Keep cool this summer by stocking your freezer with make ahead ice cubes

Here is a recipe roundup for make-ahead ice cubes to keep your summer chill. Save time and refrigerator space by making flavored ice cubes to add to recipes, drinks and more.

Kerekes Bake Deco has Silicon Ice Cream Molds that are on sale for 20% off, which would make these DIY flavored ice cubes a fun project.

Green blocks of goodness

Make "Meatless Monday" even easier with Amanda Cohen’s Secret-Weapon Stir-Fry Sauce. This sauce is made with cilantro, parsley, Thai basil, garlic and ginger - or what ever is in your veggie drawer!

Kitchn's freezer friendly tips for making stock

Get cooking lessons from Kitchn - who shows you how to make basic chicken stock and vegetable stock; which you can keep in your freezer to use later.

Infused ice cube ideas

Martha Stewart infuses ice cubes with fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers to enhance your water and help keep you hydrated throughout the summer.  Here are recipes for Cucumber-Basil Puree, Orange-Lime Mix and Lemonade-Raspberry Cubes.

The Right Cup is a company that is selling flavored cups, really! This goal is to help people drink more water and stay hydrated. The Right Cup™ was founded in May 2015 by a small group of people who came together with one common goal: to create and distribute an innovative product that could truly make a difference in people’s lives throughout the world.  Interesting, check them out.

From freezer to table

Fine Cooking shows you how to make pesto ice cubes and offers ideas on how to use them from tossing with hot pasta to using as a topping for grilled meats.

Here is another tip from Martha

Most recipes use only a small portion of tomato paste and the rest goes to waste. Martha shows you how to freeze and then slice up the paste into smaller portions, brilliant!

Instant cocktail cubes (just add booze)

Supercall keeps making drinks easy! Here are great recipes to for make ahead flavored ice cubes to add to White Russians, Sazerac or Negroni for (almost) instant deconstructed cocktails.

Have fun this summer and stay cool.  Send me your ideas on how to make flavored ice cubes to save time and money.

Here is a fun site to check out:
Make something that means something at Craftsy.com

I inherited cast-iron skillets, what do I do now?

Hello dear readers!

Well, it was my birthday last week and my mother sent me two of her beautiful cast-iron pans that have been in our family for years.  This gift was pre-arranged and discussed (I mentioned that I wanted them).  I patiently waited to see what this "surprise" would be.  Would the cast-iron skillets need to be restored? Will I ruin them?  What meals do I remember my mom making in them?  What should I make in them?

I was so excited that I must have mentioned that I was getting these pans to everyone I met. 

And the people I talked to had stories to tell: from having them ruined by helpful guests who zealously cleaned the pans with soap, to just forgetting about them - only to find them later rusty and ruined, to searching for pans in vintage stores to try and restore them back to their former beauty.

The pans that my mom sent me are beautifully seasoned.  Their patina are perfectly black.  I suspect, knowing my mom, that she probably dressed them up a bit prior to sending them to me, but perhaps not.

Given that my mom was a busy working woman her whole life, I somewhat expected a disaster to arrive in the mail. I expected to need to restore them and not be able to use them right away. Since these are in such good condition the restoration project has been diverted.  Thanks, Mom!

They arrived perfectly seasoned and ready to go.  Now what?  A bit of fear ran through my body.  Most of my cooking experience is with using woks, sheet pans and my Le Creuset Dutch ovens. What do I do now?

I texted my mom - so what do I make with these?  She quickly texted me back several ideas.  I have to admit, I am a little nervous having these heirlooms.

There are online-only classes you can take from Craftsy to teach you cooking tips and more, please take a look at Craftsy. 

Part of the fun of receiving an heirloom cast-iron skillet is to try and look up its history and learn where it might be from. 

Most likely my mom’s skillet on the right was made in the 1960’s or shortly thereafter.  It clearly shows that it was made in the USA. The 1960s was about the time when the there were new trade requirements for manufacturers to identify the country of origin on their pieces.

According to this article, if a pan has one or more notches in the heat ring, it is likely a vintage Lodge.

My kitchen is small and my townhouse has an open loft style.  The smoke alarm is too close to where my stove is and our exhaust system is just what is attached to the microwave hung above the range.  

I have been begging my husband to just remove the microwave (we never use it) so we can put in a hood exhaust system; because when I cook, I like to get things hot and sometimes smoke happens. 

My husband has made some comments about these pans: "So should we expect the smoke alarm to be going off when you use those skillets?" or "Should I be ready and waiting to shut the alarms off?" (Just ignore him! He means well and supports my numerous projects!)

So what to cook? 

Epicurious warns what not to cook, which is pretty much anything with acid.  No tomatoes, no vinegar, nothing sweet (although one of the ladies I discussed skillets with told me she that has two: one for sweet recipes and one for savory, which I thought was a pretty good idea) and nothing too delicate, like a flaky white fish.

There is nothing delicate about these pans!  They are heavy.  When I was asking people about their stories and memories about cast-iron pans and skillets, I heard many colorful, funny and sometimes alarming examples of what not to do with these pans.  Some of these stories didn't involve cooking!

My first attempt to cook with these pans will be simple pan-seared filet mignon, with a side dish using my mini Le Creuset cocottes.  I will toss a salad in my new wooden salad bowl that I bought for my birthday last weekend while we were in Sonoma, Ca.

These days, I am cooking for just two, but one of my daughters will be home soon from college for the summer.  I think she has some meals on her wish list. 

If you are interested in shopping for your next heirloom cast-iron pans to pass on you your future generations, try Milo or  Kerekes kitchen & Restaurant Supplies. 

I will update this blog with the results! Stay tuned and please share your family stories with me.