transfer to cast iron on the stove top to sear it. It'll be perfect.

Prep:

1.5(ish) hour before cooking:

- Add thick sea salt to both sides of the steak, place in fridge

30 minutes cooking:

- pull steaks from fridge, leave at room temperature

- preheat oven to 275

Cook time!

- pat dry with paper towel as much as possible

- add a bit more salt (you can always add more later, too)

- add steaks to wire cooking rack on middle rack.

- on the rack below, line a pan with aluminum foil and place below to catch juices from steak

- Cook for 15 minutes, then check internal temperature of steaks. You want to get it to 100-105 degrees. Check every 5 minutes until you hit it.

Prepping for the stove top:

- Once you start checking the steak temp, start heating the cast iron on the stove to nearly as hot as it will go. Have your canola oil (or ghee) and butter ready.

- Once you pull the steaks from the oven, add the canola oil to the pan and get it hawwwwt.

Cast iron cooking:

- Toss the steaks in, and sear for about two minutes cooking consistently. You want to pull the steaks when they get to 130 degrees internal temp.

- When you're getting really close to 130, add in a tablespoon of buttter and spoon it over the top of the meat, flipping constantly for about a minute. (This adds awesome browning)

- Once it gets to 130, remove the meat from the pan and let rest for about 10 minutes

- Sprinkle pepper (and maybe more salt) to taste

Roasted Asparagus

I roast asparagus on a foil-covered pan in the oven most of the time. It's a tasty, quick, and simple addition to pretty much any meal. Let's get to it!

Asparagus should be washed and can be cut depending on what you prefer. I always cut or snap off the bottom (about an inch) - it should snap easily if you do it with your hands.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Sprinkle asparagus with olive oil and sea salt (you can also add pepper or garlic powder).
3. Roast in preheated oven until fork easily punctures thickest part of stem, about 12-15 minutes.

Stocking Up

One of my favorite food blogs is the Pioneer Woman. (The website has a food blog, a section on photography, homeschooling and more.) She has a book, "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" (not about food, but so great!), and now a cooking show on the food network. The woman knows what she's doing! Recently, she posted (and talked about on her show... which I can't watch bc of lack of cable) about how to stock up your pantry. Now, this is not all going to be necessary if you live in/near town or if you are not cooking for a family (can I get a hey-o!). I thought I'd share it for any who might be interested. Even if you're not stock-piling, she gave some great tips for how to store different types of foods that we all buy. Enjoy!