Wartime Wednesday: When There's No Turkey to Be Had

Wartime Wednesday: 

When There’s No Turkey to be Had

With rationing, housewives had to get creative in preparing Thanksgiving meals for their family. Unless they raised the chicken or turkey themselves, having a full bird for the holiday was not going to happen. Some cooks turned to “variety meats (e.g. liver, brains, etc.) while other went vegetarian. Another alternative is to go with a recipe that stretched their meat amounts a LOOOONG way as this recipe from Better Meals in Wartime claims to do. Easy, delicious, and affordable.

Beef Bean Hot Pot for Six

1 pound stewing beef cut into small cubes
1 cup diced celery
1 pounded dried lima beans
3 onions, sliced
1 green pepper, minced
3 tablespoons fat
2 cups canned tomatoes
1 ½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons flour

Cover lima beans with water and soak overnight. Add more water and 1 teaspoon salt. Boil for one (10 hour or until beans are beginning to soften. Save water. Fry meat and vegetables in fat for about 10 minutes. Add flour, seasonings, and tomatoes.

Place in a large, greased casserole with beans. Cover with water from beans and add as much more as necessary. Bake in a slow oven (300 degrees) for two hours.

Fried Cornmeal

1 Cup Cornmeal
½ teaspoon salt
¾ - 1 cup water
2 tablespoons oils

Mix cornmeal and salt in a bowl until combined. Add ¾ cup water and whisk to combine. Add water by the tablespoon until batter pours from a spoon but is not watery. Heat oil in skillet (cast iron works great!). Drop tablespoons of batter and cook 3-4 minutes on each side until crispy and brown.

Baked Apples

4 firm, sweet-tart apples
¼ cup brown sugar OR ¼ cup honey
1 ½ tablespoons margarine
Raisins (optional)

Wash, core, but don’t peel apples. Slice crosswise in ½ inch slices. Grease a flat backing dish. Lay the slices in the dish and sprinkle brown sugar or honey over them. Dot with bits of margarine.

Pour enough water into the dish to cover the bottom. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes until apples are tender but not mushy. Sprinkle rains over the apples and serve warm.

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The American World War II Home Front in 29 Objects

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/47pLxR

Fiction Friday: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving

Fiction Friday: 

An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving

Pixabay/pictureday

Holidays can create myriad emotions depending on one’s experiences. For me, Thanksgiving brings many cherished memories. Despite living several hours away from family, my mother and father packed us four kids into the car and made the trek to Maryland every year to see my maternal grandparents. Countless aunts, uncles, and cousins would join us, and food was plentiful. As an adult, I look back and wonder how many days it took my grandmother and great-aunt to prepare everything for that many people. Fortunately, after the meal, they were able to put up their feet while we kids took care of clean up (without the help of a dishwashing machine – horror!).

Because of my love of the holiday, I also enjoy Thanksgiving stories (books or films), so I was pleased

to recently discover Louisa May Alcott’s short story, “An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving,” published 140 years ago in 1882 as part of Aunt Jo’s Scrap Bag. An added bonus is that the story is set in the “New Hampshire hills.”

The plot line is simple and tells the story of Farmer and Mrs. Bassett and their eight children who are“poor in money, but rich in land and love.” It is the day before Thanksgiving, and Mrs. Bassett and her girls are busy inside the house while her husband and the boys are “chorin’ away outside.” A man arrives from Keene with the announcement that Mrs. Bassett’s mother is “failin’ fast, and she’d better come today.” With a few instructions and a wave to the kids, Mr. and Mrs. Basset jump into the wagon to see about Gran’ma.

Lots of description immerses the reader into the sights, sounds, and smells of the foibles and successes of the children in handling the tasks of keeping the homestead going and preparing for Thanksgiving despite having never made a turkey with stuffing or cooking plum pudding. In the midst of everything, a bear arrives, which means he was late getting into his cave to hibernate, but perhaps Miss Alcott didn’t have the research materials available to authors today! The parents return having discovered that Mr. Chadwick being “deaf as an adder,” got the message wrong, and Gran’ma was “sittin’ up chirk as you please,” and not ill as previously surmised. The family enjoys their Thanksgiving dinner, although some of the dishes weren’t quite up to snuff.

A charming story that can be read in a few minutes, An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, is the perfect escape for challenging and difficult times. You can read it complements of The Gutenberg Project here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27567/27567-h/27567-h.htm

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Francine's Foibles

She's given up hope. He never had any. Will they find it together?

World War II is finally over, and America is extra grateful as the country approaches this year’s Thanksgiving. But for Francine life hasn’t changed. Despite working at Fort Meade processing the paperwork for the thousands of men who have returned home, she’s still lonely and very single. Is she destined for spinsterhood?

Grateful that his parents anglicized the family surname after emigrating to the United States after the Great War, first-generation German-American Ray Fisher has done all he can to hide his heritage. He managed to make it through this second “war to end all wars,” but what American woman would want to marry into a German family. Must he leave the country to find wedded bliss?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/40PzQEk