My View from the Pilot house By Mike Boys Pilot News Consultant
I‘m going to put on my chef’s hat and cooking apron and share with you some of the meals I ate, or should I say “had” to eat during the war, when I was a kid. I am not an expert cook, by any means, because I have trouble boiling a hot dog correctly. At the time I didn’t realize that some of the meals that mom prepared didn’t have some ingredients that we would expect. Some meals were meatless and desserts were sugarless. With the nation at war —  lifestyles were changed in every family. It was very hard for the housewife to plan menus. Women had to be inventive and use “substitutes” for ingredients that were scarce or were rationed, to make various tasty cuisines for her family. But, if you planned and saved your ration stamps and tokens, you could get most of the items from your local grocer or from your farmer friends. As I remember, the ration stamp books were about the size of a post card; this small booklet was a very valuable possession to have. I remember mom had a coin purse where she kept the red and blue tokens.

 WW II was in progress and food was scarce such as: Sugar, dairy butter, coffee, and meat, so it was rationed. In addition the government encouraged everyone to grow their own vegetables and fruit. I remember my dad hired a farmer to plow up our back yard where we planted veggies in the “Victory Garden,” as they were called. As far as the fruit was concerned most people around town had pear, apple, peach and cherry trees from which they harvested and canned. We had a cherry and apple tree for our fruit. Tropical fruit was very scarce as everything went for the “war effort.”
As the farmers, factories and businesses geared up for the war effort, companies printed special war time cook books. This was a boon to many women. Because my mom and dad and their friends went through the Depression, they again were challenged to make food items stretch. The women would share their recipes and ideas on cooking. Many times neighbors would work together and share their ration tokens and stamps to buy food in bulk then split it between themselves. Hmmmm, I wonder if that would happen today?
Housewives would use meat extenders such as oatmeal, breadcrumbs and soy protein to ground meats and casseroles. Yes, you could buy steaks and chops, but the ration points were so high it was hard to buy. Gelatin became an extender for eggs and butter and of course Jell-o was popular and used as a dessert. Despite all of the rationing and food shortages and diet changes, people ate better than ever.
Here are a few of the recipes that are available at the Marshall County Museum that were used during WW II:
   SOUPS and SANDWICHS
Carrot and peanut spread: Using an old fashioned meat grinder, grind up carrots and peanuts then mix with mayonnaise or miracle whip.
Navy Bean Soup: 2 cups navy beans, 1/3 pound salt pork, diced, salt and pepper. Wash beans. Cover with water. Add pork. Cover. Simmer until beans are tender. Add more water if necessary. If desired, milk or cream may be added just before beans are served. Season to taste.
Other popular soups: Now keep in mind; these soups were all homemade not canned. Cream of Asparagus Soup, Cream of Celery Soup, Cream of Corn Soup, Pea and Peanut Soup, Cream of Potato soup, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Cream of Onion Soup and the ever popular vegetable soup.
 
MEATLESS MEALS
Homemade Corn-meal Mush: 1/2 cup corn-meal, 2-3/4 cups boiling water, 3/4 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle corn-meal, stirring constantly into rapidly boiling water. Add salt. Cook 30 minutes over direct heat or over hot water in double boiler 1 hour.
 
Because meat was scarce meatless meals were served:
Baked Bean Loaf (serves 4): 2 cups baked beans, 1 medium sized onion, 1 cup bread crumbs, 1 cup chopped nut meats, 1 egg, salt and pepper. Put beans, onion and bread crumbs through medium grinder; add chopped nut meats, egg and seasonings. Bake in greased bread loaf pan; set in pan of warm water 1 hour in moderate oven (350 degrees F). May be served with cream sauce, tomato or cheese sauce.  
 
Other meatless homemade meals:
V Loaf  ( serves 6) —2 cups cooked rice, 1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs, 1/2 cup chopped nut meats, 1 cup cooked tomatoes, 1 egg, 1 small onion, chopped, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, 2 tablespoons chopped green pepper, 4 tablespoons melted margarine.
Mix all together to form loaf. Bake in greased loaf pan in moderate oven (350 degrees F) 30 minutes. Cover with mashed potatoes; put back in oven to brown. Serve with tomato sauce.
And of course the ever popular — everyone has their own way to make it — but no meat — CHILI!
Macaroni, spaghetti, and cheese based meals were always good and inexpensive meals to serve.
 
SUGARLESS DESSERTS
Because sugar was rationed and used in limited amounts in the baking of pies and cakes substitutes such as white corn syrup, honey, molasses, sorghum and maple syrup were used. If you are interested — more sugarless or sugar saving recipes are available at the Museum.
Some desserts that became popular were: Sponge Cakes, Angel Food Cakes, Sugarless Three Egg Cake, Sugar-Saving Lemon Meringue Pie, and Buttermilk Pie.
I hope I gave some of you who didn’t live through WW II — some history — and those who did — some memories. There is so much more to write about so I hope to have another column soon on how people geared up for the “war effort.”
REMEMBER: VETERANS DAY WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11.
 
POP QUIZ: More Indiana History:  Everyone knows of Knute Kenneth Rockne’s Notre Dame football fame, but did you know that he was also an instructor. What did he teach at ND?
 
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S POP QUIZ: The question was... Two famous astronauts were born in Indiana... can you name them?   Answer: Lt. Col. Virgil I “Gus” Grisson and Colonel Frank Borman. Gus Gris-som was born on April 3, 1926 in Mitchell, Indiana and died on January 27, 1967 at NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida in the Apollo spacecraft fire. He is survived by his wife Betty and their two children. Frank Borman was born in Gary, Indiana on March 14, 1928. In Dec. 21, 1968 Borman, James Lovell and William Anders were the first to leave Earth’s gravity and orbit the moon in Apollo 8.
 
Well, that’s it for now . . . so until next time . . . this is my view from the Pilot house.
Mike Boys is a lifelong Marshall County resident, former newspaper owner and former public officeholder. The dictionary defines a Pilot House as “an enclosed area on the bridge of a ship, from which the vessel is guided.”  His views, opinions and news appear Thursday on the Pilot News Opinion page.