Winner Announced & Lessons Learned
The winner of the amazing Health for Victory booklet is...
Heather M. H.!
Thanks to everyone who entered! And thank you so much for stopping by to check out some of the amazing and interesting recipes I've experimented with in 2014. I appreciate every single visit. :-) I hope you'll continue to come back and try some of the ration recipes I've featured here.
So, through a year of cooking my way through all kinds of WWII ration recipes I've learned a lot. Among the things I've learned are:
1. The cooks of the '40s were awesome at portion size. They never ceased to amaze me.
2. There are great ways of replacing sugar in recipes like using jams/marmalades, sweetened condensed milk, cake crumbs, canned fruit syrup, and molasses!
3. There was a huge different between the rationing experiences of the Brits compared with the Americans. The Americans had much more variety in ingredients and recipes.
4. I conquered some fears to try some odd recipes involving liver, Jello (and salt!), gelatin-enhanced butter, tomato aspic, crazy whipped cream alternatives, and soya flour. I gotta be honest. Some of these recipes ended up being tossed to the chickens. :-)
5. The British and the Americans were endlessly creative in getting their nutrition into their wartime diet. Nutrition was up there in patriotic duty with doing your bit in war/volunteer work and buying war bonds.
6. I will never think of packing a lunchbox in the same way ever again. Using slices of a quick bread loaf (like the delicious Orange Honey Loaf) to change things up for a sandwich is brilliant!
7. The women of the home had a really tough job balancing war work, volunteering, childcare, home care, and meal preparations with the added stress of dealing with rationing and ration points/tokens!
8. Frequent desserts became a standard part of the American diet during the 1940s. Comfort foods and sweets were all part of boosting morale and they've stood fast in our culture to this day.
9. Fat was invaluable. They needed to save every last drop.
10. It's always good to try new foods and recipes, even if they seem scary at first, because they might turn out to actually be pretty good... but if not, at least you tried it! You can always learn from every experience whether good or bad.
And finally, here is a list of the top 10 best and the top 10 worst recipes that I tried this year! I thought it might be good to have a recap and a future reference. :-)
There were a whole lot of yummy recipes, but I had to narrow it down somewhat!
Top 10 Best Recipes:
1. Prune Nut Cake
2. Cornish Pasties
3. Mint Tinkle
4. Beet Relish
5. Oatmeal Drop Cookies
6. Raised Chocolate Cake
7. Cocoa Syrup w/ Honey
8. Pork Roast Victory Dinner
9. Praline Cookies
10. Hot Potato Salad w/ Frankfurters
(Bohemian Kolache and Peanut Brittle would have come next... Yum!)
Top 10 Worst Recipes:
1. Scotch Eggs
2. Sandwich Fillings - Liver & Onion
3. Tomato Aspic
4. Scones
5. Chinese Chews
6. Whipped Cream (British version)
7. Soya Fudge
8. Lemon Sunshine Salad
9. Frankfurter Casserole
10. Knox Gelatine Spread
What a fun and educational year it has been! I'll be sad not to be trying out a ration recipe every week and posting about it anymore, but I think I'll still try one out periodically and write about it on here. There's no one saying I can't, so ha! :-)
Heather M. H.!
Thanks to everyone who entered! And thank you so much for stopping by to check out some of the amazing and interesting recipes I've experimented with in 2014. I appreciate every single visit. :-) I hope you'll continue to come back and try some of the ration recipes I've featured here.
1. The cooks of the '40s were awesome at portion size. They never ceased to amaze me.
2. There are great ways of replacing sugar in recipes like using jams/marmalades, sweetened condensed milk, cake crumbs, canned fruit syrup, and molasses!
3. There was a huge different between the rationing experiences of the Brits compared with the Americans. The Americans had much more variety in ingredients and recipes.
4. I conquered some fears to try some odd recipes involving liver, Jello (and salt!), gelatin-enhanced butter, tomato aspic, crazy whipped cream alternatives, and soya flour. I gotta be honest. Some of these recipes ended up being tossed to the chickens. :-)
5. The British and the Americans were endlessly creative in getting their nutrition into their wartime diet. Nutrition was up there in patriotic duty with doing your bit in war/volunteer work and buying war bonds.
6. I will never think of packing a lunchbox in the same way ever again. Using slices of a quick bread loaf (like the delicious Orange Honey Loaf) to change things up for a sandwich is brilliant!
7. The women of the home had a really tough job balancing war work, volunteering, childcare, home care, and meal preparations with the added stress of dealing with rationing and ration points/tokens!
8. Frequent desserts became a standard part of the American diet during the 1940s. Comfort foods and sweets were all part of boosting morale and they've stood fast in our culture to this day.
9. Fat was invaluable. They needed to save every last drop.
10. It's always good to try new foods and recipes, even if they seem scary at first, because they might turn out to actually be pretty good... but if not, at least you tried it! You can always learn from every experience whether good or bad.
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| Haha! I've always loved this poster! |
There were a whole lot of yummy recipes, but I had to narrow it down somewhat!
Top 10 Best Recipes:
2. Cornish Pasties
3. Mint Tinkle
4. Beet Relish
5. Oatmeal Drop Cookies
6. Raised Chocolate Cake
7. Cocoa Syrup w/ Honey
8. Pork Roast Victory Dinner
9. Praline Cookies
10. Hot Potato Salad w/ Frankfurters
(Bohemian Kolache and Peanut Brittle would have come next... Yum!)
Top 10 Worst Recipes:
1. Scotch Eggs
2. Sandwich Fillings - Liver & Onion
3. Tomato Aspic
4. Scones
5. Chinese Chews
6. Whipped Cream (British version)
7. Soya Fudge
8. Lemon Sunshine Salad
9. Frankfurter Casserole
10. Knox Gelatine Spread
What a fun and educational year it has been! I'll be sad not to be trying out a ration recipe every week and posting about it anymore, but I think I'll still try one out periodically and write about it on here. There's no one saying I can't, so ha! :-)
Be adventurous and try some WWII ration recipes!