Fed, Frugal, and Fly

Just recently a reader asked me"so what exactly is a rationista?" and with that question I realized that I never fully explained why my blog's name is so bomb, and what inspired it. The term rationista is the combination of a frugal housewife and a fabulous urbanite. During World War II, housewives were budget crunching, working, cooking on rations, and looking fabulous all at once, and coming from a working class family that values both good food and mad style, I figured a blog that revived a dying domestic art and an already thriving industry should have a name that does it justice. So came rationista. Rationed food and fundage and fly clothes on the cheap.

Rationistas make and find what they need. They cook with love and look fly doing it.

What? You want examples?

Well, just recently my fridge was fresh out of english muffins. So what was a rationista to do? use five bucks worth of gas to get to Wal*Mart and buy five dollars worth of mediocre english muffins, or take it as a challenge and make my own. Ch-ch-ch-challllllleeeeenge!


Alton Brown's english muffin recipe is totally a winner

• 1/2 cup non-fat powdered milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 envelope dry yeast
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• Non-stick vegetable spray
• Special equipment: electric griddle, 3-inch metal rings, see Cook's Note*

Directions

In a bowl combine the powdered milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, shortening, and hot water, stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool. In a separate bowl combine the yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar in 1/3 cup of warm water and rest until yeast has dissolved. Add this to the dry milk mixture. Add the sifted flour and beat thoroughly with wooden spoon. Cover the bowl and let it rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

Preheat the griddle to 300 degrees F.

Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt to mixture and beat thoroughly. Place metal rings onto the griddle and coat lightly with vegetable spray. Using #20 ice cream scoop, place 2 scoops into each ring and cover with a pot lid or cookie sheet and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the lid and flip rings using tongs. Cover with the lid and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a cooling rack, remove rings and cool. Split with fork and serve.

*Cook's Note: Small tuna cans with tops and bottoms removed work well for metal rings.

I like to think that as a rationista, it's my job to keep hungry family and teenagers fed, and their eyes satisfied. lol