CHAPTER XVDIET FOR OLDER CHILDREN
MILK FOR GROWING CHILDREN—EGGS, MEAT AND FISH—BREADSTUFFS AND CEREALS—RECIPES FOR NOURISHING DISHES
MILK FOR GROWING CHILDREN—EGGS, MEAT AND FISH—BREADSTUFFS AND CEREALS—RECIPES FOR NOURISHING DISHES
Theemphasis laid on correct diet for babies throughout this book has doubtless impressed its readers with the realization that on good digestion the health and happiness of a child are built. The vigilance which guarded the bottle feedings and the diet of the child under three years of age should become a guard against indiscretions in feeding between his third year and his adolescence. By the time the boy passes into his teens he should be thoroughly grounded in good habits of eating—the careful mastication of food, the avoidance of extremes and excesses, regularity in meals; and let us hope that he has learned the folly of eating between meals, especially sweets. He should have a normal taste for normal, wholesome food; and he should still be eating lightly before he goes to bed. Even in the big cities, where dinner is eaten at night so thatfather may enjoy one good meal a day with his family, the young child should have his heaviest meal at noon, and a light supper.
From the fourth to the tenth year milk should still play a considerable part in the child’s diet. It should be served once between breakfast and dinner, or dinner and supper. A glass of milk with the meal is much better than water. Tea and coffee should never be given to the growing child. He may have, all told, from one pint to one quart of milk daily; and to this may be added thin cream on his cereal and with certain simple desserts, such as baked apples.
Eggs are a dependable food for the growing child. They may be soft-boiled, poached, coddled, or shirred, the latter being eggs baked in a dish that has been lightly buttered. Children should never be given fried eggs or omelets. If eggs agree with a child—and they agree with nearly all human beings—they may be given twice a day, one for breakfast and one for supper.
The best meats for children are beefsteak, roast beef, roast lamb, broiled mutton chop, broiled chicken, roast young turkey. Shad, bass, and other delicate white fish may be given to the child between four and twelve years of age. Meats must be cut up fine, and fish must be freed from all bones before it is given to the child. Either meat or fish should be served with the noon meal.
Plate gravy, especially from beef, is nourishing;but thickened gravy made from flour and grease or drippings, with milk or stock added, is too rich for the average juvenile stomach.
Ham, bacon, pork, sausage, liver, kidneys, dried and salt meat are to be avoided, and such fish as cod, halibut, and mackerel are altogether too strong for a child until he enters his teens.
White potatoes are a standby for growing children; they may be boiled, baked, or mashed; but no child should be allowed to eat fried potatoes of any sort.
The best vegetables for very young children are peas, asparagus tips, string beans, carrots, squash, spinach, and very young beets. All these vegetables must be well cooked to be easily digested. Baked sweet potatoes, which children like very much, cauliflower, onions, and turnips may be permitted at rare intervals; but, even with a child in good health, they should not be served until he is six or seven years old.
A very good combination for children is carrots and peas. The carrots are first boiled in salted water until tender; then canned or fresh peas are added; and, finally, milk which may be thickened slightly with flour and butter rubbed smooth.
Salads, which are considered so important in the diet of grown-ups, should not be given to children until they have passed the tenth year.
Well-made soup is important in the child’s diet. Mutton and chicken broths should be the foundationfor most of these soups. After the meat has been strained out, the broth may be thickened with rice, barley, or a little cornstarch or flour. Tomato soup should not be given to very young children; but purées made of peas, spinach, celery, or asparagus, rubbed through a sieve, may be given to children seven years old or more.
In preparing cereals for children, bear in mind that the coarser cereals are the more nourishing. The ready-to-serve cereals do not give out the strength which the old-fashioned food-stuffs do. Oatmeal, cracked wheat, rice, or hominy should be cooked in a double-boiler for hours; and even those cereals which are advertised as “prepared” or partly cooked should be recooked thoroughly, and well salted, and be served with top milk, or cream and milk, or a little butter.
No child should be given hot breads of any kind, griddlecakes, shortcake, nor even newly made bread. Homemade zwieback is the best possible bread-stuff to offer children; next to that stale bread cut thin and dried in the oven until it is crisp. Cornbread, split and toasted or dried until crisp, is very desirable as a luncheon and supper dish. Oatmeal, graham, or gluten crackers are better than plain white wheat crackers.
Desserts form a very important item in the dietary of the child, because they contain starch and sugar, important to the up-building of the system. Custards, junket, rice pudding withoutraisins, and an occasional dish of pure ice-cream should be the desserts up to six or seven years. These can be varied by stewed fruit, or ripe fruit in season, making sure that all the seeds and stems are removed.
No young child should be given pies or pastry of any description, rich preserves, nuts, or candy. The child who has not been given candy in his babyhood grows up with very little taste for it. Food, like fresh air and sleeping, is very much a habit.
Fruits form a considerable and important part of the diet. Up to the time a child is five years old he should have fruit juices; then solid fruit. Sweet oranges yield up the best juice; but grape-fruit rubbed through a sieve, fresh pears, strawberries, and raspberries, crushed through a coarse sieve, may also be used.
Orange or prune juice can be given after seven or eight months of age. Before the second bottle in the morning two teaspoonfuls may be given, gradually increasing to one or two ounces at one year.
Apples, baked or stewed, are extremely healthful. Prunes well prepared and rubbed through a sieve, pears stewed or baked until tender, peaches and apricots pealed or stewed, are all worth places in the diet of a child. Pulp in either fresh or cooked fruits should be avoided.
Children should never be given green fruit ofany kind; and, in hot weather, if they cause a tendency to diarrhea, fresh fruits must not be permitted in the child’s diet, but all sorts of stewed fruits can be substituted for them.
A word of warning about cocoa. This is an excellent beverage for a young child, but it is a mistake to think that it must be made rich with cream. A good quality of whole milk and just as much cocoa as the recipe on the box demands should be used for young children. Whipped cream on the cocoa is not necessary. If your children want ice-cream, cold drinks, treats of any sort, make these at home. Know what your children eat.
A few recipes for preparing food that children can easily digest follow:
Albumen Water—Divide the white of one fresh egg in several directions with a sharp steel knife; to this add one pint of cold boiled water, and a little salt. Shake well and give cold from bottle or with spoon.
Rice Water—Take one tablespoonful of rice; wash well; soak over night. Add one pint of water and a little salt. Boil until grains are soft—three to four hours. Add water from time to time to keep quantity to one pint. Strain through muslin.
Baked Milk—In a jar put two quarts of fresh milk; cover this with white paper, tied down tightly. Bake ten hours in a moderate oven.
Egg Lemonade—Beat the yolks of two eggs light; add the juice of two lemons, and sugar to taste. Thin slightly with water, and turn all into one cup of snow or pounded ice. Whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and beat all together as quickly as possible. Serve immediately.
Egg-nog—Separate one egg, and beat the yolk and white lightly. To one glass of cold milk add the yolk, one tablespoonful of sugar, and vanilla or nutmeg to taste. Lastly, add the beaten white of the egg and stir lightly.
Beef Juice—One pound of round steak cut thick. Broil slightly, press out juice with meat-press or lemon-squeezer; add a little salt.
Beef Juice No. 2—Chop finely one pound of steak; place it in a jar; pour in sufficient cold water to cover the meat; add a pinch of salt. Cover the jar and place on the ice for six hours; shake from time to time. Strain through a piece of muslin. This is very nourishing.
Mutton or Chicken Broth—Cover one pound of meat, free from fat, with one pint of cold water; add a little salt; let it simmer for three or four hours. Add water from time to time, and cook down to one-half pint. Strain, and remove fatwhen cold. Serve hot or cold in jelly form, as desired.
Chicken Broth No. 2—Cut fowl in small pieces; lay in salted water for one hour; then place in cold water, bringing it slowly to a boil. Boil gently until liquor has diminished one-third. Remove chicken. Season liquor; bring to boil; and strain. Stir cup of hot milk slowly into two beaten eggs; add mixture to broth, stirring slowly.
Clam Broth—For this use two separate pots, one for clams and one for milk. Twelve clams to one pint of milk. Bring to a boil the clams and liquor, removing the scum; bring the milk to a boil, seasoning with pepper and butter. Strain the liquor from the clams and turn into the milk. Serve hot at once.
Split-pea Soup—Take one cup of split-peas; wash well; and soak in two quarts of water over night. In the morning put into kettle, with one quart of soup stock and small piece of salt pork. Allow the whole to boil slowly or simmer for about five hours. Strain; and return to fire, with small lump of butter, salt and pepper.
Potato Soup—Take one cup of mashed potatoes well seasoned with salt and pepper. Heat one quart of milk; thicken with flour. Stir in thepotatoes, with two tablespoonfuls of butter. Strain; and then beat in one egg. Serve hot.
Gruels: Rice, Barley, Wheat, Oats—If made from flour use two to four tablespoonfuls to one pint of water.
If made from the grains soak over night two tablespoonfuls, and then cook four hours. Strain, and if milk is added stir in immediately after removing the gruel from the fire.
Farina—Stir slowly four heaping tablespoons of farina into one pint of boiling water or milk. Boil ten or fifteen minutes; salt to taste. This can be served cold or hot, with syrup, sugar and cream or butter and sugar.
Chicken Jellied—Cover a small chicken with water; boil until meat comes off the bones, and the water is reduced to about a pint. Take off the meat in good-sized pieces, removing fat and bones. Skim fat from liquor; add salt and pepper to taste, together with half an ounce of gelatine. When dissolved pour over meat. Liquor can be seasoned highly, as meat absorbs much of the flavor. Place mixture in deep bowls to form, and keep cool.
Scraped Beef—Slightly broil a small piece of sirloin steak. With a dull knife scrape or shred this, taking the pulp only for use. A tablespoonful may be given with salt.
Milk Toast—Remove the crusts from the toast; slash the edges with a knife, and dip the edges in hot salted water. Make a cream of milk thickened with cornstarch; season with salt and butter. Pour over toast. Serve hot.
Poached Eggs—Break an egg into a cup, taking care not to break the yolk. Turn into pan of boiling, salted water, and with spoon pour water over egg, until there is a film over the top and the white is firm. Serve on buttered toast.
Boiled Rice—Wash the rice. Cook in double-boiler with five times its measure of cold, salted water for about one hour and a half, or until tender.
Creamed Potatoes—Cut freshly boiled potatoes into squares. Cover with milk, and boil up once or twice. Season with butter, salt, and pepper. Thicken with a little flour and water.
Creamed Macaroni—Boil in one quart of salted water twenty minutes ten or twelve sticks of macaroni broken into one-inch lengths. Strain through colander and drain. Add one tablespoon of butter and flour rubbed smooth to one and one-half cups of hot milk. When thickened season and return the macaroni to heat. Add a little grated cheese before serving.
Escalloped Apples—Butter a deep dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar, and small bits of butter, and cover with layer of peeled, sliced apples. Another layer of the cinnamon, sugar, and butter; adding a little flour sprinkled over. Continue this process until dish is full; cover, and bake one hour. Serve hot or cold.
Apple Tapioca—Take one-half cup pearl tapioca, three apples, pared and cored, one-fourth cup of sugar, one pint water, one-half teaspoon salt, cinnamon and grated nutmeg.
Cover tapioca with one and one-half cups warm water, and soak five or six hours. Pack apples in deep dish, filling cores with sugar, and pour over them the tapioca, water, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bake one hour, or until apples are soft. Serve hot, with cream or hard sauce.
Apple Snow—One large apple, peeled and grated; sprinkle over it one cup of powdered sugar. Into this break the whites of two eggs and beat in large bowl constantly for half an hour. Heap in glass dish and pour over it a fine, smooth custard.
Baked Custard—Beat four eggs light and mix well with one quart of milk. Add sugar and saltto taste, one teaspoon vanilla, and grate nutmeg on top. Bake in moderate oven until a rich brown.
Chocolate Blanc Mange—Heat one quart of milk in a double-boiler with one ounce of gelatine, dissolved first in cold water; add four tablespoons grated chocolate and three-fourths cup of sugar; mix all until smooth. Cook until dissolved; then boil five minutes and strain into mold, adding one teaspoon vanilla. Serve with whipped cream. Individual molds are very pleasing for children.
Floating Island—Heat one quart of milk in a double-boiler; stir in two tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in a little cold milk. Add sugar and vanilla to taste, together with one whole egg and the yolks of three eggs; when the custard is thick like cream turn into dish to cool. When ready to serve beat the whites of three eggs into stiff froth and drop spoonfuls on the top of the custard.
Bread and Butter Pudding—Take six thin slices of buttered bread and place in a dish; pour over the bread three gills of milk and three eggs beaten together with sugar and nutmeg added to taste—a few raisins or currants may be added if desired. Bake in slow oven one hour. Serve with or without sauce.
Prune Pudding—One pound of prunes cooked until tender. Remove stones and pick into small pieces. Dissolve two tablespoons of gelatine and two-thirds cup of powdered sugar in one cup of cold water, and stir into prunes. Add the whites of four eggs beaten to a froth. Bake twenty minutes. Serve with cream.
Prune Pulp—Cook one pound of prunes slowly in a little water until they are quite soft. Strain and rub through a coarse sieve.
Junket—One quart of fresh hot milk, sweetened to taste, and allowed to cool slightly; add two tablespoons liquid rennet. Place on the ice in wet molds. Do not stir or strain it. Serve cold with sweetened cream.
Whey—One pint of fresh milk warmed, but not above 100° F. Add two teaspoons liquid rennet or essence of pepsin; stir slightly, then allow it to stand until jellied; break up the curd with a fork and strain off the whey through muslin. Place on ice.
Bran Biscuits—One pint of flour, one quart of bran, one teaspoon baking soda, twelve tablespoons molasses, one teaspoon salt, one pint of milk. Mix and bake in muffin rings.
Good Luncheon Dish—Butter a small baking dish lightly; spread over bottom of dish finely broken crackers (not cracker dust) and moistenslightly with rich milk; break an egg carefully on this, and then cover with more broken crackers moistened with the milk, and salted. Bake a couple of minutes in oven so that the egg is about as firm as a well poached egg. This is a most nourishing dish.
The mother who guards her child’s diet not only during that danger period of teething and weaning but during those years when he seems to sprout like a young human weed, demanding the very highest form of nourishment, may feel assured that she is laying the foundation for his future health and happiness. You cannot make good citizens out of dyspeptics. You cannot rear a generation of sturdy mothers from girls who drink soda-water instead of milk, who eat candy instead of custards, rich fried potatoes instead of nourishing baked ones, fancy dishes of meat, gravy, and pastry instead of wholesome beefsteak and mutton chops. It is a mistake to think because a child who is growing will eat almost anything, that almost anything will nourish a growing body.
Better babies mean better children in the public schools; but neglect in the matter of diet will soon turn those better children into sickly citizens.
The vigilance of the mother in the matters of diet, hours of sleep, bathing, and fresh air shouldnot relax until after her children have passed successfully through the period of adolescence and have been launched into strong, sturdy men and women, with their habits so firmly fixed that the maternal influence in food as in morals goes out into the world with them.