автордың кітабын онлайн тегін оқу A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband
A THOUSAND WAYS TO
PLEASE A HUSBAND
A
THOUSAND WAYS
TO PLEASE A HUSBAND
WITH
BETTINA'S BEST RECIPES
BY
LOUISE BENNETT WEAVER
AND
HELEN COWLES LeCRON
The Romance of Cookery
AND HOUSEKEEPING
Decorations by
ELIZABETH COLBOURNE
A. L. Burt Company
Publishers New York
Copyright, 1917
by
Britton Publishing Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Made in U. S. A.
A DEDICATION
To every other little bride
Who has a "Bob" to please,
And says she's tried and tried and tried
To cook with skill and ease,
And can't!—we offer here as guide
Bettina's Recipes!
To her whose "Bob" is prone to wear
A sad and hungry look,
Because the maid he thought so fair
Is—well—she just can't cook!
To her we say: do not despair;
Just try Bettina's Book!
Bettina's Measurements Are All Level
C
=
cup
t
=
teaspoon
T
=
tablespoon
lb.=
pound
pt.
=
pint
B.P.
=
baking-powder
I
Home at Last 11II
Bettina's First Real Dinner 14III
Bettina's First Guest 17IV
Bettina Gives a Luncheon 21V
Bob Helps to Get Dinner 25VI
Cousin Matilda Calls 28VII
A New-Fashioned Sunday Dinner 33VIII
Celebrating the Fourth 36IX
Uncle John and Aunt Lucy Make a Visit 39X
Ruth Inspects Bettina's Kitchen 42XI
Bettina's Birthday Gift 46XII
Bettina's Father Tries Her Cooking 49XIII
Bob Helps With the Dinner 53XIV
A Sunday Evening Tea 56XV
A Motor Picnic 59XVI
Bettina Has a Caller 62XVII
Bob Gets Breakfast on Sunday 65XVIII
Bettina Gives a Porch Party 69XIX
Bettina and the Expense Budget 73XX
Mrs. Dixon and Bettina's Experiment 77XXI
A Rainy Day Dinner 81XXII
Buying a Refrigerator 84XXIII
Bettina's Sunday Dinner 87XXIV
Bettina Visits a Tea-room. 90XXV
Bettina Entertains Alice and Mr. Harrison 93XXVI
Over the Telephone 97XXVII
Bettina Has a Baking Day 100XXVIII
Polly and the Children 103XXIX
Bettina Puts Up Fruit 107XXX
A Cool Summer Day 111XXXI
Bob and Bettina Alone 114XXXII
Bettina Attends a Morning Wedding 117XXXIII
After the "Tea" 121XXXIV
Bettina Gives a Porch Breakfast 124XXXV
A Piece of News 127XXXVI
Bettina Entertains Her Father and Mother 130XXXVII
The Big Secret 133XXXVIII
After the Circus 136XXXIX
Mrs. Dixon Asks Questions 139XL
A Telegram from Uncle Eric 143XLI
Bettina Entertains State Fair Visitors 147XLII
Uncle John and Aunt Lucy 149XLIII
Sunday Dinner at the Dixon's 151XLIV
A Rainy Evening at Home 154XLV
Ruth Makes an Apple Pie 159XLVI
Bettina Makes Apple Jelly 162XLVII
After a Park Party 166XLVIII
Bettina Spills the Ink 169XLIX
Bettina Attends a Porch Party 171L
A Dinner Cooked in the Morning 173LI
A Sunday Dinner 176LII
Bob Makes Peanut Fudge 179LIII
Dinner at the Dixon's 182LIV
A Good-bye Luncheon for Bernadette 185LV
Bettina Plans an Announcement Luncheon 188LVI
Ruth and Bettina Make Preparations 191LVII
A Rainbow Announcement Luncheon 193LVIII
An Early Caller 197LIX
Ruth Comes to Luncheon 200LX
A Kitchen Shower for Alice 205LXI
A Rainy Night Meal 209LXII
Alice Gives a Luncheon 212LXIII
Motoring with the Dixons 215LXIV
Ruth Makes Baking Powder Biscuits 218LXV
Plans for the Wedding 220LXVI
A Guest to a Dinner of Left-Overs 222LXVII
A Handkerchief Shower 224LXVIII
Just the Two of Them 227LXIX
A Luncheon in the Country 229LXX
A "Pair Shower" for Alice 232LXXI
Bob Makes Popcorn Balls 235LXXII
And Where Was the Dinner 237LXXIII
Alice Tells Her Troubles 240LXXIV
The Dixons Come to Dinner 242LXXV
The Wedding Invitations 245LXXVI
Hallowe'en Preparations 248LXXVII
Hallowe'en Revels 250LXXVIII
A Foretaste of Winter 255LXXIX
Surprising Alice and Harry 258LXXX
A Dinner for the Bridal Party 261LXXXI
Rehearsing the Ceremony 264LXXXII
After the Wedding 267LXXXIII
A "Happen-in" Luncheon 270LXXXIV
Uncle John a Guest at Dinner 273LXXXV
During the Teachers' Convention 275LXXXVI
A Luncheon for the Teachers 278LXXXVII
Ruth Comes to Luncheon 281LXXXVIII
The Hickory Log 284LXXXIX
Some Christmas Plans 287XC
After the Football Game 289XCI
A Thanksgiving Dinner in the Country 292XCII
Planning the Christmas Cards 295XCIII
Harry and Alice Return 299XCIV
The Firelight Social 302XCV
Alice's Troubles 305XCVI
Some of Bettina's Christmas Plans 308XCVII
More of Bettina's Christmas Shopping 311XCVIII
Christmas Gifts 313XCIX
A Christmas Shower 316C
Bettina Gives a Dinner 320CI
Bob's Christmas Gift to Bettina 322CII
A Christmas Breakfast 325CIII
A Supper for Two 327CIV
Alice Comes to Luncheon 331CV
Ruth Stays to Dinner 334CVI
How Bettina Made Candy 337CVII
Ruth's Plans 339CVIII
A Luncheon for Three 342CIX
The Dixons Come to Dinner 345CX
A Steamed Pudding 349CXI
On Valentine's Day 352CXII
Ruth Gives a Dinner for Four 354CXIII
Alice Practices Economy 357CXIV
A Company Dinner for Bob 360CXV
Supper After the Theatre 363CXVI
Washington's Birthday Plans 366CXVII
An Afternoon with Bettina 368CXVIII
A Washington's Birthday Tea 370CXIX
Another Oven Dinner 373CXX
Bob Makes Pop-Overs 376CXXI
In March 379CXXII
A Fireless Cooker for Aunt Lucy 382CXXIII
The Dixons Drop in for Dessert 384CXXIV
Ruth Passes By 387CXXV
Bettina Entertains a Small Neighbor 389CXXVI
A Sunday Night Tea 392CXXVII
A Shamrock Luncheon 395CXXVIII
At Dinner 397CXXIX
An Anniversary Dinner 399CXXX
Ruth Comes to Dinner 402CXXXI
Mildred's Spring Vacation 407CXXXII
Helping Bettina 410CXXXIII
Helping with a Company Dinner 413CXXXIV
Mildred's Day 415CXXXV
Polly Comes for Mildred 418CXXXVI
Mildred's Plans 421CXXXVII
A Luncheon for Polly 424CXXXVIII
Furs to Put Away 427CXXXIX
Planning a Children's Party 429CXL
The Party Circus 432CXLI
Planning a Luncheon 435CXLII
The New Car 437CXLIII
In Housecleaning Time 441CXLIV
Mrs. Dixon Happens in 443CXLV
Engagement Presents 446CXLVI
With Housecleaning Over 449CXLVII
Spring Marketing 451CXLVIII
Plans for the Wedding 453CXLIX
Entertaining the Wedding Guests 455CL
The Bridesmaids' Dinner 457CLI
A Morning Wedding in June 459CLII
The First Year Ends 461
JUNE.
No, you cannot live on kisses,
Though the honeymoon is sweet,
Harken, brides, a true word this is,—
Even lovers have to eat.
CHAPTER I
HOME AT LAST
"HOME at last!" sighed Bettina happily as the hot and dusty travelers left the train.
"Why that contented sigh?" asked Bob. "Because our wedding trip is over? Well, anyhow, Bettina, it's after five. Shall we have dinner at the hotel?"
"Hotel? Why, Bob! with our house and our dishes and our silver just waiting for us? I'm ashamed of you! We'll take the first car for home—a street-car, not a taxi! Our extravagant days are over, and the time has come to show you that Bettina knows how to keep house. You think that you love me now, Bobby, but just wait till you sit down to a real strawberry shortcake made by a real cook in a real home!"
Half an hour later Bob was unlocking the door of the new brown bungalow. "Isn't it a dear?" cried Bettina proudly. "When we've had time to give it grass and shrubs and flowers and a vegetable garden, no place in town will equal it! And as for porch furniture, how I'd like to get at Mother's attic and transform some of her discarded things!"
"Just now I'd rather get at some of Mother's cooking!" grinned Bob.
"Oh, dear, I forgot! I'll have supper ready in ten minutes. Do you remember my emergency shelf? Why, Bob—Bob, they must have known we were coming! Here's ice—and milk—and cream—and butter—and bread—and rolls, and even a grape fruit! They knew, and didn't meet the train because they thought we would prefer to have our first meal alone! Wasn't that dear of them? And this will save you a trip to the corner grocery!"
Bettina fastened a trim percale bungalow apron over her traveling suit, and swiftly and surely assembled the little meal.
"I like that apron," said Bob. "It reminds me of the rainy day when we fixed the emergency shelf. That was fun."
"Yes, and work too," said Bettina, "but I'm glad we did it. Do you remember how much I saved by getting things in dozen and half dozen lots? And Mother showed me how much better it was to buy the larger sizes in bottled things, because in buying the smaller bottles you spend most of your money for the glass. Now that you have to pay my bills, Bob, you'll be glad that I know those things!"
"I think you know a great deal," said Bob admiringly. "Lots of girls can cook, but mighty few know how to be economical at the same time! It's great to be your——"
"Dinner is served," Bettina interrupted. "It's a 'pick-up meal,' but I'm hungry, aren't you? And after this, sir, no more canned things!"
And Bob sat down to:
Creamed Tuna on Toast Strips
Canned Peas with Butter Sauce
Rolls Butter
Strawberry Preserves
Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Creamed Tuna on Toast Strips (Two portions)
1 T-butter
1 T-flour
¼ t-salt
½ slice pimento
1 C-milk
3 slices of bread
½ C-tuna
Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and pimento. Mix well. Gradually pour in the milk. Allow the mixture to boil one minute. Stir constantly. Add the fish, cook one minute and pour over toasted strips of bread.
Hot Chocolate (Three cups)
1 square of chocolate
3 T-sugar
2/3 C-water
2 C-milk
¼ t-vanilla
3 marshmallows
Cook chocolate, sugar and water until a thin custard is formed. Add milk gradually and bring to a boil. Whip with an egg beater, as this breaks up the albumin found in chocolate, and prevents the coating from forming over the top. Add vanilla and marshmallows. Allow to stand a moment and pour into the cups.
Strawberry Preserves (Six one-half pt. glasses)
4 lbs. berries
3 lbs. sugar
3 C-water
Pick over, wash and hull the berries. Make a syrup by boiling the sugar and water fifteen minutes. Fill sterilized jars with the berries. Cover with syrup and let stand fifteen minutes to settle. Add more berries. Adjust rubbers and covers. Place on a folded cloth in a kettle of cold water. Heat water to boiling point and cook slowly one hour. Screw on covers securely.
On Bettina's Emergency Shelf
6 cans pimentos (small size)
6 cans tuna (small size)
6 cans salmon (small size)
6 jars dried beef
12 cans corn
12 cans peas
6 cans string beans
6 cans lima beans
6 cans devilled ham (small size)
6 cans tomatoes
6 pt. jars pickles
6 pt. jars olives
6 small cans condensed milk
6 boxes sweet wafers
1 pound box salted codfish
3 pkg. marshmallows
3 cans mushrooms
2 pkg. macaroni
CHAPTER II
BETTINA'S FIRST REAL DINNER
"SAY, isn't it great to be alive!" exclaimed Bob, as he looked across the rose-decked table at the flushed but happy Bettina. "And a beefsteak dinner, too!"
"Steak is expensive, dear, and you'll not get it often, but as this is our first real dinner in our own home, I had to celebrate. I bought enough for two meals, because buying steak for one meal for two people is beyond any modest purse! So you'll meet that steak again tomorrow, but I don't believe that you'll bow in recognition!"
"So you marketed today, did you?"
"Indeed I did! I bought a big basket, and went at it like a seasoned housekeeper. I had all the staples to get, you know, and lots of other things. After dinner I'll show you the labelled glass jars on my shelves; it was such fun putting things away! June is a wonderful month for housekeepers. I've planned the meals for days ahead, because I know that's best. Then I'll go to the market several times a week, and if I plan properly I won't have to order by telephone. It seems so extravagant to buy in that way unless you know exactly what you are getting. I like to plan for left-overs, too. For instance, the peas in this salad were left from yesterday's dinner, and the pimento is from that can I opened. Then, too, I cooked tomorrow's potatoes with these to save gas and bother. You'll have them served in a different way, of course. And—— Oh, yes, Bob," Bettina chattered on, "I saw Ruth down town, and have asked all five of my bridesmaids to luncheon day after tomorrow. Won't that be fun? But I promise you that the neglected groom shall have every one of the good things when he comes home at night!"
"It makes me feel happy, I can tell you, to have a home like this. It's pleasant to be by ourselves, but at the same time I can't help wishing that some of the bachelors I know could see it all and taste your cooking!"
"Well, Bob, I want you to feel free to have a guest at any time. If my dinners are good enough for you, I'm sure they're good enough for any guest whom you may bring. And it isn't very hard to make a meal for three out of a meal for two. Now, Bobby, if you're ready, will you please get the dessert?"
"What? Strawberry shortcake? Well, this is living! I tell you what, Bettina, I call this a regular man-size meal!"
It consisted of:
Pan-Broiled Steak New Potatoes in Cream
Baking-Powder Biscuits Butter
Rhubarb Sauce Pea and Celery Salad
Strawberry Shortcake Cream
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Pan-Broiled Steak (Two portions)
1 lb. steak
1 T-butter
1 t-salt
1/8 t-pepper
2 T-hot water
1 t-parsley chopped
Wipe the meat carefully with a wet cloth. Remove superfluous fat and any gristle. Cut the edges to prevent them from curling up. When the broiling oven is very hot, place the meat, without any fat, upon a hot flat pan, directly under the blaze. Brown both sides very quickly. Turn often. Reduce heat and continue cooking about seven minutes, or longer if desired. Place on a warm platter; season with salt, pepper and bits of butter. Set in the oven a moment to melt the butter. If salt is added while cooking, the juices will be drawn out. A gravy may be made by adding hot water, butter, salt, pepper and parsley to the pan. Pour the gravy over the steak.
New Potatoes in Cream (Two portions)
4 new potatoes
1 qt. water
1 t-salt
Scrape four medium sized new potatoes. Cook in boiling water (salted) until tender when pierced with a fork. Drain off the water, and shake the kettle over the fire gently, to allow the steam to escape and make the potatoes mealy. Make the following white sauce and pour over the potatoes.
White Sauce for New Potatoes (Two portions)
2 T-butter
2 T-flour
1 C-milk
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika. Thoroughly mix, slowly add milk, stirring constantly. Allow sauce to cook two minutes.
Strawberry Shortcake (Two portions)
2 T-lard
1 T-butter
2 C-sifted flour
¾ C-milk
1/3 t-salt
4 t-baking powder
1 qt. strawberries
2/3 C-sugar
Cut the fat into the flour, salt and baking powder until the consistency of cornmeal. Gradually add the milk, using a knife to mix. Do not handle any more than absolutely necessary. Toss the dough upon a floured board or a piece of clean brown paper. Pat into the desired shape, and place in a pan. Bake in a hot oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Split, spread with butter, and place strawberries, crushed and sweetened, between and on top. Serve with cream.
CHAPTER III
BETTINA'S FIRST GUEST
"HELLO! Yes, this is Bettina! Why, Bob, of course! Is he a real woman-hater? No, I've never met any, but I'll just invite Alice, too, and tomorrow you won't be calling him that. Six-thirty? Yes, I'll be ready for you both; I'm so glad you asked him. He'll be our first guest! Good-bye!"
Bettina left the telephone with more misgivings than her tone had indicated. She couldn't disappoint Bob, and she liked unexpected company, but the dinner which she had planned was prepared largely from the recipes filed as "left-overs" in her box of indexed cards.
"Well, Bob will like it, anyhow," she declared confidently, "and if Alice can come, we'll have enough scintillating table-talk to make up for disappointments."
Alice accepted with delight, promising to wear "a dream of a gown that just came home," and confessing to a sentimental feeling at the thought of dining with such a new bride and groom.
"Let's see," said Bettina in her spick and span little kitchen, "there is meat enough, but I must hard-boil some eggs to help out these potatoes. 'Potatoes Anna' will be delicious. Goodness, what would my home economics teacher have said if she had heard me say 'hard-boil'? They mustn't really be boiled at all, just 'hard-cooked' in water kept at the boiling point. There will be enough baked green peppers for four, and enough of the pudding, and if I add some very good coffee, I don't believe that Bob's Mr. Harrison will feel that women are such nuisances after all! It isn't an elaborate meal, but it's wholesome, and at any rate, our gas bill will be a little smaller because everything goes into the oven."
When Alice arrived, Bettina was putting the finishing touches on her table. "Alice, you look stunning!"
"And you look lovely, which is better! And the table is charming! Those red clover blossoms in that brown basket make a perfect center-piece! How did you think of it?"
"Mother Necessity reminded me, my dear! My next door neighbor has roses, but I covet some for my luncheon tomorrow, and did not like to ask for any today. So I had to use these red clover blooms from our own back yard. They are simple, like the dinner."
"Don't you envy me, Harrison?" asked Bob at the table. "This is my third day of real home cooking! You were unexpected company, too!"
The dinner consisted of:
Boubons with Tomato Sauce
Potatoes Anna Baked Green Peppers Stuffed
Bread Butter
Cottage Pudding Lemon Sauce
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Boubons (Four portions)
1 C-cooked meat ground fine (one or more kinds may be used)
2 T-fresh bread crumbs
¼ t-pepper
½ C-milk
1 T-green pepper or pimento chopped fine
¼ t-celery salt
1 egg
½ t-salt
1 t-butter (melted)
Beat the egg, add milk, seasonings, melted butter, breadcrumbs and meat. Mix thoroughly. Fill buttered cups three-fourths full of mixture. Place in a pan of boiling water, and bake in a moderate oven fifteen minutes. The mixture is done as soon as it resists pressure in the center. Allow them to remain in the pans a few minutes, then remove carefully upon a serving plate. They may be made in a large mould or individual ones. Serve with the following sauce.
Tomato Sauce (Four portions)
1 C-tomatoes
1 slice onion
4 bay leaves
4 cloves
½ t-sugar
½ C-water
2 T-butter
2 T-flour
½ t-salt
Simmer the tomatoes, onion, bay leaves, cloves, sugar and water for fifteen minutes, rub through the strainer. Melt butter, add flour and salt, add strained tomato juice and pulp. Cook until the desired consistency.
Potatoes Anna (Four portions)
1½ C-cooked diced potatoes
2 hard-cooked eggs
½ t-celery salt
¼ t-onion salt
1 C-thin white sauce
Place alternate layers of diced cooked potatoes and sliced hard-cooked eggs in a baking dish. Season. Pour a thin white sauce over all of this. Place in a moderate oven fifteen minutes.
Stuffed Green Peppers (Four portions)
4 green peppers
4 C-boiling water
Remove the stems of the peppers and take out all the contents. Remove small slices from the blossom end so they will stand. Cover peppers with boiling water, allow to stand five minutes and drain. Fill with any desired mixture. Bake in a moderate oven twenty-five minutes, basting frequently with hot water.
Filling for Peppers (Four portions)
1 C-fresh bread crumbs
1 t-chopped onion or ¼ T-onion salt
1/3 C-chopped ham, or 1 T-salt pork
½ t-salt
1 T-melted butter
1/8 t-paprika
2 T-water
Mix thoroughly and fill the pepper cases.
Baked Cottage Pudding (Four portions)
1 C-flour
12/3 t-baking powder
¼ t-salt
1 well-beaten egg
1/3 C-sugar
2 T-melted butter
½ C-milk
¼ t-vanilla or lemon extract
Mix dry ingredients, add egg and milk. Beat well and add melted butter and extract. Bake twenty-five minutes in a well buttered mould. Serve hot with the following sauce:
Lemon Sauce (Four portions)
½ C-sugar
1½ T-flour
1 C-hot water
1 t-butter
1 t-lemon extract or ½ t-lemon juice
½ t-salt
Mix sugar, flour and salt. Slowly add the hot water. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Add flavoring and butter.
CHAPTER IV
BETTINA GIVES A LUNCHEON
"O YOU darling Bettina! Did you do it all yourself?" Mary exclaimed impulsively, as the girls admired the dainty first course which their hostess set before them. "Everything is pink and white, like the wedding!"
"Yes," said Bettina, "and those maline bows on the basket of roses actually attended my wedding. And after this is over, you may see that maline again. I expect to press it out and put it away for other pink luncheons in other Junes! Today, since my guests were to be just my bridesmaids, I thought that a pink luncheon would be the most appropriate kind."
"Isn't it fine to be in Bettina's own house? I can't realize it!" said Ellen. "And the idea of daring to cook a whole luncheon and serve it in courses all by herself! Why, Bettina, how did you know what to have?"
"Well," said Bettina, "I went to the market and saw all the inexpensive things that one can buy in June! (They had to be inexpensive! Why, if I were to tell you just what this luncheon cost, you'd laugh. But I want you to like it all before I give that secret away.) And then in planning my menu, I thought of pinky things that went together. That was all, you see."
"But didn't it take hours and hours to prepare everything?"
"Why, no. I thought it all out first, and wrote it down, and did most of it yesterday. I've found that five minutes of planning is worth five hours of unplanned work. I haven't hurried, and as Bob will have this same meal as his dinner tonight, I didn't have to think of him except to plan for more. You see, I estimated each portion as carefully as I could, for it isn't necessary to have a lot of left-over things. Tonight I'll wear this same pink gown at dinner so that Bob will get every bit that he can of my first luncheon except the silly girls who flattered the cook."
"Bettina, there are so many things I'd like to ask you!" said Ruth, who was a little conscious of the shining ring on her left hand. "Tell me, for instance, how you shaped these cunning timbales. With your hands?"
"With a conical ice-cream mould. It is so easy that way."
"And this salad! Fred is so fond of salad, but I don't know a thing about making it."
"Well, I washed the lettuce thoroughly, and when it was very wet I put it on the ice in a cloth. I poured boiling water over these tomatoes to make the skins peel off easily. And, oh, yes, these cucumbers are crisp because I kept the slices in ice water for awhile before I served them. Good salad is always very cold; the ingredients ought to be chilled before they are mixed."
"These dear little cakes, Bettina! How could you make them in such cunning shapes?"
"With a fancy cutter. And I dipped it in warm water each time before I used it, so that it would cut evenly. I'd love to show you girls all that I know about cooking. Do learn it now while you're at home; it will save much labor and even tears! Why, Bob said——"
"I knew that was coming!" laughed Alice. "Girls, in self-defense, let's keep the conversation strictly on Betty's menu, and away from Betty's husband!"
And so they discussed:
Strawberries au Naturel
Kornlet Soup Whipped Cream
Croutons
Salmon Timbales with Egg Sauce
Buttered Beets Potato Croquettes
Pinwheel Biscuit Butter Balls
Vegetable Salad Salad Dressing
Wafers
Fancy Cakes Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Strawberries au Naturel (Ten portions)
2 quarts strawberries
1 C-powdered sugar
Pick over selected berries, place in a colander and wash, draining carefully. Press powdered sugar into cordial glasses to shape into a small mould. Remove from glasses onto centers of paper doilies placed on fruit plates. Attractively arrange ten berries around each mound. Berries should be kept cool and not hulled. Natural leaves may be used very effectively on the doily.
Croutons for the Soup (Ten portions)
4 slices bread
2 T-butter (melted)
½ t-salt
Cut stale bread in one-third inch cubes. Brown in the oven. Add melted butter and salt. Mix and reheat the croutons.
Salmon Timbales (Eight portions)
1 C-salmon flaked
¼ C-bread crumbs
1 slightly beaten egg
2/3 C-milk
1 T-lemon juice
1/8 t-paprika
¼ t-salt
Mix ingredients in order named. Fill small buttered moulds or cups one-half full. Set in a pan of hot water, and bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Serve with following sauce:
Egg Sauce (Eight portions)
3 T-butter
3 T-flour
1½ C-milk
½ t-salt
¼ t-pepper
1 egg yolk
Melt the butter, stir flour in well, and slowly add the milk. Let it boil about two minutes, stirring constantly. Season, add yolk of egg, and mix well. (The oil from the salmon may be substituted for melted butter as far as it will go.)
White Cakes (Sixteen cakes)
1/3 C-butter
1 C-sugar
2/3 C-milk
2 C-sifted flour
3 t-baking powder
½ t-lemon extract
½ t-vanilla
3 egg whites
Cream butter, add sugar, and continue creaming. Alternately add the dry ingredients mixed and sifted. Add the milk. Beat well, add flavoring. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites. Spread evenly, two-thirds of an inch thick, on waxed paper, placed in a pan. Bake twenty minutes in moderate oven. Remove from oven, allow cake to remain in pan five minutes. Carefully remove and cool. Cut with fancy cutters.
White Mountain Cream Icing for Cakes
1 C-granulated sugar
1/8 t-cream tartar
¼ C-water
1 egg white
½ t-vanilla
Boil the sugar, water and cream of tartar together without stirring. Remove from fire as soon as the syrup hairs when dropped from a spoon. Pour very slowly onto the stiffly beaten egg white. Beat vigorously with sweeping strokes until cool. If icing gets too hard to spread, add a little warm water and keep beating. Add extract and spread on cakes. Decorate with tiny pink candies.
CHAPTER V
BOB HELPS TO GET DINNER
"GUESS who!" said a voice behind Bettina, as two hands blinded her eyes.
"Why, Bob, dear! Good for you! How did you get home so early?"
"I caught a ride with Dixon in his new car. And I thought you might need me to help get dinner; it's nice to be needed! But here I've been picturing you toiling over a hot stove, and, instead, I find you on the porch with a magazine, as cool as a cucumber!"
"The day of toiling over a hot stove in summer is over. At least for anyone with sense! But I'm glad you did come home early, and you can help with dinner. Will you make the French dressing for the salad? See, I'll measure it out, and you can stir it this way with a fork until it's well mixed and a little thick."
"I know a much better way than that. Just watch your Uncle Bob; see? I'll put it in this little Mason jar and shake it. It's a lot easier and—there you are! We'll use what we need tonight, put the jar away in the ice-box, and the next time we can give it another good shaking before we use it."
"Why, Bob, what an ingenious boy you are! I never would have thought of that!"
"You married a man with brains, Betty dear! What is there besides the salad?"
"Halibut steak. It's Friday, you know, and there is such good inexpensive fish on the market. A pound is plenty for us. The potatoes are ready for the white sauce, the beans are in the fireless cooker, and for dessert there is fresh pineapple sliced. The pineapple is all ready. Will you get it, dear? In the ice-box in a covered jar."
"Why didn't you slice it into the serving dish?"
"Because it had to be covered tight. Pineapple has a penetrating odor, and milk and butter absorb it in no time."
"What else shall I do, Madam Bettina?"
"Well, you may fix the lemon for the fish. No, not sliced; a slice is too hard to handle. Just cut it in halves and then once the other way, in quarters; see? You may also cut up a little of that parsley for the creamed new potatoes. That reminds me that I am going to have parsley growing in a kitchen window box some day. Now you can take the beans out of the cooker, and I'll put butter sauce on them. No, it isn't really a sauce,—just melted butter with salt and pepper. There, Bobby dear! Dinner is served, and you helped! How do you like the coreopsis on the table?"
"You always manage to have flowers of some kind, don't you, Betty? I'm growing so accustomed to that little habit of yours that I suppose I wouldn't have any appetite if I had to eat on an ordinary undecorated table!"
"Don't you make fun of me, old fellow! You'd have an appetite no matter when, how or what you had to eat! But things are good tonight, aren't they?"
Bob had helped to prepare:
Halibut Steak New Potatoes in Cream
String Beans Butter Sauce
Bread Butter
Tomato, Cucumber and Pimento Salad French Dressing
Sliced Fresh Pineapple
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Halibut Steak (Two portions)
2/3 lb. Halibut Steak
3 T-flour
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
Wash one pound of Halibut steak and wipe dry. Cut in two pieces. Roll in flour, and cook ten minutes in a frying pan in hot fat. Brown on one side, and then on the other. Season with salt and paprika. Serve very hot.
String Beans with Butter Sauce (Two portions)
1½ C-string beans
2 C-water
1 T-butter
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika
Remove ends and strings from green beans. Add water and cook over a moderate fire for twenty-five minutes. Drain off the water, add butter, salt and paprika. Reheat and serve.
Tomato, Cucumber and Pimento Salad (Two portions)
1 tomato sliced
½ C-sliced cucumbers
1 T-pimento cut fine
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika
2 pieces lettuce
Arrange lettuce on serving dishes. Place portions of tomato, cucumber and pimento on the lettuce. Sprinkle with salt and paprika. Serve with French dressing.
French Dressing (Two portions)
4 T-olive oil
2 T-vinegar
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
Mix ingredients, which have been thoroughly chilled, and beat until the mixture thickens. Pour over the vegetables.
Pineapple Sliced (Two portions)
1 pineapple
½ C-sugar
Remove the skin and eyes from the pineapple. Cut crosswise in half-inch slices, and the slices in cubes, at the same time discarding the core. Sprinkle with sugar and stand in a cold place for an hour before serving.
CHAPTER VI
COUSIN MATILDA CALLS
"HELLO, is this you, Bettina? This is Mother! I'll have to speak in a low voice. Who do you think is here? No,—Cousin Matilda! Just between trains, but she says she must see how you are 'situated'! Clementine has such a wonderful establishment now, you know! No, of course not, but I want her to see how happy you are. She seems to have the idea that an 'establishment' is necessary! Just to see the house, you know! I know the porch isn't ready, but don't worry! About three, then. Good-by!"
That afternoon Bettina looked anxiously through the living room window across the bare little front yard. If only critical Cousin Matilda had waited a few months before coming! But then, the only thing to do was to be as cheerful about it as possible——
"So this is little Bettina!" said a majestic voice at the door. "And how is love in a cottage? How charmingly simple everything is!"
"They planned it all just as they wanted it," explained Bettina's mother proudly. "On a small scale, of course, but perhaps some day——"
"But I couldn't ever be happier than I am right now, Cousin Matilda. What do you think of our big living room? Browns and tans seemed best and safest in a little house like this, and I knew I shouldn't tire of them as of any other color! I do so dislike going into a bungalow with one little room in blue, another in pink, and so on. The walls are all alike, even in the bedrooms. And the curtains are just simple cotton voiles, ecru in the living and dining rooms, and white in the bedrooms. No side curtains to catch the dust and keep out the air. But I beg your pardon for seeming too complacent; I love it all so that I just can't help boasting."
"What is this, my dear? A wedding gift?"
"Yes, isn't it lovely? It is a sampler in cross-stitch that Bob's great-great-grandmother made! His Aunt Margaret had it put under the glass cover of this tea cart, and gave it to us for a wedding present. See, the cart is brown willow, and I think it looks well with our furniture, don't you? This is to be a living porch, but we haven't furnished it yet except for this green matting rug. And Bob brought that hanging basket home from the florist's the other day.... Oh, yes, this is my Japanese garden! Bob laughs at me, I have so much fun watching it."
"What a lovely table decoration those red cherries make in your dining room, my dear! Like a picture, in that piece of dull green pottery!"
"Yes, Bob says I decorate the table differently for every meal! We use this breakfast alcove for breakfast, Sunday evening tea, or any informal meal when we are alone. You see how convenient it is! I do want to put a round serving table with leaves on our living porch. Then we can eat there on warm evenings in summer."
"Bettina is very accomplished in economy," said her mother. "You must let her tell you some of her methods."
"Clementine would be interested, I'm sure," said Cousin Matilda in her languid way. "Is this your guest room?"
"Yes, and Bob and I are proud of that. We white enameled the furniture ourselves! It is some that we found in a second-hand store, and it was certainly a bargain, though it didn't look it at the time. I sewed the rags together for these blue and white rugs. Bob made that little open desk out of a small table that we found somewhere. Now that it is white, too, I think it is cunning. And, Cousin Matilda, I give you three guesses as to the place in which I keep my sewing machine!"
"Why, I haven't seen it yet. In the kitchen?"
"Goodness, no! Well, I'll tell you! This looks like a dressing table, but is merely a shelf with a mirror above it. The shelf has a cretonne cover and 'petticoat' that reaches the floor. And underneath it—behold the sewing machine! Bob made the shelf high enough and wide enough to let the sewing machine slip under it! But, Cousin Matilda, you must be tired of Bettina's economies! Please sit down with mother in the living room and I will get the 'party.'"
And Bettina wheeled her tea cart into the kitchen, returning with luncheon napkins, plates, glasses, a pitcher of iced fruit juice, a plate of little chocolate cakes, and several sprays of wild roses.
"What delicious little cakes, Bettina! At least you can't be called economical when you serve such rich and dainty food as this!"
"I must plead guilty still, Cousin Matilda. I made these little cakes partly from dry bread crumbs. The fruit juice is mostly from the pineapple which Bob had for dessert last night. I cooked the core with about two cups of water and added it to the lemonade."
"Bettina, Bettina! How did you learn these things? Robert is certainly a lucky man, and I'm sure that some day he will be a wealthy one! You must give me the recipes you used!"
And Bettina wrote them down as follows:
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Little Chocolate Cakes (Twelve cakes)
2 eggs
¼ C-butter
½ C-sugar
1 C-dry bread crumbs
3 T-flour
1 t-vanilla
3 squares chocolate
Cream the butter, add sugar, and cream the mixture. Add the beaten eggs and stir well. Add melted chocolate, bread crumbs, flour and flavoring. Spread the mixture very thinly on a buttered pan, and bake twenty minutes in a slow oven. Shape with a tiny biscuit cutter, and put together in pairs with mountain cream icing between and on top. (Icing recipe already given.)
Fruit Juice (Eight glasses)
1 C-sugar
2 C-water
1½ C-lemon juice
Boil sugar and water ten minutes without stirring, add lemon juice, and any other fruit juices. Cool and bottle. Keep on ice and dilute with ice water when desired for use. Serve mint leaves with the fruit juice.
JULY.
The market is full of delights in July:
Fresh vegetables, berries, red cherries for pie!
Good housewives and telephones seldom agree,
So market yourself! You can buy as you see!
CHAPTER VII
A NEW-FASHIONED SUNDAY DINNER
"YOU will go to church with us this morning, Bettina?" asked Bob's cousin Henry, known also as the Rev. Henry Clinkersmith, as he came into Bettina's immaculate kitchen one Sunday.
"Yes, indeed, I will go!" Bettina answered him. "Is it nearly ten o'clock? Oh, yes, nine forty-five. I'll go at once and get ready."
Cousin Henry had arrived late Saturday evening. He was filling the pulpit of a friend that Sunday morning.
Bettina finished arranging the low bowl of pansies which was to be her table decoration. "For the dinner table," she explained to Cousin Henry.
"And Bob," she said as they walked to church (Cousin Henry was ahead with an old friend), "I do believe he was worried about dinner. There wasn't a trace of any preparation to be seen! You know I made the cake and the salad dressing yesterday, and the lettuce was on the ice. The sherbet was on the porch (I bought it, you know), and the lamb and potatoes were in the cooker."
"Well, let him worry! How long will it take to get it ready after we get home?"
"About fifteen minutes. The table is set, but I'll have to warm the plates and take things up. Then there's the gravy to make, of course."
"All I can say is this," said Cousin Henry at dinner, as he passed his plate for a second helping, "since you've explained the mysteries of the fireless cooker, I realize how it would have helped those cold Sunday dinners of the past generation. The women could have obeyed the fourth commandment and given their families a good Sunday dinner, too!"
That day they had:
Leg of Lamb with Potatoes Lamb Gravy
Head Lettuce Thousand Island Dressing
Mint Sauce
Bread Butter
Pineapple Sherbet Bettina's Loaf Cake
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Roast Leg of Lamb with Potatoes (Ten portions)
A 4-lb. leg of lamb
6 large potatoes
¼ t-paprika
1 T-salt
2 T-lard
Wash the lamb with a damp cloth. Wipe dry and sprinkle with two teaspoons of salt. Place the lard in a frying-pan. When hot, add the lamb, and brown well on all sides. Place the meat in the fireless utensil. Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and paprika. Arrange these about the leg of lamb. Place the disks, heated for baking, over and under the baking pan. Cook three hours in the fireless. Use the drippings for gravy.
Lamb Gravy (Four portions)
4 T-drippings
2/3 C-water
2 T-flour
½ t-salt
Place half of the drippings in a sauce-pan. Add the flour, and allow it to brown. Add slowly the water, salt and the rest of the drippings (two tablespoonsful). Boil one minute.
Mint Sauce (Four portions)
¼ C-mint leaves
½ C-boiling water
2 T-sugar
4 T-vinegar
1/8 t-paprika
¼ t-salt
Chop the mint leaves very fine. Add the boiling water and sugar. Cover closely and let stand one-half hour. Add the vinegar, pepper and salt.
Loaf Cake (Bettina's Nut Special) (Twelve pieces)
1/3 C-butter
1 C-"C" sugar
1 egg
1½ C-flour
½ t-cinnamon
3 t-baking powder
¼ C-nut-meats, cut fine
¼ t-salt
2/3 C-milk
1 t-vanilla
½ t-lemon extract
Cream the butter, add the sugar and the egg. Mix well. Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nut-meats, salt, milk, vanilla and lemon extract. Beat two minutes. Pour into a loaf-cake pan prepared with waxed paper. Bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven.
CHAPTER VIII
CELEBRATING THE FOURTH
"NOW, boys, run and play while Alice and I set the picnic table!" said Bettina to Bob and Mr. Harrison. "See if the fish are biting! Cultivate your patience as well as your appetites and we'll surprise you soon!"
"Bettina, let me help you unpack. Everything looks so dainty and interesting!" said Alice, as Bob and Mr. Harrison strolled off toward the river. "You ought to have allowed me to bring something, although I'll admit that I do enjoy being surprised. You were a dear to bring me with you!"
"I?" said Bettina. "Of course I'm glad to have you here—no one is better fun—but I wish you had heard something that Bob told me. He and Harry Harrison were planning to go fishing today, all by themselves, until Harry suggested that Bob might like to bring me along. And then he added as an afterthought, that as three is a crowd, Miss Alice might be induced to come too. (Why is it that 'Miss Alice' or 'Miss Kate' or 'Miss May' always sounds so like a confirmed bachelor?) Bob chuckled when he told me how careless and offhand Harry tried to be!"
"Betty, how pretty those pasteboard plates are with the flag-seals pasted on them!"
"I saw some ready-made Fourth of July plates, but it was more economical to make my own. And how do you like the red, white and blue paper napkins and lunch cloth? 'Lunch paper,' I ought to say, I suppose. Alice, you arrange the fruit in the center in this basket, with some napkins around it, and with these little flags sticking out of it in every direction. But first, my dear, please tell me why you changed the subject when I was speaking of Mr. Harrison?"
"Those devilled eggs wrapped in frilled tissue-paper look just like torpedoes."
"Alice, Alice, I learned something new about you today. Harry said that society girls got on his nerves, but that 'Miss Alice' seemed sensible enough!"
"Goodness, Betty, he has disagreed with every single thing I've said, so far! If he is being pleasant behind my back, I don't see why he should be so disapproving in his manner to me! But if he is really beginning to think me sensible, let us by all means encourage him! Hide my frivolous new hat in the lunch-basket, and give me something useful to be doing. Can't I appear to be mixing the salad?... Honestly, Betty, I do get tired of society as a single interest. But what else is there for me to do? Go into settlement work? I'd be a joke at that! Learn to design jewelry? Take singing lessons?"
"Try the good old profession of matrimony. Why are you so fickle, Alice, my dear?"
"I'm not; it's the men! Every sensible one I meet is—well, disagreeable to me!"
"Meaning Harry Harrison? He appears to be taking quite an interest, at least!"
"That is merely his reforming instinct coming to the surface. But—is everything ready now? We'll sing a few bars of the Star Spangled Banner, and I'm sure the men will come immediately!"
The lunch table was set with:
Lobster and Salmon Salad
Ham Sandwiches Nut Bread Sandwiches
Pickles Radishes
Potato Chips Devilled Eggs
Moist Chocolate Cake
Bananas Oranges
Torpedo Candies
Lemonade
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Lobster and Salmon Salad (Four portions)
1 C-salmon
½ C-lobster
1 C-diced cucumber or celery
6 sweet pickles cut fine
3 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
1 t-salt
½ C-salad dressing
Mix the ingredients in the order given. Use a silver fork for mixing. Garnish with lettuce leaves.
Ham Sandwiches (Four portions)
½ C-chopped ham
2 T-pickles
1 T-chopped olives
3 T-salad dressing
12 slices bread
Mix ham, olives and pickles with salad dressing and spread on lettuce or nasturtium leaves between buttered slices of bread. Trim off the crusts, and cut the sandwiches in fancy shapes.
Devilled Eggs (Six eggs)
6 hard-cooked eggs
1 t-vinegar
¼ t-mustard
1 t-melted butter
¼ t-chopped parsley
¼ t-salt
Shell the eggs, cut lengthwise in half, remove yolks, mash them and add vinegar, mustard, melted butter, parsley and salt. Refill the whites and put pairs together. Wrap in tissue paper with frilled edges to represent torpedoes.
Moist Chocolate Cake (Ten portions)
1/3 C-butter
1 C-sugar
2 eggs
½ C-hot mashed potatoes
1 ounce melted chocolate
¼ C-milk
1 C-flour
1¾ t-baking powder
½ t-cinnamon
¼ t-clove
½ t-nutmeg
1 t-vanilla
Cream the butter, add the sugar. Mix well. Add the egg yolks, slightly beaten, and the potato. Stir, add the chocolate, milk and then all the dry ingredients which have been mixed and sifted together. Fold in the white of the eggs beaten stiffly. Add the vanilla. Pour into two layer-cake pans which have been prepared with waxed paper. Bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. Ice with white mountain cream icing.
CHAPTER IX
UNCLE JOHN AND AUNT LUCY MAKE A VISIT
UNCLE JOHN and Aunt Lucy had driven Bob and Bettina home from a Sunday spent in the country.
"Do come in," begged Bettina, "and have a little lunch with us. After such a bountiful dinner, we really ought not to be hungry, but I confess that the lovely drive home has given me an appetite. And you've never been here for a meal! Don't be frightened, Uncle John, I really thought of this yesterday, and my cupboard isn't entirely bare. It would be so much fun to show you our things and the house!"
"I'm not afraid I won't be fed well," said Uncle John, "but those clouds are black in the east. If it should rain we'd have trouble getting home. Besides, I don't like to have the car standing out in a storm."
"I don't believe it'll rain, John," said comfortable Aunt Lucy. "And if it does, well, we'll manage somehow. I, for one, would like to see Bettina's kitchen—and all the rest of her house," she added.
Bettina arranged the dainty little meal on the porch table, and Aunt Lucy and Uncle John sat down with good appetites.
"This looks almost too pretty to eat," said he as he looked at his plate with its slice of jellied beef on head lettuce, served with salad dressing, and its fresh crisp potato chips. And the nasturtium and green leaf lay beside them.
"Have a radish and a sandwich, Uncle John," said Bettina. "We have plenty, if not variety. Our only dessert is fresh pears."
"But it all tastes mighty good!" said Uncle John. "Say, Bob, it is beginning to rain, I believe!"
"Sure enough, a regular storm! We must put the car in the empty garage across the street. I'm sure we can get permission." And he and Uncle John hurried out.
"It will blow over, I'm sure," said Aunt Lucy.
"But if it doesn't—why, Aunt Lucy, stay here all night! We'd love to have you! The guest room is always ready. I know you'll be comfortable, and they can manage without you at home for once, I'm sure."
"Of course they'll be all right, and it would be quite exciting to be 'company' for a change. If only Uncle John thinks he can do it!"
"It looks as if there'll be nothing else to do," said Uncle John, when he and Bob returned. "Not but what I'd enjoy it—but I haven't been away from home a night for—how long is it, Lucy?"
"Seven years last May, John. All the more reason why this'll do you good."
"Oh, I'm so glad you'll really stay!" said Bettina. "Now tell me what you like for breakfast!"
"Anything you have except those new fashioned breakfast foods," Uncle John replied. "I might feed 'em to my stock, now, but not to a human being. But don't you worry about me, Betty! Because I don't worry about the breakfast proposition. Bob here is a pretty good advertisement of the kind of cooking you can do!"
The lunch that night consisted of:
Jellied Beef Potato Chips
Radishes
Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Iced Tea Fresh Pears
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Jellied Beef (Four portions)
1 C-cold chopped cooked beef
½ T-chopped onion
1 T-chopped pimento
½ t-salt
¼ t-pepper
1 T-chopped parsley
1 T-lemon juice
2 t-granulated gelatin
1 T-cold water
½ C-boiling water
Soak the gelatin in one tablespoon cold water for three minutes. Add the boiling water and dissolve thoroughly. Add the meat, onion, pimento, salt, pepper, lemon juice and parsley. Stir well together and turn into a mould that has been moistened with cold water. (A square or rectangular mould is preferable.) Stand in a cold place for two hours. When cold and firm, unmould on lettuce leaves and cut into slices. Salad dressing may be served with it.
Radishes (Four portions)
12 radishes
1 C-chopped ice
Wash the radishes thoroughly with a vegetable brush. Cut off the long roots and all but one inch of green tops. These tops make the radishes easier to handle and more attractive. Serve in a bowl of chopped ice.
Peanut Butter Sandwiches (Twelve sandwiches)
4 T-peanut butter
1/8 t-salt
1 t-butter
1 T-salad dressing
12 slices of bread
12 uniform pieces of lettuce
Cream the peanut butter, add the butter. Cream again, add the salt and salad dressing, mixing well. Cut the bread evenly. Butter one side of the bread very thinly with the peanut butter mixture. Place the lettuce leaf on one slice and place another slice upon it, buttered side down. Press firmly and neatly together. Cut in two crosswise. Arrange attractively in a wicker basket.
CHAPTER X
RUTH INSPECTS BETTINA'S KITCHEN
"MAY I come in?" said a voice at the screen door. "I came the kitchen way because I hoped that you would still be busy with the morning's work, and I might learn something. You see" (and Ruth blushed a little), "we are thinking of building a house and we have lots of ideas about every room but the kitchen. Neither Fred nor I know the first thing about that, so I told him that I would just have to consult you."
"How dear of you, Ruth!" said Bettina, as she put away the breakfast dishes. "Well, you shall have the benefit of everything that I know. Bob and I began with the kitchen when we planned this little house. It seemed so important. I expected to spend a great deal of time here, and I was determined to have it cheerful and convenient. I never could see why a kitchen should not be a perfectly beautiful room, as beautiful as any in the whole house!"
"Yours is, Bettina," said Ruth, warmly, as she looked around her. "No wonder you can cook such fascinating little meals. It is light, and sunny and clean looking—oh, immaculate!—and has such a pleasant view!"
"I wanted it to have lots of sunshine. We had the walls painted this shade of yellow, because it seemed pretty and cheerful. Perhaps you won't care to have white woodwork like this, but you see it is plain and I don't find it hard to keep clean out here on the edge of town! I think it is so pretty that I don't expect to regret my choice. Another thing, Ruth, do get a good grade of inlaid linoleum like this. I know the initial expense is greater, but a good piece will last a long time, and will always look well."
"How high the sink is, Bettina!"
"Thirty-six inches. You see, I'm not very tall and yet I have always found that every other sink I tried was too low for solid comfort. The plumbers have a way of making them all alike—thirty-two inches from the floor, I think. They were scandalized because I asked them to change the regulation height, and yet, I find this exactly right. And isn't it a lovely white enameled one? I am happy whenever I look at it! Don't laugh, Ruth; a sink is a very important piece of furniture! I had always liked this kind with the grooved drain-board on each side, sloping just a little toward the center. And see how easily I can reach up and put away the dishes in the cupboard, you see. I don't like a single dish or utensil in sight when the kitchen is in order. This roll of paper toweling here by the sink is very convenient for wiping off the table or taking grease off pans and dishes or even for drying glass and silver. A roll lasts a long time, and certainly does save dishcloths and towels.
"Do you use your fireless cooker often?"
"Every day of the year—I do believe. I cook breakfast food in it, and all kinds of meats except those that are boiled or fried. Then it is splendid for steaming brown bread and baking beans, and oh, so many other things! Mother keeps hers under the kitchen table, but I find it more convenient here at the right of the stove—on a box just level with the stove. Next, O Neophyte, you may observe the stove. The oven is at the side, high up so that one need not stoop to use it. It has a glass oven door through which I can watch my baking."
"I like this white enameled table. And the high stool must be convenient, too."
"It is splendid. Ruth, haven't you an old marble topped table at home? It would be just the thing for pastry making."
"Yes, I do know of one, I think, and I'll have the lower part enameled white."
"Fred can do it himself. Let him help to fix things up, and he'll be all the more interested in them, and in helping you use them."
"Bettina, this is an adorable breakfast alcove! What fun you must have every morning! If we have one, I don't believe we'll ever use the dining room. How convenient! Here come the waffles—hot from the stove! Fred, do have a hot muffin!"
"Not at the same meal, Ruth!"
"No, he'll be fortunate if he gets anything to eat at all! He isn't marrying a Bettina. But he says he's satisfied. Bettina, does Bob help get breakfast?"
"Indeed he does. He loves to make coffee in the electric percolator and toast on the toaster. He says that an electric toaster and plenty of bath towels are the real necessities of life, but I say I cannot live without flowers and a fireplace. Oh, you will have such fun, Ruth! Let Fred help you all he will."
"I'm hearing all this advice!" suddenly shouted a big voice in her ear. "Look here, Mrs. Bettina, does Bob know that you are advising your friends to train their husbands just as you are training him?"
"Fred, you old eavesdropper! I hope that Ruth makes you get breakfast every single morning to pay for this! Aren't you ashamed? Don't you know that listeners never hear any good of themselves?"
"I suppose Fred knew he needn't worry," said rosy Ruth, as she took his arm. "Look, Fred, isn't it a dear little house? May he see it all, Bettina?"
"Yes, if he'll explain how a busy man can get away at this hour of the morning."
"Well, you see I was on my way to the office when I caught a glimpse of Ruth's pink dress at your back door. I happened to think that she said she didn't get a recipe for those 'skyrocket rolls' that you had at your party the other day. I just thought I'd have to remind her, for the sake of my future."
"What under the shining sun! Oh, pinwheel biscuits!"
"Yes—that's it!"
"Why—all right. I have it filed away in my card-index. Here—with a picture of them pasted on the card. I cut it out of the magazine that gave the recipe. They are delicious."
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Pinwheel Biscuits (Fifteen biscuits)
2 C-flour
4 t-baking powder
3 T-lard
½ t-salt
¾ C-milk
1/3 C-stoned raisins
2 T-sugar
2 T-melted butter
½ t-cinnamon
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, work in the lard with a knife, add gradually the milk, mixing with the knife to a soft dough. Toss on a floured board, roll one inch thick, spread with butter, and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon, which have been well mixed. Press in the raisins. Roll up the mixture evenly as you would a jelly roll. Cut off slices, an inch thick—flatten a little and place in a tin pan. Bake in a hot oven for fifteen minutes. (These are similar to the cinnamon rolls made from yeast sponge.)
CHAPTER XI
BETTINA'S BIRTHDAY GIFT
"YOUR set, Bob," said Bettina, as she gathered up the tennis balls. "But please say you think I'm improving! Oh, there'll come a time when I'll make you a stiff opponent, but I'll have to work up my service first! It's time to go home to breakfast now, but hasn't it been fun?"
"Fine, Betty! We'll do it again! I don't object at all to getting up early when I'm once up! And we ought to get out and play tennis before breakfast every day."
"I knew you'd like it when you'd tried it once. But it took my birthday to make you willing to celebrate this way."
"Just you wait till you see what I have for you at home! I made it all myself, with a little help from Ruth!"
"Oh, Bob, is that what you've been doing all these evenings? I'm so anxious to see it! I've begrudged the time you've spent all alone hammering and sawing away down in the basement, but I didn't let myself even wonder what it was you were making, since you had asked me not to look."
"Well, while you're beginning the breakfast, I'll be bringing your birthday gift upstairs. Then I can help you."
In a short time, when Bettina was arranging the cheerful hollyhocks on the table, she heard a low whistle behind her. There stood Bob—looking like a sandwich-man, with a brightly flowered cretonne screen draped about him.
"Well, how do you like it?"
"Oh, Bob, it's the sewing-screen I've been wanting, and it just matches the cretonne bedroom hangings! Here are the little pockets for mending and darning materials—and the larger ones for the unfinished work! How beautifully it is made—and won't it be convenient! It will be useful as a screen, and also as a place for those sewing things, for I have no good place at all in which to keep them! It will be decorative, too! And how light it is! I can carry it so easily, and work beside it on the porch or in the living room!"
"Glad you like it! Ruth designed it, and made the pockets. I did the carpenter work."
"Bob, it's a lovely birthday gift, and I appreciate it all the more because you made it yourself. How pretty it is with all the woodwork enameled white!"
"I wanted it to match the bedroom things. Well, is that coffee done yet? Tennis certainly does give me an appetite!"
Breakfast consisted of:
Iced Cantelope
Poached Eggs on Toast
Toast Apple Sauce
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Poached Eggs (Two portions)
2 eggs
1 t-butter
1 t-salt
1 pt. water, boiling
Butter the bottom of a saucepan or frying-pan. Fill half full of boiling water. Break the eggs one at a time in a sauce dish, and slip them very gently into the pan of boiling water. The eggs will lower the temperature of the water to a point below the boiling point. Keep the water at this point (below boiling). Allow the eggs to remain in the water four to six minutes, or until the desired consistency. Remove from the water with a skimmer and serve on slices of toast which are hot, buttered, and slightly moistened with water. The proper length of time for poaching eggs is until a white film has formed over the yolks and the white is firm. A tin or aluminum egg poacher is very convenient. When using rings, butter the rings, fill each compartment with an egg, and dip into the boiling water. These are inexpensive, and economical, as no part of the egg is wasted.
Toast (Four Pieces)
4 slices bread
2 T-butter
Toast slices of bread one-half an inch thick on the broiler directly under the flame, or on a toaster fitted for a burner on top of the stove. Brown on one side, then turn and brown on the other. When both sides are an even golden brown, butter one side, care being taken to butter the edges. Set the toast on an enamel plate or tin pie-pan in the oven, until all the pieces are ready for serving. Always serve toast very hot.
Apple Sauce (Two portions)
4 apples
1/3 C-water
4 T-sugar
½ t-cinnamon
Wash, peel and core the apples. Add water and cook slowly in a covered utensil until tender. Remove cover, add the sugar and cook two minutes. Sprinkle cinnamon on the top.
CHAPTER XII
BETTINA'S FATHER TRIES HER COOKING
"SO she is about to try her cooking on me, is she?" said Bettina's father to Bob, as he sat down at the table. "Well, I'll admit that I have looked forward to this all day. But there was a time when I was a little more skeptical of Bettina's culinary skill. You know, when mother was in California two years ago last winter——"
"Now, Charlie, you know that all girls have to learn at some time or other," interrupted Bettina's mother. "And I believe that Bob has fared pretty well, considering that Bettina is just beginning to keep house——"
"I should say so!" said Bob, heartily. "Why, I'm getting fat! I was weighed to-day, and——"
"Don't say any more, Bob! We'll rent the house and take to boarding! If you get fat——"
"No boarding-houses for mine! Not after your cooking, Bettina! I had enough of boarding before I was married. Say—how long ago that does seem."
"Has the time dragged as much as that? Well, I'll change the subject. Dad, how do you like my Japanese garden? I think it's pretty, don't you?"
"I certainly do, my dear. What are those feathery things?"
"Why, don't you know that, Father? And when you were a boy, you worked on a farm one summer, too! There's a parsnip and a horse radish, and a beet. Then there are a few parsley seeds and grass seeds on a tiny sponge! And see the little shells and stones that Bob and I collected for it."
"Yes, we found that pink stone up the river on a picnic a year ago last May, before we were engaged, or were we engaged then, Bettina? And the purple one——"
"Oh, you needn't reminisce," Bettina interrupted hastily. "Eat your dinner."
"Every little stone
Has a meaning all its own,
Every little shell——
But it wouldn't do to tell."
"I composed that poem just this minute," said Bob, undisturbed.
"Will you help me get the dessert now, Robert? Are you ready, Mother? And Father?"
"Yes, indeed. A very fine dinner, Bettina. We never have steak fixed this way at home; do we, Mother? Can we try it some day soon?"
"I have something for dessert that you like, Dad. Guess what!"
"What is it? Oh, lemon pie! That is fine, I can tell you! But I know already that it won't be as good as your mother's! Still, we'll try it and see!"
That evening for dinner, Bettina served:
Devilled Steak New Potatoes in Cream
Baking-powder Biscuits Jelly
Cucumber and Radish Salad
Lemon Pie
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Devilled Steak (Four portions)
2 T-butter
1 T-onion
1½ lb. flank steak ¾ inch thick
2 T-flour
1 t-salt
½ t-pepper
1/8 t-paprika
1 t-mustard
1 T-vinegar
1 T-flour
2 C-water
Melt the butter in a frying-pan, slice the onion in it and sauté gently until golden brown in color. Remove the onion from the butter, cut the flank steak into pieces three by two inches. Dredge these lightly in one tablespoon flour and sauté in the butter until well browned. Remove the meat from the frying-pan; add the salt, pepper, paprika, mustard, vinegar and flour. Mix all together and add the water slowly. Replace the steak in the pan, cover closely and simmer one hour, or until the steak is tender. Serve on a warm platter and pour the gravy over it.
Baking Powder Biscuit (Fifteen biscuits)
2 C-flour
4 t-baking powder
¼ t-salt
3 T-lard
2/3 C-milk
Mix and sift the flour, baking powder and salt; cut in the lard with a knife until the consistency of cornmeal. Add the milk, mixing with a knife. Pat into a rectangular shape, one-half inch thick, on a floured board. Cut with a biscuit cutter one and one-half inches in diameter. Place side by side in a tin pan. Bake in a moderate oven fifteen minutes.
Cucumber and Radish Salad (Four portions)
1 C-diced cucumbers
½ C-diced radishes
2 t-chopped onion
1 t-salt
¼ t-pepper
4 T-salad dressing
4 lettuce leaves
Mix the cucumbers, radishes, onions, salt and pepper. Add salad dressing. Serve on lettuce leaves.
Lemon Pie
Filling
1 C-sugar
½ t-salt
juice 1 large lemon
2 egg-yolks
1½ C-water
1 t-grated rind
½ C-flour
1 t-butter
Beat the egg yolks, add the sugar gradually and beat; add the flour, salt, water, lemon juice and rind. Cook in a double boiler until it thickens. Pour into the pastry shell, cover with meringue and bake in a moderate oven until the meringue is brown.
Pie Crust
1 C-flour
1/3 C-lard
1/8 t-salt
2 T-cold water
Cut the lard into the flour and salt with a knife. Add the water gradually, lifting with a knife that portion that was moistened first and pushing it to one side of the bowl, wet another portion and continue until all is moistened, using just enough water to hold together. Put together and place on a floured board. Roll the crust to fit the pan. Press the crust firmly into the bottom of the pan. Prick the sides and bottom with a fork. Crinkle the edges of the crust; have the crust extend above the edge of the pan to make a deep shell for the filling. Bake the crust first to make it more crisp. Do not butter the pan. Bake from five to six minutes in a hot oven. When the crust is done, add the filling and cover this with the meringue.
Meringue
2 egg whites beaten stiff
5 T-sugar (powdered preferred)
½ t-lemon extract
Do not beat the egg-whites until ready for use. Then beat until stiff and add the sugar and extract, beating only a minute. Pile the meringue lightly on top of the filling, and bake the whole slowly. If baked too quickly, the meringue will rise and then fall. Bake only until it turns a golden brown.
CHAPTER XIII
BOB HELPS WITH THE DINNER
"HERE, Bettina, let me mash those potatoes! It's fine exercise after a day at the office!" And Bob seized the potato masher with the same vigor that he used to handle a tennis racquet.
"Good for you, Bob! They can't have a single lump in them after that! About the most unappetizing thing I can think of is lumpy mashed potato, or mashed potato that is heavy and unseasoned. More milk? You'd better use plenty. Here! Now watch me toss them lightly into this hot dish and put a little parsley and a lump of butter on the top. There, doesn't that look delicious?"
"I should say so! And look at the fancy tomatoes, each one with a cover! What on earth is inside?"
"Just wait till you taste them; they're a new invention of mine, and I do believe they'll make a splendid luncheon dish for the next time that Ruth is here, or Alice brings her sewing over. I'm practising on you first, you see, and if you survive and seem to like them, I may use them for a real company dish."
"You can't frighten me that way! Creamed chicken?"
"Creamed veal. Don't you remember what we had for dinner last night? There were two chops left and I made it of them. I know it is good when made of cold veal roast, but I had never tried it with cold veal chops—so again I am experimenting on you, Bobby!"
"You don't frighten me so easily as that! I've just caught a glimpse of something that looks like cocoanut cake, and I'll be happy now, no matter how the rest of the dinner tastes!"
"There, everything is on, Bob! Let's sit down to dinner, and you tell me all about your day!"
Dinner consisted of:
Creamed Veal Mashed Potatoes
Stuffed Tomatoes Bettina
Bread Butter
Sliced Peaches Cream
Cocoanut Cake
Iced Tea
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Creamed Veal (Two portions)
1 C-cooked veal chopped
½ C-white sauce (medium)
3 rounds of toast
Mix the veal and sauce. Heat and serve hot on rounds of toast.
Mashed Potatoes (Two portions)
4 potatoes
2 C-water
1 t-salt
½ T-butter
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
1 T-milk
Wash and peel medium-sized potatoes; cook in boiling water (salted) until tender. (About twenty minutes.) Drain and shake over the fire a minute or two until they are a little dry. Either mash with potato masher, or put through potato ricer. Add butter, salt, paprika and milk. Beat till very light, fluffy and white. Reheat by setting the saucepan in a larger kettle containing boiling water. Place over flame. More milk may be needed. Pile them lightly on the hot dish in which they are to be served.
Stuffed Tomatoes Bettina (Two portions)
2 firm, good-sized tomatoes
3 T-fresh bread crumbs
2 T-left-over cooked vegetables (peas, beans, celery or corn)
1 T-chopped cooked ham or cooked bacon
1/8 t-paprika
1 T-egg
1 t-melted butter
½ t-salt
Wash the tomatoes thoroughly and cut a slice one inch in diameter from the blossom end, reserving it for future use. Carefully scoop out the pulp, being careful to leave the shell firm. To the tomato pulp, add bread crumbs, left-over vegetables, chopped meat, egg, melted butter, salt and paprika. Cook the mixture four minutes over the fire. Fill the shells with the cooked mixture. Put the slices back on the tomatoes. Place in a small pan and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven.
CHAPTER XIV
A SUNDAY EVENING TEA
"WHAT kind of tea is this?" Ruth inquired one Sunday evening on the porch.
"Why, this is a mixture of green and black tea," said Bettina. "I like that better for iced tea than either kind alone."
"I like tea," said Fred, "although perhaps that isn't considered a manly sentiment in this country. I hope you do too, Ruth. Nothing seems so cozy to me as tea and toast. And I like iced tea like this in the summertime. An uncle of mine is very fond of tea, and has offered to send me some that he considers particularly fine. I believe that Orange Pekoe is his favorite."
"I think that has the best flavor of all," said Bettina, "though just now we are using an English breakfast tea that we like very much. And the green tea mixed with it for this is Japan tea."
"I've heard my uncle say that 'Pekoe' means 'white hair,' and is applied to young leaves because they are covered with a fine white down. Uncle also says that black teas are considered more wholesome than green because they contain less tannin. I tell you, he's a regular connoisseur."
"I see that I must become an expert tea-maker!" said Ruth. "I'm learning something new about Fred every day. Bettina, do tell me exactly how you make tea. Fred can listen, too, unless he already knows."
"Well, let's see, Ruth. I take a level teaspoonful of tea to a cup of water. I put the tea in a scalded earthenware tea-pot—that kind is better than metal—and pour boiling water over it—fresh water. Then I cover it and allow it to steep from three to five minutes. Then I strain and serve it. You know tea should always be freshly made, and never warmed over. It shouldn't be boiled either, not a second. Boiling, or too long steeping, brings out the tannin."
"But how about iced-tea? That has to stand."
"It shouldn't steep, though. I make it just like any tea and strain it. Then I let it cool, and set it on the ice for three or four hours. I serve it with chipped ice, lemon and mint."
"Mother always added a cherry to her afternoon tea," said Ruth.
"That would be great," said Bob. "I don't care much for hot tea, but I believe I would be willing to drink a cup for the sake of the cherry."
"Ruth," said Bettina, "I know now what I will give you for an engagement present since Fred likes tea, too. A silver tea-ball. Surely that will symbolize comfort and fireside cheer."
"Speaking of firesides," asked Bob, "what material have you decided upon for your fireplace? It seems to me that we're talking too much about tea-making, and not enough about house-building."
That evening Bettina served:
Salmon Salad with Jellied Vegetables
Boston Brown Bread Sandwiches
Sliced Fresh Peaches
One Egg Cake Chocolate Icing
Iced Tea
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Salmon Salad with Jellied Vegetables (Four portions)
1 C-cooked mixed diced vegetables (string beans, carrots, peas or celery)
1 C-meat stock or water (hot)
2 t-granulated gelatin
1 t-salt
1 T-chopped pimento
3 T-cold water
1 t-lemon juice
Cooked vegetables may be combined for this salad. Soak the gelatin in cold water a few minutes, add the meat stock or water and stir until the gelatin is thoroughly dissolved. If it is not completely dissolved, heat over a pan of hot water. Add the vegetables in such proportions as desired or convenient. Add the salt, lemon juice and pimento; turn the mixture into a moistened mould. (A ring mould is attractive.) Allow to stand for one hour or more in a cold place. When ready to serve, remove from mould to a chilled plate. If a ringed mould is used, the center may be filled with flaked salmon over which salad dressing has been poured. If the vegetable part is used as a salad, salad dressing may be placed around the vegetables.
One Egg Cake (Ten portions)
4 T-butter
½ C-sugar
1 egg
½ C-milk
11/8 C-flour
2½ t-baking powder
1 t-vanilla
Cream the butter, add the sugar gradually, and the egg well beaten. Mix and sift the flour and baking powder and add alternately with the milk. Add the vanilla. Bake in a loaf-cake pan twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven.
Chocolate Icing for Cake
1 square of chocolate, melted
3 T-boiling water
1½ powdered sugar
½ t-vanilla
Melt the chocolate, add a little powdered sugar, then water and flavoring and sufficient sugar to allow the icing to spread on cake. Usually one and one-half cups is the necessary amount. Spread on the cake.
CHAPTER XV
A MOTOR PICNIC
"HELLO, Bettina; this is Bob. What are you having for dinner to-night?"
"It's all in the fireless cooker! Why?"
"Couldn't you manage to make a picnic supper of it? One of the men at the office has invited us to go motoring to-night with him and his wife, and, of course, I said we'd be delighted. They're boarding, poor things, and I asked if we couldn't bring the supper. He seemed glad to have me suggest it. I suppose he hasn't had any home cooking for months. Do you suppose you could manage the lunch? How about it?"
"Why, let me think! How soon must we start?"
"We'll be there in an hour or a little less. Don't bother about it—get anything you happen to have."
"It's fine to go, dear. Of course, I'll be ready. Good-bye!"
Bettina's brain was busy. There was a veal loaf baking in one compartment of the cooker, and on the other side, some Boston brown bread was steaming. Her potatoes were cooked already for creaming, and although old potatoes would have been better for the purpose, she might make a salad of them. As she hastily put on some eggs to hard-cook, she inspected her ice box. Yes, those cold green beans, left from last night's dinner, would be good in the salad. What else? "It needs something to give it character," she reflected. "A little canned pimento—and, yes—a few of the pickles in that jar."
Of course, she had salad dressing—she was never without it. Sandwiches? The brown bread would be too fresh and soft for sandwiches, but she could keep it hot, and take some butter along. "I'm glad it is cool to-day. We'll need hot coffee in the thermos bottle, and I can make it a warm supper—except for the salad."
She took the veal loaf and the steamed brown bread from the cooker, and put them into the oven to finish cooking.
"How lucky it is that I made those Spanish buns! And the bananas that were to have been sliced for dessert, I can just take along whole."
When Bettina heard the auto horn, and then Bob's voice, she was putting on her hat.
"Well, Betty, could you manage it?"
"Yes, indeed, dear. Everything is ready. The thermos bottle has coffee in it, piping hot; the lunch basket over there is packed with the warm things wrapped tight, and that pail with the burlap over it is a temporary ice box. It holds a piece of ice, and beside it is the cream for the coffee and the potato salad. It is cool to-day, but I thought it best to pack them that way."
"You are the best little housekeeper in this town," said Bob as he kissed her. "I don't believe anyone else could have managed a picnic supper on such short notice. Come on out and meet Mr. and Mrs. Dixon. May I tell them that they have a fine spread coming?"
"Don't you dare, sir. It's a very ordinary kind of a supper, and even you are apt to be disappointed."
But he wasn't.
Bettina's picnic supper that cool day consisted of:
Warm Veal Loaf Cold Potato Salad
Fresh Brown Bread Butter
Spanish Buns Bananas
Hot Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Veal Loaf (Six to eight portions)
2 lbs. lean veal
½ lb. salt pork
6 large crackers
2 T-lemon juice
4 t-onion salt
1 T-salt
½ t-pepper
4 T-cream
Put two crackers in the meat grinder, add bits of meat and pork and the rest of the crackers. The crackers first and last prevent the pork and meat from sticking to the grinder. Add other ingredients in order named. Pack in a well-buttered bread-pan. Smooth evenly on top, brush with white of an egg and bake one hour in a moderate oven. Baste frequently. The meat may be cooked in a fireless cooker between two stones. It is perfectly satisfactory cooked this way, and requires no basting.
Boston Brown Bread (Six portions)
1 C-rye or graham flour
1 C-cornmeal
1 C-white flour
1 t-salt
1½ t-soda
¾ C-molasses
¼ C-sugar
1½ C-sour milk or 1¼ C-sweet
milk or water
2/3 C-raisins
Mix and sift dry ingredients, add molasses and liquid. Fill well-buttered moulds two-thirds full, butter the top of mould, and steam three and one-half hours. Remove from moulds and place in an oven to dry ten minutes before serving. 1—If sweet milk is used, 1 T-vinegar to 1¼ C will sour the milk. 2—Baking powder cans, melon moulds, lard pails or any attractively shaped tin cans may be used as a mould. 3—Two methods of steaming are used: (a) Regular steamer in which the mould, either large or individual, is placed over a pan of boiling water. Buttered papers may be tied firmly over the tops of uncovered moulds. (b) Steaming in boiling water. The mould is placed on a small article in the bottom of a pan of boiling water. This enables the water to circulate around the mould. Care must be observed in keeping the kettle two-thirds full of boiling water all of the time of cooking. (Bettina used the method in the fireless cooker.) She started the brown bread in the cooker utensil on the top of the stove. When the water was boiling vigorously, she placed it over one hot stone in the cooker. The water came two-thirds of the distance to the top of her cans. In the cooker, she did not have to watch for fear the water would boil away. After fastening the lid tightly on the cooker-kettle in which the bread was to steam, she did not look at it again for four hours. (It takes a little longer in the cooker than on the stove.)
CHAPTER XVI
BETTINA HAS A CALLER
THE next morning Bettina was alone in her little kitchen when the door bell rang.
"Why, Mrs. Dixon; how do you do?" she said, as she opened the door and recognized the visitor. "Won't you come in?"
It must be admitted that Bettina was somewhat embarrassed at the unexpected call at so unconventional a time. Mrs. Dixon was dressed in a trim street costume, but under her veil Bettina could see that her eyes were red, and her lips quivered as she answered:
"Forgive me for coming so early, but I just had to. I know you'll think me silly to talk to you confidentially when I met you only yesterday, but I do want your advice about something. You mustn't stop what you are doing. Couldn't I come into the kitchen and talk while you work?"
"Why, my dear, of course you can," said Bettina, trying to put her at her ease. "You can't guess what I was doing! I was washing my pongee dress; someone told me of such a good way!"
"Why, could you do it all yourself?" said Mrs. Dixon, opening her eyes wide. "Why not send it to be dry-cleaned?"
"Of course I might," said Bettina, "but it would be expensive, and I do like to save a little money every month from my housekeeping allowance. There are always so many things I want to get. You see I'm doing this in luke-warm, soapy water—throwing the soap-suds up over the goods, then I'll rinse it well, and hang it in the shade to drip until it gets dry. I won't press it till it is fully dry, because if I do, it will be spotted."
"How do you learn things like that?"
"Oh, since I've been married, and even before, when I thought about keeping house, I began to pick up all sorts of good ideas. I like economizing; it gives me an opportunity to use all the ingenuity I have."
"Does it? I always thought it would be awfully tiresome. You see, I've lived in a hotel all my life; my mother never was strong, and I was the only child. I liked it, and since I've been married, we've lived the same way. I never thought of anything else and I supposed Frank would like it, too—but lately—oh, all the last year—he's been begging me to let him find us a house. And then"—(Bettina saw that her eyes had filled with tears)—"he has been so different. You have no idea, my dear. Why—he hasn't been at home with me two evenings a week—and——"
"You must be dreadfully unhappy," interrupted Bettina, wondering what she could say, since she disliked particularly to listen to any account of domestic difficulties. "But why not try keeping house? Maybe that would be better. Why, Bob doesn't like to be away from home any evenings at all."
"But you've just been married!" said Mrs. Dixon, tactlessly. "Wait and see how he'll be after a few years!"
"Well, that's all the more reason for trying to make him like his home. Have you thought of taking a house?"
"That was just the reason I came to you. You seem to be so happy living this way—and it surprised me. I knew last evening what Frank was thinking when he saw this little house—and then when you unpacked the lunch—tell me honestly, did you cook it yourself?"
"Of course," said Bettina, smiling.
"Wasn't it hard to learn? Why, I can't cook a thing—I can't even make coffee! Frank says if he could only have one breakfast that was fit to eat——" and she buried her face in her handkerchief.
"Why, Mrs. Dixon!" cried Bettina, cheerfully, though her heart was beating furiously. "Your trouble is the easiest one in the world to remedy! Your husband is just hungry—that's all! I'll tell you—we'll make this a little secret between us, and have such fun over it! You do just as I tell you for one month and I'll guarantee that Frank will be at home every single minute that he can!"
"Do you suppose I can learn?"
"I'll show you every single thing. We'll slip out this very day and look for a little house—to surprise Frank! And I'll teach you to cook by easy stages!"
"Oh, will you?" smiled Mrs. Dixon, showing an adorable dimple in her round cheek. "You don't know how much better I feel already! When can we begin?"
"Right now—with coffee—real, sure 'nough coffee that will make Frank's eyes stick out! Have you a percolator?"
"No, but I can get one."
"It isn't necessary at all. I'll tell you how to do without it, and then using one will be perfectly simple."
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Coffee (Four cups)
7 T-coffee
3 T-cold water
½ T-egg white
4½ C-boiling water
Scald the coffee pot, add the coffee, cold water and egg-white. Mix thoroughly, add the boiling water. Boil two minutes. Allow to stand in the pot one minute. Serve.
Twin Mountain Muffins
2 C-flour
4 t-baking powder
¼ t-salt
1 egg
1 C-milk
1 T-melted butter
¼ C-sugar
Mix and sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Beat the egg, add the milk; add these liquid ingredients to the dry ones. Beat two minutes. Add the melted butter. Fill well buttered muffin pans one-half full. Bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes.
CHAPTER XVII
BOB GETS BREAKFAST ON SUNDAY
"NOW, Bettina, you sit here and direct me, but don't you dare to move. I'm going to get breakfast myself."
"Fine for you, chef! Have it on the porch, will you? It's the most beautiful morning of the year, I do believe! But you must give me something to do. Let me set the table, will you?"
"Well, you can do that, but get me an apron first. Be sure you get one that'll be becoming!"
Bettina went to a deep drawer in the pantry, of which the breakfast alcove was a part, and selected a white bungalow apron with red dots.
"Here, put your arms through this! There, how 'chic' you look! Bob, do you realize that this is our first breakfast on the porch? I must get some of those feathery things growing out there; I want them for the table. We must celebrate!"
"If having flowers on the table is celebrating, you celebrate every day!"
"Of course, my dear! Our married life is just one long celebration. Haven't you discovered that yet?"
Bettina had thus far no flower garden, but she was never without flowers. The weeds and grasses in her backyard had a way of turning themselves into charming centerpieces, and then, too, red clover was always plentiful.
Bob moved the coffee percolator and the electric toaster to the porch and attached them while Bettina spread the luncheon cloth upon the small table. "Aren't you glad we thought to plan it so that we might have the percolator and the toaster out here?" she said. "That was your idea, wasn't it?"
"Aren't you glad you married me?" said Bob enthusiastically. "I'll bet I'm the only man on this street who can frizzle dried beef and cream it! And make coffee!"
"Who taught you that, I'd like to know? Give some credit to your wife who forces you to do it! Here, Bridget! The grapefruit is in the ice box; did you see it? And the oatmeal in the cooker is waiting to be reheated. Set it in a kettle of water over the fire, so that it won't burn. There are rolls in the bread-box. Put them in the oven a minute to warm up. If they seem dry, dip them quickly in water before heating them. Now shall I be making some toast-rounds for the chipped beef?"
"Well, you might be doing that. I'm getting dizzy with all these orders, ma'am. You can hunt up the cream and the milk and the butter, too, if you will. Now for the beef! Say, but this is going to be a good breakfast! 'Befoh de wah' I used to sleep late on Sundays, but not any more for me! I like to cook!"
"There's someone at the door. I'll go; you're busier than I am."
There on the doorstep beside the Sunday paper stood a little four-year-old neighbor, her hands full of old-fashioned pinks.
"My mother sent these to you," she said.
"Oh, lovely, dear! Thank you! Won't you come in?"
"No'm! My daddy has to shine my shoes for Sunday school."
"Bob, aren't these pretty with the white feathery weeds? I do love flowers!"
"They don't look half so pretty as this 'ere frizzled beef does! Breakfast is all ready!"
Bettina sat down to an open-air breakfast of
Grapefruit
Oatmeal Cream
Creamed Beef Toast Rounds
Rolls Butter
Coffee
After a jolly and leisurely meal, Bob announced that he was ready to wash the dishes.
"Ever since I've seen that nice white-lined dishpan of yours, I've wanted to try it. It's oval, and I never saw an oval one before."
"I like it because it fits into the sink so well, and fills all the space it can."
"See how efficient I am! I put on the water for the dishes when we sat down to eat! Now I'll have nice hot, soapy water, and lots of it, to rinse them!"
"But don't rinse the glasses, dear. See how I can polish glass and silver that has just come out of that clean soapy water! Look! Isn't that shiny and pretty? There, you can scald everything else!"
"There's the telephone! It's Mrs. Dixon! What on earth can she want? She asked for you!"
Bettina talked for a few moments in monosyllables and then returned to the dishes. "What did she have to say?" Bob asked.
"She asked me not to tell you, Bob. Nothing much. Perhaps you'll know some day."
Bob looked puzzled and slightly hurt. It was the first time that Bettina had kept anything from him and he could not help showing some displeasure.
Bettina saw this, and said: "Bob, I don't want to have any secret from you, and I'd like you to know that this is nothing that I wouldn't tell you gladly if I were the only one concerned. I promised, that's all. You'll smile when you know all about it."
And Bob was mollified.
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Oatmeal (Four portions)
¾ C-rolled oats
2 C-hot water
½ t-salt
Put the hot water in the upper part of the double boiler. When boiling, add salt and oats. Boil the mixture for three minutes. Cover and place the upper part in the lower part of the double boiler. Cook over a moderate fire for one hour. Stir occasionally.
Creamed Beef (Four portions)
¼ lb. diced beef thinly sliced
2 T-butter
2 T-flour
1 C-milk
Place the butter in a frying-pan, and when the pan is hot and the butter is melted, add the beef separated into small pieces. Allow it to frizzle. Add the flour, mix thoroughly with beef and butter, allowing the flour to brown a little. Add the milk slowly, cooking until thick and smooth. Pour over rounds of toast. Garnish with parsley.
CHAPTER XVIII
BETTINA GIVES A PORCH PARTY
"I'M so glad that you girls have come, for I've been longing to show you the porch ever since Bob and I put on the finishing touches."
"O Bettina, it's lovely!" cried all the guests in a chorus. "But weren't you awfully extravagant?"
"Wait till I tell you. Perhaps I ought not to give myself away, but I am prouder of our little economies than of anything else; we've had such fun over them. This is some old wicker furniture that Mother had in her attic, all but this chair, that came from Aunt Nell's. Bob mended it very carefully, and then enameled it this dull green color. I have been busy with these cretonne hangings and cushions for a long time, and we have been coaxing along the flowers in our hanging baskets and our window boxes for days and days, so that they would make a good impression on our first porch guests. Bob made the flower boxes himself and enameled them to go with the furniture. This high wicker flower box was a wedding gift, and so was the wicker reading lamp. This matting rug is new, but I must admit that we bought nothing else except this drop-leaf table, which I have been wanting for a long time. You see it will make a good serving table, and then we expect to eat on it in warm weather."
"What are we to make today, Bettina? The invitation has made us all curious.
"'The porch is cool as cool can be,
So come on Thursday just at three,
To stay awhile and sew
On something useful, strong, and neat,
Which, with your help, will quite complete
Bettina's bungalow!'"
"What about the little sketches of knives and forks and spoons in the corners?"
"Bob did that. He wrote the verse, too, or I'm afraid I should have telephoned. Are we all here? Wait a minute."
And Bettina wheeled out her tea-cart, on which, among trailing nasturtiums, were mysterious packages wrapped in fringed green tissue paper.
"What is in them? Silver cases—cut and ready to be made! Oh, how cunning! Shall we label them, too? What is the card?
"'I'll not incase your silver speech,
For that is quite beyond my reach!'"
"Did Bob do that, too? The impudence!" and Ruth threaded her needle in preparation.
"You see," said Bettina, "I hadn't found time to make cases for my silver, so I just decided to let you girls help me! The card tells what to label them, in outline stitch in these bright colors. I used to open ten cases at home before I found what I wanted, so I am insuring against that."
Talk and laughter shortened the afternoon, but at five o'clock Bettina wheeled out her tea-cart again. The dainty luncheon was decorated with nasturtiums. The girls laid aside their work while Bettina served:
Sunbonnet Baby Salad Nut Bread Sandwiches
Iced Tea Mint Wafers
Lemon Sherbet Tea Cakes
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Sunbonnet Baby Salad (Ten portions)
10 halves pears
20 cloves, whole
20 almonds
10 thin slices pimento
10 T-salad dressing
10 pieces lettuce
Arrange the halves of canned pears, round side up, on lettuce leaves, which curl closely about the pear and have the effect of a hood. Place cloves in the pear for eyes, blanched almonds for ears, and slip thin slices of canned pimento into cuts made for nose and mouth. The expressions may be varied. Put salad dressing around the outside of the pear to represent hair and arrange a bow of red pimento under the chin of the sunbonnet baby. These salads are very effective and easy to make.
Nut Bread (Twenty-four sandwiches)
1½ C-graham flour
2 C-white flour
4 t-baking powder
1 C-"C" sugar
2 t-salt
1½ C-milk
2/3 C-chopped nut meats, dates or raisins
Sift together all the dry ingredients, add the nut meats and fruit. Add the milk. Stir well, and pour into two well-buttered loaf pans. Allow to stand and rise for twenty minutes. Bake three-fourths of an hour in a moderate oven. Use bread twenty-four hours old for the sandwiches. "C" sugar is light brown sugar and gives food a delicious flavor.
Lemon Sherbet (Ten portions)
4 C-water
2 C-sugar
¼ C-lemon juice
1 egg white
Boil sugar and water ten minutes. Cool, add lemon juice and strain. Freeze, and when nearly stiff, add beaten egg white and finish freezing.
Icing (White Mountain Cream)
2 C-sugar
½ C-water
2 egg whites
½ t-lemon extract
Boil the sugar and water without stirring until it threads when dropped from the spoon. Pour slowly into the whites of the eggs beaten stiffly. Beat until it holds its shape. Add the flavoring and spread on the cake.
Bettina's Suggestions
Arrange the sunbonnet babies on a salad platter, and let the guests help themselves. The salad is light and attractive. The stem end of the pear represents the neck. Cream the butter to be used for sandwiches. It spreads more evenly and goes farther. Sandwiches taste better if allowed to stand for several hours, wrapped securely in a napkin which has been well dampened (not wet). Cut the slices very thin and press together firmly. Cut into fancy shapes.
CHAPTER XIX
BETTINA AND THE EXPENSE BUDGET
"RUTH asked me today how we manage our finances," said Bettina over the dinner table. "She said that she and Fred were wondering what plan was best. I'm so glad I have a definite household allowance and that we have budgeted our expenses so successfully. The other day I was reading an article by Carolyn Claymore in which she says that three-fourths of the domestic troubles are caused by disagreements about money."
"Then we haven't much to quarrel about, have we, Betty? That is true in more than one sense. But I'm sure that this way seems to suit us to a T."
"I'm even saving money, Bob."
"I don't see how you can when you give me such good things to eat, and when we have so much company."
"Well, I plan ahead, you know—plan for my left-overs before they are left, even. I do think that an instinct for buying and planning is better than an instinct for cooking. And either one can be cultivated. But it was certainly hard to get that budget of expenses fixed satisfactorily, wasn't it? I told Ruth that no two families are alike, and that I couldn't tell her just what they ought to spend for clothes, or just what groceries ought to cost. After all, it is an individual matter which things are necessities and which are luxuries. The chief thing is to live within your means, and save as well as invest something—and at the same time be comfortable and happy. I told Ruth we started with the fixed sums and the absolute necessities, and worked backward. I told her they must absolutely be saving something, if only a quarter a week. Then, that Fred must manage the budget of expenses that comes within his realm, and not interfere with hers, and that she must do the same with the household expenditures, and not worry him. It takes a lot of adjusting to make the system work satisfactorily, but it is certainly worth it."
"Did you tell Ruth about the envelope system that my sister Harriet, uses? She says she is so careless naturally that when George gives her her allowance each month, she has to put the actual cash in separate envelopes, and then vow to herself that she will not borrow from the gas money to make the change for the grocer-boy, and so forth. That is the only way she can teach herself."
"My cousin's wife used to keep the most wonderful and complete accounts, but she couldn't tell without a lot of work in hunting up the items how much she already had spent for groceries or clothes or anything. She had to change her method, and it was she who taught me to keep my accounts in parallel columns, a page for a week, because you give me my allowance each week. I like this way so much, for I can tell at a glance how my expenses are comparing with the allotted sum."
"I like to look at your funny, neat little notebook, Bettina, all ruled so carefully for the week, and the headings, such as gas, electricity, groceries, meat, milk, laundry, across the top."
"Don't make fun of my notebook. I couldn't keep house without it. In case of fire, I'd save it first of all, I know! It is almost like a diary to me! I can look back over it and remember, 'That was the day Bob brought Mr. Green home and we almost ran out of potatoes!' Or 'This was the day I thought my brown bread had failed, but Bob seemed to like it!'" she exaggerated.
"Failures in cooking! Why, Bettina, I don't know the meaning of the words! And I don't see how you can feed me so well on the sum I give you for the purpose. I'd feel guilty, only you don't look a bit unhappy or overworked."
"I should say not!"
"You surely don't remember how to cook all the things you give me!"
"No, indeed, Bob, not definitely, that is. You see, on the shelf by my account book, which you smile over, I have my card index with lots and lots of recipes filed away. Then I have notebooks, too, with all sorts of suggestions tucked in them just where I can lay my hand on them."
"Betty dear, you've given me a real glimpse into your business-like methods! Some men seem to think that it doesn't take brains to run a house well, but they don't know. It requires just as much executive ability and common sense as it does to manage a big business."
That night the dinner for two consisted of:
Cold Ham Green Peppers Stuffed with Rice
Light Rolls Peach Butter
Hot Fudge Cake
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Light Rolls
2 T-sugar
¼ t-salt
½ C-scalded milk
½ yeast cake
¾ C-flour
2 T-melted butter
1 egg, well-beaten
2 T-lukewarm water
flour
Add the sugar and salt to the scalded milk and when lukewarm, add the yeast dissolved in the lukewarm water, and three-fourths of a cup of flour. Cover and set in a warm place to rise. Then add the melted butter, the well-beaten egg, and enough flour to knead. Let rise in a warm place. Roll to one-half an inch in thickness and shape with a biscuit cutter. Butter the top of each. Fold over, place in a buttered pan, close together. Let rise again for forty-five minutes and then bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes.
Green Peppers Stuffed with Rice
6 green peppers
1 C-white sauce
½ C-cooked rice
1 T-chopped green pepper
3 onions cooked and cut fine
½ t-paprika
Cut the stem ends from the peppers, and remove all seeds; add one-eighth of a teaspoonful of soda to each pepper, fill with water and allow to stand one-half hour. Mix one cup of white sauce with the rice, onions, chopped pepper and paprika. Fill the pepper cases and bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven.
Hot Fudge Cake
1/3 C-butter
1 C-sugar
2 egg yolks
2 squares (or ounces) of chocolate, melted
½ C-molasses
½ C-sour milk
½ C-hot water
2 C-flour
1 t-cinnamon
1 t-soda
1 t-baking powder
¼ t-salt
1 t-vanilla
2 egg whites
Cream the butter, add the sugar and continue creaming. Add the egg yolks, melted chocolate, molasses, sour milk, hot water, flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Beat two minutes, and add the stiffly beaten egg whites. Fill well-buttered muffin pans one-half full, and bake in a moderate oven for twenty-five minutes. Serve hot as a dessert, with whipped cream.
CHAPTER XX
MRS. DIXON AND BETTINA'S EXPERIMENT
"I'M so happy!" said Mrs. Dixon, as she stopped at Bettina's door one cool morning. "But I'm nervous, too! What if Frank shouldn't like it?"
"Oh, but he will!" Bettina assured her. "He'll think he's the luckiest man in town, and I almost believe that he is! He'll love that dear little white house with the screened porch! Why, the very grass looks as if it longed to spell 'Welcome' like some of the door mats I've seen! And think of the flower boxes! You were very fortunate to rent it for a year, furnished so nicely, and probably when that time is up you'll be ready to build or buy one of your own."
"You are a dear to cheer me up this way, but I'm nervous in spite of you. Perhaps I should have consulted Frank before I promised to take the house."
"But he has been urging you to keep house for so long! And I know he'll be grateful to you for sparing him the worry of hunting one himself. Besides, he'll like being surprised."
"Well, I'll go back to the hotel for luncheon with him, and then I'll phone him later to meet me at the house. I won't tell him a thing; I'll just give him the address. I'll say it's very, very important. That will surprise him and perhaps will frighten him a little. He never does leave his office during business hours, but it will take only a few minutes for him to run out here in the car. Goodness, I'm forgetting what I came for! Do you suppose I am too stupid to try to make those Spanish buns Frank liked so much? We had them at the picnic, you know. I have three hours after luncheon until he comes, and I just long to give him some good coffee and some Spanish buns that I've made myself! That little kitchen looks as if it would be so nice to work in! I tried coffee a little while ago over at the house, and really—it was fine! It looked just like yours! I was so surprised! To think of my doing such things!"
"Of course you could make Spanish buns; it would be fine if you would. I'll tell you,—why not let me come over for an hour right after luncheon and superintend? Then I'll slip home so that you can be alone when Frank comes. I could tell you some other things about cooking while we're there together,—things you may write down in your new notebook. For example, I've often wondered that so few housekeepers can make good white sauce."
"What in the world is that?"
"It's used in cream soups, and it's the cream part of creamed vegetables and meat and fish, and then there is a thicker white sauce that is used to bind croquettes—that is, hold the ingredients together. There are really four kinds of white sauces and they are very simple to make. I think everyone should know the right way to make them, for they are useful in preparing so many good things."
"I'm glad we'll be near you because I can ask you so many questions."
"And I'm glad that it is summer, because you can have so many things that require little or no cooking, and by fall, I'm sure you will be an accomplished housekeeper."
"Will you come over at two, then, or earlier if you can?"
"Of course I will!"
And as Mrs. Dixon hurried away Bettina felt a sympathetic thrill at the happiness two other people were about to find.
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Spanish Buns (Twelve Buns)
½ C-butter
1 C-sugar
1 egg-yolk
½ C-milk
1¾ C-flour
3 t-baking powder
1 t-cinnamon
¼ t-powdered cloves
1 egg-white beaten stiffly
1 t-vanilla
½ C-currants
Cream the butter and sugar, add the egg yolk. Mix and sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves; add these and the milk to the first mixture. Beat one minute. Add the vanilla and the stiffly beaten egg white. Bake in well buttered muffin pans twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Ice with confectioner's icing.
Confectioner's Icing (Twelve portions)
3 T-cream
1 t-vanilla
1 C-powdered sugar
Mix the cream and vanilla, add sugar slowly until the consistency to spread (more sugar may be needed). This is a most satisfactory frosting and is easily and quickly made. It is suitable for hot weather.
White Sauces (Four portions)
1—Soup
1 T-flour
1 T-butter
1 C-liquid
¼ t-salt
This is the consistency for creamed soups.
2—Vegetable Sauce
2 T-butter
2 T-flour
1 C-milk
¼ t-salt
This white sauce is used for creamed vegetables, creamed fish, etc.- This amount is required for two cups of vegetables.
3—Pattie Sauce
3 T-butter
3 T-flour
1 C-milk
1/3 t-salt
This sauce is used for oyster or other patties.
4—Croquette Sauce
3 T-butter
4 T-flour
1 C-milk
1/3 t-salt
This is called a binding white sauce and is used to hold other ingredients together.
Method of Preparing White Sauces
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour and salt, stirring constantly. When well mixed add the liquid, a little at a time. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. This is far better than mixing the flour with a little of the liquid when cold, as so many people do when creaming potatoes or other things. If the white sauce seems too thick for the purpose, thin with a little more liquid before removing from the fire.
CHAPTER XXI
A RAINY-DAY DINNER
THE rain had been falling all day in a heavy downpour, and Bettina had ventured out only to gather some red clover blooms for the porch table, which she was now setting for dinner. In spite of the rain, it was not cold, and she liked the contrast of the cheerful little table, with its white cloth and bright silver, and the gray day just outside the screen.
"If Bob would only come home early, how nice it would be!" she thought. "Perhaps that's he at the telephone now."
However, it proved to be Mrs. Dixon. "I phoned to ask you if I should throw away the yolks of two eggs. I've just used the whites."
"Oh, no, Mrs. Dixon! Beat them up well, and add a little cold water to them. Then set them in the ice-box. They will be just as good later as they would be now. You may want them for salad dressing or something else."
"If I ever have the white of the egg left, shall I treat that the same way?"
"No, don't beat that up at all, nor add any water. Just set it in the refrigerator as it is. I'm so glad you called up, Mrs. Dixon. Will you and your husband take dinner with us next Sunday? Perhaps we might all go to church first."
"We'd love to do that! I've just been worrying over Sunday dinner, and you've restored my peace of mind. But won't it be a great deal of work for you?"
"I won't let it be. I don't believe in those heavy, elaborate Sunday dinners that take all the morning to prepare. We'll just come home from church and have it in half an hour. You may help me."
"We'd love to come. I have so much to tell you. I've been very busy, but Frank has helped, and it has been such fun! You don't know how he enjoys the little house! Well, good-bye till tomorrow!"
"Boo!" shouted Bob in her ear, as she hung up the receiver. "I discovered your dark secret this morning! Frank Dixon told me!"
"Well, what did you think of it?"
"The only possible solution in that case. You are their good angel—that is, if she doesn't poison Frank with her cooking, or burn the house down when she's lighting the fire."
"She won't, don't worry! She takes to housekeeping as if she had always done it. Her house is immaculate; she has been cleaning and dusting and polishing from morning to night. I'm almost ashamed of mine!"
"I'm not!" said Bob, decidedly. "I don't see how you can keep it clean at all with a man like me scattering papers and cigar ashes everywhere. And I'm always losing my belongings, and always will, I suppose."
"That's only a sign that we haven't discovered the proper place for them all yet. But we'll work it out in time. Well, are you hungry?"
"Hungry? I should say so! Why, I could almost eat you!"
"Well, Bob, we have a rainy-day dinner tonight that I hope you'll enjoy. Hash! Does that frighten you?"
"Not your hash, Betty."
"Well, everything is ready."
The rainy evening menu consisted of:
Browned Hash Creamed Cauliflower
Date Muffins Butter
Apple Sauce Cake Chocolate
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Browned Hash (Two portions)
1 C-chopped cold cooked beef
1 C-cold boiled potatoes diced
a few drops of onion juice
2/3 t-salt
¼ t-pepper
1 T-milk
1 T-fat (lard, butter or one-half of each)
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Spread the mixture evenly in a hot frying-pan in which the fat has been placed. Cook without stirring until a crust is formed on the bottom; fold over like an omelet and place on a hot platter.
Creamed Cauliflower (Two portions)
1 head cauliflower
4 C-water
1 t-salt
1 C-vegetable white sauce
Separate cauliflower into sections, wash well and cook in boiling salted water until tender. (About half an hour.) Drain and cover with vegetable white sauce.
Date Muffins (Ten muffins)
¼ C-sugar
¼ C-dates cut fine
1 egg
¼ t-salt
¾ C-milk
1¾ C-flour
4 t-baking powder
2 T-butter (melted)
Mix the sugar, dates, baking powder, flour and salt. Add milk in which one egg has been beaten. Beat two minutes. Add butter, melted. Fill well-buttered muffin pans half full of the mixture, and place in the oven. Bake twenty minutes. Serve hot or cold.
Apple Sauce Cake (Ten portions)
½ C-butter
1 C-sugar
1 egg, beaten light
1¾ C-flour
1 t-soda
1½ t-cinnamon
½ t-powdered cloves
1 C-hot, thick, strained, sweetened apple sauce
1 C-mixed, chopped raisins, nut meats and dates
1 t-vanilla
Cream the butter, add the sugar gradually. Stir well. Add the well-beaten egg. Mix the soda and apple-sauce, and add to the first ingredients. Alternately with the flour and spices, add the vanilla and fruit. Beat for two minutes. Turn into a square pan, and sift granulated sugar over the top. Bake in a moderate oven one-half hour.
CHAPTER XXII
BUYING A REFRIGERATOR
"SOMETHING in refrigerators?" said the clerk politely to Mrs. Dixon and Bettina.
"You talk to him," said Mrs. Dixon. "I don't know a thing about a refrigerator; that's why I begged you to come."
"Well," considered Bettina, her red brown head on one side, "we want one that will hold not less than a hundred pounds of ice. The large ones are much more economical in the long run. Here, Mrs. Dixon, is a hundred-pound fellow. May we examine it, please?"
"Certainly, madam."
"No, this won't do. See, Mrs. Dixon, the trap is in the bottom of the food chamber. That is wasteful and inconvenient, because in cleaning it you would have to leave the door of the larger compartment open. That would let the cold air out and waste the ice. Anyhow, you know the trap is the sewer of the refrigerator, and has no business in the food chamber. The trap really ought to be in the bottom of the ice chamber, where it can be cleaned without removing the food, or opening the door of the food compartment. Besides, I prefer to have the ice put in at a door on the side of the front, not on the top. Yes, here is the kind I mean. I like this trap, too. See, Mrs. Dixon, isn't it fine? It has a white enamel lining and shelves of open wire that can be removed."
"It looks nice, doesn't it? And when I get some white shelf paper on those shelves it will be like an attractive cupboard."
"Oh, my dear! You mustn't do that! That would prevent the circulation of air through the ice-box, which is the very thing that makes the food compartment cold. You see, that circulation of air goes on through these open-wire shelves. Another thing, I've seen people cover the ice with newspapers to keep it from melting, as they thought. But they were mistaken. Any friction causes warmth, and ice keeps better when there is nothing touching it."
"Well, if you like this one, I'll ask the price of it."
"It will be expensive, I'm afraid, but the most economical in the long run. Are you staying downtown to meet Mr. Dixon?"
"Yes, I'd like him to see the refrigerator. He takes such an interest in these household things I'm getting."
"Well, good-bye, dear. I must hurry home to get dinner. It won't take long, but I'll have to go, or Bob will get there first, and I'm a little sentimental about being there to greet him at the door."
Bettina's dinner that night consisted of:
Broiled Lamb Chops
Boiled New Potatoes New Peas in Cream
Vegetable Salad
Bread Butter
Rhubarb Pudding
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Broiled Lamb Chops (Three portions)
3 chops
1 t-salt
Wipe chops and place in a red-hot frying-pan. As soon as the under surface is seared, turn and sear the other side. Turn down the fire a little, and continue to cook, turning chops often. Cook seven minutes if liked rare. When cooked, sprinkle with salt and spread with butter.
Creamed New Peas (Three portions)
1 qt. peas
1/8 t-soda
½ t-salt
Shell one quart of peas, cover with cold water and let stand ten minutes, wash well, and drain off the water. Cover with boiled water and cook twenty to fifty minutes, according to age of peas. A pinch of soda may be added to the water. It softens the skins on the peas. Add salt when the peas have cooked twenty minutes.
White Sauce for Peas (Three portions)
1 T-butter
1 T-flour
1/8 t-salt
½ C-milk
Melt the butter, add the flour and salt, mixing well, and the milk, stirring constantly. Cook two minutes. Add the peas.
Rhubarb Pudding (Three portions)
1 C-cooked, sweetened rhubarb sauce
2 T-flour
1 T-cold water
1 egg-white
1/8 t-salt
Add the water slowly to the flour and mix well. Add the rhubarb sauce and cook until very thick (about five minutes). Add the stiffly beaten white of egg, mix thoroughly and turn into moistened moulds. Serve cold with cream.
CHAPTER XXIII
BETTINA'S SUNDAY DINNER
"THIS seems like old times!" remarked Mr. Dixon, as he and his wife strolled leisurely home from church with Bob and Bettina. "I haven't had this peaceful Sunday feeling since I was a youngster. Then all the Sundays were like this, cool, quiet and sunny—sprinkled all over with little girls in smooth curls and white leghorn hats, and little boys in uncomfortable, hot clothes a size too large, and newly polished shoes. I often recall the plentiful Sunday dinners, too!"
"Don't get your hopes too high!" said Bettina. "Though I will promise you one treat, wild roses on the table. Bob and I walked out into the country last evening and found them."
"What can I do?" inquired Mrs. Dixon, when she and Bettina were alone in the kitchen.
"You can sit here and talk to me while these potatoes are cooking and the veal birds getting done. You see, the birds have already cooked three-quarters of an hour this morning before I went to church. The waxed beans are in the fireless cooker; I have to make the butter sauce for them. And you see I have the new potatoes all prepared, standing in cold water. I have only to cook them in boiling salted water till they are done. That won't take long, as they aren't large. I set the table on the porch this morning. Bob can make the coffee in the percolator in a little while, when we're ready. He usually starts it when we come to the table, and then it is ready in time to serve last. By the way, if you like the Thousand Island dressing we are to have for the head lettuce, I'd like to give you the recipe. It is a very popular one just now."
"Oh, I've eaten it! Frank is very fond of it, and used to order it every chance he had at the hotel. Will you really tell me how to make it? So many good dinners now end with the salad and cheese and coffee, and I think Thousand Island dressing on head lettuce makes a splendid salad."
"Of course I'll show you. Well, the iced cantaloupe, which is our first course, is in the ice-box. Our dessert today is just cake with chocolate cream frosting, and coffee. It is such a simple Sunday dinner, but that's the kind I believe in!"
BETTINA'S SUNDAY DINNER
Iced Cantaloupe
Veal Birds Boiled New Potatoes
Gravy
Waxed Beans Butter Sauce
Bread Butter
Head Lettuce Thousand Island Dressing
Salt Wafers
Cake with Chocolate Cream Frosting
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Veal Birds (Six portions)
1½ lb. veal steak
4 slices bacon
1 T-butter
½ C-crumbs, fresh
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
2 T-milk
2 T-fat
Cut veal from the round (veal steak) into strips, four by two and a half inches. Put the trimming and four slices of bacon through the food chopper. Cook the chopped meat three minutes in the butter. Add to this the fresh bread crumbs, salt, pepper and milk. Spread this mixture on the strips of veal. Roll and tie securely with white cord, roll in flour and sauté until browned a little on both sides, in two tablespoons fat in frying pan. Place in a casserole or small covered pan. Season each bird with salt and a small piece of butter. Pour an inch and a half of water into the pan. Cook an hour, or a little less, in a moderate oven. Gravy may be made by adding four tablespoons of water to two level tablespoons of flour, mixing carefully and gradually pouring into the stock in which the meat has been cooked. Bring to a boil.
Thousand Island Salad Dressing (Six portions)
½ C-olive oil
2 T-lemon juice
2 T-orange juice
1 t-onion juice
¼ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
1 t-Worcestershire sauce
¼ t-mustard
1 t-chopped parsley
Place all the above ingredients in a pint fruit jar, fit a rubber on the jar cover, and shake vigorously until the dressing is well mixed and creamy. Pour over tomatoes, asparagus, peas, beans, spinach or lettuce. Serve as a salad.
Cake with Chocolate Cream Filling (Six portions)
½ C-butter
1 C-sugar
1 beaten egg yolk
1½ C-sifted flour
2 t-baking powder
¼ t-mace
½ t-vanilla
½ C-milk
1 egg-white, stiffly beaten
Cream the butter, add the sugar, yolk of egg, dry ingredients and milk. Stir well, add the flavoring, beat two minutes, cut and fold in the egg white. Bake in a large round buttered pan in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. The pan should be seven inches in diameter. Cover with confectioner's icing.
Confectioner's Icing
2 C-powdered sugar
3 T-milk
1 t-vanilla
12 chocolate creams
Mix vanilla and milk, add powdered sugar. Mix until stiff enough to spread. Cut creams in half and arrange on the cake.
CHAPTER XXIV
BETTINA VISITS A TEA-ROOM
"AREN'T you a bit timid about driving?" asked Bettina, as she stepped into the car beside Mrs. Dixon.
"Not now. You see, I've been practicing every evening with Frank, and he says that I am as good a driver as he is! Oh, Bettina, we are having so much fun these days! The little house is a great success, and I'm really learning to cook! I've had some dreadful failures; but Frank doesn't seem to mind. You see, I know he gets a good meal downtown at noon, and so I don't worry about him."
"Look, Charlotte! What lovely goldenrod! We must stop and get some! Don't you love it?"
"Indeed I do! I have a rough brown waste-paper basket that it looks stunning in. I set the jar of goldenrod right inside! Frank is very fond of it."
"Charlotte, you're just like a bride yourself—thinking about Frank's likes and dislikes."
"Am I?" laughed Mrs. Dixon as her color rose. "Well, lately Frank seems just like his old self! He appreciates everything so, and is so nice at home! And it seems that he can hardly get home quickly enough! We have enjoyed getting things settled and planning our future. Next year we may build a house of our own, but I don't care to have it too large to manage easily."
"Are you going to stop here?" asked Bettina, as Mrs. Dixon slowed down after a peaceful stretch of level road.
"Yes, I want to show you something."
A short path led to a small house close to the road, but almost hidden in a tangle of flowers and wild grapevines.
"Isn't this a cunning little rustic place?" asked Charlotte. "Two friends of mine started it. See" (pointing to the sign over the door), "it's called 'The Friendly Inn.' Inside you'll find that quotation about living in a house at the side of the road and being a friend to every man. You know that one. These girls live on that farm over there. When they came home from college they wanted something to do—some way to earn money—but they didn't care to leave home. This is such a splendid road that the autos swarm past all summer long. These girls opened this little tea room, and serve luncheons and tea here all summer. Most of their supplies come directly from the farm. It is just a pleasant drive from the city, and many people like to come out here in the afternoon. I'll introduce you to the girls."
Bettina found the inn-keepers charming, and after a short conversation, she and Mrs. Dixon ordered:
Tomato Cup Salad Iced Tea
Bread and Butter Sandwiches
Vanilla Ice Cream Chocolate Sauce
Marshmallow Cakes
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Tomato Cup Salad (Six portions)
6 tomatoes
1 C-diced cucumbers
¼ C-chopped green peppers
¼ C-sliced radishes
1 T-chopped onion
1 t-salt
1/8 t-paprika
6 T-salad dressing
Wash cold firm tomatoes of a uniform size. Cut a slice from the stem end and scoop out seeds and pulp. Save the pulp. Sprinkle the inside with salt. Invert for five minutes. Mix the cucumber, green pepper, radishes, onions, tomato pulp, and salad dressing. Fill with the mixture and refill the shells. Have all of the ingredients cold and serve at once. If the mixture stands in the tomato cups very long it becomes watery. The tomatoes may be prepared and kept cool, and the mixture prepared, all but the onion, and placed in the ice-box until ready for use. Never put anything containing onion in the ice-box. Serve the tomatoes on crisp lettuce leaves.
Chocolate Sauce for the Ice Cream (Six portions)
1 C-sugar
1 square of chocolate
1/8 t-salt
2 T-flour
1 t-butter
1 t-vanilla
2 C-boiling water
Mix the sugar, flour and salt. Add the square of chocolate and boiling water. Allow to boil four minutes, stirring constantly. Add the butter and vanilla. Serve hot or cold with ice cream.
Marshmallow Cake
Use any white cake recipe. Bake in gem pans. Cover with White Mountain cream icing. Just before the icing is ready to spread, add quartered marshmallows. Do not add the marshmallows while the icing is hot, as they will melt, and the little "bumps" are attractive when spread on the cake.
CHAPTER XXV
BETTINA ENTERTAINS ALICE AND MR. HARRISON
"BY the way, Bettina," said Bob, over the phone, "I saw Harrison and asked him out to dinner tonight. He said he was to call on Alice later, so I suggest that you invite her, too."
Bettina smiled to herself at Bob's casual tone. Ought she to ask him not to invite company without consulting her?
"No!" she decided emphatically. "Company or no company, our meals shall be simple, but good enough for anybody. I'll not change my menu for Alice and Mr. Harrison. I'm sure they'll like it just as it is."
"To tell the truth, Bettina," said Alice's vivacious voice over the telephone, "I'd love to come, if it weren't for that—that man!"
"But, Alice, you're going to see him later."
"I know; worse luck! He's the most insufferable person I know! You see, last night we had a little argument, and he was very rude."
"Maybe he's coming to apologize."
"Don't you imagine it! He couldn't. He dislikes society girls above all other people."
"Oh, Alice!"
"Well, he does! He told me so evening before last, out at the park."
"Seems to me you're seeing a good deal of him for a man you feel that way about."
"Well, you started it. You told me that he was a woman-hater, and I thought it would be fun to reform him. At first he thought me fine and sensible, but lately I've been showing him how frivolous I really am. I suppose I hoped that by this time he'd approve of everything I said and did. But he won't. He seems actually to be trying to reform me! And I won't be reformed! I could never be anything but frivolous Alice if I wanted to! I hate those big, slow, serious men, without any fun in them!"
"Cheer up, my dear!" laughed Bettina. "Come tonight, anyhow. I like the frivolous kind, whether he does or not."
That evening, much to Bettina's secret amusement, Mr. Harrison and Alice met on the doorstep.
"Don't think we came together," explained Alice, flippantly. "A dinner and an evening of me are about all Mr. Harrison can endure!"
"I couldn't have spared the time, anyhow, Miss Alice. You see, I'm a busy man, and the people who are doing worth-while things in this world are obliged to overlook some of the amenities."
It was on Bettina's tongue to inquire how a busy man found time to make so many calls as he was making now. But she refrained, knowing well that lively Alice could hold her own with any man in the universe, even though she might not be doing the things that Mr. Harrison considered worth while.
"A fine dinner," said he to Bettina, as they sat down at the table. "I admire a woman who knows how to prepare and serve food. She is paying her way in the most dignified and worth-while profession of all—that of a home-maker."
"Mr. Harrison," asked Alice severely, "may I inquire whether or not you know how to drive insects out of cabbage before serving it?"
"I'm afraid I don't."
"Well, I'm surprised, for even I know that. Bettina just told me. You place the cabbage, head downward, in cold water, to each quart of which has been added a tablespoonful of vinegar."
"Silly Alice!" said Bettina. "Don't tease! Look at my lovely pansies. Alice, I believe you gave me that flower-holder when I announced my engagement."
"When I announce my engagement——" said Alice.
Bettina saw a strange and startled look come over Mr. Harrison's face, which immediately departed when Alice added:
"Which will be years hence, no doubt—I hope my friends will give me nothing useful. I love to come here, Bettina, but I'm not a natural-born housekeeper like you. I shall marry an idle millionaire, and we will do nothing but travel aimlessly about from one end of the world to the other. That is my idea of perfect happiness!"
That night for dinner Bettina served:
Pork Chops Potatoes Maitre d'Hotel Butter
Bread Butter
Cabbage Salad Served in Lemon Halves
Cocoanut Blanc Mange Custard Sauce
Iced Tea
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Pork Chops (Four portions)
4 chops
¼ C-water
½ t-salt
¼ t-pepper
Wipe the chops, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in a hot frying-pan (no fat added), brown on one side and then turn on the other side, cooking over a moderate fire. Add the water and immediately place the cover on the frying-pan. The steam cooks the pork more quickly and prevents over-browning. Cook twenty-five minutes.
Maitre d'Hotel Butter Sauce (Four portions)
3 T-butter
1 T-lemon juice
½ t-salt
1/8 t-pepper
½ t-parsley
Cream the butter, add the lemon juice, salt, pepper and finely chopped parsley. Pour this over new potatoes which have been boiled. Garnish with parsley.
Cocoanut Blanc Mange (Four portions)
¼ C-cornstarch
¼ C-sugar
½ t-salt
2 T-cold water
2 C-milk
2/3 C-cocoanut
2 egg whites
½ t-vanilla
Mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt with the cold water. Add the milk slowly, stirring well. Cook twenty minutes in a double boiler, stirring occasionally, or ten minutes over the flame, stirring constantly. Cool slightly and add the shredded cocoanut and the stiffly beaten whites of the eggs. Add the vanilla. One-fourth of a cup of nuts, candied cherries or preserved pineapple may be added if desired. Chill in moulds wet with cold water. Serve with cream or custard sauce made from the egg yolks.
Custard Sauce (Four portions)
2 egg yolks
1/3 C-sugar
1/8 t-salt
1 T-flour
2 C-milk
1 t-vanilla
Beat the eggs, slowly add the sugar and the flour well blended, the salt and the milk. Cook in a double boiler until thick enough to coat a silver spoon. Add the flavoring and serve cold.
CHAPTER XXVI
OVER THE TELEPHONE
BOB and Bettina were at breakfast one morning when the telephone rang. "It's Mrs. Dixon, Bettina," said Bob, his hand over the mouthpiece. "Much excited. Panicky. House afire. Hurry."
"Hello, Charlotte!" said Bettina, quickly. "What in the world is the trouble?"
"The worst yet!" came a nervous voice. "Frank's Aunt Isabel is to be at our house tonight! Oh, I wish you knew her! She never did approve of me!"
"Oh, Charlotte, you just imagine that! She wouldn't come if she disliked you so!"
"That's just it! She didn't approve of me when we lived at the hotel, and now that we've taken a house, she wants to see how things are."
"Well, things are fine! Doesn't Frank say so?"
"Yes, of course. But the meals! Two company meals to get, and for a critical person like her, too! What on earth shall I do?"
"Now, don't be nervous, Charlotte! It's easy! We'll think up a delicious little dinner that you can prepare mostly beforehand. When does she arrive?"
"Five o'clock, and leaves just after breakfast."
"Good! Two simple meals and all day in which to get them ready. Let's see. The weather is warm, so you will prefer a dinner that is partly cold. Watermelon that has been in the refrigerator all day would be a simple dessert, with no cake or anything else to think of. How about cold boiled tongue for your main dish? Sliced thin and garnished with parsley. You might also have a very good salad. Apple, celery and green pepper salad would be delicious and economical also. Then you might have corn on the cob. I've had it recently and know how good it is. That would be the only thing you would have to think of at meal time, and it is very easy to cook. You would serve it in a napkin to keep it hot. Then I want to send you some peach butter that I made the other day; that would go beautifully with your dinner. There you have it all! If I were doing it, I should add iced tea to drink, served very daintily, with sliced lemon and mint leaves."
"Oh, Bettina, how good it sounds! Will you repeat that menu for me?"
Cold Boiled Tongue
Apple, Celery and Green Pepper Salad
Golden Bantam Corn on the Cob
Bread Butter Peach Butter
Iced Tea Lemon
Sliced Watermelon
"Now, if you'll get a pencil and paper, I will give you some directions about cooking."
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Boiled Tongue (Four portions)
A fresh beef tongue of two pounds
1 T-vinegar
Wipe the tongue well. Place in a kettle and cover with cold water. Add the vinegar. Bring to a boil, and boil slowly until it seems tender when pierced with a fork. (It should boil at least two hours.) Take the tongue from the water, and remove the skin and roots while it is still warm. Cool, and slice thin. This may easily be cooked in the fireless cooker, in which case the water with which the tongue is covered must be brought to a good boil on the stove, and then removed to the cooker. If the tongue is very salty, soak in cold water for two hours.
Apple, Celery and Green Pepper Salad (Four portions)
1 cup tart apples cut in ½-inch
cubes
2 T-lemon juice
2/3 C-celery (diced)
1 large green pepper (cut in strips)
1 t-salt
½ t-paprika
6 T-salad dressing
Mix the lemon juice and apples to prevent discoloring. Add the celery, green peppers, salt, paprika seasoning and salad dressing. Serve cold on lettuce leaves.
Corn on the Cob (Four portions)
8 ears corn
Carefully remove husks and all silk from the corn. Cover with boiling water. Cook ten minutes, or longer if the corn is old. If salt is added to water, it turns the corn yellow and toughens the husks. Very tender young corn needs little cooking. Salt may be added (one teaspoon to a quart of water) two minutes before removing from the fire.
Peach Butter (One and one-half pints)
2 C-peaches
1 C-sugar
Peel peaches and slice very fine. Add one cup of sugar to every two cups of peaches. Let stand twenty minutes. Mix well, and cook quickly for twenty-five minutes. Put in glasses and seal.
CHAPTER XXVII
BETTINA HAS A BAKING-DAY
"WHY, Ruth, I didn't hear you come in!"
"The door was partly open—Bob must have left it that way—and I slipped in quickly to see what you were up to. It's raining as if it never intended to stop. I called to Bob on his way downtown, and asked what you were doing today. He said that wonderful baking preparations were going on because you expected his sister Polly and her three children tomorrow. That sounded like a deluge—all those lively youngsters, and Polly livelier yet—so, I came over to see if I couldn't help."
"Indeed you can, Ruth! That was dear of you! We'll have a houseful, won't we? I have planned to put Polly and Dorothy and the baby in the guest room, but Donald will have to sleep on the davenport. And I'm planning to do most of the cooking today, so that tomorrow we can visit and see people and show the children the sights. They are coming this afternoon, and will be here Sunday and Monday at least. As soon as I finish filling these salt-shakers, I'll begin the baking. Goodness, it will certainly be a help to have you here, Ruth! You were such a dear to come in all this rain!"
"Oh, I like it! I always learn so much from you, Bettina. But what on earth are you doing with that rice?"
"Just putting a few grains in the shakers. You know salt gets damp on a rainy day like this, and the rice loosens it and absorbs the moisture. I'm doing it first because I might forget."
"What are you going to make?"
"Well, I'll cook some potatoes and beets to warm up or make salad of, and I'll make a veal loaf and a white cake, I think. Then some salad dressing, and a berry pie and some sour cream cookies. Oh, yes, some nut-bread and some tomato gelatin, too."
"Goodness! Can you use all those things?"
"Yes, indeed! For tonight's dinner I'll have lamb chops, and some of the cooked potatoes, creamed, and tomato gelatin, and the blackberry pie. (You know berry pies ought to be eaten soon after they are made.) If tomorrow is a nice day, we'll eat our dinner in the park, and in any case, I'll be prepared, for I'll have the veal loaf, and the beets to warm up, and the rest of the potatoes to cream or make salad of, and the nut-bread for sandwiches if we need them, and the cake and some sliced peaches for dessert."
"And the cookies?"
"Well, children always want cookies. I'll bake these on my big baking sheets just the size of the oven, and I'll put lots of raisins on top."
"Bettina, what fun it would be to visit you! But we must get at our work or Polly and family will be here before this big baking is done!"
BETTINA'S BAKING DAY RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Berry Pie (Four portions)
1½ C-berries (black or blue berries)
½ C-sugar
2 T-flour
1/8 t-salt
1 T-lemon juice
Wash the fruit, mix with the sugar, flour, salt and lemon juice. Line a deep pie tin with a plain pie paste and sprinkle one tablespoon sugar over bottom crust. Add the berry mixture. Wet the lower crust slightly. Roll out the upper crust and make slits in the middle to allow the steam to escape. Place on the lower crust, pinching the edges together. Bake in a moderately hot oven forty minutes.
Tomato Jelly (Six portions)
2 C-tomatoes
½ C-water
1 T-sugar
1 bay leaf
3 cloves
1 t-salt
2 T-gelatine
Simmer tomatoes, water, sugar, bay leaf, cloves, and salt for ten minutes. Strain. Soak the gelatin in two tablespoons cold water, and add the hot vegetable mixture. Pour into small wet moulds. Chill for two hours and serve with salad dressing.
Boiled Salad Dressing (One cup)
2 egg yolks
2 T-flour
1 t-salt
1 t-mustard
1/8 t-paprika
½ t-butter
1/3 C-vinegar
1/3 C-water
2 T-sugar
Beat egg-yolks thoroughly and add the dry ingredients (mixed and sifted). Gradually add the vinegar and water. Cook in a double boiler until thick and creamy, or directly over small flame, stirring constantly. If whipped cream is to be used, no butter need to be added. If not, add butter the last thing. Beat with a Dover egg beater until creamy. Keep in a cool place.
Sour Cream Cookies (Three dozen)
1 C-sugar
½ C-butter (or lard and butter mixed)
2 eggs
½ C-sour cream or sour milk
½ t-soda
½ t-salt
2 t-grated nutmeg
about 2 C-flour, or as little as possible
Cream the fat, add the sugar. Cream again. Add the eggs well beaten, sour milk, one cup flour, soda, salt and nutmeg mixed and sifted together. Add the rest of the flour. Roll out to one-third of an inch thickness, cut any desired shape, and bake in a moderately hot oven for fifteen minutes. Sugar mixed with a little flour may be sifted over the dough before cutting. Raisins may also be pressed into the top of each cooky.
Doughnuts (Thirty)
¼ C-sugar
1 egg beaten
2/3 C-milk
2 C-flour
½ t-salt
¼ t-cinnamon
2 t-baking powder
Mix the beaten egg and sugar, add the milk, flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder, sifted together. Take one-half of the dough, and roll out one-third of an inch thick. Cut with a doughnut cutter. Roll and cut the other half. Put the scraps together and roll again. Fry in deep fat, turning until a delicate brown. Drain on brown paper.
CHAPTER XXVIII
POLLY AND THE CHILDREN
"WILL you look at the way that child eats her cereal!" ejaculated Polly at the breakfast table. "And I simply can't get her to eat it at home! In fact, on warm days like this, she won't eat any breakfast at all."
"I like Aunt Betty's cereal; it looks so pretty," explained little Dorothy gravely, looking down at her plate of moulded cereal surrounded by plump red raspberries.
"I hope you don't mind my serving it cold today," said Bettina. "It seemed so warm yesterday that I cooked the cereal and put it in moulds in the refrigerator."
"No indeed! The change is a regular treat for the children. They like fixed-up things like this, and it certainly does give anyone an appetite."
"Well, in hot weather, no one feels much like eating, anyhow, so I try to make things as attractive as I can. And I want the children to have just what they like.... You needn't be afraid of this cream, Polly. We buy it from a neighbor, and I am absolutely sure that it is both clean and good. I'm ashamed to say that we have no certified milk in this town. Isn't that dreadful? And people keep on buying it of dairies that they don't know one thing about! Why, I've seen women who had just moved to town, and who knew nothing about conditions here, begin housekeeping by cleaning house thoroughly from top to bottom, and at the same time, leave an order for milk with the first dairy wagon that happened to drive down their street! And they buy groceries and meat from the nearest stores without knowing that three blocks away there may be other stores that are better, cleaner and less expensive. Shouldn't you think that women would insist upon knowing all about the food they are giving their children? It seems to me that much common sense in a housewife is a great deal more important even than knowing how to cook and sew."
"I think that knowing how to plan and buy is more important than knowing how to do things with your hands," said Polly. "After all, it's the result that counts. You're a wonder, Bettina, because you have a useful head and useful hands, too, but I haven't. So I try to know as much as possible about every article of food and clothing that I buy, and to be sure that I am getting the very best value from Tom's money, but I don't know how to cook or sew or trim hats or embroider. I like friends and babies and outdoor exercise, but I'll confess that I don't like housework."
"Well, Tom and the children seem to be perfectly contented and happy, and so do you. Therefore, you are a successful housekeeper."
"You are the right kind of a sister-in-law to have, Betty! I quite approve of Bob's choice!"
The breakfast that morning consisted of:
Moulded Cream of Wheat
Raspberries
Sugar Cream
Poached Eggs on Toast
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Wheat Cereal (Three portions)
1 C-wheat
2 T-cold water
1/3 C-raspberries
Cook the wheat according to the instructions on the package, only cook twice as long as the directions suggest. Mix cereal and cold water. Add boiling water slowly. This method prevents lumping. Wet individual moulds with cold water, place raspberries around the inside of the mould and fill with the wheat. Allow to remain in mould for fifteen minutes. Remove from mould, surround with more berries and serve. If desired cold, chill in the refrigerator. Cereals may be cooked in a double boiler or a fireless cooker.
Method of Cooking Cereals
Put the water and salt in the upper part of double boiler and place directly over the flame. When the water boils, add the cereal very slowly, stirring constantly. Cook for five minutes directly over the fire. Place the upper part in the lower part of the double boiler containing boiling water, and cook the required time. All cereals must be thoroughly cooked.
AUGUST.
Twenty little jelly-glasses, twenty pots of jam,
Twenty jars of pickles and preserves,
Making other wealth than this appear a stupid sham,——
Ah, you dears! What color, gleam and curves!
CHAPTER XXIX
BETTINA PUTS UP FRUIT
"HONK! Honk!" sounded an auto horn at Bettina's door one cool morning, as a crowd of lively voices also summoned her.
"Bettina, O, Bettina! We've come to get you to play tennis with us this morning. You must! You've been neglecting us for Bob and we're jealous."
"Oh, girls, I simply can't! I have just bought quarts and quarts of cherries and currants of a boy who came to the door, and I must take today to put them up!"
"That's easy! Leave 'em till tomorrow!" said Alice cheerfully.
"I can't do that, because they're just at the canning point and it isn't a good thing to have them a bit over-ripe. Then these are freshly picked, and that is the best way to have them."
"I'll stay and help; may I?" said Ruth, who had suddenly developed a deep interest in things domestic.
"Why, of course I'd love to have you, Ruth, but seeding cherries is slow work, and I believe that playing tennis would be more exciting."
"But not half so interesting as to hear you tell me how you do things. I love to listen."
"We'll all stay," suggested Mary. "It'll do us good. But you'll have to lend us big aprons; can you?" And she looked down at her white middy, skirt, and shoes.
"Come on!" shouted Elsie. "You can lecture as we seed cherries, Bettina. How are you going to put them up?"
"Well, Bob likes plain currant jelly, and plain canned cherries awfully well. I may preserve some cherries with currant juice, too, but I think I'll not do anything very elaborate today."
"Goodness, that sounds elaborate enough to suit me! Will you be looking over the currants while we are stoning cherries?"
"Leave the stones in half of them, girls; many people like them that way better."
"What were you doing to all those jars?"
"Just getting ready to sterilize them. You see I'll put them on a folded cloth, in this big kettle of cold water. Then I'll slowly heat the water to the boiling point, and fill the jars immediately with the fruit and syrup. I must scald the rubber rings, too, before I use them."
Bettina was rapidly looking over currants as she talked. "Girls, do you notice my jelly strainer? See, it's a piece of cheese-cloth fastened into a wire strainer. It can be attached to any kettle. I haven't used it yet, but I know that it will be very convenient. You know it's best to strain the juice through the cheese-cloth without pressure. If I have the cloth double, the juice will be quite clear. If I wanted an especially clear jelly, I could even have the juice pass through a flannel or felt bag."
"How on earth can you tell when the jelly jells?" asked Ruth.
"Well, I test it this way. I take up, in a cold silver spoon, a little of the mixture that is cooking. If it jells and breaks from the spoon, it has been cooking long enough. Of course I remove the rest from the fire while testing it, because it might be done."
"Bettina, cooking and jelly-making and things like that seem to be so natural for you!" cried Ruth. "I get so frightened sometimes when I think what if I should be a poor housekeeper and make Fred unhappy!"
"Alice," said Mary, "Heaven forbid that either of us should ever be talking like that about a man!"
"Goodness, I should say so!" declared Alice emphatically, a little too emphatically, thought Bettina.
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Currant Jelly
2 qts. currants
sugar
Pick over currants, but do not remove the stems. Wash and drain. Mash a few with a vegetable masher in the bottom of a porcelain-lined or granite kettle. Add more currants and mash. Continue adding currants until all are used. Bring to a boil slowly and let simmer without stirring until the currants appear white. Strain through a coarse strainer, and allow juice to drain through a jelly bag. Measure the juice, and boil ten minutes. Gradually add an equal amount of heated sugar, stirring occasionally to prevent burning, and continue boiling until the test shows that the mixture has jelled. When filling sterilized glasses, place them in a pan containing a little boiling water. This keeps the glasses from breaking when hot jelly is poured in. Fill and set the glasses of jelly aside to cool. Cover with hot melted paraffin.
Canned Cherries
6 qts. cherries
1½ qts. sugar
½ pt. water
Measure the cherries after the stems have been removed. Stone if desired. If they are stoned, be sure to save the juice. Put the sugar and water in a kettle and stir over the fire until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cherries and heat slowly to the boiling point. Boil ten minutes skimming carefully. Put into sterilized jars, filling the jars to overflowing with the syrup. Seal securely. (When filling the jars stand them in a pan containing boiling water. This keeps them from breaking.)
Bettina's Jelly-Making Suggestions
1. Use a porcelain-lined or a granite kettle.
2. Let juice drip from a cheese cloth or flannel bag.
3. Measure equal quantities juice and sugar.
4. Boil juice ten minutes, add heated sugar. (Heated by being placed in warm oven.)
5. Boil until it drops thick from a cold silver spoon, or jells on a plate.
6. The smaller the quantity of jelly made at a time, the clearer it is.
7. Cook no more than three cups of juice at a time.
8. Skim carefully.
9. Boil regularly.
10. Pour in sterilized glasses.
11. Let stand in bright sun twenty-four hours.
12. Cover with very hot paraffin. This kills any bacteria that may have collected.
13. Keep jelly in a cool, dark, dry place.
CHAPTER XXX
A COOL SUMMER DAY
"WHY, hello, Ruth!" cried Bettina at the door one afternoon. "I haven't seen you for weeks, it seems to me! What have you been doing? Come in and give an account of yourself!"
"First let me deliver these nasturtiums that mother sent," said Ruth. "She always remembers how fond you are of flowers."
"Thank you, they're lovely! I need them tonight for my table, too. Will you come into the kitchen with me while I put these in water?"
"M-m," said Ruth. "Something smells good! In the oven?"
"Yes, pork chops, baked apples and escalloped potatoes. Peek in and see 'em."
"Outch!" cried Ruth, holding her hand in sudden pain. "I forgot that that pan was hot, and started to pull it out to see better! I'm a perfect idiot! I do that every time I have anything in the oven!"
"That's a shame, Ruth, dear! Here, apply a little of this olive oil! It's the nearest remedy I have. Vaseline is good, too, or baking soda. Hold it with the damp cloth to keep out the air."
"It feels better already," said Ruth. "I made some gingerbread last evening for dinner—Fred was there—and burned my hand in the same way exactly. And even at such a cost the gingerbread wasn't very good. I think I didn't bake it quite long enough. How long ought it to be in the oven?"
"Well, gingerbread takes longer than most quick-breads. Here, let me give you my time-guide for baking, and you can keep it in your card-index. Then it's always at hand when you want to refer to it."
"Thank you, that's a good idea, Bettina. May I sit down here at the kitchen table and copy it?"
"Do, I'll get you a pencil and a piece of paper. Ruth, won't you stay to dinner tonight?"
"I can't possibly, Bettina. I am going out with mother, and should be at home now dressing. Oh, by the way, I had a chance to refer last night to something you made me copy and put with my recipe cards. 'How to Remove Grass Stains'! I got it on my white dress—a dreadful looking stain—and immediately referred to my card-index. It said, 'Moisten with alcohol or camphor, allow to stand five minutes, and wash out with clear water.' The stain came out like magic! I used camphor; we didn't happen to have any alcohol in the house."
"I'm so glad it came out; that is such a pretty white dress. And weren't you glad you knew just where to find a remedy? It seems a little trouble to index things, but it is really worth doing."
"I think so, too. Well, there's Bob, and I must rush off. Bob, you're going to have a good dinner tonight! I've just been investigating!"
Bob had:
Pork Chops Escalloped Potatoes
Baked Apples
Bread Butter
Fresh Pears
Tea
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Baked Apples
4 apples
8 T-sugar
½ C-water
½ t-cinnamon
2 T-butter
Select apples of uniform size. Wash and core. Place in a pan, cover the bottom with water. Fill each cavity with sugar, a dash of powdered cinnamon and a tiny lump of butter. Bake for thirty minutes, basting occasionally. Serve around the platter of pork chops.
Bettina's Time-Guide for Baking Quick Breads
Pop-overs—Thirty minutes in a hot oven.
Baking-powder biscuits—Ten to fifteen minutes in a hot oven.
Corn bread—Twenty-five to forty minutes in a moderate oven.
Muffins—Twenty to twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven.
Gingerbread—Thirty to forty-five minutes in a slow oven.
CHAPTER XXXI
BOB AND BETTINA ALONE
"WHY, Bob, look at the front of your Palm Beach suit!" exclaimed Bettina, after she had greeted Bob at the door. "What in the world have you been doing?"
"Pretty bad; isn't it!" said he, ruefully. "Frank Dixon brought me home in his car, and he had some sort of engine trouble. We worked on it for awhile, but couldn't fix it, so he phoned the garage and I came home on the street car. I must have rubbed up against some grease. Do you suppose my clothes are spoiled?"
"No-o," said Bettina, slowly, "not if I get at them. Let me see; what is it that takes out auto grease? Oh, I know! Bob, you go and change your clothes right away while I'm cooking the meat for dinner. Then I'll doctor these."
"What will you do to them?"
"I'll rub them with lard, and let it stay on them for about an hour. Then after dinner I'll wash them out in warm water and soap, and then—well, Bob, I believe they'll be all as good as new."
"I thank you, Mrs. Bettina."
When Bob returned and Bettina was putting the dinner on the table, she smiled to herself over a new idea that had popped into her head.
"Bob, what would you think if I should enter some of my nut-bread at the state fair?"
"Well, is that what you've been smiling at all this time? I think it would be fine. If I were judge you'd get first prize in a minute! Say, strikes me this is a pretty good dinner!"
It consisted of:
Ham Mashed Potatoes
Escalloped Onions
Rolls Butter
Dutch Apple Cake Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Ham (Three portions)
2/3 lb. ham
2 T-water
Wipe a slice of ham (one-third of an inch thick) and remove the rind. Place in a hot frying-pan. Add the water. Cook until brown on both sides (about fifteen minutes).
Escalloped Onions (Two portions)
1 C-cooked onions
½ C-vegetable white sauce
3 T-fresh bread crumbs
2 T-butter
Mix the onions with the white sauce and pour into a buttered baking dish. Melt the butter and add the fresh bread crumbs. Place the buttered crumbs on top of the onions. Brown the mixture in the oven (about fifteen minutes).
Dutch Apple Cake (Two portions)
1 C-flour
¼ t-salt
2 t-baking powder
1 T-butter
1 egg well beaten
1/3 C-milk
1 sour apple
2 T-sugar
½ t-cinnamon
Mix flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in the butter. Add the milk and egg. Mix well. Spread one-half an inch thick in a shallow pan. Pare and cut the apples in lengthwise sections. Lay in rows in the dough with the sharp edges pressed lightly into the dough. Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. Bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven. Serve with lemon sauce.
Lemon Sauce (Two portions)
½ C-sugar
1/8 t-salt
1 t-flour
1 C-water
1 t-butter
2 T-lemon juice
Mix the sugar, salt and flour well. Add the water slowly. Cook seven minutes. Add the butter and lemon juice. Serve hot.
CHAPTER XXXII
BETTINA ATTENDS A MORNING WEDDING
"HOW lovely!" Bettina whispered to Bob after the beautiful ceremony had taken place in the rustic grape arbor. "How like Cousin Kate this is! But I had no idea that Frances planned to be married out of doors, had you?"
"She told me that they were hoping for fair weather, but weren't counting on it."
"And this is a regular golden day; isn't it! What a time to remember! Bob, look at Cousin Kate's flowers! A natural altar, without decoration! Poppies, sweet-peas, nasturtiums, cosmos, more kinds than I can count! It's a little earlier than they usually have weddings, too; isn't nine-thirty early?"
"Yes, but Frances thought that this would be the prettiest time for it, and you know they aren't at all conventional."
"What are you two gossiping about?" shouted big Cousin Charles in Bettina's ear: "don't you see enough of each other at home without avoiding the rest of us at a time like this? Go and kiss the bride and congratulate the groom as soon as you can get to them. Fanny wants to see you particularly, Bettina. Breakfast is to be served on the porch; don't forget that you two are to be at the bride's table!"
The wide porch looked very charming. Each table seated four, except the one for the bridal party and near relatives, which was in the center, surrounded by the others. On each table was a basket of pink sweet-peas and trailing greenery. Each simple white place-card held a flower or two, slipped through two parallel cuts across the corner. Frances was seated at the groom's left, and at her left sat her new brother-in-law, who was the best man. Next to him was the minister's wife, then jolly Cousin Charles, the bride's father, then the groom's mother. At the right of the groom sat Anne, Fanny's sister, who was maid-of-honor; and next to her sat the clergyman. Then came the bride's mother and the groom's father. Beyond him sat Bettina, then Bettina's cousin Harry, then Aunt Nell and Bob. That was all, for there were few near relatives and Bettina's father and mother were in California.
"Frances looks well; doesn't she?" said Aunt Nell to Bettina. "No showers, no parties or excitement, and you can see how simple the wedding has been. Cousin Kate is so sensible, and so is Frances. I can tell you already that the breakfast menu will be dainty and delicious, but simple."
She was right, for it consisted of:
Watermelon Cubes
(Served in Sherbet Glasses)
Fried Spring Chicken New Potatoes
Creamed Peas
Hot Rolls Butter
Currant Jelly Peach Ice Cream
Bride's Cake Coffee
Nuts Candy
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Fried Chicken
1 2½-lb. chicken
4 T-flour
2 t-salt
½ t-paprika
4 T-fat (lard and butter)
2 T-water
To Prepare the Chicken for Serving and Cooking
Cut the legs from the body, break the joint at the thigh and cut in two. Cut off the neck and wings. Break the breastbone and cut in two lengthwise. Break the back in two pieces lengthwise, if desired. Plunge the pieces into cold water and allow to drain. Sprinkle each piece with salt and paprika, and roll in flour. Place the fat in a frying-pan. When very hot add the chicken. Allow all the pieces to brown thoroughly; cover the pan with a lid and add the water, lower the fire and cook over a moderate fire for thirty minutes. Turn frequently to prevent scorching.
Gravy (Six portions)
3 T-fat from frying-pan
1 T-butter
6 T-flour
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika
1½ C-milk
1 t-parsley chopped
Loosen the pieces of chicken which have stuck to the frying-pan, add the butter, stir constantly until the butter "bubbles," add the flour, salt and paprika. Mix thoroughly. Add the milk slowly, cook for two minutes, add the chopped parsley and pour the gravy into a gravy bowl for serving.
Bride's Cake (Thirty pieces)
1½ C-sugar
½ C-butter
2½ C-flour
1/8 t-salt
2/3 C-milk
3 t-baking powder
¼ t-cream of tartar
½ t-almond extract
1 t-vanilla
4 egg-whites
Cream the butter, add the sugar and continue creaming the mixture. Mix and sift three times the flour, salt, baking powder and cream of tartar. Add these dry ingredients alternately with the milk to the first mixture. Add the almond and vanilla extracts. Beat two minutes. Cut and fold in the egg-whites which have been stiffly beaten. Pour the cake batter into a large, round loaf cake pan, having a hole in the center. Bake forty-five minutes in a moderate oven. When the cake is removed from the oven, allow it to stand in a warm place for five minutes, then with a spatula and a sharp knife, carefully loosen the cake from the sides, and turn out onto a cake cooler. When cool, cover with White Mountain Cream Icing.
Suggestions for Serving the Bride's Cake
The Bride's Cake may be baked in this form and placed in the center of the table for the central decoration. A tall, slender vase, filled with the flowers used in decorating, may be placed in the hole in the cake. Place the cake upon a pasteboard box four inches high and one inch wider than the cake. This gives space to decorate around the cake. The cake and box may be placed on a reflector, which gives a very pretty effect. If cake boxes containing wedding cakes are distributed among the guests as favors, use the one in the round pan for central decoration and bake others in square pan. Square pieces may then be cut, wrapped in waxed paper, and placed in the boxes.
CHAPTER XXXIII
AFTER THE "TEA"
"DOESN'T it bore you to think of cooking when you've been out all afternoon?" asked Mrs. Dixon, wearily. "And today the refreshments were so elaborate and everything was so stiff and tiresome!"
"I usually anticipate feeling this way," said Bettina, "and plan to have something at home that is already prepared, and that I can get together without much trouble. Then I put on a house dress as quickly as I can, for I can't bear to cook in party clothes. But I'm sure I don't know what I am going to have for dinner tonight. Bob and I had planned to go downtown to dinner with some friends, but just before I went out this afternoon he phoned that the invitation had been withdrawn because of somebody's illness."
"Goodness!" cried Mrs. Dixon, "what will you do? Go downtown yourselves?"
"No; Bob doesn't enjoy that, and neither do I. I can manage somehow, for of course there are always things in the house to get. I'll tell you. I'll phone Bob to bring Mr. Dixon here, and you can see what an emergency supper is like."
"Oh, I couldn't think of it! You're tired, and it's nearly six now!"
"Well, what of that? You can help. And I know you're dreading to get dinner at home. We'll just combine forces."
Bettina went to the telephone and called Bob. "Hello, dear! Please bring Mr. Dixon home to dinner with you; Charlotte is going to stay. And if you come in his car, will you stop on the way and get a watermelon that has been on ice? Be sure it's cold!"
"And now," she said to Mrs. Dixon, "let me get into a house-dress, and then for a sight of the refrigerator."
"Oh, what beautiful glazed apples!" exclaimed Mrs. Dixon ten minutes later.
"They were to have been for breakfast, but I'll have them for dinner instead. Then there are enough cold boiled potatoes for creamed potatoes; and, besides that, we'll have an omelet. And then I'll stir up some emergency biscuit——"
"And you can explain everything that you do!"
"Well, for the omelet—we'll take four good-sized eggs—one for each of us——"
"What else goes in? Milk?"
"No, I think that hot water makes a more tender omelet. Then I'll use a few grains of baking powder to assist in holding it up, though that isn't necessary. We'll beat the yolks and whites separately till they're very light. Goodness! There come the men!"
"Here's your watermelon, Bettina!" called Bob. "A big fellow! Don't forget to save the rind for pickles, will you? Why, hello, Mrs. Dixon! Frank's here!"
The menu that night consisted of:
Omelet Creamed Potatoes
Glazed Apples
Emergency Biscuit Butter
Watermelon
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Omelet (Four portions)
4 eggs
4 T-hot water
½ t-salt
1/8 t-pepper
1 T-butter
a little parsley
Beat the yolks until thick and lemon colored. Add hot water (one tablespoonful to an egg), salt and pepper. Beat the whites till stiff and dry. Cut and fold into the first mixture. Heat the omelet pan, add the butter, turn the pan so that the melted butter covers the sides and bottom of the pan. Turn in the mixture, spread evenly, turn down the fire and allow the omelet to cook slowly. Turn the pan so that the omelet will brown evenly. When well puffed and delicately browned underneath, place the pan on the center shelf in a moderate oven to finish cooking the top of the omelet. Crease across center with knife and fold over very carefully. Allow to remain a moment in pan. Turn gently with a spatula onto a hot platter. Garnish with parsley. An omelet is sufficiently cooked when it is firm to the touch when pressed by the finger.
Creamed Potatoes (Four portions)
2 C-cold diced potatoes
1 T-chopped parsley
1 T-chopped pimento
½ t-salt
1/8 t-paprika
1 C-vegetable white sauce
Add the potatoes, sprinkled with salt and pepper, to vegetable white sauce. Add pimento and parsley. Cook three minutes, stirring constantly.
Emergency Biscuit
2 C-flour
4 t-baking powder
½ t-salt
3 T-fat (lard and butter)
7/8 C-milk
Mix the dry ingredients and cut in the fat. Add the milk, mixing with a knife. Drop by spoonfuls on a buttered pan, placing one inch apart. Bake twelve minutes in a hot oven.
Glazed Apples (Six portions)
6 apples
1½ C-"C" sugar
1½ C-water
1 t-butter
Boil the sugar and water six minutes in a deep saucepan. Do not stir. Pare and core the apples. Place them in the syrup as soon as pared, to prevent them from discoloring. Cook until apples are tender. Remove the apples from the syrup and boil the sugar and water longer if it is not thick enough. Add the butter to the syrup and pour in and around the apples. Serve hot or cold. Granulated sugar may be used, but "C" sugar gives a better flavor.
CHAPTER XXXIV
BETTINA GIVES A PORCH BREAKFAST
BETTINA had risen early that beautiful July morning, for she had much to do. Bob had insisted upon helping her, and at eight, Ruth was coming.
"Such a simple breakfast after all, Bob! Do you think she'll like it?"
"Sure she will! If she doesn't I'll disown her! Say, Bettina, I haven't had my breakfast yet, and ten o'clock sounds far away. May I have just one doughnut with my coffee?"
"Why, Bobby, Bobby! Did I forget you? Your Aunt Elizabeth and the whole suffrage cause is on my mind this morning, but I didn't think even that could make me forget you. Help yourself to anything you see that looks good!"
The Aunt Elizabeth on Bettina's mind was an aunt of Bob's who was to be in town between nine and twelve, in conference with some of the leading suffragists of the city. She wished to see the bungalow, and at ten o'clock Bettina was giving a breakfast for her and the women with whom she was to confer. It was with fear and trepidation that Bettina had invited them, although she declared to herself that she was sure, sure, sure, of every dish on the menu!
As she arranged the great graceful yellow poppies in the center of the porch table, set for six, she was feeling somewhat nervous.
"Bob, you must go now, or you'll be too late for the train. Take a taxi home, not a street car."
"Taxi! You don't know my Aunt Elizabeth. She'd say, 'Say, young man, if you aren't saving your money any better than this, you ought to be.' And we'd probably end by walking."
"Hurry, dear."
The train proved to be late, and Ruth and Bettina were ready to the last detail. While beautiful, distinguished-looking Aunt Elizabeth was dressing, Bettina was meeting guests at the door. Before she realized it, she had introduced everybody to the guest of honor, and was ushering them out to her charming porch table.
"Oh, Ruth," she said in the kitchen, "isn't my Aunt Elizabeth lovely? I'll say 'mine' now, not Bob's. I was in such a hurry that I forgot to be frightened."
The breakfast consisted of:
Moulded Cereal on Bananas Whipped Cream
Codfish Balls Egg Soufflé
Green Peas
Twin Mountain Muffins Jelly
Doughnuts Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Codfish Balls (Four portions)
1 C-raw salt fish
2 C-raw potatoes
1 t-butter
½ C-cracker crumbs
1 egg, well-beaten
¼ t-pepper
more salt if needed
1 T-water
Shred the fish. Pare and quarter potatoes. Place the fish and potatoes in a stewpan and cover with boiling water. Boil twenty-five minutes or till the potatoes are soft. Do not boil too long or they will become soggy. Drain well, mash and beat until light. Add butter, seasoning and egg. Shape, roll in crumbs, egg mixed with water, more crumbs, and fry in deep fat. These may be shaped into flat cakes, rolled in flour and sautéd in hot fat. Garnish with parsley.
Egg Soufflé (Four portions)
2 T-butter
2 T-flour
2 C-milk
4 eggs
1 t-salt
a pinch of cayenne or ¼ t-paprika
1 C-white sauce
2/3 C-cooked peas
Melt the butter, add the flour and gradually add the milk. Cook three minutes, add seasoning and the well-beaten yolks. Fold in the beaten whites and turn into buttered moulds. Set in a pan of hot water and bake in a slow oven until firm (about twenty-five minutes). Serve with a white sauce, highly seasoned, to which has been added one cup of cooked peas. Pour the sauce around the soufflé.
Potato Doughnuts (Three dozen doughnuts)
1 C-mashed potatoes, hot
1½ C-sugar
2 T-melted butter
3 t-baking powder
½ t-salt
½ C-sweet milk
2 eggs
3 C-flour
1/8 t-grated nutmeg
½ t-powdered cinnamon
Beat the eggs, add the sugar. Mash the potatoes and add the butter and the milk. Add this mixture to the eggs and sugar. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon sifted together. Roll one-fourth of an inch thick, cut with a doughnut cutter, and fry in hot deep fat.
CHAPTER XXXV
A PIECE OF NEWS
AS Bettina was putting the finishing touches on her porch table, set for dinner, and humming a little song as she tried the effect of some ragged robins in a mist of candy-tuft, all in a brass bowl, she heard a murmur of voices at her front door.
"I'll tell just Betty; no one else must know—yet. But what if I haven't the courage to tell even her?"
"Perhaps she'll suspect anyhow!"
"Goodness, Harry! You make me afraid to go in! Is my expression different?"
The answer was not audible to Bettina, though she was sure that she heard whispers and a little suppressed laughter. Certainly it had sounded like Alice's voice! What? Could Mr. Harrison be with her? For a moment Bettina stood stock still, feeling like an eavesdropper. Then she let out a gasp of amazement. "Well!" was all she said, and sat down to think. When the door-bell rang, she could not at first gain the composure necessary to answer it.
"Why, how are you, Alice? I haven't seen you for ages! And Mr. Harrison! Do come in; you must stay to dinner, for you're just in time. Bob will be home any minute."
"Oh, we couldn't stay!" answered Alice. "Har—Mr. Harrison and I were walking home from town, and when we came to this house, we couldn't help stopping to say 'hello.'"
Bettina was conscious of a strained feeling in the air, which made her want to giggle—or shake Alice. After all, she couldn't help overhearing! And yet she might be mistaken! She found herself saying—she scarcely knew what—to keep up the conversation.
"Do stay! We have a funny little dinner tonight, but I believe you'll like it. Bob had been rather over-worked at the office lately—and I tried today to think of some of his favorite dishes for dinner. I wanted to have a jolly little meal to take his mind off his worries. And it would help a lot if he could see you two people. Do stay! Do you care for blueberry tarts, Mr. Harrison? Well, that's to be our dessert!"
"My, that sounds fine!" said Mr. Harrison. "Couldn't we stay, after all?" he asked, turning to Alice.
"Well, if you really, truly want us," said Alice to Bettina.
"Why, of course I do! I'm delighted to see you! I think we're fortunate. Mr. Harrison, you are usually so busy that we scarcely dare invite you!"
"I suppose I ought to be at work today, but I'm taking a little holiday. I couldn't put my mind on business."
He was actually blushing, Bettina thought. Suddenly she found Alice's arms around her and Alice's laughing face hidden on her shoulder. "Don't, Harry! Let me be the one to tell her!"
And so Bob found them, all laughing and talking at once.
"Hurrah!" said he when he heard the news. "The best possible idea! Is dinner ready, Bettina? Get out some grape juice and we'll drink to the health and future happiness of Alice and Harry! I'm the man that made this match!"
Dinner that night consisted of:
Fish a la Bettina Rice Cakes
Stuffed Tomato Salad
Rolls Butter
Iced Grape Juice Blueberry Tarts
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Fish a la Bettina (Four portions)
1 C-medium white sauce
11/3 C-cooked fish
2 T-chopped pimento
2 T-chopped sweet pickle
½ t-paprika
Mix ingredients in order given, heat and serve on wafers.
Rice Cakes (Four portions)
1½ C-boiled rice
½ t-salt
1 egg yolk
6 T-crumbs
4 T-fat (lard and butter mixed)
Mix the rice and salt with the egg. Shape into flat cakes, two and a half inches in diameter and one-half an inch thick. Roll in bread crumbs and sauté in hot fat until brown on both sides. (About eight minutes.) If the egg does not sufficiently moisten the rice, add one tablespoon of milk.
Stuffed Tomato Salad (Four portions)
4 tomatoes
1 C-chopped cabbage
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
4 T-salad dressing
Stuff fresh tomatoes with cabbage, seasoned, and mixed with salad dressing. Arrange the tomatoes on lettuce leaves and place one tablespoon salad dressing on the top. Add a small piece of green pepper or a sprig of parsley to the salad dressing.
Blueberry Tarts (Four portions)
Fill muffin pans with plain pastry. Place two tablespoons of mixture on each crust. Cover with pastry strips and bake twenty minutes.
Blueberry Mixture
½ C-blueberries
¼ C-sugar
1 T-butter
1 T-vinegar
1 t-cinnamon
Mix the berries, sugar, butter cut in small pieces, vinegar and cinnamon. Cook, stirring constantly, over a moderate fire for three minutes.
CHAPTER XXXVI
BETTINA ENTERTAINS HER FATHER AND MOTHER
"WE had no such steak as this in California!" declared Bettina's father with satisfaction, as Bob served him a second helping.
"But then," said Bettina's mother, "did you find anything in California that you thought equalled anything in your own state? Father never does," said she, laughing. "He seems to enjoy traveling because it makes him feel that his own home is superior to every other place on earth. And it is," she agreed, looking about her happily. "I can say that after a summer spent in California, I'm more than thankful to be back again."
"I was afraid that you and father would be so anxious to open up the house that you wouldn't agree to come here for your first meal."
"Of course we're anxious to get home," said Mother, "but after you wrote Father that if he would come here to dinner tonight you would have a steak cooked just to suit him, he was as eager as a boy to get here."
"Well, who wouldn't look forward to it, after a summer spent in hotels?" said Father. "And I must say that Bettina's dinner justifies my eagerness. It's exactly right—steak and all."
"Now for dessert!" said Bob. "This coffee that I've been making in the percolator is all ready, Bettina!"
For dinner that night they had:
Pan-broiled Sirloin Steak Mashed Potatoes
Carrots
Head Lettuce Thousand Island Dressing
Sliced Bananas Quick Cake
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Pan-Broiled Steak (Six portions)
2 lb. sirloin steak an inch and a half thick
1 T-butter
½ t-salt
1 T-parsley
1 T-lemon juice
Wipe the meat with a damp cloth. Have a tin pan sizzling hot. Place the meat in the pan and cook directly under the broiling flame. Turn frequently with spoons, as a fork will pierce the meat and allow the juices to escape. A steak an inch and a half thick should be cooked from eight to ten minutes. Place the steak on a hot platter. Sprinkle with salt, lemon juice and parsley. Dot with butter. Serve very hot.
Gravy (Six portions)
2 T-drippings from the steak
2 T-flour
½ C-water
½ C-milk
¼ t-salt
Pour the drippings from the steak into a pan, add flour and mix well. Allow the flour to brown, add water and milk very slowly to the flour and drippings. Add the salt and allow to cook until the gravy thickens. If there are not two tablespoons of drippings, add sufficient butter to equal the amount.
Carrots (Six portions)
6 medium-sized carrots
2 T-butter
½ t-salt
¼ t-pepper
Wash and scrape the carrots, cut into two-thirds inch cubes and cook until tender in enough boiling water to cover. (About fifteen minutes.) Drain, add the butter, salt and pepper. Heat thoroughly and serve. Carrots may be scraped and steamed whole or cooked whole in boiling water.
Quick Cake (Sixteen pieces)
1/3 C-butter
1½ C-brown sugar
1 egg
½ C-milk
¼ t-salt
12/3 C-flour
3 t-baking powder
1 t-cinnamon
½ t-nutmeg
8 dates, cut fine
Cream the butter, add the sugar and mix well. Add the egg and milk, salt, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and dates. Beat for two minutes. Bake in a well-buttered loaf cake pan for thirty-five minutes.
Icing
1 egg white
2 T-cold water
¾ C-powdered sugar
½ t-vanilla
Beat the egg white until very stiff; add water and sugar gradually. Beat thoroughly and add the flavoring. Beat until it will stand alone, then spread on cake. More sugar may be added if necessary.
Thousand Island Salad Dressing (Six portions)
½ C-olive oil
juice of half a lemon
juice of half an orange
1 t-onion juice
¼ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
1 t-Worcestershire sauce
¼ t-mustard
1 T-chili sauce
1 T-green pepper cut fine
1 t-chopped parsley
Place all the above ingredients in a pint fruit jar, fit a rubber and top tightly on the jar, shake vigorously until well mixed and creamy, and pour over head lettuce, tomatoes, asparagus, peas, beans or spinach. Serve as a salad.
CHAPTER XXXVII
THE BIG SECRET
"COME in, Alice! Now do say that you'll stay to dinner, for we can talk afterward."
"Well, if you'll take me out into the kitchen where you are working. You see, I have all this to learn, and I'm depending on you to help me."
"Of course I'll help, Alice, but you are so clever about anything that you care to do that I know you'll soon outstrip your teacher. Tell me first, does anyone know the Big Secret yet?"
"Not a soul but Bettina, Bob, and my family. That is what I came to talk about."
"Oh, Alice, I'd love to be the one to give the announcement luncheon, or the breakfast, or whatever you prefer to have it!"
"Would you do it, really? Bettina, I've been longing to have you offer, but it is work and trouble, and I didn't want to suggest it."
"Why, Alice, I just enjoy that kind of work! I'd be flattered to be allowed to have it here. Of course, you know that I can't do anything very elaborate or expensive, but I'm sure that between us we can think up just the prettiest, cleverest way of telling it that any prospective bride ever had!"
"Bettina, my faith is in you!"
"When do you plan to be married?"
"Late in October or early in November, I think. And I'd prefer not to have it announced for a month. You see, I don't want to allow time for too many festivities in between."
"Oh, Alice, if you take my advice, you won't have any showers or parties at all. I know you! If you do allow it, you'll have more excitement than any bride in this town!"
"Well, Harry advises me not to, but oh, Betty, you know how it is! I know so many people, and I do like fun, and then Mother likes to think of me as the center of things. She's afraid that when I am married to Harry I'll become as quiet as he is, and then too, I honestly don't think she'd feel that I was really married without it. You know sister Lillian had lots of excitement and more parties crowded into a day than——"
"Yes, and she was so tired that she nearly fainted when she stood up to be married!"
"That's true, but she liked the fun, anyhow. She says that a girl can have that kind of fun only once, and she's silly to deny herself. Well, I'll have a whole month to think it over in. I've been sitting here all this time, Bettina, trying to decide what it is that you are making—those croquettes, I mean."
"They are potato and green corn croquettes, and Bob is very fond of them. I made them because I happened to have some left-over corn. Until I learned this recipe, I didn't know what to do with the ears of cooked green corn that were left."
"And what is the meat dish?"
"Well, that is made of left-overs, too, but I think you'll like it. Creole Lamb, it is called. It is made of a little cold cooked lamb that was left from last night's dinner. The rhubarb sauce that I am serving with the dinner was our dessert last night. But I do have a very good new dessert!"
"New or not, the dinner does sound good. There is Bob, now, and I'm so glad, for I confess that my appetite is even larger than usual!"
The menu that night was as follows:
Creole Lamb
Potato and Green Corn Croquettes
Rhubarb Sauce
Bread Butter
Head Lettuce French Dressing
Lemon Pie Cheese
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Creole Lamb (Three portions)
1 T-butter
1 T-chopped green pepper
½ T-onion, chopped
1 T-flour
¼ C-meat stock or water
¼ C-tomato pulp
½ t-lemon juice
½ t-salt
1/3 t-horseradish
½ C-cold cooked lamb, cut in cubes
3 pieces of toast
Melt the butter, add pepper and onion. Cook two minutes and add flour, stock, pulp, lemon juice, salt and horseradish. Boil two minutes, stirring constantly. Add the lamb. Heat thoroughly, and serve on toast strips.
Potato and Green Corn Croquettes (Three portions)
1 C-hot mashed potatoes
1 C-green corn pulp, cooked with
1 T-butter
½ t-salt
½ t-pepper
1 egg yolk
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Shape into cylindrical form, roll in bread crumbs, dip in beaten egg, roll again in crumbs. Deep fry. The egg yolks for croquettes may have a tablespoon of water added for each yolk. The whites as well as the yolks may be used for covering the croquettes. To get the corn pulp, cut the kernels lengthwise of the rows, and press out the pulp with the back of the knife. This recipe is good for left-over corn.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
AFTER THE CIRCUS
"THERE is nothing so exciting as a circus," said Ruth, "but oh, how comfortable and peaceful it seems to get away at last from the crowds and the noise! How quiet and cool this porch is, Bettina. In two minutes I'll get up and help you with dinner, but you made a mistake to put such a comfortable chair here in this particular spot."
"Ruth, stay just where you are! This meal is supper, not dinner, and it will be ready in the shortest possible time. Where are the men?"
"Going over the plans of our house, I suppose. Fred has worn them almost in pieces by exhibiting them so often. There seem to be a great many details to settle at the last minute. As for me, I'm perfectly satisfied, for I'm going to have a kitchen exactly like yours. Bettina, what lovely nasturtiums, and how delicious that cold sliced ham looks with more nasturtiums to garnish it!"
"Yes, and I have nasturtium leaves lining the salad bowl—and see, I'll put one large flower on each plate!"
"Don't nasturtiums always seem cool and appetizing? The whole supper looks that way!"
"Well, circus day is almost invariably warm, and people are tired when they come home, so I planned to have a cold and simple meal."
"Isn't boiled ham hard to prepare?"
"No, indeed, nothing could be simpler. I bought a half of a ham—I like a piece cut from the large end—and I soaked it for an hour in cold water. Then I brought it to a boil in fresh cold water and a little vinegar, and transferred it to the fireless cooker for five hours. Then I baked it for an hour in the cooker, having first trimmed it, and covered it with brown sugar and almost as many cloves as I could stick into it. It is very tender and good, I think—one of the best of my fireless cooker recipes."
"I am planning to have a fireless cooker when I keep house."
"That is fine, Ruth! You have no idea how they save both gas and worry. Some day I'll give you all of my best fireless recipes; I use my cooker a great deal. For instance, this brown bread was steamed in the cooker. A fireless is invaluable for steaming. I usually plan to have Boston Brown Bread, Tuna or Salmon Loaf and a pudding all steaming in the large compartment at once. Then I've learned to bake beautiful beans in the cooker! I wonder what our grandmothers think of Boston Baked Beans and Boston Brown Bread all made in the fireless! I'm sure I could prove to any of them that my way is just as good, besides being much cooler and more economical! Well, shall we call Fred and Bob?"
The circus day supper consisted of:
Cold Sliced Ham
Boston Brown Bread Butter
Blackberries Cream
Spiced Cake
Iced Tea Sliced Lemon
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Spiced Cake (Sixteen pieces)
1/3 C-butter
1 C-sugar
2 egg yolks
2/3 C-sour milk
1½ t-cinnamon
¼ t-ground cloves
¼ t-mace
1 t-soda
2 C-flour
1 egg white
1 t-vanilla
Cream the butter, add the sugar and egg yolks. Mix well. Mix and sift all dry ingredients. Sift and add alternately with sour milk. Add vanilla and stiffly beaten egg white. Bake in a loaf cake pan, prepared with waxed paper, in a moderate oven for twenty-five minutes. Cover with "C" sugar icing.
"C" Sugar Icing (Sixteen pieces)
1 C-"C" sugar
1/3 C-water
1/8 t-cream of tartar
1 egg white
½ t-vanilla
Mix the sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook until the syrup clicks when a little is dropped in cold water. Do not stir while cooking. Have the mixture boil evenly but not too fast. Pour gently over the beaten white of the egg. Stir and beat briskly until creamy. Add vanilla. Place on the cake. If too hard, add a tablespoon of water.
CHAPTER XXXIX
MRS. DIXON ASKS QUESTIONS
"I HAD resolved," said Mrs. Dixon, at Bettina's dinner-table, "not to accept another invitation to come here until you people had eaten again at our house. But your invitations are just too alluring for me to resist, and your cooking is so much better than mine, and I always learn so much that—well—here we are! For instance, I feel that I am about to learn something this very minute! (Now, Frank, please don't scold me if I talk about the food!) Bettina, how did you ever dare to cook cabbage? It looks delicious and I know it is, but I tried cooking some the other day and the whole house has the cabbage odor in no time. Yours hasn't. Now what magic spell did you lay on this particular cabbage?"
"Let me answer that," said Bob. "I want to show off! Bettina cooked that as she always cooks onions and turnips, in a a large amount of water in an uncovered utensil. Isn't that correct, Bettina? Send me to the head of the class!"
"Yes, you're right. I did boil the cabbage this morning, and of course I have a well-ventilated kitchen, but I don't believe the odor would be noticeable if I had cooked it just before dinner."
"I never used to eat cabbage," said Bob, "but I like Bettina's way of preparing it. She never lets it cook until it gets a bit brown, and so it has a delicate flavor. Most people cook cabbage too long."
"Another question, Teacher. How did you manage to bake these potatoes so that they are so good and mealy? Mine always burst from their skins."
"Well," said Bettina, "I ran the point of the knife around the outside of the potato. This cutting of the skin allows it to swell a little and prevents it from bursting. Then I baked it in a moderate oven. Another thing. I've discovered that it is better not to pierce a potato to find out if it is done. I press it with my fingers, and if it seems soft on the inside, I remove it from the oven and press the skin until it breaks, allowing the steam to escape. If I don't do that, a mealy potato becomes soggy from the quickly condensing steam."
"Oh, Bettina, I'm so glad to know that! I like baked potatoes because I know they are so digestible, but I never can make them like these. Now I won't monopolize the conversation any longer. You men may discuss business, or the war, or anything you choose."
The dinner that night was as follows:
Hamburger Steak Lemon Butter
Baked Potatoes Escalloped Cabbage
Bread Butter
Prune Soufflé
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Hamburger Steak (Six cakes)
1 lb. of beef cut from the round
¼ t-salt
1 t-onion salt or onion juice
1/8 t-pepper
Grind the meat twice and add the seasoning. Shape into cakes two and a half inches in diameter and one inch thick, handling as little as possible. Place on a hot pan and cook under the broiler twelve minutes, turning when brown. Dot with butter and serve hot.
Lemon Butter for the Steak (Four portions)
2 T-butter
½ t-salt
½ T-lemon juice
½ T-minced parsley
¼ t-paprika
Mix in order given and spread on hot meat of any kind, broiled steak, chops or fish.
Baked Potatoes (Four portions)
Select potatoes of a uniform size. Wash thoroughly with a vegetable brush. Run the point of the knife around the outside of the potato. Bake in a moderate oven forty to sixty minutes.
Escalloped Cabbage (Four portions)
2 C-cooked cabbage
1 C-white sauce
1/8 t-paprika
¼ C-bread crumbs
1 T-butter
Remove the outer leaves of a two and a half pound head of cabbage. Cut in half (using but half for dinner). Wash thoroughly and cut in shreds or chop moderately fine. Put in a large kettle of rapidly boiling water. Boil for twenty minutes. Drain well, add one-half a teaspoon salt. Make the white sauce, add the cabbage and paprika, mix well. Place in a buttered baking dish. Cover with buttered crumbs and place in a moderate oven until browned.
Prune Soufflé (Four portions)
¼ lb. prunes
6 T-sugar
1 T-lemon juice or ½ t-lemon extract
2 egg whites
Wash the prunes thoroughly, cover with water, and allow to soak three hours. Cook slowly in the same water until soft. Remove the stones from the prunes, and save the pulp and juice. Add sugar, cook until very thick (about three minutes). Stir constantly. Cool, add the lemon juice. Cut and fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Fill a well-buttered open tin mould half full of the mixture. Place the pan in another pan filled with boiling water. Cook in a slow oven until well raised, firm, and light brown in color (about twenty-five minutes). Serve with the following custard sauce:
Custard Sauce (Four portions)
2 egg yolks
4 T-sugar
1 T-flour
1/8 t-salt
1½ C-milk
½ t-lemon extract
Beat egg yolks until light, in the upper part of a double boiler. Add sugar, flour and salt. Mix well and slowly add the milk. Cook over the lower part of the boiler until thick enough to coat a silver spoon. Beat well, add the extract, and cool.
CHAPTER XL
A TELEGRAM FROM UNCLE ERIC
"WHAT shall I do with this butter, Bettina?" inquired Bob, who was helping to clear off the table after dinner one evening. "Put it in the ice-box?"
"The butter from the table?" asked Bettina. "No, Bob, I keep that left-over butter in a covered dish in the cupboard. You see, there are so many times when I need butter for cake making or cooking, and prefer not to have it very hard. Then I use that cupboard butter. There's the doorbell, Bob. Now who do you suppose that can be?"
"A telegram from Uncle Eric," said Bob, when he returned from the door. "Well, isn't that the limit! He's coming tonight!"
"Tonight!" echoed Bettina.
"Yes, on business. You see, there are so many people in town for the state fair and there are several that he must see. He's a queer old fellow—Uncle Eric is—and he has some queer notions. Doesn't like hotels, or anything but home cooking. He doesn't want anything elaborate, but he's pretty fussy about what he does want. I'm sorry for you, Bettina, but I guess we'll have to make him welcome. He's been pretty good to me, in his funny way, and so I suppose he feels he can descend on us without warning."
"But, Bob—tonight! Why, I'm not ready! I haven't groceries in the house, or anything! And I was planning to give you a cooked cereal for breakfast tomorrow."
"It's too bad, Betty," said Bob sympathetically, "but it seems as if we'll just have to manage some way. Uncle Eric has been good to me, you see. He's an old fogy of a bachelor, but he has a warm heart way down underneath his crusty exterior. And——"
"Don't you worry, Bob," said Bettina heartily. "We will manage. As a rule, I think it's pretty poor taste for anyone to come without warning or an invitation, but maybe Uncle Eric is an exception to all the rules. Tell me about him; do you have time? When does the train get in? Do you have to meet it?"
"I guess I'd better hurry right off now."
"But, Bob, tell me! What must I have for breakfast?"
"Anything but a cereal, Betty! Uncle Eric draws the line at cereals. He has an awful time with his cooks, too. They never suit him."
"Goodness, Bob!" said Betty, in despair. "And I have almost nothing in my cupboard. It's as bare as Mother Hubbard's!"
"Good-bye, dear! I'm off! I know you'll think of some thing."
Bettina smiled hopelessly at the masculine viewpoint, and as soon as Bob had gone she sat down to think, a dish towel in one hand and a spoon in the other.
"Be a sport, Bettina," she murmured to herself. "If Uncle Eric doesn't like his breakfasts, it's his own fault for coming. Get a pencil and paper and plan several cereal-less breakfasts, so that while he is here you will never be at a loss."
Thus fortified by her common sense and what is less common, her sense of humor, Bettina soon evolved the following breakfast menus for Uncle Eric:
(1)
Cantaloupe
French Toast Maple Syrup
Broiled Bacon
Coffee
(2)
Fresh Pears
Creamed Beef on Toast
Coffee
(3)
Cantaloupe
Sweet Milk Griddle Cakes
Syrup
Coffee
(4)
Baked Apples
Broiled Ham Graham Muffins
Coffee
(5)
Fresh Plums
Codfish Balls Twin Mountain Muffins
Coffee
(6)
Cantaloupe
Waffles Syrup
Coffee
(7)
Watermelon
Corn Oysters Syrup
Toast
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
French Toast (Three portions)
6 slices stale bread
2 eggs
¼ t-salt
T-sugar
2/3 C-milk
Beat the eggs slightly, add salt, milk and sugar. Place in a shallow dish. Soak bread in the mixture until soft. Cook on a hot, well-greased griddle, browning on one side and then turning and browning on the other. Serve hot with maple syrup.
Sweet Milk Griddle Cakes (Four portions)
2 C-flour
3 t-baking powder
1 C-milk
1 t-salt
1 egg, well-beaten
Mix the flour, baking powder and salt, add the milk to the well-beaten egg, and pour the liquid slowly into the dry ingredients. Beat thoroughly for one minute. Put a spoonful on a hot, well-greased griddle. When done on one side, turn, and brown on the other. Never turn more than once.
Broiled Bacon (Three portions)
6 slices of bacon
Place bacon slices, which have had the rind removed, on a hot tin pan and set directly under a flame for three minutes. Turn and broil the other side.
Corn Oysters (Three portions)
1/3 C-corn
1/3 C-bread crumbs
1 well-beaten egg
¼ t-salt
1/8 t-pepper
½ t-sugar
Mix the corn, egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and sugar. Shape into cakes two inches in diameter and one-half an inch thick. Grease a griddle or a frying-pan thoroughly, and when very hot, place fritters on the pan. When brown on one side, turn over onto the other side. Serve hot, with syrup.
CHAPTER XLI
BETTINA ENTERTAINS STATE FAIR VISITORS
THE next morning when Bob and Uncle Eric had partaken of a cereal-less breakfast, and Uncle Eric had even complimented the cook, Bettina called her mother on the telephone.
"I was about to call you, Bettina. Won't you go to the fair with us this afternoon? You know Cousin Mabel and the children are here from Ford Center, and Cousin Wilfred may arrive some time this morning."
"You do have your hands full this week, don't you, Mother? Uncle Eric is at home only for breakfast, and I called up to ask if you would all come here to dinner tonight."
"Oh, Bettina! I'm afraid it will be too much work for you, dear!"
"I'll plan a simple meal, Mother; one that I can get together in a hurry. In fact I've already planned it."
"But, in that case, you couldn't go to the fair with us this afternoon, could you? And it's said to be especially good today."
"Why, yes, I could go. I can get the most of my dinner ready this morning. What time would you start?"
"At two, I think. Well, Bettina, we'll come, but you must make the meal simple, for we won't be back till six."
"Don't worry, Mother."
Bettina hastened to make her preparations, and at half after one her house was in order and she was ready to go. Besides, she was comfortably conscious of a well-filled larder—cold fried chicken ready and waiting, cold boiled potatoes to be creamed, green corn to be boiled, peaches to be sliced, and delicious chocolate cookies to delight the hearts of the children.
"It will take only a few moments," she thought as she arranged the nasturtiums on her dining table, "to set the table, cream the potatoes, boil the corn, slice the peaches and make the tea. And I believe it's the sort of a dinner that will suit them."
The dinner for state fair guests consisted of:
Cold Fried Chicken Creamed Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Sliced Peaches Chocolate Cookies
Tea Milk
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Creamed Potatoes as Bettina Served Them (Six portions)
3 C-cold, cooked potatoes, chopped
2 T-butter
3 T-flour
6 T-grated cheese
1½ C-milk
½ t-salt
1/8 t-pepper
Melt the butter, add the flour and seasoning and mix well; gradually add the milk and cheese. Cook until the consistency of vegetable white sauce (about one minute after it boils). Add the potatoes, cook four minutes, stirring constantly, and serve.
Chocolate Cookies (Three dozen)
1 C-sugar
1/3 C-butter
1 egg
¼ C-milk
2 C-flour
½ t-cinnamon
½ t-salt
3 t-baking powder
1 square chocolate
1 t-vanilla
Cream the butter, add the sugar and cream well. Add alternately the sifted flour, salt, baking powder and egg beaten in milk. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla. Turn out on a floured board and roll a small portion at a time to one-fourth of an inch in thickness. Cut with a floured cooky cutter. Place on a buttered, floured pan and bake in a moderate oven until slightly brown. (About ten minutes.)
CHAPTER XLII
UNCLE JOHN AND AUNT LUCY
AS Bettina was standing before a beautiful exhibit of honey in the agricultural building, she was startled by a hand upon her shoulder.
"Gracious, Uncle John!" she exclaimed. "How you frightened me! But I'm so glad to see you! Where is Aunt Lucy?"
"Here, somewhere. You know she took a few prizes herself and is probably hanging around to hear any stray compliments for her butter or preserves."
"Aren't you ashamed, John!" said Aunt Lucy, herself appearing like magic. "I was just looking for the queen bee among the others in this glass case."
"And here she is!" said Uncle John, laying his hand on Bettina's shoulder, and laughing delightedly at his own joke. "You've been looking in the wrong place."
"For that, Uncle John, I'm going to beg you and Aunt Lucy to come home with me to dinner. Won't you? When did you come in?"
"This morning, and we're making a day of it. We'd like to see the fireworks this evening, but perhaps we could go to your house and get back again. For that matter, you and Bob could go with us to see the fireworks. How about it?"
"Oh, that would be splendid! Bob couldn't come to the fair this afternoon, and I came with a friend."
"Well, we'll take you both home in the car. When shall we see you? Five o'clock? Fine! And you and Bob must come back with us this evening."
Dinner that night consisted of:
Broiled Ham
Hashed Brown Potatoes Pickled Beets
Bread Butter
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Hashed Brown Potatoes (Four portions)
2 C-chopped potatoes
½ t-salt
a pinch of pepper
4 T-fat
Put fat in frying-pan, when very hot, add the potatoes, salt and pepper. Cook three minutes, allowing to cook without stirring for two minutes. Fold as an omelet and turn onto a hot platter. Garnish with parsley.
Pickled Beets (Four portions)
6 beets
2/3 C-vinegar
2 T-sugar
Wash the medium-sized beets thoroughly, and cook until tender in boiling water. Drain, cover with cold water and slip off the skins. Slice the beets into one-fourth inch slices. Cover with vinegar and sugar. Allow to stand two hours before using.
Brown Betty (Four portions)
2 C-sliced apples
1 C-fresh bread crumbs
¼ C-brown sugar
1 t-cinnamon
3 T-butter
½ C-water
Mix the apples, all but two tablespoons of the bread crumbs, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and pour into a buttered baking-dish. Pour the water over the whole mixture. Use the remainder of the crumbs and a little melted butter for the top. Bake forty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Serve hot or cold with hard sauce.
Hard Sauce for Brown Betty (Four portions)
4 T-butter
1 C-powdered sugar
½ t-vanilla extract
½ t-lemon extract
1 t-boiling water
Cream the butter, add the boiling water, and the sugar gradually. Stir until the sauce is creamy. Add vanilla and lemon extract. Set in the ice-box to harden. Serve cold.
CHAPTER XLIII
SUNDAY DINNER AT THE DIXON'S
"YOU seem to have gained in weight, Frank," said Bob, as he and Bettina sat down to Sunday dinner with the Dixons.
"And what's more, I've gained in spirits! Say, there's nothing like living in a real home! Why, people, just think of having Charlotte say to me as she did yesterday, 'Frank, Bob and Bettina are coming to dinner to-morrow, and I want you to plan the menu!' And here it is! Excuse me for seeming too proud of my own good judgment and my wife's skill in cookery, but——"
"Hush, Frank! Maybe Bob and Bettina won't like your choice of dishes or your wife's cooking!"
"What!" said Bob. "I have yet to meet the person who doesn't like fried chicken! And roasting ears and new potatoes! Sa-ay!"
"It's a man-size dinner all right, isn't it?" said Mr. Dixon. "You know ever since I was a boy my idea of Sunday dinner (at least in the summer) has been fried chicken with gravy, new potatoes, boiled corn on the cob, and ice cream with sliced peaches! Because ice cream is coming, isn't it, Charlotte? At least I ordered it, and this appears to be my lucky day!"
"Indeed, it is coming," said Mrs. Dixon. "You see, Bettina, ever since I came to keep house (thanks to you) I've longed for the time to come when I could let Frank plan a company meal that I could carry out to the last detail. I have tried all these things before, although not all at the same time. I have always suspected that he would order fried chicken and its accessories (a 'little boy dinner' I called this), so when I told him that he might plan the meal, I knew that I could cook it. You see, I have wanted to invite you and Bob—oh, I've been thinking of it for a long time, but you can cook so well that I thought perhaps you'd rather eat at home!"
"Charlotte, this is a perfect dinner—far better than I could get, I know."
"This salad is an acquired taste with me," put in Mr. Dixon. "In my boyhood, my ideal dinner did not include salad, but Charlotte said there must be one, so this was my choice. I mixed the oil-dressing myself," he added with pride.
"It was a simple dinner to get," said Mrs. Dixon. "But now, Frank, we mustn't boast any more about our own dinner, must we? Bob and Bettina will laugh at us. You see, we're regular children since we took the house, but we do have lots of fun. I wouldn't go back to hotel living for anything in the world!"
"And neither would I," said Frank, "if for no other reason than the joy of entertaining our friends at dinner this way!"
Their Sunday dinner consisted of:
Fried Chicken New Boiled Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Bread Butter
Sliced Cucumber, Tomato and Onion Salad
Oil Dressing
Vanilla Ice Cream with Peaches
White Cake Iced Tea
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Vegetable Salad (Four portions)
2 medium-sized tomatoes
½ cucumber
1 onion
Dressing
4 T-vinegar
2 T-oil
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
Cut the peeled tomatoes and cucumber in one-third inch cubes, mix with the onion chopped fine. Add the dressing, which has been well mixed, and allow to stand ten minutes in a cold place. Serve on head lettuce.
Peaches for Ice Cream (Six portions)
2 C-peaches, sliced
2/3 C-sugar
Add the sugar to the peaches and allow to stand in the ice box for ten minutes. Place peaches around the ice cream.
White Cake (Twenty pieces)
½ C-butter
1½ C-sugar
22/3 C-sifted flour
5 t-baking powder
1/8 t-salt
1 C-milk
4 egg whites, beaten stiffly
1 t-vanilla
½ t-lemon extract
Cream the butter, add the sugar, and continue creaming for two minutes. Alternately add all the dry ingredients and the milk. Beat well. Cut and fold in the egg-whites. Add the flavoring. Bake in two buttered layer-cake pans, twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Cover with "C" sugar icing.
"C" Sugar Icing (Twenty portions)
3 egg whites
3 C-"C" sugar
2/3 C-water
1 t-vanilla
Cook the sugar and water together without stirring until the icing "clicks" in cold water. Remove from the fire and pour very slowly over the stiffly beaten egg-whites. Beat vigorously and continuously until the icing gets thick and creamy. Add the vanilla. Spread on the cake.
Vanilla Ice Cream (Six portions)
1 qt. cream
¾ C-sugar
1 T-vanilla
1/8 t-salt
Mix cream, sugar, vanilla and salt. Place in a scalded and chilled freezer. Turn until the mixture stiffens. Pack for two hours to ripen.
CHAPTER XLIV
A RAINY EVENING AT HOME
"THIS is just the kind of a cold, rainy evening," said Bob as he pushed back his chair, "that makes me feel like making candy."
"Fine!" said Bettina. "What kind shall it be?"
"Penoche, if you have all the ingredients."
"I think I have. Let's see. It's better when it's made partly with 'C' sugar, and I have that. I wonder if there will be enough milk left for breakfast if we use a little! Well, penoche really tastes exactly as good when it is made with water instead, though, of course, it isn't so rich. But then, I think, we do have enough milk."
"First of all, though," said Bob, "we'll wash these dishes. It was a mighty good dinner tonight, Bettina. The nice kind of a hot meal that it seems good to come home to on a night like this."
"It was an oven dinner, Bob. You see, the meat loaf, the escalloped potatoes, and the rice pudding were all in the oven at once. I always try to use the oven for more than one dish if I am using it at all."
"We seem to have eaten all of this tomato sauce," said Bob, as he carried out the dish, "but there is a good deal of meat left. Will you have to make more sauce?"
"No, I planned just enough for one meal. Then, tomorrow, I'll serve the rest of the meat cold without a sauce. How did you like the rice pudding hot as it was tonight? You know I usually serve it cold."
"It tasted very good for a cold evening. There, all these dishes are ready to wash, Bettina. Will you get out some tea towels for me?"
The dinner that night consisted of:
Hot Beef Loaf Tomato Sauce
Escalloped Potatoes
Bread Butter
Rice Pudding
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Beef Loaf (Five portions)
1 lb. beef cut from the round
¼ lb. salt pork
½ t-salt
¼ t-pepper
1/8 t-onion salt
¼ C-cracker or bread crumbs
1 egg yolk
1 T-milk
1 T-butter
Grind the meat well, and mix all the ingredients excepting the butter. Pat into an oblong shape and place in a well-buttered pan. Add three tablespoons of water to the pan, and place the butter in small pieces on the top of the loaf. Cover the pan and bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven.
Tomato Sauce (Three portions)
1 C-tomatoes, cut up
½ C-water
2 bay leaves
1 t-sugar
¼ t-ground cloves
1 slice of onion or
1/8 T-onion salt
2 T-butter
2 T-flour
1/3 t-salt
Simmer for fifteen minutes the tomatoes, water, bay leaves, sugar, cloves and onion. Strain and press out all the pulp. Melt the butter, add the flour, blend well, slowly add the strained tomato and salt. Cook one minute. Serve hot on the meat.
Escalloped Potatoes (Three portions)
4 potatoes (medium sized)
2 T-flour
2 T-butter
1 T-salt
¼ t-pepper
milk (about one cup)
Wash and peel the potatoes. Slice very thin. Mix through the sliced potatoes, the flour, salt, pepper and the butter in small pieces. Place the mixture in a well-buttered pan or baking dish, and cover with milk. Usually one cup suffices. Bake in a moderate oven forty-five to fifty minutes. (Do not fill the pan more than three-fourths full, as the potatoes will boil over.)
Rice Pudding (Three portions)
1¼ C-milk
1 egg
4 T-sugar
¼ t-salt
1 t-vanilla
1 C-cooked rice
1 t-butter
1/8 t-grated nutmeg
Beat the egg, add the sugar, salt, nutmeg, vanilla, and milk. Add the rice. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish and dot over with the butter. Bake in a moderate oven twenty-five minutes. It may be served hot or cold. Cream may be served with it if desired.
Penoche
2 C-"C" sugar
1 C-granulated sugar
1 T-butter
2/3 C-milk
¼ t-cream of tartar
¼ C-nut-meats
1 t-vanilla
Mix the sugar, butter, milk and cream of tartar. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent from scorching, until a soft ball is formed when a little candy is dropped in cold water. Remove from the fire, and do not stir until it is cool. Put back on the stove for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from stove, and beat vigorously until very creamy. Add the nuts and vanilla. When hard and creamy, remove from the pan, patting into shape and kneading until soft and creamy. Place on a buttered pan, patting to the thickness of three-fourths of an inch. Cut into the desired shape.
[157] [158]
SEPTEMBER.
Apple-tree, apple-tree, crowned with delight,
Give me your fruit for a pie if you will;——
Crusty I'll make it, and juicy and light!——
Give me your treasure to mate with my skill!
CHAPTER XLV
RUTH MAKES AN APPLE PIE
"I'LL tell you, Ruth," said Bettina, in answer to some questions, "you come home with me now, and make an apple pie for our dinner! I'll watch and direct you, and perhaps I can show you what made the crust tough on the one you made at home. Do come. I can't promise you an elaborate dinner tonight, for my funds are very low and I must be careful. But I had planned to make an apple pie myself. Bob is so fond of it that no matter what else we may have, an apple pie dinner is a feast to him."
"But goodness, Bettina! I might spoil it!"
"No, you wouldn't, and I would show you just what to do. I suspect that you handled the dough too much before and that was what made the pie seem tough."
"I suppose I did; I was so anxious to have it well mixed."
"Did you use your fingers in mixing in the shortening? I know that many good cooks do it, but it is really better to use a knife, with the blade flat. And then roll the pastry out just as lightly as possible."
"Do you make pastry with lard or butter?"
"I usually make it with an equal amount of each. Lard makes a more tender crust than butter, and a whiter crust, but I think butter gives it a better flavor."
Bettina and Ruth had reached home by this time, and Bettina brought out the materials for Ruth's pie. "I'll give you ice-water to moisten the pastry," said she; "it isn't necessary, but it is really better in the summer time. And while you're mixing in the shortening with this knife, I'll be cooking some eggs hard for eggs a la goldenrod which I am going to give you tonight."
"Eggs a la goldenrod!" exclaimed Ruth, "How good that does sound!"
"It is a very good luncheon-dish, but I find it also good for dinner when I'm not having meat. I think it looks appetizing, too."
"I must learn how to make it. You know Father comes home at noon, and it is hard to think of a variety of luncheon-dishes. I usually have eggs or cheese in some form or other, but 'eggs a la goldenrod,' are new to me."
"We also have cottage-cheese tonight," said Bettina. "I plan to make it about once a week. Ruth, I believe I hear Bob now! Well, he'll have to wait half an hour or more for his dinner!"
That night they had:
Eggs a la Goldenrod Potato Cakes
Strained Honey Cottage Cheese
Bread Butter
Apple Pie Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Eggs a la Goldenrod (Four portions)
3 hard-cooked eggs
3 T-butter
3 T-flour
1½ C-milk
½ t-salt
1/8 t-pepper
1/8 t-parsley
Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add the milk gradually. Cook until a white sauce consistency. Add chopped egg-whites. Pour this mixture over slices of toast arranged on a platter. Force the yolks through a strainer on top of the sauce on the toast. Garnish with parsley and serve hot.
Potato Cakes (Four portions)
2 C-mashed potatoes
1 T-lard
1 T-butter
Form cold seasoned mashed potato into cakes two inches in diameter. Dip the cakes lightly into a little flour. Allow one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon lard to get very hot in a frying-pan. Put in the cakes, brown on each side, and serve.
Cottage Cheese (Four portions)
1 qt. sour milk
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika
1 T-cream
Place thick freshly soured milk over a pan of hot water, not boiling. When the milk is warm and the curds separate from the whey, strain off the whey in a cheese cloth. Put into a bowl, add salt, pepper and cream to taste. Stir lightly with a fork.
Some of Bettina's Pastry Rules
One—All the materials must be cold.
Two—Always roll one way and on one side of the pastry.
Three—Shortening should be handled as little as possible.
Four—Dough should be mixed with a knife and not touched with the hands.
Five—Shortening should be cut in with a knife.
Six—Cook pastry in a hot oven having the greatest heat at the bottom so that it may rise before browning. Crust is done when it slips from the pan.
CHAPTER XLVI
BETTINA MAKES APPLE JELLY
"WHAT have you been doing?" asked Bob, as he and Bettina sat down to dinner.
"Oh, Bob, I've had the nicest day! Mother 'phoned me this morning that Uncle John had brought her several big baskets of apples from the farm, and that if I cared to come over to help, we would put them up together, and I might have half. Well, we made apple jelly, plum and apple jelly, and raspberry and apple jelly. I had made all these before, and knew how good they were, but I learned something new from Mother that has made me feel happy ever since."
"And so you came home, and in your enthusiasm made this fine dandy peach cobbler for dinner!"
"Bob, that was the very way I took to express my joy!"
"Well, what is this wonderful new apple concoction?"
"Perhaps it isn't new, but it was new to me! It is an apple and mint jelly, and I know it will be just the thing to serve with meat this winter."
"How did you make it? (I hope you are noticing how interested I'm becoming in all the cooking processes!)"
"Well, I washed and cut into small pieces four pounds of greening apples. Then I washed and chopped fine one cup of fresh mint, and added it to the apples. I covered the mixture with water, and cooked it all till the apples were so tender that they were falling to pieces. I strained it then, and used three-fourths of a cup of sugar for each cup of juice. I cooked this till the mixture jellied, and then I added four teaspoons of lemon juice and enough green vegetable color paste to give it a delicate color."
"Isn't that coloring matter injurious?"
"Oh, no, Bob! It's exactly as pure as any vegetable, and it gives things such a pretty color. Why, I use it very often, and I'm sure that more people would try it if they knew how successful it is! It is such fun to experiment with. Of course, I never use anything but the vegetable coloring."
"Well, go on with the jelly. What next?"
"That's all, I think. I just poured it into glasses, and there it is, waiting for you to help me carry it home from Mother's. Now, Bob, won't that be good next winter with cold roast beef or cold roast veal? I know it will be just the thing to use with a pork roast!"
"I'm growing very enthusiastic. Sounds fine. But speaking of cooking, this is a mighty good dinner. I like peach cobbler as well as any dessert there is."
"I'm glad you like it. But I forgot to tell you, Bob, that I'm to have all the apples I can use in the fall. Uncle John has promised them to me. Then Mother says we'll make cider. Won't that be fine?"
"I should say it will! Cider and doughnuts and pumpkin pie! Makes me long for fall already! But then, I like green corn and watermelon and peaches, so I suppose I can wait."
That evening Bettina served:
Sliced Beef Loaf
Sautéd Potatoes Creamed Corn
Cinnamon Rolls Butter
Peach Cobbler Cream
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Sautéd Potatoes (Two portions)
2 large potatoes cooked
2 T-lard
½ t-salt
¼ t-pepper
Peel cold boiled potatoes. Put two tablespoons of lard in the frying-pan. When hot, add the potatoes and season well with salt and pepper. Brown thoroughly on all sides. (They should cook about ten minutes.)
Creamed Corn (Two portions)
1 C-corn cut from the cob
½ C-water
1 t-butter
1 T-milk or cream
½ t-sugar
¼ t-salt
Cook the corn and water together very slowly for twenty minutes, or until the water is all cooked out. (Place on an asbestos mat to prevent burning.) Add butter, milk, sugar and salt. Serve hot.
Cinnamon Rolls (Twelve rolls)
2 T-sugar
½ t-salt
1 C-milk (scalded and lukewarm)
1 yeast cake
¼ C-lukewarm water
1½ C-flour
3 T-butter
4 T-sugar
¼ C-butter
½ C-sugar
Mix sugar, salt and scalded milk. When lukewarm, add the yeast cake dissolved in one-fourth of a cup of lukewarm water. Add one and a half cups flour. Cover and set in a warm place to rise. When double in bulk, add the butter (melted), four tablespoons sugar and more flour (enough to knead). Let rise, knead and roll into a sheet half an inch thick, spread with a mixture made by adding melted butter, one and a fourth cups sugar and the cinnamon. Roll up like a jelly roll. Cut in slices three-fourths inch thick. Place in a pan one inch apart, let rise again. Bake in a moderately hot oven twenty-five minutes.
Peach Cobbler (Two portions)
1 C-flour
1 t-baking powder
1/8 t-salt
1 T-butter
¼ C-milk
3 good-sized peaches
1/3 C-sugar
¼ t-vanilla
¼ C-sugar
¼ C-water
Cut the butter into the dry ingredients (baking powder, salt and flour), and add the milk. (The resulting dough should be of biscuit dough consistency.) Peel and slice the peaches, mix well with the sugar (one-third cup) and place on the bottom of a baking dish (not tin.) Place dough shaped to fit on the top of the peaches. Make three holes to allow the steam to escape. Bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven. Boil the sugar and water four minutes. When the cobbler has cooked for twenty minutes, pour the syrup over it and allow to cook ten minutes more. Cream may be served with the cobbler if desired.
CHAPTER XLVII
AFTER A PARK PARTY
"A BEAUTIFUL day," said Bettina at the breakfast table. "September is doing better than August."
"I was just thinking," said Bob, "that it might be fun to get Harry and Alice, and go out to Killkare park this evening. I don't believe you've been on a roller coaster this year."
"It would be fun to go," said Bettina, "although I haven't missed the roller coaster."
"Well, let's ask them to go. We can stay there awhile and then——"
"Then what?"
"Oh, nothing. Then go home."
"Bob, you meant—come here afterward and have a nice little lunch; didn't you?"
"I confess that I thought of that, and then I happened to remember that you were going out this afternoon and wouldn't want to bother with any preparations for a party."
"Going out this afternoon would not worry me at all—it is just that my funds are getting a little low, and I couldn't serve anything expensive. Let me think what I have on hand—yes, I believe I could do it by serving a salad and a dessert out of my own head."
"A Bettina salad? That's the very best kind. And what will the dessert be?"
"A Bettina dessert, too. I have some lovely apples, Bob, and I just can't afford anything very expensive. I know this will be good, too, but you mustn't complain if I have sponge cake to eat with it."
"I should say not, Bettina. Whatever you give us will tickle me, and Alice and Harry are in such a state of blindness that they won't know what they're eating."
That evening they had:
Bettina Salad Boston Brown Bread Sandwiches
Bettina's Apples Sponge Cake
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Bettina Salad (Four portions)
1 C-chopped New York cheese
12 Pimento stuffed olives, chopped
3 sweet pickles, chopped very fine
¼ C-chopped roasted peanuts
¼ t-salt
1/8 t-paprika
4 T-salad dressing
4 pieces of lettuce
Put the cheese through the food chopper or grate it, add the olives chopped, the sweet pickles, peanuts, salt and paprika. Blend well, and form into balls, one inch in diameter. Arrange several on a lettuce leaf. Serve salad dressing with the salad.
Bettina's Apples (Six apples)
6 apples
1 C-"C" sugar
1 C-water
8 marshmallows
½ C-cocoanut shredded
6 cherries
Peel and core the apples. Drop into the sugar and water which has been boiled for ten minutes to form a syrup. Place a lid on the pan and cook the apples until tender. Remove from the syrup and roll in the cocoanut. Add the marshmallows to the syrup (which has been removed from the fire) and allow them to melt. Stir them in the syrup. When the marshmallows are dissolved, stir the mixture to mix the marshmallows with the syrup. Pour around the apple, and fill the hole in the center of the apple. Place a red cherry on the top of each.
Hot Water Sponge Cake (Eight portions)
2 egg-yolks
1 C-sugar
½ C-boiling water
1 T-lemon juice
1 t-grated rind lemon
2 egg-whites
1 C-flour
1 t-baking powder
¼ t-salt
Beat the yolks until thick and lemon colored, add the sugar gradually and beat for two minutes. Add the flour, sifted with the baking powder, and salt. Add the boiling water, lemon juice, and grated rind. Beat with a Dover egg-beater, two minutes. Fold in whites of the eggs. Bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven in an unbuttered pan. Do not cut sponge cake, except through the crust, then break apart.
CHAPTER XLVIII
BETTINA SPILLS THE INK
"WHERE are you, Bettina?" called Bob one September evening when Bettina failed to meet him at the door. "Oh, Bettina!"
"Here I am, Bob, in the kitchen! I'm so ashamed of myself!"
"What for?"
"My carelessness. I just spilled a whole bottle of ink on this new apron of mine! I had begun to get dinner, and as it was a little early, I sat down for a minute to finish a letter to Polly. Then all at once I thought something was burning, and jumped up in such a hurry that I spilled the ink. I ought to have known better than to try to do two things at once! Luckily, the dinner was all right, but look at this apron! And it was such a pretty one!"
"Well, Bettina, I'm always getting ink and auto grease on my clothes, and you seem to keep yours spotless. So it is a surprise to me that it happened. Still, spoiling a new apron may be unfortunate, but I shouldn't call it tragic. Is it really spoiled?"
"No, I think I can fix it up so it will be almost as good as new, but it's a nuisance. See, I'm soaking it in this sour milk. I'll leave it here for four hours, and then apply some more milk for awhile. Then I believe the ink will come out when I rinse it."
"Well, Bettina, I'm glad you didn't spill ink on the dinner. Something smells mighty good!"
They had:
Beef Balls Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Bettina's Celery and Eggs
Cinnamon Rolls Butter
Watermelon
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Beef Balls (Three portions)
1 lb. round steak
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika
1/8 t-celery salt
¼ t-onion salt
Grind round steak, season, shape into round cakes and broil them for seven minutes under the flame. While they are cooking, prepare the horseradish sauce.
Horseradish Sauce (Four portions)
2 T-butter
2 T-flour
1 C-milk
2 T-horseradish
½ t-salt
Melt the butter, add the flour. Mix well, add the milk and cook one minute. Add the salt and the horseradish. Serve immediately.
Mashed Potatoes (Three portions)
4 medium-sized potatoes
1½ T-butter
½ C-milk
½ t-salt
1/8 t-pepper
Cook the potatoes (peeled) in boiling salted water. When done, drain off the water, pass through a vegetable ricer, or mash well with a potato masher. Add butter, salt, pepper, and the milk. Beat vigorously, reheat and pile lightly in a hot dish.
Bettina's Celery and Eggs (Three portions)
1 C-cooked diced celery
2 hard-cooked eggs sliced
2/3 C-vegetable white sauce
1 T-butter
3 T-fresh bread crumbs
Add the sliced hard-cooked eggs and cooked celery to the white sauce. Mix well. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish. Cover with the crumbs which have been mixed with melted butter. Bake in a moderate oven until a delicate brown. (About twenty minutes.)
CHAPTER XLIX
BETTINA ATTENDS A PORCH PARTY
"WELL, what have you been doing today?" asked Bob, after he had finished an account of events at the office.
"I've been away all afternoon, Bob, at the loveliest little porch party at Alice's! You know her porch is beautiful, anyhow, and her party was very informal. She telephoned to five of us this morning, and asked us to come over and bring our sewing; the day was so perfect. She served a delicious little luncheon from her tea cart, very simple but so good! And the beauty of it was that she had made everything herself! She didn't tell the girls, but she whispered it to me. Of course, if she had told the others, she would have given herself away; they are a little suspicious of her now because she is seen everywhere with Harry!"
"He told me he wished they could announce it right away! He doesn't like to make a secret of it."
"It won't be very long now—you know they are to be married in October or November. But, Bob, as I was telling you, Alice did all the cooking for this party herself. Of course, it was simple, but really, I think she is quite wonderful. She has never done anything useful before, but she is so clever, and she has such a 'knack' that it will really be easier for her than for Ruth. And Ruth will work twice as hard. Alice says that she is going to give other little parties this way, and practice on her guests. She says she is determined to do things just as well as anybody else, and now that she is interested, she has a tremendous pride in being a success. You know how high-spirited Alice is. Well, she isn't to be surpassed by anyone in anything she cares to do! Oh, I forgot, Bob, she gave me some cakes to bring to you, and also some salted nuts."
"Hurray for Alice! She's some friend all right! What else did you have at the party?"
"Such good salad—she gave me the recipe—well, her menu consisted of:
Honolulu Salad Graham Bread Sandwiches
Frozen Apricots White Cake
Salted Nuts Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Honolulu Salad (Six portions)
6 slices canned pineapple
½ C-cottage cheese
1 T-chopped pimento
1 t-chopped green pepper
¼ t-salt
6 nut-meat halves
6 pieces of lettuce
6 T-salad dressing
Add the chopped pimento, green pepper and salt to the cottage cheese. Work all together well, shape into balls one inch in diameter. Place a ball in the center of each slice of pineapple, which has been arranged upon a piece of lettuce. Place a nut meat upon the top of each cheese ball. Serve one tablespoon of salad dressing upon each service.
Frozen Apricots (Six portions)
2 C-peeled and quartered apricots
1 C-sugar
2 T-lemon juice
1 C-water
1 egg-white
Cook apricots, sugar and water until the apricots are soft. (About five minutes.) Cool, add the lemon juice and freeze. When the mixture is half frozen, add the stiffly beaten white and continue freezing until stiff. More sugar may be used if desired.
CHAPTER L
A DINNER COOKED IN THE MORNING
"WE'LL treat Uncle Eric so well that he'll have a good time in spite of himself," Bob had said when he had proposed that his gruff old uncle be invited. "I'll take Saturday afternoon off, and we'll go to the matinee, then we'll come home to dinner, and then go again to the theatre in the evening." For a great actor was to be in town, and this was the reason for Uncle Eric's possible visit. "If he'll only come," Bob had added doubtfully.
"He'll come," said Bettina confidently, for she felt that she had discovered the soft spot in Uncle Eric's heart. "We'll have a good dinner, too."
Bob remembered what she had said about the dinner and repeated it to himself as they stepped from the street car after the matinee. "It's late, Bettina," he said anxiously, "will it take you long to get dinner?"
"A very few minutes," answered Bettina. "Just long enough to warm it over."
To warm it over! But then, all of Bettina's dinners were good, so he resolved not to worry. Nevertheless, he could not help leaving Uncle Eric for a few minutes to come into the kitchen. "What can I do to help?"
"Not a thing, Bob dear. You see, I had this whole dinner ready this morning, and I have warmed it all up in the oven. I have discovered that croquettes are exactly as good when fried in the morning, and so are veal cutlets. And wait till you try the cauliflower!"
"I trust you, Bettina," said Bob, laughing. "It all looks mighty good to me. Here, I'll help you put it on the table."
For dinner that night they had:
Veal Cutlets Potato Croquettes
Escalloped Cauliflower
Baked Apples
Bread Butter
Chocolate Ice Cream White Cake
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Veal Cutlets (Three portions)
1 lb. ½-inch slices of veal cut from the leg
1 t-salt
1½ pints of water
1 C-cracker crumbs
¼ t-paprika
1/3 t-salt
1 egg-white or yolk
1 T-water
Hot fat for frying
Wipe the meat, place in one and one-half pints of boiling water, to which has been added one level teaspoon of salt. Boil gently until tender (about thirty minutes). Remove from the water and allow to cool until easy to handle. Remove the bone and skin, and cut into pieces for serving. Mix the paprika, salt (one-third of a teaspoon) and the cracker crumbs. Roll each piece of meat in the crumbs, then in the egg, to which the water has been added, and again in the crumbs. Pat the crumbs onto the meat. Arrange the meat on a platter and allow to stand fifteen minutes. Have sufficient fat in a pan to cover articles of food. When the fat is smoking hot, add the veal cutlets, and turn to cook each side. When a delicate brown (after about five minutes), remove and drain on paper. Keep hot in the oven. Place the veal cutlets on a platter and arrange baked apples around the edges. Serve the potato croquettes on the same platter, garnished with parsley.
Potato Croquettes (Three portions)
1 C-hot mashed or riced potatoes
1/8 t-celery salt
½ t-chopped parsley
1/8 t-onion extract
1 egg-yolk
1 T-milk
1 t-salt
1 T-butter
1/8 t-paprika
3 T-flour
Mix the mashed potatoes, celery salt, parsley, onion extract, egg yolk, milk, salt, butter and paprika. Beat two minutes. Shape into balls two inches in diameter. Roll in flour and allow to stand fifteen minutes. Cook in deep fat three minutes or more until a delicate brown. Drain on brown paper and keep hot in a moderate oven.
Escalloped Cauliflower (Three portions)
1 small head of cauliflower
1 qt. water
1 t-salt
1½ C-vegetable white sauce, seasoned
¼ C-buttered crumbs
Soak the cauliflower in cold water to which a tablespoon of vinegar has been added. Cut apart and cook in a quart of water to which salt has been added. Make white sauce and add the cauliflower. Pour into a well-buttered baking dish. Cover with buttered crumbs. Bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven.
CHAPTER LI
A SUNDAY DINNER
"WE have gone 'over home' for so many Sunday dinners lately," Bettina had said to her mother, "that I want you and father to come here tomorrow."
"But, Bettina," her mother protested, "isn't it too much work for you? And won't you be going to church?"
"I can't go to church tomorrow, anyhow, for Bob's Uncle Eric is to be in town all morning; he leaves at noon, and the Dixons have offered us their car to take him for a drive. Don't worry, Mother, I'll have a simple dinner—a 'roast beef dinner,' I believe. I often think that is the very easiest kind."
Sunday morning was so beautiful that Bettina could not bear to stay indoors. Accordingly, she set the breakfast table on the porch, even though Uncle Eric protested that it was too far for her to walk back and forth with the golden brown waffles she baked for his especial delight. When he and Bob had eaten two "batches," Uncle Eric insisted that he could bake them himself for a while. He installed Bettina in her chair at the table, and forced waffles upon her till she begged for mercy.
"Gracious!" Bettina exclaimed as she heard the "honk" of the Dixons' automobile at the door. "There are the Dixons already and we have just finished breakfast! Bob, you and Uncle Eric will have to go on without me, for I must get the roast in the oven and do the morning's work."
"Well, I learned today to make waffles," said Uncle Eric.
For dinner that day Bettina served:
Roast Beef Brown Gravy
Browned Potatoes Baked Squash
Lettuce French Dressing
Lemon Sherbet Devil's Food Cake
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Roast Beef (Eight portions)
3½ lb. rump roast of beef
4 T-flour
2 t-salt
¼ C-hot water
Roll the roast in the flour and set on a rack in a dripping-pan. Place in a hot oven and sear over all sides. Sprinkle the salt over the meat and add the hot water. Cover the meat and cook in a moderate oven. Baste every fifteen minutes. Allow fifteen minutes a pound for a rare roast, and twenty minutes a pound for a well done roast. When properly done, the outside fat is crisp and brown.
Brown Potatoes (Six portions)
6 potatoes
1 t-salt
Wash and peel the potatoes. Sprinkle with salt. Forty minutes before the roast is to be done, add the potatoes. During the last ten minutes of cooking the lid may be removed from the meat and potatoes to allow all to brown nicely.
Browned Gravy (Six portions)
4 T-beef drippings
2 T-flour
1 C-water
¼ t-salt
Place four tablespoons of beef drippings in a pan, add the flour and allow to brown. Add the rest of the drippings, the water and the salt. Cook two minutes. Serve hot.
Baked Squash (Six portions)
1 squash
2 T-butter
1½ t-salt
¾ t-paprika
Wash and wipe the squash, and cut into halves, then quarters. Remove the seeds. Place the pieces of squash, skin down, in a baking-dish and bake in a moderate oven until tender (about one hour). Remove from the oven, mash up with a fork, and add to each portion one-half a teaspoon of butter, one-fourth a teaspoon of salt, and one-eighth a teaspoon of paprika. Reheat in the oven and serve hot.
Devil's Food Cake (Sixteen pieces)
1/3 C-butter
1 C-sugar
1 egg
2/3 C-sour milk
1 t-vanilla
2/3 t-soda
2 C-flour
2 squares of melted chocolate
Cream the butter, add the sugar and continue to cream the mixture. Add the egg, well beaten, and the chocolate. Mix well. Add the soda and flour sifted together, and the sour milk and vanilla. Beat three minutes. Bake in two layer cake pans prepared with waxed piper for twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven.
Icing (Sixteen portions)
2 C-"C" sugar
½ C-water
2 egg-whites beaten stiffly
1 t-vanilla
Cook the sugar and water together until it clicks when a little is dropped into a cup of cold water. Pour slowly over the beaten egg whites. Beat vigorously until creamy. Add the vanilla. Pour on one layer of the cake. Place the upper layer on top, and pour the rest of the icing upon it. Spread evenly over the top and over the sides.
CHAPTER LII
BOB MAKES PEANUT FUDGE
"I USUALLY complain when it rains—I have that habit—but I must confess that I like a rainy evening at home once in a while," said Bob, as he and Bettina sat down at the dinner table. "Dinner on a rainy night always seems so cozy."
"Liver and bacon don't constitute a very elaborate dinner," said Bettina. "But they taste good for a change. And oh, Bob, tonight I want you to try a new recipe I heard of—peanut fudge. It sounds delicious."
"I'm there," said Bob. "I was just thinking it would be a good candy evening. Then, when the candy is done, we'll assemble under the new reading lamp and eat it."
"Yes, it'll be a good way to initiate the reading lamp! Wasn't it dear of Uncle Eric to give it to us? I kept wondering why he was so anxious to know just what I planned to do with the money I won for my nut bread at the fair. I even took him around and pointed out this particular lamp as the thing I had been saving for. And here it arrived the day after he left, as a gift to me! It was dear of Uncle Eric! But now what on earth shall I do with my fair money?"
"Don't worry about that, Bettina. Put it in the bank."
"But I'd like to get something as sort of a monument to my luck. Have you any particular needs, Bob?"
"Not a need in the world! Except for one more of those fine fruit gems over there."
That night they had for dinner:
Liver and Bacon Creamed Turnips
Fruit Gems Apple Sauce
Tea
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Creamed Turnips (Two portions)
1 C-turnip cubes
1/3 t-salt
1 T-butter
1 T-flour
¼ t-salt
½ C-milk
Peel the turnips. Cut into one-half inch cubes. Soak in cold water ten minutes. Cook in boiling water in an uncovered utensil until transparent no longer. Drain and sprinkle with salt. Melt the butter, add the flour and the one-fourth teaspoon salt, blend well, add the milk gradually and cook until creamy. Add the turnips and serve.
Liver and Bacon (Two portions)
4 slices bacon
2/3 lb. liver
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika
3 T-flour
Cover slices of calves' liver cut one-half inch thick with boiling water. Allow to stand five minutes. Drain and cut into pieces for serving. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roll in flour. Have a frying pan very hot. Add sliced bacon. When the bacon has cooked on each side, pile up on one side of the pan and add the liver, placing a piece of bacon on top of each portion of liver, thus preventing the bacon from getting too well done, and also seasoning the liver. Brown the liver thoroughly on both sides. (It should be cooked about ten minutes.) Serve hot.
Fruit Gems (Nine Gems)
2 C-flour
3 t-baking powder
3 T-sugar
¼ t-salt
¾ C-milk
1 egg
1 T-melted butter
1/3 C-seeded, chopped raisins or currants
Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Break the egg into the milk, stir well, pour into the dry ingredients. Beat vigorously one minute. Add the melted butter and raisins or currants. Bake in nine well buttered gem pans for twenty minutes in a moderate oven.
Peanut Fudge (Six portions)
1 C-"C" sugar
1 C-granulated sugar
¼ t-cream of tartar
2 squares of chocolate
2/3 C-milk
1 T-butter
1 t-vanilla
½ C-broken peanuts
Mix the sugar, cream of tartar, chocolate, milk and butter. Cook over a moderate fire until the fudge forms a soft ball when a little is dropped into cold water. Remove from the fire, allow to stand without stirring for twenty minutes. Beat vigorously until creamy. Add the vanilla and peanuts. When very thick remove to a buttered plate. Allow to harden and cut in squares.
CHAPTER LIII
DINNER AT THE DIXONS
"IS it still as much fun to keep house as it was at first, Charlotte?" asked Bettina as she and Bob sat down to dinner with the Dixons.
"Fun?" said Charlotte. "Bettina, look at me! Or better still, look at Frank! And the funny part of it all is that Aunt Isabel thinks our keeping house is a result of her preachments against boarding and hotel living. Why, she quite approves of me now! And I'll just keep quiet and let her feel that she was the one who did it, but all the while in my heart I'll be remembering that it was the sight of your happiness that roused my ambition to make a home myself."
"I tell you," said Mr. Dixon, "we can never thank you enough, Bettina. Now shall I play 'Home Sweet Home' on the piano? And will you all join in the chorus?"
"Not if you sing, too," said Mrs. Dixon, smiling at her husband's foolishness. "I've learned a great deal from you, since I began, Bettina, and not the smallest lesson is that of having company without dreading it. I don't try to make things elaborate, just dainty and simple food such as we have every day. Why, tonight I didn't make a single change for you and Bob! And I don't believe I should dread even Aunt Isabel's sudden arrival now."
"Aunt Isabel is really a good soul, Bettina," said Frank. "Charlotte has never learned how much worse her bark is than her bite, and she takes it to heart when Aunt Isabel speaks her mind. Why, I remember so well the scoldings she used to give me when I was a boy, and the cookies she would manage to treat me with afterward! I used to anticipate those pleasant scoldings!"
"If a scolding always comes before food," said Bob, "Charlotte must have given you an extra good one before inviting us to partake of that delicious-looking chocolate pie!"
That evening they had:
Cold Sliced Ham Creamed Potatoes
Tomatoes Stuffed with Rice
Peach Butter
Chocolate Pie
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Tomatoes Stuffed with Rice (Six portions)
6 tomatoes
½ C-rice, cooked
½ C-green pepper, chopped
2 T-grated cheese
1 t-chopped onion
¼ t-salt
1 T-butter
Remove a piece one inch in diameter from the stem end of each tomato. Take out the seeds. Fill the shells with the rice, pepper, cheese, onion and salt, well mixed. Place a small dot of butter on top of each. Place in a small pan and bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven.
Chocolate Pie Crust (Six portions)
1 C-flour
1/3 C-lard
¼ t-salt
3 T-ice water
Mix the flour and salt, cut in the lard with a knife, add the liquid slowly, stirring with the knife. More water may be needed. Roll out thin, fit onto a tin pan, prick with holes, and bake in a hot oven until light brown (about seven minutes).
Filling (Six portions)
1 C-sugar
5 T-flour
1/8 t-salt
2 C-milk
2 egg yolks
1½ squares melted chocolate
½ t-vanilla
Mix well the sugar, flour and salt. Add gradually the milk and beaten egg yolks. Cook in a double boiler fifteen minutes. Add the melted chocolate. Cook until thick (about ten minutes), and add the vanilla. Fill the baked shell, and cover with meringue. Place in a moderate oven and cook until the meringue is a delicate brown (about five minutes).
Meringue
2 egg whites
4 T-sugar
Beat the whites of eggs very stiff. Add the sugar. Pile lightly on the chocolate mixture. Brown in the oven. Chocolate pie should be served cold.
CHAPTER LIV
A GOOD-BY LUNCHEON FOR BERNADETTE
"BIG success!" was what Bettina's eyes telegraphed to Ruth across the purple and white asters in the center of a long porch table. Ruth was giving a farewell luncheon for Bernadette, her young cousin, who was leaving that night for a fashionable New York school. Although there was no suggestion of it in the dainty dishes the two girls served to the hungry and vivacious young guests, Ruth was "trying out" her cooking with all of the stage-fright of the beginner. The recipes and suggestions were chiefly Bettina's, and the two had been busy in Ruth's kitchen since early that morning. Bernadette was a critical young person, although light-hearted and affectionate, and Ruth felt that she could set her humble efforts before no sterner judge. Yet all the while, as she tasted each course in its turn, her mind was running on, "Will Fred like this? Some day I'll be serving this to Fred!" It was certainly a satisfaction to feel one's self able to cook a luncheon acceptable to "the younger society set!"
With each course an enormous motto, supposedly of the "Don'ts for School Girls' Series," was brought in ceremoniously on a tray and suspended from the chandelier over the table, until finally five huge, if foolish, "Don'ts" were dangling there for Bernadette's inspection.
With the last course, Ruth, in the postman's hat, coat and bag, brought in an endless supply of letters for Bernadette, to be opened at such times as "When You Meet Your Impossible Room-mate," "When You Feel the First Pangs of Homesickness," "When Reprimanded by a Horrid Old Teacher", "When Forced to Mend Your Own Stockings," etc.-
Bernadette seized them all delightedly, glanced at the covers and cried out, half in laughter, half in tears, "Oh, girls, I simply can't go 'way off there! I'll die!" Her friends fell upon her with scoldings and hugs, and in the midst of the noise and clamor, Ruth and Bettina slipped out to laugh and talk over Ruth's first serious culinary effort.
The menu consisted of:
Iced Cantaloupe Balls
Chicken Croquettes Potatoes in Cream
Green Peppers Stuffed with Corn
Rolls Peach Pickles
Cherry Salad Wafers
Chocolate Cream Pudding
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Chicken Croquettes (Eight croquettes)
1½ C-cooked chopped chicken
¼ t-celery salt
1 t-lemon juice
1 t-parsley chopped fine
¼ C-thick white sauce
½ t-salt
2 C-crumbs
4 T-egg, beaten
Mix the chicken, celery salt, lemon juice, parsley, salt and thick white sauce. Shape into croquettes. Roll in cracker crumbs, beaten egg and more crumbs. Deep fry. Serve hot.
Green Peppers Stuffed with Corn (Six portions)
1 C-corn-pulp, cooked
½ t-salt
1 egg-yolk
¼ C-milk
2 T-bread crumbs
1/8 t-pepper
½ t-sugar
1 T-butter
6 green peppers
Scoop out the contents of the peppers. Mix the corn, salt, egg yolk, milk, bread crumbs, pepper and sugar. Fill the peppers. Dot with butter. Place in a pan and bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven. Cover the bottom of the pan with water. Baste the peppers frequently.
Cherry Salad (Six portions)
2 C-California cherries
½ C-hazelnuts
6 lettuce leaves
6 T-salad dressing
Remove the seeds from two cups of California white cherries, and fill with filberts or hazel nuts. Arrange on crisp lettuce leaves, and serve with salad dressing.
Chocolate Cream Pudding (Six portions)
2 C-milk
5 T-cornstarch
½ C-sugar
¼ t-salt
1½ squares of melted chocolate
3 T-hot water
2 egg-whites
1 t-vanilla
Mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt. Add cold milk gradually, mixing well. Melt the chocolate in the hot water, and add it to the other mixture. Cook in the double boiler ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Beat three minutes. Add the stiffly beaten white and the vanilla. Mould, chill and serve. If the chocolate does not melt in the hot water, cook over the fire a minute. Whipped cream may be served with the pudding.
CHAPTER LV
BETTINA PLANS AN ANNOUNCEMENT LUNCHEON
"AND so I thought, if you were willing, I would have the luncheon the last of this week," said Bettina to Alice one sultry afternoon which they were spending on Bettina's porch.
"That's dear of you, Bettina. Oh, how queer it will seem to have everyone know about it! You must let me help with the luncheon, of course."
"No, indeed, Alice! Ruth and I are going to do it all alone, and the guest of honor is not to lift a finger! You can advise us, of course, but you mustn't arrive that day till everything is ready. I want to tell you about a few plans I've made. I wish I could consult Harry, too."
"But he won't be at the announcement party!"
"No, but he's the leading man in the drama, and important even when off the stage. Let's telephone him to come here to dinner tonight. It is so warm that I have planned only a lunch, but we can set the porch table and have a jolly informal time. Do call him up, Alice."
"I'd love to, of course, if you really want us."
"Indeed I do, but we'll have to hurry, for it's after five now."
"I'll help you," said Alice, after Harry had given his hearty acceptance. "Let me fix the salad."
"All right, and I'll stir up some little tea cakes. It's better not to cut those beets too small, Alice; it makes them soft. I never add them till just before I serve the salad. There, that's fine! Do you want to fix the parsley to garnish the ham? Ham looks so much better with parsley that I never fail to garnish it. I have nasturtiums for the center of the table, and we'll garnish the salad with them, too."
"It will be a festive little meal. What else can I do while you're baking the tea cakes?"
"You can make the iced tea, Alice. You do everything so easily and deftly that I love to watch you. And you have never cooked at all until lately, have you?"
"No, but I really like it. Wouldn't it be a joke if I should become very domestic?"
"Well, your fate is pointing in that direction! Time is swiftly passing, and in a few short weeks—Alice, shall I call off the announcement luncheon?"
"Oh, no, no, Bettina! Let fate do her worst! I'm resigned."
Supper that night consisted of:
