1940s

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Leek and Potato Soup – Recipe No. 154

1940sleekpotatosoup1

This easy and delicious recipe was taken from the WW2 ‘High Teas and Suppers’ Ministry of Food Leaflet No.7. I’ve just eaten two bowls of this with a slice of bread and butter and thoroughly enjoyed every single mouthful.

Leek and Potato Soup

4 medium sized leeks
1/2 oz of fat or dripping
3 medium sized potatoes sliced
1-2 pints of vegetable stock
4 tablespoons of dried household milk
Chopped parsley
Salt and Pepper.

Method

Cut the leeks in half long ways and after washing chop finely.
Melt the fat in a saucepan and gently fry the leeks without browning, keeping the lid on.
Add the potatoes and 3/4’s of the stock and cook until the potatoes are tender.
Mix the powdered milk to a smooth paste with the remaining stock and add to the soup.
Bring to the boil and sprinkle with chopped parsley just before serving.

Serves 4
Calories per bowl 200 cals.

My modifications: I’ve made this soup several times and usually make it with the following modifications which I feel not only fits in better with my daily diet but also I found by making these modifications the soup turned out even more delicious. Using alternatives to dairy below make the recipe suitable for vegans.

Parsley: I just don’t like parsley. Instead I use a teaspoon of dried mixed herbs when cooking.
Milk: I use wholebean soy milk on a daily basis so used 1/2 vegetable stock and 1/2 soy milk for the liquids used in the recipe.
Fat: Dairy free margarine
Potatoes: I always mash the cooked potatoes up and add them in to the soup. Sometimes the mash is a mixture of potato and carrot. I find this thickens the soup.

1940sleekpotatosoup2

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1940’s ‘Dad’s Army’ Giveaway!

competition

I’m in such a good mood about the forthcoming Dad’s Army Movie, I’m running a 1940s HomeGuard/HomeFront style GIVEAWAY to correspond with release of it!

The winner will receive a ‘Homeguard Memorabilia Pack, Vintage Union Jack style bunting, a Union Jack tea towel and a ‘Ration Book Recipes’ cook book. A great prize!

Goto www.the1940sExperiment.com, click on 145 Wartime Recipes, tell me below what your favourite is then SHARE this post on Facebook, or Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest or by e-mail with a friend.

Everyone who enters and has shared this page will go into the draw which will take place on February 8th, 2016. Winner will be announced on the 9th.

GOOD LUCK!

C xxx

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Which WW2 recipe should you try?

playbuzz

Found this ‘PlayBuzz’ this morning that someone had made out of my blog… it’s kind of cool!

Which WW2 recipe should you try?

Mine came up with Sausage Stovies.

What did yours come up with?

http://www.playbuzz.com/amydqx10/which-ww2-british-recipe-should-you-try

Thanks whoever did that!

C xxx

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Getting to grips..

Trying to find out information about veganism during the 1940s & WWII is proving to be quite difficult.

I’ve actually stopped eating meat, fish, milk and cheese etc now and using the next few weeks to prepare before my 8 week 100% vegan challenge. But information on the rationing system for VEGANS is pretty non- existent. During WWII vegetarians received extra rations of cheese instead of meat but what about the vegans?

I wanted to take the opportunity to thank Lili, Mary, Beti and Tempewytch who left comments on my last post…. I will be taking Lili up on her offer of more recipes for vegans during the 1940s and I have spent a lot of time reading up about the origins of Veganism thanks to Mary. It even seems more fitting that I should incorporate a veganism challenge into my 1940s Experiment as the word Vegan and the vegan movement was conceived in 1944 and therefore was very much a lifestyle that many embraced during the war years.

Here is a very interesting interview with Donald Watson who founded the Vegan Society and created the word Vegan  http://www.foodsforlife.org.uk/people/Donald-Watson-Vegan/Donald-Watson.html

At the moment I am preparing for the challenge… it’s difficult. Incorporating it into my 1940’s Experiment is not on my mind at the moment. I am simply trying to get to grips with it full stop..

Today I cooked a wonderful Vegan Tofu Stir Fry – CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE AND PHOTOS however they didn’t have Tofu in the 1940s (not that I am aware of anyway)

So my challenge is two-fold. Get to grips with turning vegan and get to grips with finding out more about veganism during the 1940s ….

PS Do you think vegans were given extra nuts?

PPS If anyone can help me out with any information they may have I’d be so grateful!!

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Marmite- My blog recipe won a prize in a national contest!

This has been a good week…. not only do I now weigh 299 lb (OK I am sensing some quizzical looks but trust me this is a very positive thing getting below 300 lbs- yay!) BUT yesterday I had an e-mail from MARMITE CENTRAL…. Oh yes, I really did… when I saw the word “congratulations” I needed picking off the floor.

For those of you who have never heard of Marmite let me tell you something…. it is ABSOLUTELY the food of the gods for British people … it has achieved cult status.

It is basically a “yeast extract” vegetarian spread (a by product of brewing beer) that is crammed with nutrients and was used during WWII in the 1940’s for seasoning stews and gravies (it originally was marketed in earthenware pots in the 1920’s).  It tastes salty, tangy, a little meaty and most people either love it or hate it. You may taste it and think it tastes like poo (it kind of looks like it too) , you may taste it and immediately become obsessed with slathering it on toast, chucking it in every single recipe you create and even use it as a lip gloss (yes they do actually make marmite flavoured vaseline)

The reason I needed picking off the floor on seeing the word congratulations, was that one of my 1940s recipes was a runner up in a “National Marmite Facebook Contest”….

Here was the first sentence that greeted me…

“You have won a Marmite Oven Glove Double and six month’s supply of Marmite to be enjoyed with friends and family….”

And here is the recipe that won our family so much Marmite I will promise to do plenty more 1940s recipes with it!

“Marmite- You either love it or hate it”

.. I LOVE it!!

 

 

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Merry Christmas everyone!

Yeah- well I know this is a day later and it’s been two weeks since I’ve blogged here but nevertheless

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Did I lose 10 lbs before Christmas? Nah.. I think I set an unrealistic goal especially right before Christmas where it’s easy to occasionally succumb to temptation (in my case it has mostly just been a few episodes of speciality cheese and crackers brought into work by colleagues but apart from that and a little blip at my friend Margaret’s Christmas Brunch AND the FREE egg nog at the pub, I’ve been doing OK) That doesn’t really sound that good does it…?

However ,although I didn’t lose 10 lbs I did lose 4 lbs and weighed in on Christmas Eve at 279 lbs.  I do expect that to rise a little over the Christmas period as I am allowing myself alcohol and some treats!

Although my Christmas Day wasn’t exactly 1940’s my main meal really would have come as close as possible to an 1940’s English Christmas Dinner (except for the sparkling Australian wine)

I live in the country and have enough land to grown a large garden or raise poultry and even keep goats (if I so desired)…. infact before I moved to Canada I did this for several years. Country dwellers during WWII probably would have grown the majority of their own veggies and raised chickens and turkeys for the table (as well as pork etc). Infact even those living in the city may have reared back yard chickens for Christmas Day……people even clubbed together to raise pigs!

So my Christmas Day meal of

  • an 8 lb chicken raised by some farming friends (and given to me as a gift)
  • a huge ham gift from my employers at work
  • locally grown potatoes, sprouts, parsnips, peas & carrots
  • sausages wrapped in bacon
  • homemade bread stuffing

was absolutely a country dwellers 1940’s meal or someone in the city who had planned ahead well.

Did the stuffing contain cat nip?

The chicken was the best I have ever tasted this year, as was the perfectly cooked parsnips in a honey glaze AND the homemade stuffing. If I lived in the 1940’s during rationing I would have had to save up my butter as the stuffing contained a mound of the stuff!

My homemade stuffing this year however, was full of extra ingredients to help it along the way. I chopped up onions and celery and softened them in a cup of butter before adding 1/3rd of a loaf of wholemeal bread, cubed. I then added this mixture to the other 2/3rd in a big bowl and mixed. Then I added 1/2 cup of marmite broth. And then I started adding a mixture of herbs & spices…

I realized to my horror the secret ingredient to my culinary triumph. CAT-NIP!

First sage, then thyme, then a little parsley, a little dill, black pepper, extra salt, pinch of summer savoury……and then there was a un-labelled package of herbs in a clear plastic bag, languishing at the back of the cupboard that smelt vaguely familiar. I liked the smell of it so added a large pinch into the mix….

Cooked at 200 C for 40 mins (after dotting butter over the top) the stuffing came out wonderfully and it was the best stuffing I’d ever made..

And then last night after I’d sunk the last of the wine we’d had with dinner, I realized to my horror the secret ingredient to my culinary triumph. CAT-NIP! The same cat nip I had bought a few years back (because I like the smell of it and I was going to try and be clever to make our cat a cat nip treat).

As I lived to tell the tale (thank goodness my kids don’t read my blog) I guess cat-nip is safely consumed in small portions BUT please don’t go rushing out to buy CAT-NIP for your stuffing even tho it tastes damn good!

MERRY CHRISTMAS xxxxxx