We Love Beans

Lots of fresh asparagus and beans

We have been having huge amounts of beans growing in our garden and have been given loads of fresh asparagus.  Yum!!!!!
With all our beans, practically every meal has beans in it.
One of the kids favourites is beans with baked beans.

A meal of beans with baked beans

Beans and Baked Beans

In a large pan, frying pan or wok, fry one chopped onion in a small amount of dripping or oil.
Then add in some mushrooms and a good amount of fresh beans and asparagus.
I don't measure the amounts of veges I use.
When nearly cooked add in a can of baked beans and 1/2 cup of water.
I used some frozen peas too.
Stir through and add parsley and some mixed herbs if you want.  I really like using sage.
Add Worchestershire Sauce and some HP Sauce if you like.
Bring to the boil and then simmer.
If the sauce is a bit watery add a little cornflour mixed in a little water and stir through until thickened.
Serve with rice, mashed potato or on toast.

Getting Our Sweet Ration

There are so many to choose from.  I think
I will start with these.....

It is a real treat for Salem to get his sweet ration for the week.
We like to go to "Over the Tea Cups" tea shop at Paraparaumu Beach shops.
They have a great selection of old fashioned sweets.

I'll have some Black Balls.....

Salem loves being able to choose his sweet ration for himself.
We have a ration of 4 oz (113 g) each a week which was one of the maximum allowances during WWII.
It did go down to 2 oz (57 g).
We are not huge sweet eaters so this is ample for us, and often I don't have my ration at all.
I'm sure that Grumpy Teenager has a black market supply!!!!

.......and some Humbugs!!!!

During WWII, cough lollies and pastiles were not rationed so they were often eaten as sweets.
I really love my cough lollies, especially Throaties which I think were around at that time.
I think next week we will have to go and get our ration for over Christmas.

Spamtastic

A can of Spam

The boys have been very curious about Spam.
It is mentioned so many times in wartime books, websites and recipe books.
Grumpy Teenager was very interested in trying it so I went and bought some today.
We were very lucky, it came in a 75th Anniversary can.

Mmmmm.....Spam

Salem was really curious and even though he is a vegetarian, was wanting to have a try to really have the wartime experience.
So after it plopping out of the can, I sliced it up and then pan fried it in a little dripping so it had a nice crispy golden crust.
I served it up with a baked potato each and mushrooms and onions in gravy.
I just had the veges.
The boys really liked it but said it was very salty.
Grumpy Teenager said it tasted like bacon.
There is plenty left over for dinner tomorrow night, served diced up in a salad.

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Thirty-seven

Ration Hint No. 37

Bedtime Story

Once upon a time there were five housewives.
Their names were Lady Peel-potatoes, the Hon. Mrs Waste-fuel, Miss Pour-the-water-down-the-sink, Mrs Don't-like-uncooked-vegetables, Mrs Won't-eat-carrots.
Don't let one of them put a nose in your kitchen.

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Thirty-four

Ration Hint No. 34

Roll balls of peanut butter in crushed chocolate-coated or wholemeal biscuits.
Wrap in waxed paper to serve.

A Balanced Diet

Back in 1944 the New Zealand Department of Health new a thing or two about a healthy diet.
They issued these notes about what a healthy diet should be for the average New Zealander.
Very similar to the various incarnations of the healthy food pyramid we have had over the years but I think this is a very simple and to the point guide.
When did we forget such sound advice????

This is a Balanced Diet

MILK:  2 glasses for adults daily.  3 or 4 for children.
Drink it cold - used it in hot drinks - in soups, puddings and sauces.
Used dried skim milk for cooking.

EGGS:  (When you can get them)  3 to 5 a week for each member of the family.
Eggs used in cooking to be counted.
When eggs are short, eat more liver, kidney, peas, beans, lentils and cheese.

MEAT or CHEESE or FISH:  (Don't forget liver and kidneys) One or more average helpings (3 oz) daily.

GREEN VEGETABLES:  One big helping daily for everyone.
Boil them quickly in a little salted water and without soda.

FRUIT:  Some fruit each day or tomatoes in season; at least one fruit or one tomato should be raw.

POTATO AND ROOT VEGETABLES:  One good helping of potato once daily.  
Cook in jackets and let the family peel them.
Yellow vegetables as often as you can get them.

CEREALS AND BREAD:  Oatmeal for breakfast - wholemeal bread - "wheat germ" sprinkled on porridge or stewed fruit.

BUTTER:  Supplement the ration with other fats, such as salted beef dripping.

Use any other foods to satisfy hungry appetites, but try to get these into the day's food.

BALANCED MEALS:  Build and repair your body.
                                         Keep you fit and in good health.
                                         Give you energy for work and play. 

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Twenty-five

Ration Hint No. 25

When making pastry -

Flour must be dry and free from any lumps.
Shortening can be butter, lard or dripping, or a mixture of these.
Water must be very cold.
Baking powder should be added to short pastry mixture only.

Sugar.... Add 1 teaspoon of fine white sugar to each 1/2 lb flour for sweet dishes.

Mixing.... Except for wholemeal pastry, which absorbs more liquid, always mix pastry with a minimum of liquid to retain it's crispness of texture.

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Twenty-four

The next lot of hints are from The Red+Cross War-time Rationing Cookery Book.
This was published here in New Zealand in around 1944.
I was lucky to come across this book, it has a recipe for every day of the year, nutritional information, hints and heaps more.....

So here is the next installment....

Ration Hint No. 24

Boil small beetroots and serve hot as a vegetable with white sauce.
It is delicious with mince.

Butter Rationing in New Zealand

Butter rationing was introduced by the New Zealand Government in October 1943. 
It was rationed down to 225 grams (8 ounces) per person which is around 16 tablespoons.  
This almost halved the average weekly consumption of butter which was around 415 grams per person, that is a whole lot of butter!!!!!

New Zealanders loved their butter and it was used daily and very liberally in practically every New Zealand kitchen at that time. 
So butter rationing meant that many everyday foods and baked goods were affected so other foods were used in butter's place.
Suet and dripping were the alternatives that were available, not olive oil or margarine as they were not in common use here in New Zealand.
Margarine, until in recent New Zealand history, needed a prescription from the doctor to be purchased.

Butter was rationed so that plenty could be shipped off overseas, to Britain and even to the USA, for the war effort.
Milk and cheese, however, was not rationed.

Rationing of butter ended in New Zealand in June 1950.

The following information was issued by the Department of Health, Wellington, New Zealand, in 1943.


Butter Rationing

Compensating Foods Suggested.

With the introduction of butter rationing, it is important that people should know the foods that can help to compensate for the loss of food value normally supplied by the quantities of butter to which they have become accustomed.

In the first place, butter is butterfat, and the two other foods which contain butterfat are milk and cheese.
The amount of milk normally required daily is :

Two glasses for Adults

Three to Four glasses for Children.

With less butter available it is necessary that all of this milk - and more, if possible - should be used.
The top creamy milk should be saved for the children's porridge and puddings.

More cheese should be used.
Grate it in salads, eat it in chunks with bread and a little of your butter, or cook it for the evening meal.

An important constituent of butter is Vitamin A, which enables the body to resist infection, and also helps to avoid the condition known as night-blindness.
Vitamin A is present, for example, in eggs and liver.
Cheese, eggs, and liver are all foods which can form part of the tea meal - the meal at which so much butter was eaten.

The green and yellow vegetables - leafy vegetables, carrots, kumeras (NZ sweet potato) - can all help in providing Vitamin A.  So can tomatoes.

To replace the Vitamin A, then, use milk, cheese, eggs, liver, green and yellow vegetables and tomatoes.

For baking purposes dripping clarified at home may be used, and if the butter for spreading runs out, salted beef dripping in which an onion has been cooked, is suggested as a substitute.

To sum up, the following foods will help to make up the deficiency caused by butter restrictions :

1.  milk and cheese

2.  eggs and liver

3.  green and yellow vegetables and tomatoes

4.  salted beef dripping for spreading on bread

5.  clarified dripping for baking.

Rationing in Britian

Have a look at this video.
It shows how rationing affects an average British family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=o9wNJ78S2GY

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Twenty-three

Ration Hint No. 23

Potato water improves scones, etc, and lightens the milk bill.

This is my last Ration Hint from the Self Help "Wartime Cooking Suggestions" booklet, but I still have plenty more hints to share so keep an eye on future posts.

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Twenty One

Ration Hint No. 21

When creaming lard and sugar together, in making war-time cake, beat it well over basin of hot water, as lard is less easily blended than butter.
Add a little salt always.
Lard makes good cakes.

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Twenty

Ration Hint No. 20

Try mashing potatoes with bacon dripping and milk instead of butter.

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Eighteen

Ration Hint No. 18

Bacon fat is delicious in a ginger cake or gingerbread, 
spice cakes, cookies and foods with a strong flavour.

"Mince" made with Oats

"Mince" with Tomato on Toast

Well I am back, I needed a bit of a break as I wasn't feeling the best and had my hands full with my son's dancing but here is the promised "Mince" recipe.

It can be done with either a tomato sauce or with gravy.

Oaty Mince

1 cup of porridge oats
2 cups boiling water
1 stock cube
1 onion chopped
1 carrot grated
1 tablespoon cooking fat, dripping
Salt and pepper to taste
fresh or dried parsley
Mixed herbs and/ or Sage

Any of the following... 
1-2 stalks of celery finely sliced
sliced mushrooms
1 grated potato
finely sliced spinach or puha

1 tin of tomatoes or cup of fresh chopped tomatoes
or
1 cup of gravy, can be made up from gravy powder


In a bowl mix porridge, boiling water and stock cube.  Put to the side.
In a large pan or frying pan, fry onion in the dripping.
Then add the other vegetables of your choice (except spinach or puha) and cook until tender.
Then add the leafy vegetable and either the tomatoes or gravy.
Followed by the oats and the dried herbs.

Mix together well and simmer.
You may have to add more water as the oats really make the sauce thick.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I also like to add a good squirt of HP Sauce and some Worchestershire Sauce.
It is important to season well as the oats are quite bland.

Serve on toast, with pasta or mashed potatoes.

A little grated cheese with the tomato version is really yummy.

Give this a try and experiment with the seasonings.
It is a very economical meal and we generally have plenty for the next day.
Grumpy Teenager loves eating meat but really enjoys this "mince".

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Fifteen

Ration Hint No. 15

To stop nuts and fruits sinking to the bottom of cakes, etc.

Heat them in the oven and then mix them in a little flour before adding to batter.

Ration Hint of the Day - Number fourteen

Ration Hint No. 14

To keep yolks of eggs fresh and stop them drying out.

Place the unbroken egg yolks in cold water.
Have sufficient cold water in the cup or bowl, to cover the egg yolks and they will keep perfectly.

Ginger Biscuits

Ginger Biscuits

These biscuits are very yummy and smell divine when cooking.
I have just made a batch now.
You can add another teaspoon of ginger if you want a very gingery bikkie.
Great with a hot cup of tea.
Don't forget to dunk!!!!!

Ginger Biscuits

1/4 cup margarine

1 Tablespoon golden syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 teaspoons powdered ginger

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup plain flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Melt the margarine and golden syrup together.

Stir in the vanilla essence then add to the bowl of dry ingredients.

Mix into a dough.  Use your hands as it is easier.

Roll into small balls and press down onto a lightly greased oven tray.

Prick with a fork and bake for 10-13 minutes.

Leave to cool down for a few minutes then cool on a wire rack until cold.

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Thirteen

Ration Hint No. 13

Beating egg whites for cakes.

Beat egg whites for cakes at the time it is to be used.
If allowed to stand, some of the liquid white will go to the bottom of the bowl, and if this is put into the cake it will make the cake tough.
So beat and use immediately.

Ration Hint of the Day - Number Twelve

This next hint is not intending to be a replacement for a fire extinguisher to be kept in the kitchen.
Not all of us have an extinguisher, if you do, make sure it is the correct type.
The wrong type is as dangerous as throwing water on a fat fire.
I was a chef for many years and always made sure we had a large salt container by our stove tops.

Ration Hint No. 12

Putting out a fat fire.

You may never have had the fat in a broiling pan catch fire or a pan of fat catch fire, but accidents will happen and a fat fire is an obstinate fire.
Don't ever try to put out a fat fire with water.
Water and fat will not mix and water will only spread the fire.
Take the salt box and throw salt on the fire.
Just keep throwing on a handful of salt and the fire will soon go out.