Northwest Edible Life

urban homesteading in the pacific northwest

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{Giveaway} Five Piece Lodge Cast Iron Cookware Set

You know what’s blacker than Black Friday? Beautiful, glistening, well seasoned cast iron cookware.

Oh, yeah, baby. Screw waiting in line for some discount plastic crap or overpumped electronica that’ll be in a landfill in 6 months anyway. If you must shop, shop for something hewn from the living, molten rock of Earth. Something hefty enough to stop a bullet. Something that holds heat so well a steak will tremble and bow down before it. Something you can pass down to your grandbabies. Something strong and heavy and black enough to rival Black Friday itself.

Shop for cast iron. Something like this Lodge Five Piece Cast Iron Cookware Set. Or better yet, don’t shop at all. Enter to win this set without even having to even put on your pants. Hey, I have a three-year-old. I am well aware of how overblown pants are as a “thing” in our society.

Lodge Cast Iron Giveaway

Thankful, Joyful, Turkeyful, etc.

You may remember this set from the recent post on Skillet Brussels Sprouts. I couldn’t get it out of my head, but I couldn’t justify buying it for myself, given that I really do have quite enough cast iron, thank you very much.

Solution: Giveaway!

You see, as I type this post it’s Thanksgiving evening and I’ve had a few glasses of my husband’s excellent homebrew, so I’m feeling all “I love you, man!” towards my readers (except for the douche-waffles, but we are ignoring them). It is a screaming blessing to be the girl behind the keyboard of this blog, to be able to connect with, and inspire, and be inspired by other gardeners and productive homemakers. It is an honor to learn from you and to share what I’ve learned, and to help connect questions to answers.

So, this Thanksgiving I thought I’d give thanks for my readers by giving cast iron, which is – as we all know – the heaviest way to give thanks.

Enter To Win

Update: This contest is now over. Congratulations to winner Benita, who is “thankful that my 28 yr old niece was able to come home for Thanksgiving. She recently finished up radiation from her 3rd major diagnose of cancer since she was 23.”

To win this five piece set of Lodge cast iron, simply leave a comment on this post telling me what you are thankful for this holiday season.

This set includes a 10-inch griddle (excellent for pancakes, crepes, etc.), an 8-inch and 10-inch skillet (excellent for, well, everything) and a 5-Quart Dutch oven with lid (necessary for No Knead Bread). It’s a pretty awesome starter set of cast iron. There is very, very little you couldn’t cook on these pieces, and I say this as someone who cooks on cast iron about three times a day.

And look, I know I don’t have to convince you guys – you already know this – but nonstick is bullshit, ok? It’s not good for you or the people you feed (kids? grandma?). It turns out inferior food, and it scratches if you glare at it strongly enough. And according to the Environmental Working Group, “Toxic fumes from the Teflon chemical released from pots and pans at high temperatures may kill pet birds and cause people to develop flu-like symptoms (called “Teflon Flu” or, as scientists describe it, “Polymer fume fever”).”

Cast iron when well seasoned is also pretty dang nonstick but it doesn’t give you flu-like symptons. It just slightly boosts the iron content of your food which is, unless you are very atypical and drink liver smoothies for breakfast, a very good thing. It also goes from stove to oven to table without missing a beat and will help you cook like you really mean it.

So leave a comment and enter to win. I want to buy someone these cast iron pans.

Fine Print Stuff

This giveaway is for the cookware set described here. Contest entirely self-sponsored by Northwest Edible Life (that’s me!). Contest open until Thursday, December 5th 8 PM PST. Winner will be contacted by email. Contest open to residents of the US only, due to shipping costs. Sorry international readers. I still love you, but cast iron is really, really heavy. Fulfillment of prize via Amazon.com. One entry per person. Multiple entries will be disqualified. Void where prohibited by law, blah blah blah. Best of luck everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving, all y’all. Thanks for being the best readers a blogger could hope for.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Most thankful for my husband, who has seen me through a series of severe illnesses without once complaining about my chronic illness.

  2. I am thankful my index finger still works after scrolling to the bottom of these comments! Just kidding! I am truly thankful for my loved ones and my good health.

  4. I am grateful to be in school full time with two jobs that allow me tobe in school. Also, super grateful for a supportive fiance and family :).

  5. I am thankful for were I live, the beauty, the gardens, the ‘right-to-farm’ law. Friends and family

  6. My life is so blessed, and I have no idea what I did to deserve this. I am humbled daily by the rain on my pastures, the moss on my fences, and by my kids playing outside in their pajamas like it’s not even raining. We grow so much here – eggs, veggies, beef, herbs – and what I cherish most is my childrens’ growing respect for life. I am profoundly thankful for the opportunity to learn with them how great food and medicine (and food-medicine) is brought to life, nurtured, respectfully harvested, preserved and prepared. I can’t imagine cooking with anything other than cast iron. I have expensive copper pots, and they are great, but the cast iron is what I reach for first. I would love to have more to pass down to my girls and their kids. Thank you for all the work you do. You don’t have to show it all to us, but you do, and enrich us all.

  7. I am so thankful that my now young adult (boys) men still hang out with me. We brewed and bottled kombucha, and talk about clean food and GMO’s. They even instagramed the “organic” turkey. My heart is full.

  8. I really do have a lot to be thankful for this year. I’m thankful I’m getting divorced from someone who emotionally abused me for 17 years; the abuse will stop. I’m thankful for my mother and sister, who have been tremendously supportive of me in the process. I’m thankful for being able to go to school to work toward a B.A. I’m thankful I have my health, most of my sanity, and that I have reclaimed my sense of my own intelligence, and that I am working on losing weight. I’m grateful for my trainer, who has made the gym my safe place to work out my rage and hurt. I’m grateful for my dogs, who give me so much love and track so much dirt in the house.

    I’m grateful for a lot of things, and I don’t care if I win the cookware or not.

  10. I’m so incredibly thankful for my husband (and for my sister and former co-worker, who set us up on our first date!), and for my two little boys who bring me such joy, laughter, and exhaustion each and every day. I’m grateful for the home with live in, for my improving health, and for the friends and family who celebrate with us in good times and offer such support in the bad. I really do have so much to be thankful for, and for that I’m grateful!

  11. I’m thankful for having grown in a family that always supported me, no matter what I did. I´m thankful for having received an education that allowed me to have a job I love. I’m thankful for sharing my life with D., the most wonderful man in the world. I’m thankful for so many great persons I met on my journey, many of them great friends.
    And I’m thankful for having the opportunity to grow a garden that nourishes me, and teaches me every day.
    But I live in the Canaries, so no cast iron for me 😉

  12. I’m thankful for so many things, really–a few are my family, good health, and space to grow a garden.

    Love your blog–thanks for soldiering on in spite of the douche-bags 😉

  13. I am thankful for my Grandmother-in-law, Gert, who passed away 2 weeks ago at 104 years old. She was bright and loving every day. I am thankful for my children, who love and inspire. My oldest is moving to her own place and loves to cook with cast iron 🙂

  15. I am grateful that my baby will be 5 years old in a couple weeks. A year ago we weren’t sure he would survive brain cancer, having another birthday is the greatest blessing ever.

  16. I (We) are thankful for: the Lord Jesus and this thanksgiving we are still alive after having all the family here. We didn’t have room for the 3 kids & spouses so we put them up in a hotel and had all the 6 grand kids here (ages 5 -10). A busy fun time and hope the parents got some rest while we didn’t. Now they are all on the road while we clean and try to restore the house.

    I think that cast iron, properly seasoned is the original non-stick surface; from cook pans to chemical reactors.

    PTL,

    Bob

  17. I’m grateful for amy son being out of the Marines, finally, noteveninreserves, finally. I’m grateful for a daughter in law that loves the same things I do and eggs me on and doesn’t think I’m a total wierdo. I’m grateful for a wonderful husband who thinks people are more important than things and himself. I’m grateful for two good sons that are wonderful people and my garden and cheese and being able to walk. (Knee surgery. Don’t ask.) I don’t need the cast iron, so don’t put me in the drawing. Found it years ago, have the T-shirt. Just happy to be grateful.

  18. I am thankful for another year with my mom. I take care of her and wouldn’t have it any other way! I would love these I love cast iron pans.

  19. I’m thankful for my family the roof over my head, the gorgeous view from my home and getting healthier daily.

  20. I’m thankful for the people who share my life with me- my incredible partner and my family and friends who are invaluable

  21. I am grateful to have found people as offbeat as I am, writing fun and funny blogs on the Internet. I am grateful to have found people as interested as I am in Mason jars, pickling, beer, making my own cheese and other topics that are locally hard to justify but concern me profoundly. I am grateful they have cute kids.

  22. I am thankful for the internet and Skype that allows me to see my family back in Europe from time to time without the 14 hours of plane!!

  23. I am thankful for the hugely supportive family I have on both my side of the family and on my wife’s side of the family. As I’ve grown older I’ve realized more and more that that kind of love and support isn’t as common as I once believed.

  28. I am thankful for having my health and also finding interesting people in the blog world who share my values.

  31. There are so many things I am thankful for – family, friends and the necessities of life. Also, Thank you for this giveaway – I LOVE cast-iron!

  33. I am so thankful to be closer to my family this holiday season! My 4 year old son is getting to know his great grandma and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. He asked just yesterday “how come we didn’t move here sooner?” Family ties (even if they get a little constrictive at times!) are an important part of the tapestry that is us!

  34. I am grateful for a roof over my head, good food in my belly, and the love of family and friends.
    I am grateful for people like you who share things – teach, really – freely and openly. So thank you for that!

  35. I am thankful for all of God’s blessings in life…especially my family, my husband, daughter, sister, parents, and Gram!

  36. I’m thankful for native chickens, winter kale, sassy bloggers and parcel companies that don’t bat an eye about carrying cast iron nationwide. Will that be by bicycle courier perchance?

  37. I’m thankful for all my friends and family. They’ve supported me through tough and happy times this year. This year was a rollercoaster.

  39. I’m thankful for my wonderful family and for a lovely holiday dinner with close friends. I’m also thankful that I discovered your blog. It is such a good read!

  40. I’m thankful to have a happy, healthy family. I know it may sound cliche, but it’s the truth and I need nothing more in life!

  41. I am thankful for my husband and my two teenage lovely girls and my 9 year old beautiful girl. They make me prouder than any Mom has a right to be! I am also thankful for our health. I am thankful to live in a free country and to be able to do as I please! I am also thankful for the internet! What did we do without it!

  42. I’m thankful I still have a place to cook, that I was with my children, and that we got to see friends and family too. I’m very grateful that this Thanksgiving was better than last year’s and that so much has gone on in the meantime that I almost completely forgot to be grateful about that. I’m grateful for the internet and contests and that there’s always a new horizon and a new day…and that I’m always grateful to share it.

  43. What am I thankful for? I think e.e. cummings said it best:
    “for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
    and a blue dream of sky;and for everything
    which is natural which is infinite which is yes”
    for all of that and for my incandescent little daughter, my loving partner, my gregarious slightly daring dog Bunny, my splendid family, healthy body, and for everyone who, like yourself, works to make the world a better place.

  44. After having had to move three times throughout the first half of the year, I’m incredibly grateful for finally being to unpack boxes for good! Plus, we have a HUGE garden here to turn into our own little paradise.

  45. I’m thankful for my friends & family, my health, and my geriatric cat. I am also thankful for my ability to grow things, the roof over my head, and for having enough to get by.

  46. I am thankful that I am able to spend this season with my grandmother, who has started to slow down a lot, and that I can give her some help and entertainment while she tries to deal with this new phase of her life.

  47. I am thankful for having warm shelter and enough food to eat. The guy who sleeps under the overpass near my house isn’t so lucky, and it would only take a couple of missing paychecks for my family to be under there with him. We almost were… we had no income for two months after a work injury caused us to discover identity theft, my hubby’s state benefits (meant to be used until worker’s comp kicked in) had been all used up by a thief and it took forever to sort out, and with the very limited storage space we have, we had only one month’s supply of food. It was a lean two months and I swore I would never ever let us run out of food again. Sometimes the pantry begins to get bare again despite my best food-stocking efforts, but we have never been totally without food since then and for that I am incredibly grateful. I also always set out all my unwanted cans for Clyde (the overpass guy) so he doesn’t have to dive in our nasty dumpster and he can trade them in for money to buy breakfast and lunch and save up for an apartment, since the soup kitchen is dinner only and he won’t be able to get housing for a few more months. Hopefully when he has an address, people will be willing to hire him. Nobody hires homeless people even with impeccable hygiene and clean records, and that’s horrible because they need jobs the most. The reason I mention him so much is that I am also thankful for Clyde, because he keeps me humble and reminds me to appreciate what I have and share what I can.

  50. After having spent the past two thanksgivings away from my husband due to our immigration separation, I am thankful that we finally got to spend a thanksgiving and an anniversary together in the same country. I am also thankful that we will be moving from North Carolina to Utah in a few weeks!