Cheap Eats

So, we had a slice of pot roast and some gravy. I needed to make dinner, didn't want to waste. Added 2 Cups of veggie broth (can be made from veggie scraps), several assorted bags of frozen veggies with 1/2 cup or less of veggies buried in the freezer, 1/2 cup barley, 1 small can stewed tomatoes, chopped up discounted vegetable section mushrooms, generic seasoning (salt, pepper, onion, garlic) ...and voila! BEEF BARLEY SOUP!!(ta-da!) Will adding potato pancakes made with left over mashed potatoes.

Never ignore the discounted produce section. I often grab items and freeze then for future use, like the mushrooms in the Beef Barley soup. A little bit of left over gravy makes a flavorful base and/or flavoring for soup. Even the littlest bit of left over anything can be put in the freezer to be thrown into a soup pot in the future...even past soups! Just use your imagination and save $$ at the same time!!

Making Due

     During WWII, people were encourage to cut back on meats, fats and refined flour.  Not for health reasons, but because fats were used for munitions, and refined flour and meats were being used to feed our troops and allies overseas. This stretched our supplies very thin and caused shortages if not complete outages of many items that were previously taken for granted. 

     Meats were a hot commodity during WWII, especially your fattier, more tender meats.  These were sent to the allies and our soldier on the war front.  We were left with tougher meats, some poultry, processed meats, game and organ meats; and even that was very scarce in certain areas.  Whatever meats a homemaker could get her hands on, had to last.  Like vegetables, the home front was encouraged to raise their own meats in the form of chickens and rabbits. Often meats were combined with other ingredients to extend the meat in a meal and make it more filling.  Common extenders were dried bread crumbs, cereal, beans and vegetables. Many casseroles we love today can be attributed to this era in cooking.  

     Another scarcity was refined flour.  Whole wheat flour was more sensitive to conditions whereas refined flour could more readily be sent anywhere in the world with little issue of spoilage. Because of this, the government encouraged the use of whole wheat flour and alternative flours as well for baking, such as soy flour, rye, oats and corn meal. 

    Fat also being rationed, the homemaker was encouraged to render her own fats from meats in her kitchen.  Bacon grease was very common as well as beef and pork fats.  Fats were rendered from these meats by baking them in a slow oven and draining and straining the fat into a clean container and storing in the refrigerator or icebox. 

    In today's recipe, I use whole wheat flour and a minimal amount of refined flour, a small amount of sausage and bacon fat to make biscuits and gravy. In our recipe, we have a variety of fats listed, as many recipes from this era had to be adaptable and substitutions needed to fit in easily. This recipe is a great way to get the flavor of sausage into your meal with less expense.  When served with fruit, you get a well rounded meal.

Biscuits

Makes 12-16 Biscuits

Serves 6-8 

Pre-heat the oven to 425°.

• 1 C All Purpose Flour
• 1 C Whole Wheat Flour
• 4t Baking Powder
• 1t salt
• 1/4 C Bacon Fat, Lard, Shortening, or Oil (or combination of them)
• 1/2-1 C Milk

Whisk together flours, baking powder and salt. Cut in fat until the mixture resembles cornmeal.  Add enough milk to make very stiff dough. (If you use oil, you will require less milk.) Roll out to 1/2" thickness on to floured board. Cut out biscuits with biscuit cutter and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Take scraps and knead together, roll again and make more biscuits.  Repeat until dough is nearly gone.  Bake 10-15 minutes.

Sausage Gravy

Serves 6

• 2 oz Bulk Sausage
• 2 T All Purpose Flour
• 1T Bacon Fat, Lard, Shortening or Oil
• 1-1 1/2 C Milk (or part milk with part broth, stock, or vegetable liquor)
• 1t Coarsely Ground Pepper
• 1/2-1 t Salt, to taste

In skillet, brown and crumble sausage in fat.  Whisk in flour.  Slowly add liquid, whisk, and continue to add until the gravy is thickened but not too thick.  Let simmer 10 minutes or so.  Serve over biscuits.  This is also quite good on hash browns, mashed potatoes and rice.

Wartime Nutrition

Wartime Nutrition

During WWII there was a push to increase the nutrition of our citizens.  At the onset of the war, the government was finding the incoming recruits were coming into the military sadly malnourished. This was not a result of a lack of food, but a lack of knowledge as to the correct foods to eat.  The science of nutrition was still fairly new, but WWII brought a certain urgency to the understanding of, and the connection between, food and health. As new discoveries were made, they were passed on to the public, through classes on meal planning and conservation of foods, as well as literature and movie shorts.

The U.S. Gov't, in an effort to promote health and wellness, created films to encourage healthy eating. Here is Wartime Nutrition (1943), from the U.S. Office of War Information.

In the next video, nutrition is once again the topic, but with regard to our troops.  There is a look at the science of nutrition and how food is shipped and prepared to the troops.  Also, there is a discussion on how nutrition is involved in the creation of ration kits and its possible future application for civilian use.

British kitchens during WWII

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPVvta-tHC8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Crispy Un-Fried Chicken

Crispy Un-fried Chicken

During WWII, Chicken consumption increased.  All meats were rationed, including poultry. Many people decided to grow chickens themselves for food and eggs.  Since fats were necessary for making soap and glycerine used in bomb making, deep frying was somewhat frowned upon.  A delicious alternative was baked chicken.  

Wasting any morsel of food was a serious NO-NO during WWII. Mrs. Housewife was expected to use every bit and piece of foodstuffs to feed her family, and make available food for our fighting troops and the allies. If anyone had stale or leftover bread pieces, a great way to preserve them for future use was to dry the bread bits, usually in a low oven (or off, but for the pilot light), and then grate it with a box grater.  Dry bread crumbs could be stored for a very long time with no worry of mold. 

What is great about this recipe is that it uses very little added fat, and the fat that is used can be ANY fat; butter, shortening, bacon, lard, etc.  It all works well. This is significant because, since fats were rationed, butter and shortening were hard to come by, so most women would render fat from their meats, strain and store the fats for future use. 

Crispy Un-fried Chicken

Crispy Un-Fried Chicken

425°F  45 - 60 Min

• 1 Chicken - Dressed and cut up
• 1/4-1/3 C Fat, melted (Margarine, Butter, Shortening, Bacon Fat, etc.)
• 11/4t +/- Seasoned Salt (to taste)
  or 1t+/- Salt, 1/2t Onion Powder, 1/4t Garlic Powder, 1/4t Pepper 1/4t Paprika 
• 1 1/2 C Coarsely Grated Dried Bread Crumbs

Preheat Oven to 425°. Grease liberally with fat or oil a cookie sheet.  Set Aside. In a large mixing bowl, pour melted fat. Put chicken in bowl and mix chicken until well coated with melted fat. In a pie plate or flat fluted dish, mix bread crumbs and seasoning. Roll chicken in crumb mixture and place on cookie sheet, fleshy sides up. Bake until thickest piece is 170°F. Remove from oven and let stand 5-10 min before serving.

WWII Noodles & Hot Dogs

Another advertisement recipe.  This is from Van de Camps, for its Tenderoni product; a cross between a spaghetti noodle and macaroni. I'm sure either could replace the Tenderoni. Since a whole box is 1# of pasta,  6oz would be about 1/3 of the box uncooked.

Pearl & Ruby Pudding

I found this recipe in a LIFE magazine (June 7, 1943 issue). You could exchange Carnation milk and water with 2 Cups milk or soy/rice/almond milk with similar results.

Oops! Soup.

OOPS!
So, I made cabbage and sausage for dinner with spatzle, but because of the weather, everybody is very late, and the cabbage became mush. So I decided to chop the sausage to smaller (bite size) pieces, and puree the cabbage with a couple cups of broth I made the other day broth. Serve with some spatzle in the middle and Voila! Spatzle and sausage soup! Might serve it with pretzels and beer ;)

Baked Brown Bread

I make this often, but usually a half recipe in an 8x8 square pan. It is so delicious! It is especially good with baked beans.

Disney helps the WWII War Effort on the Homefront

During WWII, all of American industry was making an effort to win the war using their specialty, and Hollywood was no different. Many training, public service and propaganda films were made, with the backing of the United States Office of War Information. Washington particularly liked Disney studios. With their many popular characters and highly skilled artists, Disney Studios could produce a unique variety of films from detailed training films to public service shorts.
Below are two films for the Homefront, about saving cooking fats for weapons and wartime food production in the United States. Enjoy.

Any MEATballs

I heard on the news recently that the cost of beef is going up because of a decrease in cattle due to droughts and weather disasters this year.  Beef was also very limited during WWII.  Between trying to feed to troops and the allies, what was available at home was usually "variety" meats (liver, kidney, sweetbread,etc).  When beef was available you had to make the most of it! But beef was not the only meat that was scarce, larger cuts of pork were also limited, like loins and roasts.  Often people were left with meats that were best suited ground, and in some areas, you were lucky to get that!! Mothers and wives started becoming very creative with what they did with meats.  They could only use foods they could get their hands on, and could waste nothing. (Actually, it was illegal to waste in England, punishable by a fine!)

A popular dish that still holds today are meatballs.  Like many culinary artists of that era, I made a very versatile recipe for meatballs that uses less than a pound of meat, as well as whatever you might have on hand, and is very delicious, according to picky eaters (like our 15 yr old daughter, who loved it!).

Any MEATballs
Makes 12-14 1" Meatballs

Italian Sausage Any MEATballs
with Pasta and sauce

• 3/4 # Any Fresh Ground Meat
  (Beef, Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Sausage, or combinations of these meats)
• 1 Egg
• 2 Slices Bread, torn into small pieces or 3/4 C Ground Crackers, Matzo, Rolled Oats
• 1/3 C Liquid (Milk, Broth, Vegetable Water from cooking, etc)
  *Note: use 1/4 C of liquid if using ground poultry
• 1-2 Cloves Garlic, minced or 1/4t-1/2t Garlic Powder
• 1t Salt
• 1/4t Pepper
• 1t Italian Seasoning (Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Blended seasoning, etc)
• 2T Oil or Fat
• 1/3 C liquid (Water, Broth, Wine, Beer, etc)

1. In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients and combine well.  Set aside for 5-10 minutes.
2. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  
3. Shape meatballs into 1" balls and place in hot oil to brown, turning once.
4. Pour in 1/3 C liquid, cover, and reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Serve with Gravy, Pasta Sauce, or on a yummy sandwich!

Wartime Nutrition

When Rationing started, there also was an all out push to teach the homemaker, and everyone, how to eat nutritiously, despite shortages. Here is a video made by the government about WWII Wartime Nutrition.

Creamed Veggies and Stuff

The recipe I posted today comes from Wartime-Ration Recipes for Delicious Meals for 2, 4, or 6 by the Pet Milk Company copyright 1943.

Stretching the family food, budget and keeping meals nutritious was a bit of a task during WWII. One way to add a little more protein, as well as making food more filling was often done with the addition of a cream or white sauce.  Leftovers turning  a fuzzy green in the fridge was taboo. Every homemaker was expected to use every possible little morsel of food. If you had a cup of leftover peas and carrots, a chicken drumstick, and some day old biscuits, you had chicken a la king for four! All you needed was a good white sauce.  I often serve creamed leftover veggies over whatever type of bread I have around, toasted of course. It's filling and delicious!

Note: Regular milk, reconstituted non-fat dry milk, soy or almond milk, and broth may be used to replace the evaporated milk.

Stuffed Peppers

I found this recipe in Life Magazine May 18, 1942. Rationing was at its very beginning, and this was a recipe to stretch foods that were scarce or hard to obtain, like meats and fats. NOTE: 3/4 C regular milk is fine to replace evaporated milk.

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies

In May 1942, rationing began and sugar was one of the first on the list.  The  U.S. Office of Price Administration (OPA) offered many suggestions to s-t-r-e-t-c-h sugar, so you can have your cake and eat it too, so to speak. The use of molasses, corn syrup, brown sugar, maple syrup, and saccharine were just a few of the replacements, as well as pre-sweetened items, like jam and fruit cocktail juice.  Other rationed items were white flour, eggs, and fat.  The OPA recommended whole wheat flour and other grains to replace white flour, and to use less fats and replace them with other fats like rendered fats, margarine and peanut butter.  Anyone can see why Peanut Butter Cookies were a popular cookie during WWII! 

These Peanut Butter Cookies use all the recommended replacements, and less of the rationed ingredients. These cookies, unlike the traditional Peanut Butter Cookies  are crisper and more tender.  I added the Crunchy Peanut Butter, as opposed to creamy, because it gives them a little more pizzazz.  They disappear fast in my home, practically right from the oven!

Ingredients:

1/4 C Shortening	1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 C Butter/Margarine	3/4 C All Purpose Flour
1/2 C Crunchy Peanut	1/2  t   Baking Powder
1/2 C Sugar	3/4  t  Baking Soda
1/2 C Brown Sugar (can use all Brown Sugar, if you prefer) 1 Egg	1/4  t  Salt

Method: Pre-heat oven to 375°F. In a bowl, cream sugars, fats, egg and peanut butter until creamy and well combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together flours and leavening. Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and mix until well combined.  Chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 min. Lightly grease two cookie sheets or line with parchment.  Remove dough from the fridge and roll a tsp at a time into balls and place on the cookie sheet about an inch apart. Using a fork and a glass of water, dip the fork in the water, shake of the excess, and make criss cross marks on the cookies. (Normally, the cross marks would be made by dipping the fork in sugar first, but during WWII, that would've been considered wasteful.) Bake 8-10 minutes until golden. Cool on a rack for 5 min. Enjoy!