(All measurements are level)
Creamed Tuna on Toast Strips(Two portions)
1T-butter1T-flour¼t-salt½ slice pimento1C-milk3 slices of bread½C-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 chocolate3T-sugar2/3C-water2C-milk¼t-vanilla3 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. berries3 lbs. sugar3C-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 beef12 cans corn12 cans peas6 cans string beans6 cans lima beans6 cans devilled ham (small size)6 cans tomatoes6 pt. jars pickles6 pt. jars olives6 small cans condensed milk6 boxes sweet wafers1 pound box salted codfish3 pkg. marshmallows3 cans mushrooms2 pkg. macaroni
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 bridesmaidsto 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 CreamBaking-Powder Biscuits ButterRhubarb Sauce Pea and Celery SaladStrawberry Shortcake CreamCoffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Pan-Broiled Steak(Two portions)
1lb.steak1T-butter1t-salt1/8t-pepper2T-hot water1t-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 potatoes1 qt. water1t-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)
2T-butter2T-flour1C-milk½t-salt¼t-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)
2T-lard1T-butter2C-sifted flour¾C-milk1/3t-salt4t-baking powder1 qt. strawberries2/3C-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.
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 SaucePotatoes Anna Baked Green Peppers StuffedBread ButterCottage Pudding Lemon SauceCoffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Boubons(Four portions)
1C-cooked meat ground fine (one or more kinds may be used)2T-fresh bread crumbs¼t-pepper½C-milk1T-green pepper or pimento chopped fine¼t-celery salt1 egg½t-salt1t-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, andbake 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)
1C-tomatoes1 slice onion4 bay leaves4 cloves½t-sugar½C-water2T-butter2T-flour½t-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)
1½C-cooked diced potatoes2 hard-cooked eggs½t-celery salt¼t-onion salt1C-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 peppers4C-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)
1C-fresh bread crumbs1t-chopped onion or ¼T-onion salt1/3C-chopped ham, or 1T-salt pork½t-salt1T-melted butter1/8t-paprika2T-water
Mix thoroughly and fill the pepper cases.
Baked Cottage Pudding(Four portions)
1C-flour12/3t-baking powder¼t-salt1 well-beaten egg1/3C-sugar2T-melted butter½C-milk¼t-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)
½C-sugar1½T-flour1C-hot water1t-butter1t-lemon extract or ½t-lemon juice½t-salt
Mix sugar, flour and salt. Slowly add the hot water. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Add flavoring and butter.
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 NaturelKornlet Soup Whipped CreamCroutonsSalmon Timbales with Egg SauceButtered Beets Potato CroquettesPinwheel Biscuit Butter BallsVegetable Salad Salad DressingWafersFancy Cakes Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Strawberries au Naturel(Ten portions)
2 quarts strawberries1C-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 bread2T-butter (melted)½t-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)
1C-salmon flaked¼C-bread crumbs1 slightly beaten egg2/3C-milk1T-lemon juice1/8t-paprika¼t-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)
3T-butter3T-flour1½C-milk½t-salt¼t-pepper1 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)
1/3C-butter1C-sugar2/3C-milk2C-sifted flour3t-baking powder½t-lemon extract½t-vanilla3 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
1C-granulated sugar1/8t-cream tartar¼C-water1 egg white½t-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.
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 youcanhelp 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 forus. 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 CreamString Beans Butter SauceBread ButterTomato, Cucumber and Pimento Salad French DressingSliced Fresh Pineapple
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Halibut Steak(Two portions)
2/3lb.Halibut Steak3T-flour½t-salt¼t-paprika
Wash one pound of Halibut steak and wipe dry. Cut in two pieces. Roll in flour, and cook ten minutes in a frying panin 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)
1½C-string beans2C-water1T-butter1t-salt¼t-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 sliced½C-sliced cucumbers1T-pimento cut fine1t-salt¼t-paprika2 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)
4T-olive oil2T-vinegar½t-salt¼t-paprika
Mix ingredients, which have been thoroughly chilled, and beat until the mixture thickens. Pour over the vegetables.
Pineapple Sliced(Two portions)
1 pineapple½C-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.
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 inthe 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 eggs¼C-butter½C-sugar1C-dry bread crumbs3T-flour1t-vanilla3 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 withmountain cream icing between and on top. (Icing recipe already given.)
Fruit Juice(Eight glasses)
1C-sugar2C-water1½C-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.
Woman standing with umbrella looking at vegetables at feet
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!
A NEW-FASHIONED SUNDAY DINNER
Woman walking to table with steaming plate
"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 GravyHead Lettuce Thousand Island DressingMint SauceBread ButterPineapple Sherbet Bettina's Loaf CakeCoffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Roast Leg of Lamb with Potatoes(Ten portions)
A 4-lb.leg of lamb6 large potatoes¼t-paprika1T-salt2T-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)
4T-drippings2/3C-water2T-flour½t-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)