Salmon Salad with Jellied VegetablesBoston Brown Bread SandwichesSliced Fresh PeachesOne Egg Cake Chocolate IcingIced Tea
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Salmon Salad with Jellied Vegetables(Four portions)
1C-cooked mixed diced vegetables (string beans, carrots, peas or celery)1C-meat stock or water (hot)2t-granulated gelatin1t-salt1T-chopped pimento3T-cold water1t-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)
4T-butter½C-sugar1 egg½C-milk11/8C-flour2½t-baking powder1t-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, melted3T-boiling water1½ powdered sugar½t-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.
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 somebutter 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 SaladFresh Brown Bread ButterSpanish Buns BananasHot Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Veal Loaf(Six to eight portions)
2 lbs. lean veal½lb.salt pork6 large crackers2T-lemon juice4t-onion salt1T-salt½t-pepper4T-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)
1C-rye or graham flour1C-cornmeal1C-white flour1t-salt1½t-soda¾C-molasses¼C-sugar1½C-sour milk or 1¼C-sweetmilk or water2/3C-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, 1T-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.)
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 onein 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)
7T-coffee3T-cold water½T-egg white4½C-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
2C-flour4t-baking powder¼t-salt1 egg1C-milk1T-melted butter¼C-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.
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 toplan 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
GrapefruitOatmeal CreamCreamed Beef Toast RoundsRolls ButterCoffee
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)
¾C-rolled oats2C-hot water½t-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)
¼lb.diced beef thinly sliced2T-butter2T-flour1C-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.
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 sewOn something useful, strong, and neat,Which, with your help, will quite completeBettina'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 SandwichesIced Tea Mint WafersLemon Sherbet Tea Cakes
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Sunbonnet Baby Salad(Ten portions)
10 halves pears20 cloves, whole20 almonds10 thin slices pimento10T-salad dressing10 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)
1½C-graham flour2C-white flour4t-baking powder1C-"C" sugar2t-salt1½C-milk2/3C-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)
4C-water2C-sugar¼C-lemon juice1 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)
2C-sugar½C-water2 egg whites½t-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 theguests 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.
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 RiceLight Rolls Peach ButterHot Fudge Cake
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Light Rolls
2T-sugar¼t-salt½C-scalded milk½ yeast cake¾C-flour2T-melted butter1 egg, well-beaten2T-lukewarm waterflour
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 peppers1C-white sauce½C-cooked rice1T-chopped green pepper3 onions cooked and cut fine½t-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
1/3C-butter1C-sugar2 egg yolks2 squares (or ounces) of chocolate, melted½C-molasses½C-sour milk½C-hot water2C-flour1t-cinnamon1t-soda1t-baking powder¼t-salt1t-vanilla2 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.
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 someSpanish 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)
½C-butter1C-sugar1 egg-yolk½C-milk1¾C-flour3t-baking powder1t-cinnamon¼t-powdered cloves1 egg-white beaten stiffly1t-vanilla½C-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)
3T-cream1t-vanilla1C-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
1T-flour1T-butter1C-liquid¼t-salt
This is the consistency for creamed soups.
2—Vegetable Sauce
2T-butter2T-flour1C-milk¼t-salt
This white sauce is used for creamed vegetables, creamed fish,etc.- This amount is required for two cups of vegetables.