Carrot Flan is a STRANGE recipe and a highly economical one! It is on the precipice of a savoury and sweet dish, it could be either with the addition of other ingredients. For instance if I had added extra sweetener and some cocoa powder, I’m confident this would have made an excellent chocolate pie. I may try that one day.
This recipe was from Ambrose Heath’s, “Vegetables for Victory”. I made the flan case from a standard shortcrust pastry recipe (with a little less fat) and lightly blind baked this in the oven before filling this with the pureed carrot. I didn’t have enough sliced carrot to overlap the rings on the top but hey ho, you get the drift.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
Several large carrots
Salt and pepper (if you want it as a savoury dish)
6-8 oz shortcrust pastry ( 6 oz plain flour, 2-3 oz of margarine, salt, cold water to bind)
Method
Line a flan dish with the pastry and blind bake at 180 C
Once baked add the pureed carrot and fill the case placing cooked sliced carrots on the top and glaze with the liquor from boiling the carrots or with some melted margarine.
Place back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes
I can hardly believe it! Just like that, on a whim after watching this YouTube video that was shared in our Facebook Group, I booked it and now I’m going to live in this AMAZING little 1940s WW2 tin cottage for two whole days! To say I’m excited is an understatement…
I’m not visiting until late August but that gives me time to plan how to make the most of my visit which will not only involve a day in Glastonbury (which is just a few miles away) but a full day of cooking some 1940s recipes and filming them (for the blog) and enjoying some beer in the Anderson shelter. Simply enjoying some private downtime to myself.
I’m lucky that the cottage is only about 1.5 hrs drive from my house and my plans are to spend a full day in Glastonbury (I’ve never visited) before checking in at the cottage and enjoying a relaxing evening.
The next day I hope to spend most of it relaxing, cooking and filming a couple of WW2 recipes, hopefully a walk to Glastonbury Tor and maybe a visit to the village pub! I’m so excited! The last time I managed to go away on a mini-break was a stay at a pub near the Uffington White Horse a few years ago. Some time away is long overdue.
“The corrugated cottage was built in the spring of 1940, around the beginning of the Second World War when Britain felt under imminent threat of invasion. The cottage was built for the Women’s Land Army, or ‘land girls’, who were young women working in agriculture to help the war effort. More than a third of land girls came from major cities, so many rural accommodations had to be built. The cottage is built out of corrugated iron with tongue and groove wooden panelling inside with insulation between. It stands alone beside the owner’s house in some small woods with lots of badgers, foxes and tawny owls!
The cottage is just a few miles from Glastonbury on the edge of a small village called Baltonsborough, including a shop, post office, church and pub within short walking distance across the fields.
The cottage has been recreated in the style of the 1940s, with authentic details such as a forties enamelled range with back boiler, forties utility furniture, a functioning radiogram from the fifties and Bakelite switches and plugs. The kitchen includes an original fifties sink, larder and fridge with a modern electric hob and microwave.
In the bathroom is a claw-foot roll top bath and toilet with elevated cistern.
There is a small enclosed garden with a wonderful view over the levels. The garden includes table and chairs
The cottage sleeps four people, with two bedrooms and four single beds and an additional sofa bed. The bedroom upstairs is reached by a steep staircase and very low doorway with a very low ceiling, so is unsuitable for disabled or elderly people (but brilliant for children!). The house has wireless internet and no television. The house is well-insulated and includes both a coal fire range with back boiler and electric heater.
The house includes an Anderson shelter in the garden. “
Another triumphant wartime recipe! I didn’t quite follow the recipe to the tee as I was being mindful of the flour and fat I had to last me (so I made the tart an open one) and of course I didn’t have eggs (or dried egg) to hold it together. Instead I used a little potatoes and carrot mashed together. It did a great job and I loved the taste of this!
Leek Tart Ingredients
3 leeks chopped
margarine for cooking
6-8 oz of plain flour to make the pastry
3 oz of margarine/cooking fat to make the pastry
salt and pepper
water for the dough
1 egg or some dried egg (I used a little mashed potato and carrot to hold the leek mixture together)
flan dish or as per recommendation below
Method
This tart was really nice, pretty easy to make and held together well when cold for the next day. It would travel well in a sandwich box or to take out on a picnic!
I’m back! And trying to do my best back on rationing after a couple of rocky days. My emotions have been up and down after Truffle passed away but I’m back on track today. We’ve been spending any free time giving JoJo (my remaining Guinea Pig) lots of attention as he was a little sad for a few days but he finally seems to be picking up. He is about the same age as me in Guinea Pig years! Here he is tonight having a run around the kitchen!
Breakfast:
Back on the porridge this morning and delicious it was too! I took some fruit to work and had that with my mid-morning tea break.
Lunch:
I made Carrot Flan 5 days ago and there was one piece left. It was JUST ABOUT edible, no blue bits on it so I heated it up and ate it with a salad and beetroot! Yum!
Dinner:
I made Colcannon and ate it with steamed peas plus bread and butter.
Supper:
I’ve had some of last weeks sweet ration!
I’ll be posting the recipes for Leek Tart and Carrot Flan this week too!
To be honest, I can’t remember eating anything on Friday, at least not until early evening when I realised that eating some food might be a good idea.
I’d already been up very early and had been offering some mental health support to one of my grown up children who lives with me. I then got ready for work and popped downstairs and noticed that Truffle, my Guinea Pig, was unwell. I won’t go into detail as it’s still hurting thinking about it.
Needless to say, I rang the emergency vets and headed over shortly after 8:30 am. They were very sympathetic and we did all we could but it was Truffles time to go and we assisted him to pass quickly and without further pain. I returned with little Truffles body later on that morning and buried him in the garden in the afternoon.
I’m heartbroken, I’m still tearing up as I write this. I know, I know, a Guinea Pig is just a little rodent but this little cavy was my cute little friend and I loved him so very much.
RIP Truffle.
As a woman who has had to weather some hardship and challenging moments over the years (like most of us have I hasten to add) I find the only way to cope with these times is allow the tears, give myself a few hours, or a day or two and then simply get back up and keep busy.
Truffle loved carrots, he had a bit of a sweet tooth so in his honour I decided that I’d keep my mind occupied by making a “carrot flan”. Once again from the “Vegetables for Victory” cook book.
The pie was impressive looking but also very sweet. It was like a cross between a savoury and sweet dish, a bit like sweet potato. I honestly think I could have added cocoa powder to it and some golden syrup and made it into a delicious chocolate mud pie!
I didn’t really have much of an appetite but did enjoy a large slice with a little salad. My eldest daughter ate a slice too and I have two slices for the weekend. I’ll share this recipe on the blog sometime this week as I took step-by-step photos.
Much love C xxxx (I’m keeping calm and carrying on)
Made it through another day! Am I craving junk food and wanting to eat between meals? YES, of course! That’s is only natural as an obese person who not only loves the taste of food but is addicted to the emotional HUG that food gives me. I’d love a long lingering, comforting hug of the LOVE type and really do miss that but I know I also 100% prefer my life as a single woman so that is the trade off.
I’m still eating large portions but that doesn’t bother me right now. Getting off the junk that lights up my hunger receptors is the most important thing. I need to flood my body with lots of wholefoods or homemade dishes and try and keep the UPF’s (fake meats or convenience foods) to under 20% of my daily diet and the wartime diet ensures this!
Here’s what I ate today.
Breakfast:
My menu called for “Poor Knights Fritters” which essentially is a jam sandwich fried! Well I had jam on toast so close enough.
Lunch:
Leftover leek tart followed by a large bowl of salad while I worked from home. I spent all day working from home as I needed to be in for a landlords inspection. I also had a nice, juicy apple afterwards!
Dinner:
Dinner was SPECTACULAR! A pretty perfect cottage pie made with what was left of my ration of mince meat for the week (vegan soy mince). EVERYONE in my house loves this dish so it was enough to feed all three of us and have for leftovers tomorrow. I served it with broccoli which I love. It does give me the wind so I don’t eat as much of it as I used too!
Supper:
I’m sorry, I had a bunch of bananas on the turn so chopped some up and froze them and the other two I gobbled down and enjoyed them WITHOUT GUILT! As I said at the beginning of the week, there will be times when I eat non-ration book fruits and vegetables! While Saturdays will be my off ration days and I will try and enjoy these things then, i’m not going to feel guilty about the odd banana and avocado here and there. If it keeps me off the junk food and helps me sustain this long term. I’m happy with it!
I’m having to eat a LOT but I completed another day of rationing! I’ve lived long term on rations several times before so I know still eating a lot during the first couple of weeks of converting to a WW2 ration book diet is normal for me. As I eat more nutritious, homemade foods and less “Ultra Processed Foods” (UPF’s) my appetite begins to level out and my portion sizes become normalised.
I was off work today as I had an incredibly busy day with personal stuff that needed to get done ASAP BUT I still managed to stick to MOST of my planned menu. Here is how it went…
Breakfast
YET AGAIN, yes you’ve guess it, PORRIDGE! Alas, no leftover tinned peaches to mix in with it as greedy guts here ate it all up for supper on Tuesday!
Lunch
I had no time for making a potato salad so a very simple sandwich was order of the day which was literally my using my ham ration (I used a delicious fake meat ham made by Richmond’s) and some sweet pickle. I didn’t eat much for lunch as I was too busy.
Dinner
It was late by the time we had dinner but it was worth the effort and eating late. I made a delicious “Leek Tart” again from “Vegetables for Victory” by Ambrose Heath. I will add the full, step-by-step recipe to the blog soon (I’m on catch up!).
Because I was so hungry I ate HALF THE TART (with a salad). For anyone that knows about pastry, that’s a lot of fat and calories but that’s what I get for having a light lunch and running around all day building up an appetite!
My eldest ate a quarter of the tart and I saved the last quarter for Thursdays lunch.
Supper
I know I nibbled on stuff but I can’t remember what! It would have been ration based so was likely some bread and butter! I try and take photos of everything I eat to remind me what I’m putting in my mouth.
Oh golly gumdrops! Pea Cakes (actually Potato and Green Pea Cakes) are delicious! I made them on “Back to Rationing Day 2” and promised I’d drop the recipe on the blog so here it is!
The KEY to the deliciousness (in my humble opinion) is including some onion and left over meat (I had a bit of vegan sausage and mince) and the browning on each side of the pattie. That forms a tasty crust and I simply LOVED these!
I never weighed the ingredients (I rarely do) but threw in what I had which was..
Ingredients
1 ish cup of cooked frozen peas
4 or 5 medium potatoes mashed with margarine, salt and pepper
leftover meat (I used one cooked vegan sausage chopped and a cup full of cooked mince)
1 onion chopped and fried
salt, pepper and herbs of preference
margarine for frying
This made around 10 small patties, I shared my panful with my eldest and had leftovers for the next day which I was so excited about!!!
Each pattie fried was around 100 calories and cost about 20 p each
Across the ports of Southern England, as nightfall fell some stopped to pray, a monumental operations eve, was 80 years ago today.
They watched and waited for their window, calculated tides and tempestuous weather, and as Normandy slept the stage was set, for a day that would change the world forever.
The paratroopers prepared for their perilous passage, the Royal Air Force soared toward enemy lines, and a naval fleet of a scale unrivalled, traversed a channel chocked with mines.
And soldiers most barely in their 20s, armed with fortitude so few acquire, faced with a fate we just can’t fathom, each charged head first in that fire.
For a second contemplate that courage, that sacrifice so void of self, to give your life to foster freedom, for the benefit of someone else.
When the longest day was finally finished, and they’d seized a foothold on that ground, because of all who bravely bore that burden, the Atlantic wall came crashing down.
That’s why we dwell on D-Day decades later, why we mark such days from history, why we honour those that were dealt that duty, and protect their lasting legacy.
Why we gather together to give recognition, it’s a promise, a vow that will not cease to show, gratitude for the lives and the future they fought for, in a safety and freedom that they’ll never know.
It’s why we teach each fresh new generation, to stay connected in one common way, and as long as their stories are never forgotten, we’ll remember the people who gave us today
I did it! Another day successfully navigating WW2 rationing and not succumbing to junk food! I’ve LOVED the food I’ve eaten today and I don’t feel guilty at all for consuming 1700 kcals, as in the wartime spirit I also moved more and walked a couple of miles today, too and from work!
Breakfast
I started off once again with porridge as per yesterday which was 50g of dried rolled oats and a teaspoon of flaxseed cooked in water with a splash of milk and a teaspoon of sugar! Calorie wise this is around 250 calories that includes the milk in my cup of tea too! Cost of breakfast (not including tea) = 15p
Lunch
I was sooooo excited to have leftover Parsnip Pie for lunch and I served that with Haricot Beans a la Bretonne from “Vegetables for Victory” by Ambrose Heath. Calories for lunch = 500 cals, cost was around 75p.
Dinner
For dinner I used another recipe from Ambrose Heath’s book. This time for Potato and Pea Cakes. These were absolutely LOVELY and I promise to do a full post on the recipe tomorrow! I was so short of time that I just ended up having 4 of the “pea cakes” and nothing else with them. It had been a long day at work and my knees and legs were hurting and felt heavy (but that is because I’m walking every single day to work again now!) so I just wanted to FLOLLOP! I feel blessed walking in Nike’s to work instead of 1940s Oxford shoes, I bet women’s feet hurt during the war! Calories for dinner = 700 and cost was around 80p
Supper
I had my dessert for supper. I had peaches in juice, from a can. I’ve kind of avoided canned foods (apart from beans) for quite a long time but the convenience of a can of peaches (I made a little hot custard too!) was just lovely. The peaches were from my war-store (I have a cupboard under the stairs where I have pre-war, squirrelled some items away) and not from my points ration, goodness me, if I’d bought them on my points ration I’d have used 1/2 of them up! Tinned peaches would have used up 8 of my points! (we have a monthly allowance of 16-24 points- it varies). Having the whole can of peaches was FAR TOO GREEDY so this won’t be happening again! Calories for supper = 250 cals and cost was £1.20
Total calories for the day 1700 including milk in tea
Total cost of food for the day £2.90 (an expensive day – I must do better!)
