The Non-Dairy Queen

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Memorial Day The Right Way

So, we thought we would do Memorial Day a little different around here this year. The illustrator and a friend of his decided that we would go military style with SOS (shit on a shingle) and play some military games on the Xbox. Those of you who know me, know that there was no way I was going to eat SOS, but I do enjoy a good culinary challenge. Not that the recipe is challenging, but it did encourage me to look into some rather interesting war time foods. I am not a history buff, but I love reading about the history of food. I find the origins of how we started eating certain things so interesting! There are so many versions of SOS. This was definitely a recipe meant to use what you had on hand that would give people a lot of nutrition in an inexpensive way. I can completely get on board with that philosophy! That is exaactly how I feed my family all the time! I found that people used chipped beef, ground beef, sausage... and put it on just about anything too...bread, biscuits, crackers, potatoes...

I was also looking for a good dessert that was from war time and found some really good looking recipes (mostly that had to do with dense spice cakes), but I made my go to Cinnamon Bread instead because I knew it would get eaten (and because I use it like crack to get my way with people) . I am saving the other recipe for when I see my father-in-law because it is right up his alley! Now, I know the picture is not that appealing (in fact it is rather appalling), but it is what it is so you have to just deal with that part! The guys loved it and that was all that mattered. I have to admit that I had to consult my mother-in-law on the how to of this recipe. I love getting recipes from her...when it comes to cooking...it is mostly by sight. I admire her for that. I have way too much of the baking technique in me and I really use measurements for everything. I guess you can call it a kind of OCD! Oh well, I had a base recipe that I went by and then with the encouragement of my mother-in-law, I got through it with flying colors! I even made it low fat and low calorie!

SOS (Shit on a Shingle)
2 lbs. extra lean ground beef
1/4 cup butter (I used Light Smart Balance)
1/2 cup All Purpose flour
4 cups skim milk (or nondairy unsweetened milk)
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef (I used my electric skillet as my mother-in-law suggested and it worked perfectly). Remove browned beef from the pan. Add Smart Balance to the pan and melt. Add flour to Smart Balance, cook until a paste forms (roux) and turns slightly brown. SLOWLY add milk and whisk. Whisk until mixture thickens slightly. Add beef back to the gravy and cook to desired consistency. Serve on whatever starchy vessel you have available!

Although this is not really my cup of tea...so to speak...it is essentially the classic sausage and gravy, but uses ground beef. I would like to try it soon with some soysage and homemade biscuits! I will let you know how it turns out!

Labels: beef, holidays

posted by Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen @ 7:11 PM

1 Comments:

At May 28, 2008 at 12:23 PM, Anonymous said…

EW! You're right. That is a beautiful picture of a really unappetizing looking meal. But often ugly food tastes great!
My mother's version was ground beef spread thick on pieces of bread and baked in the oven. Somehow I never yearn for those good old days.