It's been Five Weeks of Rationing

Five weeks has flown by and we have both been enjoying our rations.
Grumpy Teenager has been enjoying our wartime meals alot.
Both Salem and I are still loosing weight.  I've lost 7kg in total and Salem has gone from 36kg at the start, down to 31.5kg.  He really doesn't need to loose weight but it is dropping off.
It's quite amazing as we are having full cream milk, cooking fat, butter etc.. which we never ate before.

We still aren't using much of our sugar rations and now Salem has found that he enjoys his cups of tea without sugar.  He has saved some of his lollies ration too.  My lollies don't last long at all.
We had a big spring clean (in the middle of summer) and Salem did alot of cleaning for me so I gave him half my lollie ration in payment, and it was chocolate too!!!!

We have all been enjoying the wartime recipes and Salem likes to help out with making our meals.
A big favourite with the boys is Semolina Pudding which I substitute half the milk with water and just cook it on the stove top leaving a lid on the pot and turn the heat off to finish the cooking.  Yum, yum, yum.



Semolina Pudding

Ingredients

• 600ml, 1 pint milk
• 45gm, 2-3 oz semolina
• 25gm, 1oz caster sugar
• 15g, or a knob of butter
• a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (to taste)

Making and cooking it

1. Well grease an ovenproof dish
2. Put milk into pan and heat until lukewarm
3. Sprinkle in the semolina
4. Cook slowly, stirring all the time until it comes to the boil and thickens
5. Add sugar and butter
6. Remove from the heat and pour into the ovenproof dish
7. Grate (or sprinkle ready ground) nutmeg over the top
8. Put into a moderate oven (160C or Gas 3) for 30 minutes.

Another family favourite is the Vegetable and Oatmeal Casserole.  The boys love it.
I add either a leek or an onion diced up and fry in the cooking fat until soft along with a diced up carrot and stalk of celery if I have it.  Grumpy Teenager even literally licks his plate clean.



Vegetable and Oatmeal Casserole

Ingredients

• 450g ( 1lb) mixed root vegetables
• knob of dripping
• 50g (2oz) coarse or medium oatmeal
• sprinkling of paprika
• chopped parsley and herbs to flavour
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5ml (1tsp) meat extract or stock cube
• 1 pint vegetable stock

Making and cooking it

1. Peel and dice the vegetables
2. Fry in dripping until slightly cooked
3. Add the oatmeal and stir until the fat is absorbed
4. Season with paprika, herbs, salt and pepper and add the meat extract
5. Add the vegetable stock and simmer gently, covered for 1 hour. Stir occasionally or it may burn on the bottom

A little corned beef, cooked meat or fish may be added at the last minute.

It doesn't look like an interesting recipe but it really is delicious.

Unexpected weightloss after two weeks

At the moment I am listing to the very cool 1940's Radio Station which is at
http://www.1940sukradio.co.uk very nice at this time of night.

Well we are into our third week of rationing and out of interest we thought we would weigh ourselves as I thought with all the fats we were eating and all the full cream milk we would be gaining weight.
But no, Salem has lost 1kg and I have lost 3kgs.  It is quite a bit for just two weeks.

We never started this to lose weight, it is just a living history lesson.

Salem does not need to lose weight at all but it will be interesting to see how he does when his dance classes start up on the 7th February.  He is very serious with his dancing and will be having at least 3 classes a week.

I've been naughty with my lolly ration this week, I had all my sweets this afternoon, I now have to wait until Monday for my next lot.

Time to go and have my last cup of tea for the day.

Two Weeks of Rationing

Our rationing has been going well.  Both of us have been sticking to it.
Have been having alot of vegetables and salads. 
Haven't been doing any baking as we are still making do with xmas cake and xmas pudding.
They should last us for another week or two.

One weeks sugar ration has lasted us two weeks and we have only used half of it.
Likewise with the tea, I've had to cut down on my pots of tea as I don't have enough milk to
have all the cups that I would like.  I have also been watering down my milk to make it last longer.
Salem has been enjoying his milk ration.  The amount is more than what he used to have pre-ration time.
We do use up all our butter ration, this was something we didn't really eat before.  Margerine doesn't get all used up though.

Our one week ration of cooking fat hadn't been touched until yesterday, I used some to fry up some lovely fish that Salem worked for on Saturday.
He worked at the fishmongers at the market in the morning and we got some lovely trevally.  This is a fish that years ago people would turn up their noses at and would only use as bait.  I told my mother about our lovely fish and she didn't have anything nice to say about it, saying it was just a bait fish and oily.  I don't think she has ever eaten it before.
We made fish fingers with it, cutting it into strips and them Salem crumbed it.  It is a lovely firm fish and was absolutely delicious.  Even my other son "Grumpy Teenager" loved it.
We had the fish with lots of fresh salad.

During the last week we have been having toast for breakfast with either jam or vegemite.
Having the Oslo Meal most lunches.
Having baked potatoes with a bit of cheese, relish and more salad.
I have also made fish chowder using a tin of smoked fish from our monthly points.

FISH CHOWDER

1 can of smoked fish

1 leek sliced up

1 cup milk

1 cup water

salt and pepper

1 cup or more of frozen or left-over vegetables

1 heaped tablespoon of corn flour

1 tablespoon margerine
Parsley

In a large pan fry the leeks in the margerine until soft.

Add the liquid from the can of smoked fish to the pan.

Flake up the fish and add as well.

Add the vegetables and warm through.

Then add the two cups of liquid and salt and pepper to taste.

Just before this comes to the boil, mix the cornflour with a little extra water

then add to the pan and stir to mix in well.

Turn element down as you do not want this to boil.

Cook for a few more minutes.

If it is too thick add a little more water and check the seasoning.
Sprinkle with plenty of fresh chopped parsley before serving.
If you don't have fresh parsley, use 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of dried added with the vegetables.

This made a decent meal for the three of us.

Will feed 4 or 5 people if you serve it with bread.

Very, very yummy!!!!

Last night I started reading "Spreading their Wings - New Zealand WAAFs in Wartime" by Bee Dawson.
It's a very interesting read.  I'll tell you about that later.