I will start this off by admitting I am not the most advanced cook in the world. I love to bake, and I can feed myself, but I live with two incredible chefs, and frankly, I pale in comparison. I will also admit that I'm generally not the biggest fan of red meat, and generally prefer the taste of chicken, turkey, and fish. However, I recently bought this Tramontina Cast Iron Covered Skillet [1] ($70) at Target, and it is the only reason I've started to like eating red meat.
If you're someone that loves to cook, you need to get yourself a cast iron skillet. This is something that we love to use for cooking meat, but it's also a great option for eggs (shakshuka anyone? [2]) or sautéed vegetables. Plus, I've recently been made aware that it's an ideal vessel for a chocolate chip cookie skillet, so I know what I'm doing this weekend.
Again, I'm not a professional chef, so I was a little intimidated by the cast iron skillet at first. However, this pan is both easy to use and produces some of the best quality food I've ever eaten; plus, here's how to keep it clean [3]. If you don't have a grill and want to cook the best steak of your life, go with this cast iron skillet.