So, I decided on the Vegetable au Gratin, funny because most of the ingredients are things I would pick out of my food. And this is the first meal I’ve cooked in a while, no takeout tonight! (Or maybe, depending on how this comes out).

Luckily, all my ingredients needed were right in my kitchen. And as for how straight forward the recipe was, it was that. So, first thing I did was wash them, because hey I don’t want e coli. The only thing I didn’t quite understand was the aspect of “grilling” something once it’s in a dish. So, I took it upon myself to take the boiled goods, place them in a Pyrex/ serving platter and bake it myself. I’m assuming that would have made more sense in the realm of it being cooked. After I mixed and the flour, milk and coconut oil (in replace of veg oil), I began boiling my mixed vegetables. The step of boiling and thawing my veggies, maybe a new one for the WW2 gals because they’re usually kept in the freezer bought from Stop & Shop. During that time, I got stared on browning my crumbs and chopping my leeks (celery).

Vegetable au Gratin

• 3 Breakfast cups diced cooked vegetables.
• 1 Breakfast cup cooked white or coloured beans.
• 1 Small piece chopped leek.
• 3 Tablespoons browned crumbs.
• 3 oz. Grated cheese.
• 4 oz. Flour.)
• ½ Pint vegetable liquid.  ) Sauce.
• ½ Pint milk.)

Method, Mix the flour to a smooth paste with some of the liquid. Bring the rest of the liquid to the boil and pour over blended flour. Return quickly to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring all the time then add the cooked vegetables and half the cheese. Pour into a fireproof dish, sprinkle with remainder of the cheese and crumbs. Grill until brown.

After that I brought the veggies and cheese down to a simmer, instead of cooking it for five minutes on normal heat, thus preventing it from burning. And then I concocted the plan to bake my items. Because there no course of instruction, I had to guess on how long and how high the temperature should be.

With the help of modern technology, I simply pressed bake on my oven and the temperature gradually grew from 125 degrees to 350 where I kept it. I decided to keep it on for twenty-five to thirty minutes. Only because I felt that most of it was cooked and just needed a browning, like a casserole.

The tasting, after I took it out of the oven, twenty-eight minutes later I put down to cool. After a few minutes, I cut into it and tasted. Overall, I was not impressed. I’m not totally sure if there was some underlying bias on vegetables or the fact that there was no seasoning in the dish at all. (I think it was the last part). The smell was one of a great aunt that has a bit too much fiber in her diet. I can understand why people would want to eat this, aside from the lack of taste and fun, it does contain most food groups that one would want to ingest during a rationing time, minus the meat. It also reminded me heavily of what hospital/ nursing home food smells and looks like, no salt of flavor, I guess keeps high blood pressure down?  Hey we’ve got wheat, dairy, vegetables, that’s a good three out of five and great for that times eating standards.

(Side note: There was take-out!)