The oldest journal we have I started wrapping it in flannel to keep it protected. The research is going good but it is taking me awhile to get it to you as we are trying to work on our new things of trying out 1932.
We still have damage from hurricane Michael that we are cleaning up.
It is a tangled mess in some areas. Charles worked on another corner of the yard this past weekend.
We find comfort in our simple meals. Chicken, potatoes and carrots is always good and a dish of stewed apples with brown sugar, cinnamon and a pat of butter is a good side dish.
It has been cold here in the deep south. Not as cold as the northern and central part of the U.S. but quite chilly for us.
Each time we get a freeze I think the turnips will die off but they are doing just fine. We don't have room to grow turnips for the greens but we do for the roots.
These onions and carrots and the other container of garlic are doing well without cover, at least so far.
The parsley and onions here have flourished through the winter freezes. I put a clothespin in the ledge so you can see how large this pot is.
Every couple of days I open the windows and let fresh air in the house even when it is cold for at least a few minutes.
I am still finding ways to be extra frugal and the other day after grocery shopping we came home with 1 paper bag that I cut up to make more drain pads for when cooking.
Just put a rack on top and place the food that needs to be drained on top and let it drip on the brown paper instead of a paper towel. Old newspapers can be used as well.
This is a 1932 weekly menu. This is a more southeastern U.S. Menu from Greenville South Carolina.
Menu Planning is an area that I keep adjusting as we move back in time. These menu's are very different depending where one lives. I was surprised when I found this one that resembles somewhat of what we eat today.
Some recipes I will share.
Here are two versions to make Brown Betty. 1931 and 1929
I was surprised to find a powdered sugar/flour shaker in this picture where I found pancake recipes from around the world in 1932. I will be sharing the pancake recipes in another post.
Here is my modern stainless steel flour/powdered sugar shaker. I looked and they sell these on Amazon, they call it a spring action flour duster.
Here I am making cubed steak my version. I will show you how I make it.
Salt and pepper the cubed steak pieces and dip the steak in a bowl of all purpose flour or shake or sprinkle flour over the steak. I like to use this shaker because it keeps the flour clean so you don't waste any. If you dip it in the flour to coat it you have to throw away the rest of the flour. My mother used to shake things in a paper bag.
Anyway, coat the meat well with flour and saute the meat on both sides. I most always use olive oil, not extra virgin, we mostly cook with light or medium oil. One piece is for Charles and one for me. I always cook this in a cast iron skillet because we will be baking this in the oven. If you don't have a cast iron skillet or a skillet that is oven save it can be transferred to a casserole pan that can take the heat of 375 degrees.
remove the meat from the skillet and add a little more oil if needed and add flour, we are making a gravy.
I don't give measurements of the flour and oil because I just do this from knowing how I do it but it is a few tablespoons of oil and a few tablespoons of flour. You don't want it too thick or too thin. We are cooking the flour now here browning the flour.
Also the meat bits I got too dark trying to take pictures and do this. However you do want the flour to brown well. I always say brown it until you think you are going to burn it but don't burn it.
Once we brown the flour, we add water. The way to add the water is have a spoon, spatula or whisk or something to keep it stirring while adding the water. We have to do this part fairly fast so we don't clump the gravy. Add more water as it thickens until we have a nice not too thick gravy. It will bake in the oven so we want it a bit on the thin side.
All of this can be done in the same skillet but trying to cook this and take pictures turned out to be too difficult for me to do this in the same pan. You can cook the onions first, remove them, then cook the meat and then the gravy. I just cooked the onions in another small skillet. Just saute the onions in oil or butter...
add them to the gravy....
Then add the meat back to the pan, spoon the gravy over the meat and put it in a 375 degree oven for about half hour. Every so often give the gravy a little toss around.
Now peel some potatoes and cut them up to make mashed potatoes while the cubed steak is cooking. I use different kind of potatoes each week depending on the price of potatoes. These were those gold potatoes.
Steam a little broccoli or a vegetable and here is a meal that did not take very long to make. It truly is a easy meal once you get the hang of making brown gravy.
We are suppose to get rain tomorrow so I have been in and out to the clothesline all day trying to get all the wash done. This is not Monday but Tuesday so I would be shunned by the ladies today in 1932 for making this my wash day. :)
We do not have meat each day, we skip a couple of days each week and this is Cheese dumplings, broccoli and a clove of garlic. I make a simple cheese sauce by melting some butter in a pan, adding grated cheese and some half and half and a little plain milk once taken off the stove eye. Give it some good stirring. Milk can curdle and why I add the milk once taken off the burner. Add the noodles to the sauce, give it a toss and add the broccoli. A very simple dish to make.
I used half the broccoli in the cubed steak meal and half in this meal. This is what I am working on with meal planning to where I can make use of each grocery item purchased so there is no waste.
You can make homemade dumplings or the store bought in a bag in the pasta section of the store. I like the no yolks dumplings, that is the name on the bag. You can also use gluten free noodles if you have problems with gluten.
These are gluten free Ganny pies I made day before yesterday. I posted this recipe back in 2013 and I will put a link down below. I made a brown sugar, cinnamon butter sauce to put over it this time. Just put half cup water, some brown sugar, cinnamon and cook it down a bit add a dab of butter and spoon over.
You can make these with regular flour if you do not have problems with gluten, just make a pie crust dough.
http://gdonna.com/cooking-from-scratch/ganny-pies-...
I decided to research weekly menus from early 1900 to late 1930s to see how the food changed and I will post that as I can get the menus together so you can see them. I also have a lot of recipes and I am trying to figure out the best way to share them with you.
Charles and I are giving ourselves this month of January to settle into 1932, we are not fully embracing it just yet as we are still reading and researching to see how our budget is going to go. I can tell you we have reduced what we normally spend on groceries quite a bit and are getting along on that fairly well. This is January 22nd and we have shopped three times this month for groceries. Next month we will share more about that as we get more settled with the menu planning.
I better get back out to the clothesline before it gets too late and the clothes start to dampen. Grandma Donna
