2T-butter2T-flour2C-milk4 eggs1t-salta pinch of cayenne or ¼t-paprika1C-white sauce2/3C-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)
1C-mashed potatoes, hot1½C-sugar2T-melted butter3t-baking powder½t-salt½C-sweet milk2 eggs3C-flour1/8t-grated nutmeg½t-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.
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 CakesStuffed Tomato SaladRolls ButterIced Grape Juice Blueberry Tarts
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Fish a la Bettina(Four portions)
1C-medium white sauce11/3C-cooked fish2T-chopped pimento2T-chopped sweet pickle½t-paprika
Mix ingredients in order given, heat and serve on wafers.
Rice Cakes(Four portions)
1½C-boiled rice½t-salt1 egg yolk6T-crumbs4T-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 tomatoes1C-chopped cabbage½t-salt¼t-paprika4T-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
½C-blueberries¼C-sugar1T-butter1T-vinegar1t-cinnamon
Mix the berries, sugar, butter cut in small pieces, vinegar and cinnamon. Cook, stirring constantly, over a moderate fire for three minutes.
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 PotatoesCarrotsHead Lettuce Thousand Island DressingSliced Bananas Quick CakeCoffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Pan-Broiled Steak(Six portions)
2lb.sirloin steak an inch and a half thick1T-butter½t-salt1T-parsley1T-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)
2T-drippings from the steak2T-flour½C-water½C-milk¼t-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 carrots2T-butter½t-salt¼t-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)
1/3C-butter1½C-brown sugar1 egg½C-milk¼t-salt12/3C-flour3t-baking powder1t-cinnamon½t-nutmeg8 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 white2T-cold water¾C-powdered sugar½t-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)
½C-olive oiljuice of half a lemonjuice of half an orange1t-onion juice¼t-salt¼t-paprika1t-Worcestershire sauce¼t-mustard1T-chili sauce1T-green pepper cut fine1t-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.
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 LambPotato and Green Corn CroquettesRhubarb SauceBread ButterHead Lettuce French DressingLemon Pie Cheese
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Creole Lamb(Three portions)
1T-butter1T-chopped green pepper½T-onion, chopped1T-flour¼C-meat stock or water¼C-tomato pulp½t-lemon juice½t-salt1/3t-horseradish½C-cold cooked lamb, cut in cubes3 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)
1C-hot mashed potatoes1C-green corn pulp, cooked with1T-butter½t-salt½t-pepper1 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.
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 infresh 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 HamBoston Brown Bread ButterBlackberries CreamSpiced CakeIced Tea Sliced Lemon
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Spiced Cake(Sixteen pieces)
1/3C-butter1C-sugar2 egg yolks2/3C-sour milk1½t-cinnamon¼t-ground cloves¼t-mace1t-soda2C-flour1 egg white1t-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 moderateoven for twenty-five minutes. Cover with "C" sugar icing.
"C" Sugar Icing(Sixteen pieces)
1C-"C" sugar1/3C-water1/8t-cream of tartar1 egg white½t-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.
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 bakethese 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 ButterBaked Potatoes Escalloped CabbageBread ButterPrune Soufflé
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Hamburger Steak(Six cakes)
1lb.of beef cut from the round¼t-salt1t-onion salt or onion juice1/8t-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)
2T-butter½t-salt½T-lemon juice½T-minced parsley¼t-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)
2C-cooked cabbage1C-white sauce1/8t-paprika¼C-bread crumbs1T-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)
¼lb.prunes6T-sugar1T-lemon juice or ½t-lemon extract2 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 yolks4T-sugar1T-flour1/8t-salt1½C-milk½t-lemon extract
Beat egg yolks until light, in the upper part of a doubleboiler. 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.
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 seemsas 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)CantaloupeFrench Toast Maple SyrupBroiled BaconCoffee(2)Fresh PearsCreamed Beef on ToastCoffee(3)CantaloupeSweet Milk Griddle CakesSyrupCoffee(4)Baked ApplesBroiled Ham Graham MuffinsCoffee(5)Fresh PlumsCodfish Balls Twin Mountain MuffinsCoffee(6)CantaloupeWaffles SyrupCoffee(7)WatermelonCorn Oysters SyrupToastCoffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
French Toast(Three portions)
6 slices stale bread2 eggs¼t-saltT-sugar2/3C-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)
2C-flour3t-baking powder1C-milk1t-salt1 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 ona 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)
1/3C-corn1/3C-bread crumbs1 well-beaten egg¼t-salt1/8t-pepper½t-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.
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 becreamed, 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 PotatoesCorn on the CobSliced Peaches Chocolate CookiesTea Milk
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
Creamed Potatoes as Bettina Served Them(Six portions)
3C-cold, cooked potatoes, chopped2T-butter3T-flour6T-grated cheese1½C-milk½t-salt1/8t-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)
1C-sugar1/3C-butter1 egg¼C-milk2C-flour½t-cinnamon½t-salt3t-baking powder1 square chocolate1t-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.)