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.
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.
1
C says
I am thankful for my new job working with veterans and for the satisfaction it brings me.
Katie says
I am thankful for my beautiful son who brightens my day every day and my amazing husband who keeps me grounded, even when all hell breaks loose in my household =)
Christy says
I am thankful for my incredibly loving, supportive, and funny family.
Regan says
I am thankful for my family, and having a warm house and lots of good food to share with them on Thanksgiving. Reading some of these comments where their families are scattered far and wide, makes me realize how fortunate I am to have almost all of mine nearby. Blessings to everyone who has loved ones in the armed forces!
Janelle Agius says
I am thankful for the wonderful people in my life who I get to spend the holidays with.
sarahLOVESwa says
I’m thankful to be employed. This time last year, I have been laid off from my job and had moved back in with my parents (I love them but I love my independence more). Thankfully, I found employment a few months later and was able to spend Thanksgiving with my very amazing boss, his wife and son, as well as some other co-workers that were too far from home to travel. It was great, we played spoons, sang drinking songs and attempted to remember what was in the 12 days of christmas (seven swans a swimming????).
Amy Lawrence says
I am so thankful this year that my husband wasn’t deployed and that my oldest came home from college for the holiday. Thank YOU for the amazing giveaway! We are currently “greening” up our kitchen and swapping for cast iron!
kai says
This year I am thankful for 2 years of a healthy hubby post scary infection. I am thankful that I lie in a country where every has the right to learn to read. I am thankful for the garden that gave us our squash, the neighbors the tolerated my turkey’s and chickens so I could put meat in my freezer. I am thankful for the new friends that have help my hand while I learned to process my own food. I am thankful for this moment, today, right now, right here…..oh and coffee. Coffee mmmm
Mel says
I am thankful for my family and the time we get to spend together.
myra hirschberg says
I am grateful for a life that allows me to live the way I want, with family and friends and community, and the time to bake, cook, plant, and enjoy the fruits of all that. (and apologies if I entered this before – I’m not trying to cheat, I just may be having a slight memory malfunction!)
Rhonda says
I am thankful for seeing my two adorable nieces during Thanksgiving. I am also trying to build up my cast iron collection so this is perfect.
Laura says
I am thankful to be a cancer survivor who has a wonderful supportive husband.
Stephanie from Minnesota From Scratch says
I’m thankful for my daughter and other wonderful family members. I’m also thankful that my husband got laid off a year ago because he was able to find the amazing job that he has now. I am thankful for today.
Pru says
I am thankful for my wonderful extended family that supports our back to basics live style even though they think we are completely nuts … I am also thankful for my wonderful husband & daughter who make living on our small homestead a joy everyday.
Greg Harvey says
I am thankful first to Jesus, for his life and sacrifice to make atonement for my sins. I am also thankful that our family is together and healthy and happy. I have a co-worker who died on Friday on the way to work in a head-on collision leaving a wife and four children. I am grieved at their loss and it has made me more thankful for my family and for the opportunity to help his family at this time. If I win this I will give it to them also.
Patti McCarty says
I am thankful for my Proverbs 31 husband who is still madly in love with me after 30 years. Life is sweet. God is good. I am blessed!
Luke says
I’m thankful for friends that share their holiday season with me and take me into their gatherings with open arms, as I have no real get together within my own biological family. I’m also thankful for all the back to the land people, hippies, gardeners, farmers, biodynamic practitioners, and permaculture people! Thank you for putting your life and energy into creating more resilient, regenerative, healthy,healing, and happy systems that incorporate people and planet!
Gail Nielsen says
I’m thankful that last Sunday when my step decided to roll and the chicken water feeder, 2 or 3 gallons in it, became a pendulum and threw me back against the deck that it wasn’t my back or neck that broke just 3 of my back ribs on the right side. My 16 yr old son has been furthering his cooking skills. Reheated burritos using cast iron and a lid. Steam muffins or cinnamon rolls in cast iron with a little water and a lid. Thankful my husband was home and not in CO working. Thank you for the chance of winning Lodge Cast Iron pot and pans.
Sheri Russell says
Wow! What am I thankful for? SOOOOO MUCH! I’m thankful to be able to learn to live simply, love greatly, and laugh often. I’m thank I can give generously (hmmm, sounds like something our dear blogger is also good at). I’m thankful I can listen with two ears, while speaking with one mouth. I’m thankful for a natural world that is made to heal itself. I’m thankful for learning how to do fun things on my own that marketers have tried to convince me I cannot do – kombucha, vanilla, laundry detergent, sirracha, bread, raising and harvesting chickens, yogurt. I’m thankful for the people in my life, and thankful I get to listen to people for a living. AND I am thankful to Jesus for putting it all together.
Bethanny Parker says
I’m thankful for my family and for my home. I would love to win those cast-iron pans for my husband. He has been wanting some for years but there always seems to be something else we need more.
Ryan Williams says
Thank you for your generosity in doing this giveaway. I am thankful for many things. Among those things are my wonderful wife who really wants to start cooking with cast iron and requested a set for Christmas. I am thankful for friends and hospitality, and also for the mountains near us that allow us to escape from the suburbs into nature that we enjoy so much.
Wes Bailey says
Thankful to be blessed and to have such abundance in food, clothing, shelter and love. Please don’t consider me for the contest. I just just wanted to join in the thankfulness!
Emily says
I am thankful for having a job I love, being able to provide for myself, being overwhelmed with the gratitude everyone is showing this year, living in a very privileged country, dogs, and my health. Life is good!
Sandra Dendy says
I am thankful for my Darling husband, loving critters, great family and friends, the love and laughter that fills my days, good enough health to play in the dirt most days (and a place to do it!), a safe, warm, comfortable home, the ability to help others whenever possible, the incredible beauty that surrounds us, so many things that there could never be enough space to put them all!
David b says
I’m thankful for my wife and wonderful family
Mikaela says
I am thankful for my parents teaching me how to cook well when I was growing up – I’m beginning to realize that it’s a skill that many people lack.
Isaac says
I am thankful to all the amazing Ecuadorians I have met during my Peace Corps service who have shown me how messed up the food economy is in the over-developed world. I am convinced that simpler is better, and am inspired to start producing as much of my own food as possible when I finish my Peace Corps service.
JenInMontana says
Thank you for all of your time and energy to make this a beautiful blog. I am thankful for my dear boyfriend who convinced me nearly 18 years ago to try cast iron. I am thankful that we do the canning, the butchering, the cooking, the harvesting together.
Chantry Rice says
I am thankful for my big family of six, so that we can’t afford all the plastic junk out there. I am thankful to my mom that gifted us our first old(and almost too big) cast iron skillet(reseasoning needed). I’m thankful for the bit of venison that she shared with us two weeks ago. And I’m most thankful that we have a plan and a dream to get out of the rat race and onto our own piece of productive and wonderful, partially wooded, piece of property. Please choose us!
Mariah Falin says
This would be such an incredible gift to our family for Christmas. We recently began our journey to better health and self sustainability. Have loved reading your blog and the drunken pie crust is definitely on the test recipe list for Christmas. blessings!
Julie says
I am thankful that my husband has a full time job with health insurance benefits
Jim Rusk says
I am thankful for life and love, but mainly for my Lord and Savior! Through Him I have been able to change my life after finding out that I have diabetes. Eating healthier to lower my blood sugar has literally changed my life!
Suzanne says
I am thankful for a wonderful Thanksgiving. We said goodbye to a 3rd cousin who left us peacefully after having lived 92 wonderful years. We were able to toast and remember her Wednesday and then again on Thanksgiving. There was a wonderful break in the clouds right after she let go of life, and we were glad she was not alone.
I am thankful that the Internet lets me correspond with my daughter, who teaches English to middle school students in the middle of China. The Internet also brings us this marvelous site, which is cheering and delightful, in addition to teaching me some wonderful recipes that are good for my health, my pocketbook, and my soul! (I am going to have to look up how to make that bread!)
Best of everything to you,
Suzanne
Pat H says
I am thankful this year for time spent with my husband while he has some time off work. I got my first cast iron skillet a couple weeks ago and I am hooked. Thank you for this opportunity!
Shay says
I am so thankful! I am moving now, but those projects still need to be finished! Tincture pressing, wine bottling, syrup making, oh and those bareroots! I am thankful for the abundance of the earth, the freedom to arrange my landscapes for ultimate satisfaction, and health! In gratitude, may your work be fruitful, thank you for sharing your passion 🙂
Kathleen Workman says
I am thankful for my family and good friends who have helped me through the loss of my husband (married 40 years) to cancer and the stress of our oldest boy having cancer as well. I am thankful that our son’s cancer was treated this year so he has more time to raise his four year old son.
Thank you for the opportunity to win the cast iron. I use it exclusively and hope to gift it to my sons.
Jayessdub says
I’m thankful for noisy geese, friendly pigs, bountiful land, wonderful kids and a loving wife.
–JS
Bernice Johnson says
I am so grateful for finally learning the beauty of simplicity.
Lucas Zdenek says
This season I’m thankful for having found permaculture. This discovery has brought me to the realization of many of my dreams, including providing for my family while doing something that is replenishing the Earth and making me happy at the same time. Permaculture has also allowed me to reach out within my community and meet people and teach them about the amazing things they can do with their lives. In short, I’m thankful for the fact that I have finally found something that makes my life worthwhile.
Peggy Mauro says
I am so grateful for my simple life in a tiny house on wheels, parked on a beautiful property and getting to live on San Juan Island. We have truly local organic farmers that supply the San Juan Island Coop and sell all year long at the Friday Harbor Farmer’s Market. I have been using one large and one small cast iron pans that I got at thrift stores as long for years. I would really like to win these for my son, who lives in Seattle and has been using Teflon pans for several years. I have wanted to replace his set with cast iron, since I visit him regularly when I work in Seattle and make nutritious, vegetarian, organic, fresh food for us to share. I am blessed with a wonderful son, and two beautiful daughters. I am humbled with gratitude for having a companion dog, a loyal Border Collie named Rufus who also gets homemade, organic food, too.
Jamie says
I’m thankful for my new nephew! …and for no-knead bread 😉
Barbara C. says
Thank you for this chance to win the Lodge cast iron set, and for your delightfully entertaining, truthful and educational information. I am SO ready to throw away ALL my teflon pans! I promise I will discard them immediately when I receive my healthy new cookware. I thank you, and my family thanks you, deeply!
Brad Miller says
I am thankful for a wife who has stood by my side for 21 years. Through my cancer, job loss, stroke, spinal injury, and rehab. She loves to cook with cast iron and could use a full set. I hope to win it to give it to her to say thank you and I love you.
Dawn Monroe says
This year Im thankful for my My immediate families health because its been a rough couple of years. If I won the first thing I would do is make my moms famous upside down pineapple cake. It only turns out right in cast iron, love it!
Solducky says
My family, and a warm home!
Betty A. Montgomery says
I’m just grateful I found out about this before the contest was over! Sure I’m grateful for all the other things folks have mentioned here as well, but gosh! A chance at a set of cast iron cookware! I already have a great skillet a friend gave me a Christmas or so ago and I love it! Fried eggs just slid out when done. Now if I had those other pieces . . . 😀
Anna says
I’m thankful for my beautiful son.
Mike H says
I have to thank Paul for pointing me to an awesome give away. The fact that this looks like a pretty cool blog to look over helps quite a bit. I do like the cast iron, and I love the note about the non stick scratching if you glare strongly at it.
Good luck to all, but I really hope I get the set. I can sure use it!
Kathi says
I am thankful that the (relatively) good weather held long enough so all the college students could get back to school over the pass (that’s Snoqualmie Pass in Washington state…) after the long holiday weekend.
Gordon Shephard says
I’m thankful that there is still time.