I purchased a set of try-ply Calphalon Contemporary cookware. Then, I purchased separate pieces of various brands depended on my needs. For non-stick, I have some Calphalon hard anodized and Lodge cast iron cookwares. Except for cast irons, most, if not all, non-stick cookwares have teflon or similar substance which is harmful when cook at high temperature. The fume is invisible and is known to kill indoor bird pets. Unlike other cookware, you should not preheat non-stick cookwares. It will make the cookware hotter than it should. If you want to be on the safe side, cast irons are best for non-stick and healthy to use too. Most come pre-seasoned and ready to use. Beside giving you some needed irons, cast iron cookware will give you some muscle too =o) If you're a serious cook, it's hard to stick with just 1 brand or 1 type of cookware. Nevertheless, chose the types that would best fit your cooking methods. ie: I like to brown meat or fish before putting it in the oven. I chose the Calphalon tri-ply stainless and cast irons so I could move from the cooktop straight to the oven and cook in high heat.

I have the Calphalon, with the press and I like it. It does what I need it to do, I don't notice a problem with heat loss. I do heat up the press and put that on top when I do use it. The price was good and it cleans up well, and it cooks my food, can't ask for much more than that.

It worked!!! And they looked so cute! Both DH and DS really liked them. They are a winner! I also liked them for myself in regards to portion size. I just ate 2 little ones instead of a big pancake. Probably the same amount but it seemed like I was sticking to my diet more. Yes, it is a little more difficult then it looks in the video. It takes awhile to master the technique. Keep turning, medium low heat and spray oil the pan each time worked for me. Also do the middle one last because it cooks the fastest. They were also maybe more difficult because I used Krusteaz WW pancake mix. So some looked more like the surface of the moon then a nice smooth ball but they tasted good. And I served them with sauted apple slices (Staymen-Winesap from our tree) with a little powdered sugar and Penzeys cinnamon. Clare

Made my first batch of stovetop lasagne and it is going to become one of my "go to" recipes. Great for using up spare pasta, which I almost always seem to have around, particularly lasagne sheets. Also great for when you feel like eating lasagne but don't feel like fussing with assembly. This is a combo recipe from Tyler Florence and Pillsbury. Skillet Lasagne Before starting the meat you can make a mirpoix of oil, onions, carrots and celery if you want, or some green pepper and mushrooms, whatever you would like in your pasta sauce, but if you use a jarred or canned sauce you don't have to do this, particularly if your sauce already contains onions, etc. So however much you want to flavor it up or not depends on your taste and time. Add garlic towards the end of this step if you want some. 1-2 tsp. is probably enough. I use the lower end of the garlic spectrum. Brown a pound of some type of protein. Most recipes call for ground beef but I used ground turkey and next time I make it I may use a mix of meat and beans, or perhaps some veggie crumbles, and I'll bet you could use part italian sausage for flavor it you're a big meat eater. Salt the meat to your taste as it is browning. If the meat is fatty, drain before proceeding with the dish. Add 1 large jar canned spaghetti sauce or Italian flavored tomato sauce. You need 26-28 fl. ounces of the sauce, so use whatever you have on hand that will equal that amount. I used a 24 oz. jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce and 2 oz. of my own home canned tomato basil sauce. You could also use canned tomatoes and canned tomato sauce, tomato paste, etc. to get the desired amount. Season to your taste with italian seasoning if you like. I tend to do this because I find store bought sauce bland, and if I am making the sauce from just plain tomato sauce, then I want a lot of seasoning. Add 1 1/2 cups water. When mixture is boiling lightly, add 3 cups pasta (you don't want a hard boil because too much of the water might evaporate if you do that, and then the pasta will stick--ask me how I know!). The pasta I used was broken up lasagne noodles and then some campanelii to supplement to 3 cups. You could also use mafalda ribbons. Cook the pasta for about 15 min. Test for pasta being done. Your water should be absorbed and the sauce thickened. Watch out, since this dish actually might get too thick if you're not careful. You can always add more water to it if it starts to get too thick. While the pasta is cooking, make the ricotta topping. The recipe says to use 16 oz. of ricotta, which is a typical container (although mine was 15). For my taste, this is too much, but your mileage may vary. Mix this with about an equal amount of chopped frozen spinach. I had a 16 oz. bag, which I used about half. If I had a 10 oz. package I would use it all. Mix the ricotta and spinach with 1/3 cup grated parmesean, a healthy pinch of basil or oregano or italian seasoning, and 1 TBSLP dried parsley if you have it. If you hate spinach you don't have to add it, just plain ricotta is fine, and if you have some other type of vegetable you would like ti mix in, like kale or shredded zuchinni or something else, by all means do it. When the pasta is done, mix up the casserole to make sure the meat, sauce and pasta are evenly distributed. Spoon the ricotta mixture on top of the casserole and cook 5-7 min. more until the topping is heated through. Then, top the dish with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella or italian style shredded cheese and broil for about 3-4 min. until cheese melts. Here's two pictures of my dish. I was out of shredded mozzarella so I had to use mostly cheddar in my dish.