Chapter II: Part 2

Serve with tartar sauce, boiled or baked potatoes or squash, green lima beans, cabbage and carrot salad, and lemon pie.

For Variety

Lay one fillet in greased baking dish; brush with melted fat or with oil, sprinkle with lemon juice, and cover with stuffing. Place second fillet on stuffing, sprinkle with crumbs, dot with fat, and bake uncovered at 350° F. (moderate oven) about 35 minutes. Baste occasionally with melted fat.

Fish with curry sauce

1½ pounds dressed fish
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon chopped green pepper
1 small onion, chopped
¼ cup chopped celery
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup liquid (liquid from simmered fish plus milk)
Curry powder
Salt
2 to 3 cups hot cooked rice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Simmer fish about 10 minutes in a small quantity of water in a shallow pan. Drain and save liquid.

While the fish is cooking, make sauce: Melt the butter or margarine and cook the green pepper, onion, and celery in it a few minutes. Stir in the flour, then add the liquid. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

Add curry powder and salt to taste. Use ⅛ to 1 teaspoon curry powder, as desired.

Remove skin and bones from the cooked fish. Arrange fish on a hot platter with a border of flaky rice. Pour sauce over fish, and sprinkle parsley on top.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with a cooked green or yellow vegetable, citrus fruit salad, and cottage pudding with caramel sauce.

For Variety

_Shrimp With Curry Sauce._—Instead of the fish, use shrimp.

Salmon, rice, and tomatoes

¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons bacon fat or meat drippings
1½ cups boiling water
2 cups cooked or canned tomatoes, or 2½ cups chopped raw tomatoes
Salt and pepper
⅓ cup raw rice
¼ cup chopped olives
2 cups flaked canned or cooked salmon

Cook onion and green pepper in the fat in a large fry pan until the onion is yellow. Add water, tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil.

Add rice and simmer until rice is tender—20 to 25 minutes—adding more water if needed.

Add olives and fish and cook 2 or 3 minutes longer to blend the flavors.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with baked squash, a green vegetable in salad or cooked, with cream pie for dessert.

For Variety

_Other cooked fish_ may be used in place of salmon.

_One cup of cooked rice_ may be used instead of the uncooked rice. Omit boiling water. Add the rice, olives, and fish as soon as the vegetables are tender and cook 5 or 10 minutes longer.

_Celery_ may be used instead of the green pepper.

Eggs ...

Eggs are excellent for main dishes because they contain high-quality protein, and are a good source of several important minerals and vitamins. When you serve eggs as an alternate for meat in a main dish, either allow more than 1 egg per person or add enough milk or cheese, as in cheese omelet, for example, to make up the difference.

Government-graded eggs are sold in cartons labeled with the grade (quality), size (weight), and date of grading. There are four U. S. grades—AA, A, B, and C. Grades AA and A have a large proportion of thick white, a firm high yolk, and a delicate flavor. They are often preferred for cooking in the shell, poaching, and frying. Grades B and C, which are less expensive than the two top grades, are a thrifty choice where appearance and delicate flavor are less important, as in Spanish omelet, gingerbread, or scrambled eggs with bacon.

Sizes of eggs and their minimum weights per dozen are:

Jumbo 30 ounces
Extra large 27 ounces
Large 24 ounces
Medium 21 ounces
Small 18 ounces
Peewee 15 ounces

Within any grade, large eggs usually cost more per dozen than smaller ones. Use the above weights to determine which size gives you the best return for your money. For instance, if medium eggs weighing 21 ounces are 56 cents a dozen (2⅔ cents an ounce) they are a better buy than large eggs weighing 24 ounces at 66 cents a dozen (2¾ cents an ounce).

Eggs are cheaper than meat as a source of main-dish protein when the price of eight large eggs is less than the price of a pound of meat with moderate amounts of bone and fat, such as rump roast. Or when the price of a dozen large eggs is less than the price of a pound of lean meat with little fat and bone, as round steak.

The color of the eggshell depends on the breed of hen and does not indicate the food value of the eggs. So do not pay a higher price for brown eggs than for white ones, or vice versa, with the idea that you are getting more food value.

Hot deviled eggs

2 tablespoons butter, margarine, or oil
½ green pepper, chopped fine
⅓ cup celery, chopped fine
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon flour
1⅓ cups cooked or canned tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
2 drops tabasco sauce
⅔ cup cold milk
6 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
Crumbs, butter or margarine

Heat butter or margarine and cook chopped vegetables in it until they are tender. Blend in the flour.

Add tomatoes and seasonings and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

Stir the hot tomato mixture into the milk and carefully add the eggs.

Turn into a greased baking dish and top with crumbs. Dot with butter or margarine and bake at 375° F. (moderate oven) until the crumbs are brown and the mixture is hot, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with asparagus, broccoli, or other green vegetable, mashed potatoes, and cheese with fruit pie for dessert.

For Variety

Instead of adding crumbs and baking the deviled egg mixture, serve it on toast or in patty shells.

Egg and toast special

4 slices bacon, chopped fine
4 thick slices bread, with 2-inch holes in centers
4 eggs
Salt and pepper

Cook bacon in a fry pan until half done; push to side of pan. Pour off fat. Brown bread slices in pan while bacon continues to cook.

Break the eggs into the holes, and season. Sprinkle bacon over eggs and bread. Reduce heat, cover pan, and cook until eggs are done.

_Serve with_ creamed onions, sliced tomato and cottage cheese salad for needed protein, and a fruit dessert.

Mexican scrambled eggs

2 tablespoons minced onion
½ clove garlic, chopped fine
1 small green pepper, diced fine
2 tablespoons cooking fat or oil
⅓ cup sieved cooked or canned tomatoes
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon salt, pepper
6 eggs, slightly beaten

Fry onion, garlic, and green pepper in fat or oil. Add tomatoes, water, salt, and pepper.

Cook 3 minutes. Add eggs and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

_Serve with_ potatoes, snap beans, green salad with strips of meat and cheese, and upside-down cake made with fresh or stewed dried fruit.

Shirred eggs on spinach

1 to 1½ pounds spinach
½ teaspoon salt
2 slices bacon
Salt and pepper
4 eggs

Wash spinach thoroughly, place in pan, and add salt. Cover and cook without added water until wilted—about 5 minutes.

Chop bacon fine; fry until crisp.

Mix bacon and bacon fat with spinach and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place hot spinach in a baking dish. Make four depressions in spinach, and break an egg into each.

Cover dish and bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) 20 to 25 minutes or until eggs are firm. If desired, sprinkle grated cheese over the eggs during the last 10 minutes.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with baked sweetpotatoes, fruit salad, and cheese cake or pie with cheese.

For Variety

_Shirred Eggs With Cheese._—Place a tablespoon of top milk in a greased custard cup. Break an egg into the cup, add salt and pepper, and bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) until white is nearly firm. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake until cheese is melted.

Eggs scrambled with luncheon meat

1 cup diced luncheon meat
1 tablespoon cooking fat or oil
4 eggs, beaten
¼ cup milk
¼ teaspoon salt
Pepper

Salami, canned cured pork loaf, bologna, frankfurters, or any other spiced or smoked luncheon meat makes a good combination with eggs for this quick dinner dish.

Lightly brown the diced meat in the fat or oil in a fry pan over moderate heat.

Combine eggs, milk, salt, and pepper and add to the meat.

Cook, stirring constantly, until eggs are done.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with baked potatoes, carrot and celery sticks, and tomato aspic salad. Have fruit dumplings for dessert.

For Variety

Use _chopped cooked chicken, turkey, rabbit, or giblets_. With poultry, substitute broth for the milk for more flavor.

Or, instead of meat, use _¾ cup cottage cheese or chopped Cheddar cheese_, adding the cheese to the egg mixture before cooking. Serve these scrambled eggs with broiled, fried, or stewed tomatoes, or with tomato sauce.

Eggaroni

4 hard-cooked eggs
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1⅔ cups milk
1 teaspoon finely chopped onion
½ tablespoon horseradish, if desired
1½ cups cooked macaroni
Salt and pepper
2 tomatoes, cut in quarters
Crumbs mixed with melted butter or margarine

Cut eggs in quarters.

Make white sauce: Melt butter or margarine, blend in flour, and add milk slowly. Cook, stirring, until thickened.

Add other ingredients except tomatoes and crumbs. Pour into greased baking dish.

Press tomatoes into top of mixture, leaving skin surface exposed.

Sprinkle crumbs over top and bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) 20 to 30 minutes or until tomatoes are tender.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with spinach or kale, apple and raisin salad, and apricot snow with custard sauce.

For Variety

Cover macaroni mixture with pieces of canned, instead of fresh, tomatoes. Make sauce with juice from tomatoes instead of milk.

Omit tomatoes. Mix ½ cup grated cheese with the crumbs and sprinkle over top during last 15 minutes of baking.

Puffy spanish omelet

1 cup cooked or canned tomatoes, or 1¼ cups chopped raw tomatoes
1 small green pepper, chopped
½ small onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
¼ cup chopped celery
8 to 10 stuffed olives, sliced
4 eggs, separated
½ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon cooking fat or oil

Combine tomatoes, green pepper, onion, parsley, celery, and olives. Simmer 15 minutes or until liquid is reduced to a few tablespoonfuls.

Beat egg yolks well. Add salt to egg whites and beat until stiff but not dry.

Gradually fold the beaten egg yolks into the whites and then fold in the cooked vegetables. Add pepper.

Heat the fat or oil in a fry pan and pour in the egg mixture. Cook over low heat until lightly browned on the bottom. Cover and cook until set.

Or, when the omelet is lightly browned on the bottom, finish by baking 10 to 15 minutes at 350° F. (moderate oven).

Menu Suggestion

Serve with slices of broiled ham or fried sausages for more protein, and with baked potatoes, greens, and cooked dried fruit.

Egg and potato scramble

2 slices bacon
4 medium-sized potatoes, sliced thin
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, beaten
¼ cup milk
Pepper

Fry bacon slices and remove from fry pan.

Fry potatoes in the fat until they are well browned, sprinkling with salt as browning starts.

Cover pan closely. Cook over low heat until potatoes are tender.

Combine eggs, milk, and pepper. Pour over potatoes in pan and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until eggs are set.

Crumble bacon slices and add just before removing pan from heat. Serve at once.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with scalloped tomatoes or eggplant, spinach or kale, pear and cottage cheese salad, cookies.

For Variety

Bits of cooked ham, chipped beef, or any cooked meats may be used in place of the bacon in this recipe. Thin slices of sausages or chopped chicken livers are especially good. Fry the potatoes in bacon fat or other meat drippings when omitting the bacon.

Small cubes of cheese or flakes of smoked fish are other welcome additions with their own distinctive flavors.

Eggs in potato nests

1½ cups leftover mashed potatoes
5 eggs
Salt and pepper

Mix potatoes with one of the eggs. Shape mixture into four balls, place on greased baking sheet.

Press centers of balls to make cups. Break an egg into each cup, season with salt and pepper.

Bake at 325° F. (slow oven) 20 to 25 minutes or until eggs are as firm as desired.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with broccoli and cheese sauce, and crisp salad, and spicecake for dessert.

For Variety

Add ¼ cup grated cheese and 1 teaspoon grated onion or onion juice to the potato mixture.

Bake the potato cups and fill with a mixture such as creamed salmon and peas or creamed chicken and celery.

Mix ¾ cup chopped cooked ham with 2 cups mashed potatoes; season. Add the yolk of 1 egg and fold in the stiffly beaten egg white. Line a greased baking dish with this mixture; bake 30 minutes at 350° F. (moderate oven) until potatoes are slightly browned. Fill the potato “nest” with hot creamed ham and eggs: 1½ cups white sauce, 4 hard-cooked eggs sliced, ¼ cup chopped cooked ham.

Cheese and milk ...

Cheese is one of the most popular alternates for meat. Like meat and eggs, it contains high-quality protein and is an excellent supplement for the protein in bread and such other cereal foods as macaroni, noodles, and spaghetti.

Cheese is not equal in food value to the milk from which it is made. It contains one of the milk proteins but the other is separated out when cheese is made and is left in the whey.

American Cheddar, sometimes called American or “store” cheese, is the cheese most commonly used in cooking in this country. It is sold in natural and processed forms, and varies in flavor from mild to very sharp. Other cheeses are noted for their distinctive flavors and are chiefly used for garnishing, as the grated hard Parmesan, or for eating alone, as the sweet Swiss and Brick or the salty Bleu and Gouda.

You can count on half a pound of Cheddar cheese (2 cups chopped or grated) to give you enough protein for 4 servings of a main dish, or about the same amount of protein as a pound of meat with a moderate amount of bone and fat.

Because Cheddar cheese is a concentrated food, it is generally used in relatively small amounts—less than half a pound for 4 servings. Then other protein-rich foods are added to the meal or included in the cheese dish to increase the protein content, as milk and eggs added to the cheese for a souffle or an omelet.

Cottage cheese is less concentrated than Cheddar cheese, with only four-fifths as much protein per pound. In using cottage cheese as a meat alternate, use about a fourth more by weight than you would of Cheddar cheese. For instance, it would take 10 ounces of cottage cheese (compared with 8 ounces of Cheddar cheese) to alternate for a pound of beef with a moderate amount of fat and bone. Ten ounces of cottage cheese measure about 1¼ cups; a pound measures a little more than 2 cups.

We lean heavily on milk as a source of our day’s protein. But it takes almost 7 cups of fluid milk, or about 2 cups of nonfat dry milk, to provide enough protein for 4 servings of a main dish. So, although we sometimes use a milk soup or chowder as the main dish, we are more likely to spread our milk consumption throughout the day—in beverages, custards, or milk puddings. In many recipes, we can increase the milk value by using fluid and dry milk together.

Cheese puff

6 slices bread
1½ cups ground or grated cheese
2 eggs
1½ cups milk
½ teaspoon salt
Pepper, paprika, and mustard if desired

Fit 3 slices of bread into the bottom of a greased baking dish. Sprinkle with half the cheese and cover with the rest of the bread.

Beat eggs, add milk and seasonings, pour over bread and cheese, and cover with rest of cheese.

Set baking dish in a pan of hot water and bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) about 40 minutes or until custard is set and bread is puffy.

_Serve with_ lima beans or peas, beets, green salad, fruit cobbler.

Cheese fondue

1½ cups milk
1½ cups soft breadcrumbs
1 cup chopped or grated cheese
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated

Scald milk. Add crumbs, cheese, butter or margarine, and salt.

Beat egg yolks; add milk mixture. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry; fold into mixture.

Pour into greased baking dish. Bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) 30 minutes or until set.

_Serve at once with_ baked squash, a green vegetable, apple-celery salad with nuts, and cookies.

Baked macaroni and cheese

4 ounces macaroni (1 cup elbow or 1-inch pieces)
1 quart boiling water
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups water or fluid milk
⅓ cup dry milk, whole or nonfat
1 tablespoon flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 cup chopped or grated cheese
Crumbs, butter or margarine

Cook the macaroni in the boiling water with the teaspoon of salt for the length of time indicated on the package. Drain.

Put the 1½ cups of water or fluid milk into top of double boiler. Add dry milk, flour, and half teaspoon salt. Beat until smooth.

Cook over boiling water, stirring constantly until thickened. Add butter or margarine and cheese. Stir until they are melted.

Put macaroni into a greased baking dish. Pour on the cheese sauce.

Top with crumbs, dot with butter or margarine. Bake at 375° F. (moderate oven) until crumbs are brown and mixture is hot.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with beet greens, grated raw carrot salad, and cooked dried apricots or fresh fruit cup with cookies for dessert.

For Variety

Add grated onion or chopped green pepper to the sauce.

Cheese rabbit (rarebit)

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon powdered dry mustard
Paprika, if desired
1½ cups milk
⅓ pound cheese, ground or grated (1½ cups)
1 egg, beaten

Melt butter or margarine and blend in flour, onion, and seasonings. Add milk slowly. Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add cheese.

Pour a little of the sauce into the beaten egg, then pour all back into the sauce. Stir and cook 2 or 3 minutes longer, until cheese is melted.

Serve on toast or crackers.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with lima beans or peas and combination vegetable salad. Have melon or other fresh fruit for dessert.

For Variety

_Tomato rabbit._—Use tomato juice or thin tomato soup instead of milk in the recipe for Cheese Rabbit.

To make plain or tomato rabbit a heartier dish, serve over quartered hard-cooked eggs on toast.

Cottage cheese-pickle-peanut sandwich

⅔ cup cottage cheese
⅓ cup peanut butter, coarse grind
⅓ cup diced dill or sweet pickles
8 slices bread
2 tablespoons milk
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
Cooking fat or oil

Combine cottage cheese, peanut butter, and chopped pickles.

Spread the mixture generously on 4 bread slices and cover with the other 4 slices.

Add milk and salt to the beaten egg and mix thoroughly.

Dip both sides of sandwiches quickly into the egg mixture. Do not soak the bread. Brown on both sides in hot fat over moderate heat.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with vegetable soup or a large vegetable salad, and fresh fruit.

Cottage Cheese Salads

Season cottage cheese with finely chopped chives and use for stuffing fresh tomatoes. Or, in winter, use to fill the center of a ring mold of tomato aspic jelly.

Moisten cottage cheese with top milk and season with salt and pepper. Heap in the center of cantaloupe rings and top with pitted sweet cherries.

Dry beans and peas ...

There are dozens of varieties of beans and peas, and for centuries they have been important in the diets of many peoples. In this country, varieties grown and used in some sections are practically unknown in others. The South has its blackeye peas and black beans, the East and Middle West have their pea beans, soybeans, and kidney beans, and the Southwest and West like pinto beans and chickpeas.

Beans and peas contain proteins that are not well balanced by themselves and need to be supplemented with high-quality protein in the same meal. When you serve beans as the main dish, you can increase the quality and quantity of protein in the meal by adding a little meat or cheese. This is done in many famous national bean dishes. For example, ham or smoked sausage is often added to split-pea soup and grated cheese is used to garnish beans.

When you serve beans alone as the main dish, you need to cook about 1⅓ cups, or a little more than 9 ounces of dry navy beans, to provide the amount of protein recommended for 4 servings. This makes about 3 cups of cooked beans, or four ¾-cup servings. If you do not use this amount or do not add other protein food to the bean dish, remember to supplement the protein elsewhere in the meal, perhaps with an egg salad or baked custard.

Soybean protein is of higher quality than protein of most beans commonly used in this country. For high nutritive value and distinctive flavor from your food dollar, use soybeans sometimes instead of navy or lima beans in favorite bean recipes, or use some soy flour in making breads and hot breads.

Split peas provide slightly more protein than an equal weight or measure of dry beans except soybeans. Try thick hot split-pea soup for the main dish on a cold winter day.

Beans and peas are economical protein foods. You will generally find that a protein dish made up partly of beans and providing an equal quantity of protein averages less in cost than one made up entirely of meat.

To soak dry beans and whole peas, boil them 2 minutes in the soaking water first, to help prevent fermentation and hardening of skins. An hour of soaking is enough after boiling, but overnight may be more convenient. Cook beans in the soaking water for best flavor and highest nutritive value. Split peas do not need soaking.

Baked chili beans and hamburger

1 cup dry chili or kidney beans
3 cups water
½ pound ground beef
2 tablespoons drippings or other fat
1 small onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
½ green pepper, chopped fine
2 cups cooked or canned tomatoes, or 2½ cups raw tomatoes cut in
pieces
½ teaspoon salt
Chili powder to taste

Boil beans in water 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and soak 1 hour or overnight. Cook in same water until almost tender.

Brown meat in fat. Add onion, garlic, green pepper, tomatoes, and salt, and cook a few minutes.

Add meat mixture and chili powder to beans.

Place in a baking dish or bean pot, cover, and bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) about 2 hours. Uncover during the last half hour to brown the beans if desired.

Or cook the mixture slowly for about 1 hour in a covered kettle on top of the range. Stir occasionally.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with a large garden salad and fruit betty or apple dumplings.

For Variety

Cook the beans with a ham bone, omitting ground beef and chili powder. Or use 1 cup ham trimmings from a baked ham instead of beef.

Dry bean or pea soup

1 cup dry beans or whole peas
6 cups water
Meaty ham bone
1 small onion, chopped
Salt and pepper

Boil beans or peas in water 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and soak 1 hour or overnight.

Add ham bone. Boil gently 2 hours in a covered pan.

Add onion and continue cooking 30 minutes, or until beans are soft. Remove bone and cut off meat.

Add meat to soup. Season to taste, and reheat.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with tomato aspic, or fruit salad, with cottage cheese. Have custard pie for dessert.

For Variety

_For Thick, Smooth Soup._—Put beans or peas through a sieve before adding meat; discard skins. Mix 2 teaspoons flour with a little water; stir into soup. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.

_Split-Pea or Lentil Soup._—Use 1 cup of split peas or lentils instead of beans in the recipe above. No soaking is needed. Boil gently, stirring occasionally, about 3 hours. Proceed as for bean soup.

_Hot Pot._—Add a garlic clove and 2 chili peppers or a teaspoon of chili powder to beans before cooking. After cooking, remove garlic and peppers.

Quick baked beans

2 slices bacon
3 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon molasses
1½ tablespoons catsup
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon powdered dry mustard
½ teaspoon worcestershire sauce, if desired
2 to 3 cups canned or cooked dry beans

Fry bacon, remove from pan, and cook onion for a few minutes in bacon fat.

Add molasses, catsup, salt, mustard, and worcestershire sauce.

Add beans and mix lightly. Pour into a baking dish. Crumble bacon and sprinkle over the top.

Bake 20 minutes at 350°F. (moderate oven). Or heat in a fry pan on top of range, and serve with bacon crumbled over the top.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with hot cornbread, carrot and cabbage slaw, with baked custard for dessert.

For Variety

_Hot Bean Salad._—Omit molasses, add ¼ cup vinegar and ¼ cup water, and cook until the liquid is absorbed. To complete the meal serve quick-cooked green cabbage, crisp strips of celery and carrots, and pumpkin pie with cheese.

_Creole Beans._—To 2 cups cooked beans add ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ cup each chopped green pepper and onion, and 1 cup canned tomatoes. Bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) 1 hour.

Soybean chop suey

1 green pepper, shredded
1½ cups shredded onion
1½ tablespoons cooking fat or oil
¾ cup diced celery
1½ cups cooked dry soybeans
1½ cups meat broth
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1 cup quartered radishes or sliced carrots
Soy sauce

Cook green pepper and onion in the fat or oil in a fry pan 3 or 4 minutes, turning them often.

Add celery, soybeans, broth, and salt. (Canned bouillon or bouillon cubes and water may be used in place of broth.)

Cover and simmer 5 to 8 minutes.

Blend cornstarch with water, stir into the mixture, and cook until thickened. Add radishes or carrots and soy sauce to taste.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with hot flaky rice, pineapple and cottage cheese salad, with ice cream for dessert.

Another Soybean Recipe

_Soybean Souffle._—To 2 cups cooked dry soybeans, ground or sieved, add 2 beaten egg yolks. Season with chopped onion, parsley, salt, and pepper. Fold in stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Pour into a greased baking dish and bake at 350°F. (moderate oven) about 30 minutes or until set.

Bean chowder

1 cup dry beans
1 quart water
¾ cup chopped carrots
¾ cup cooked or canned tomatoes, or 1 cup chopped raw tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
⅓ cup shredded green pepper
1 tablespoon flour
1½ cups milk
Salt and pepper

Boil beans in water for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and soak 1 hour or overnight.

Cook beans in covered pan until they begin to soften. Add vegetables; cook until tender.

Mix flour with a little water and stir into vegetables. Cook 10 minutes longer, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Add milk and seasonings, heat to boiling, and serve.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with a peanut-and-fruit salad—sections of grapefruit and orange—and for dessert, prune whip with custard sauce.

For Variety

_Baked Bean Chowder._—Use leftover baked beans. Cook ¾ cup diced carrots, ⅓ cup green pepper, and 1 onion in 1½ cups water, until tender. Add ¾ cup canned tomatoes, 2 cups baked beans, and seasonings, and reheat. Blend 1 tablespoon flour and 2 tablespoons cold water and stir into the vegetables. Cook 10 minutes. Add 1½ cups of milk; reheat.

Savory bean stew

1 cup dry beans or whole peas
1 quart water
¼ cup diced salt pork
⅓ cup chopped onion
½ pound chopped beef
2 to 2½ cups cooked or canned tomatoes, or 2½ to 3 cups chopped raw
tomatoes
Salt and pepper

Boil beans or peas in the water 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and soak 1 hour or overnight.

Fry salt pork until crisp, remove from pan, and brown onion in the fat. Add meat and stir and cook slowly a few minutes.

Combine all ingredients, season, and simmer until meat is tender and flavors are blended.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with squash, a shredded raw vegetable salad, and lemon sponge pudding.

For Variety

_Chili Con Carne._—Add 2 to 4 teaspoons chili powder and a little garlic to recipe. Red kidney, and the pink beans of the West, are favorites for this dish.

_Hopping John._—Add ½ cup dry blackeye peas to 2¼ cups ham broth. Boil 2 minutes, soak 1 hour or overnight. Cook covered until almost tender. Add ½ cup raw rice, ½ cup chopped cooked ham. Cook gently 20 to 30 minutes. The broth should be almost gone when the rice is tender.

Bread and other cereal foods ...

Bread and other cereal foods are truly the staff of life for some families and are used for all or part of the main dish for many of their meals. Griddlecakes, toast, or oatmeal is a favorite breakfast dish. And sandwiches, spaghetti, or macaroni may form the bulk of a noon or evening meal.

Bread and other cereal foods do not provide large amounts of protein in any one serving. But, because we eat bread and other cereals so often, grain foods contribute a fourth of the protein in diets in this country. The cereal foods also contribute to our diets more calories, more iron, and more thiamine than any other group of foods.

Grains cannot make an adequate main dish unless eaten in large quantities or combined with protein-rich foods.

A few figures on grain proteins may be helpful. A pound loaf of whole-wheat bread contains a little less than three-fourths as much protein as a pound of beef with a moderate amount of fat and bone. You would need to eat one-third of the loaf, seven or eight slices, for as much protein as you get in a fourth pound of the meat—an average serving.

A pound loaf of white bread contains somewhat less protein than a pound whole-wheat loaf. The use of nonfat dry milk solids in bread increases quantity and quality of proteins slightly.

Proteins from bread and other cereal foods are not of as high quality as proteins of animal products, although some are better than others. You can somewhat increase the protein values obtained from cereals by using whole-wheat bread and whole-grain breakfast cereals and by adding corn germ or wheat germ to other cereals. Milk, eggs, soy flour or grits, meat, or fish help to bring up the protein content and protein value of a cereal main dish.

Familiar examples of the cereal-extended main dishes are creamed chicken or fish—or meat in brown sauce—served with toast, noodles, spaghetti, rice, or hominy grits. Other popular combinations of cereals with high-protein foods are scrapple, macaroni or rice with cheese, eggs with toast, and meat loaf or patties with breadcrumbs. And we are also extending high-protein foods with cereals when we add biscuit to the meat stew, dumplings to stewed chicken, and waffles to the breakfast or supper sausages.

Oatmeal griddlecakes with sausages

2 cups milk
2 cups quick-cooking oats
⅓ cup sifted flour
2½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, separated
⅓ cup cooking fat or oil
Cooked sausages

Heat milk and pour it over the oats. Allow to cool.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Beat egg yolks and add to oat mixture. Add melted fat or oil and stir in dry ingredients.

Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Drop the batter by spoonfuls on a hot greased griddle. When the surface is covered with bubbles, turn and brown on the other side. Oatmeal griddlecakes take longer to brown than plain griddlecakes.

Menu Suggestion

Serve the griddlecakes with sirup and the sausages. The rest of the meal may be a large fruit and carrot salad and gingerbread.

For Variety

_Apple Griddlecakes._—Add ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and 1 cup finely chopped, pared apples to the batter before adding egg whites.

French toast with tomato-meat sauce

2 eggs
⅓ cup milk
¼ teaspoon salt
8 slices bread
Cooking fat or oil

Beat eggs, add milk and salt. Dip bread quickly into mixture. Brown on both sides in a little fat or oil, using moderate heat.

Tomato-meat sauce

2 cups canned tomatoes or 2½ cups chopped raw tomatoes
½ pound chopped raw beef
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped green pepper
Cooking fat or oil
1 tablespoon flour
Salt and pepper

If using raw tomatoes cook them until soft. Press tomatoes through a sieve.

Brown beef, onion, and green pepper in the fat or oil. Blend in the flour, add tomatoes slowly. Season. Cook and stir over low heat until as thick as desired.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with a green vegetable, peanut and cabbage salad, and fruit and cheese for dessert.

For Variety

Serve the toast with cheese sauce and omit dessert cheese.

Whole-wheat scrapple

2 pounds fresh pork (bony cut)
1½ quarts water
1½ cups uncooked fine whole-wheat cereal
1 small onion, chopped fine
Salt and pepper

Cook pork slowly in the water until the meat drops from the bones. Strain off the broth.

Separate bones from meat, taking care to get out all the tiny pieces. Cut meat fine.

Add water to the broth, if necessary, to make 1 quart. Bring to boil and slowly stir in the cereal. Cook until the mixture is thickened, stirring constantly.

Add meat and onion. Cook 15 minutes longer, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the mixture into loaf pans and let stand until cool and firm.

To serve, slice scrapple and brown slowly on both sides in a hot fry pan. If the scrapple is rich with fat, extra fat is not needed for browning.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with baked sweetpotatoes, scalloped or fried apples or applesauce, a green salad, and lemon meringue pie.

For Variety

One cup _cornmeal_ may be used instead of 1½ cups whole-wheat cereal.

Rice with chicken

1½ cups diced leftover cooked chicken
Chicken bones
Salt
1 onion, chopped fine
1½ tablespoons chicken fat
½ cup raw rice
Grated cheese

This dish may be made with more or less than 1½ cups chicken, but this amount is needed to give enough protein for a main dish for four persons.

Cover bones with water and simmer an hour or longer. Drain off the broth. Add any leftover chicken gravy and water, if needed, to make 1 quart broth. Add salt to taste.

In a large fry pan, cook onion a few minutes in chicken fat, add broth. When it boils up rapidly, add the rice slowly.

Cover the pan. Simmer rice about 25 minutes or until the grains swell and become soft. Stir with a fork from time to time to keep the rice from sticking.

By the time the rice is done, it will have absorbed the broth, and the grains will be large and separate. Then add the pieces of chicken and more salt if needed. Turn mixture onto a hot platter, and sprinkle generously with grated cheese.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with spinach and hard-cooked egg, celery and carrot sticks, fruit pickle, and apple or peach dumpling or pie.

Noodles, western style

3 ounces noodles (about 1¼ cups broken noodles)
½ small green pepper, diced
1½ tablespoons bacon fat or meat drippings
1½ tablespoons flour
2 cups cooked or canned tomatoes, or 2½ cups raw tomatoes cut in
pieces
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 cup chipped corned beef, spiced ham, or dried beef
¼ teaspoon salt
Pepper

Cook noodles 10 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain.

Cook green pepper in fat in large fry pan until tender.

Blend in flour and add other ingredients. Simmer 5 minutes to thicken. Add salt and pepper.

Add noodles and simmer 10 minutes longer.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with cooked cabbage sprinkled with cheese, and cooked carrots. Add a salad of apple, celery, and raisins, and have jellyroll for dessert.

Noodles in Another Way

_Noodle Omelet._—Drain the cooked noodles; fry in a little fat or oil until golden brown. Add to 4 eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper. Turn back into fry pan, and cook slowly until brown on bottom and set on top. Fold onto a hot platter.

Tamale pie

1 cup cornmeal
3 cups boiling water
1½ teaspoons salt
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 tablespoons cooking fat or oil
¾ pound chopped raw meat, or 1½ cups chopped cooked meat
1½ cups drained canned or cooked tomatoes
Chili powder and salt to taste

Stir cornmeal slowly into rapidly boiling salted water. Bring to boil over direct heat. Cover, and cook 45 minutes over boiling water, stirring occasionally.

Cook onion and green pepper in fat or oil until tender; remove. Add meat to fat. If raw meat is used, cook until done.

Add remaining ingredients and heat thoroughly.

Pour a layer of the cooked cornmeal into a greased baking dish, add meat mixture, and cover with the rest of the cornmeal.

Bake at 400° F. (hot oven) 30 minutes.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with crisp green salad with cheese dressing, and cherry tart.

Other Meat Pies

Leftover meat, gravy, and cooked vegetables may be used in meat pies. Heat together, put into a baking dish, and cover with rounds of baking-powder biscuit dough. Bake at 450° F. (very hot oven).

Lunch-box main dishes ...

Packing a really good lunch-box meal—one that is high in important food values and in appetite appeal—takes more careful planning than many a meal that goes on the family table. For lunch-box foods are necessarily limited to those that can be held for several hours without spoiling or losing their freshness. But there are foods that pack well, and ways to vary them, so packed lunches need not be monotonous.

Sandwiches tend to be the “backbone” of the lunch-box meal. And when the fillings are high in protein foods—meats, eggs, cheese, fish, peanut butter, baked beans—they really are main dishes. To increase the protein value of these sandwiches, be generous with the filling. One-fourth cup of filling, spread clear to the edge of the bread, or 2 slices of meat or cheese, is not too much. Salmon or egg salad on a roll is a better main dish and more appetizing if part of the roll is scooped out to make room for more filling. Use centers as bread crumbs.

Provide variety in sandwiches by using different kinds of bread. For instance, “cheese on rye” is a favorite, but cheese on raisin bread or Boston brown bread may be a welcome change.

Vary the fillings—spread salad dressing or prepared mustard, topped with sliced cucumber or a lettuce leaf, over the meat or cheese; spread a thin layer of jelly over the peanut butter. Try different kinds of cheese. Or make a cheese spread: Put cheese through the food chopper and add jam or mashed cooked fruit, or salad dressing with chopped onion or sweet pickle.

For food value and variety, pack a salad of raw fruits or vegetables with the sandwich lunch. If the sandwiches are a little low in protein, include cottage cheese in the salad. Even with dressing and greens, salad travels well in a covered container of paper, glass, or plastic.

Hot soups, stews, or chowders—made with meats, fish, or beans—are good winter additions to the sandwich lunch. An individual-size insulated bottle or wide-mouth container for them may be a good investment, if these hot dishes cannot be bought at school or at work.

Moist, soft sandwich filling or salad mixtures made with finely chopped meat, eggs, or fish with salad dressing spoil quickly when temperatures are high. Refrigerate all such mixtures immediately after buying or making them and use them within 2 days. Lunches containing these mixtures are best refrigerated if they have to stand more than 3 or 4 hours before they are eaten.

Salads

_Ham and Egg._—For each serving, use 1 chopped hard-cooked egg, ¼ cup chopped cooked ham. Add onion, celery, green pepper, pickle, and salad dressing to taste.

_Meat and Macaroni._—Mix equal parts of cooked meat and macaroni. Add chopped pickles and celery and moisten with salad dressing.

_Meat and Bean._—Use shredded chipped beef, or chopped cooked corned beef. Mix with any kind of cooked dry beans; add diced onion and tart dressing.

_Potato With Meat._—Mix cut-up ham or crumbled bacon with potatoes. Add cut-up pickles, celery, onion, and salad dressing.

_Meat and Fruit._—Mix any cut-up cooked meat with celery and raisins or raw dried apricots. Add salt and salad dressing as needed.

_Egg and Beet._—Combine sliced hard-cooked eggs and pickled beets. Add shredded endive or other salad greens. Pack dressing separately.

_Kidney Bean._—Combine drained cooked kidney beans, cut-up celery, dill pickles, and cubed cheese. Add mayonnaise.

_Fish_.—Shred leftover cooked fish—halibut, salmon, or sardines. Combine with cut-up celery, cooked peas, lemon juice, and salad dressing.

_Chicken._—Mix equal parts of cut-up cooked chicken and crisp celery. Add salad dressing and thin slices of sweet pickle or stuffed olives.

Sandwich fillings

_Sliced Meat or Cheese._—Use two slices with vegetables between. Good combinations are: Beef with parsley or thinly sliced tomato and salad dressing; tongue with watercress and salad dressing or prepared mustard; cheese with either of the above combinations, or with jam, jelly, or marmalade.

_Bacon._—Crumble crisp fried bacon, and add it to one of the following: Cottage cheese, sliced tomato, diced hard-cooked egg, raw carrots, onion, sweet or dill pickles.

_Baked Bean._—Mash cold baked beans and moisten with thick chili sauce. Add diced sweet pickle and thinly sliced onion or cucumber.

_Peanut Butter._—Mix equal parts of peanut butter and chopped raisins or other raw dried fruit. Or, mix the peanut butter with diced pickle and chopped onion.

_Cheese Salad._—Dice cheese fine. Add a little chopped onion and green pepper or parsley, season, and moisten with salad dressing.

_Cottage Cheese._—Mix cottage cheese with cut-up celery, a little grated carrot, diced pickles, and nuts.

_Fish._—Mix flaked cooked fish with chopped cabbage, salad dressing, and salt to taste. Or mash sardines with hard-cooked egg.

_Egg._—Combine diced hard-cooked egg, celery, and pickles with prepared mustard and salad dressing.

Other main dishes for the lunch box

_Hot Soup._—Add thin slices of frankfurter or Vienna sausage to split-pea or bean soup. Pack some cheese to go with vegetable or cream soup or corn chowder. Heat soups very hot; pack in insulated container.

_Meat Stews._—A favorite stew with vegetables and gravy, kept hot in an insulated container until lunch time, is a welcome winter dish.

_Baked Beans, Corned Beef Hash, Creamed Meats, or Eggs._—These are cold-weather dishes. Pack hot in special insulated container.

_Cheese._—A large slice of cheese or serving of cottage cheese teams well with fruit in summer lunches.

_Deviled Eggs._—Mash, season, and moisten hard-cooked egg yolks as usual. Add finely chopped peanuts or cooked meat before stuffing the egg whites with the yolk mixture.

_Chicken or Chop._—Yesterday’s drumstick or pork chop makes a main dish to eat out of hand.

_Sliced Meat._—Spread two slices of ham or other meat with chopped vegetables and salad dressing. Roll, and fasten with toothpicks.

_Smoked Fish._—Bone and skin pieces; pack by themselves. Drain oil-packed sardines; wrap well.

_Luncheon Meats._—Many ready-to-serve meats—liver sausage, bologna, salami, spiced meat loaves—give as high protein value per pound as fresh meats. Keep cold, add to lunch last.

To complete the lunch-box meal

Plan the lunch-box meal to include contrasts in flavors and textures. It is more appetizing when it contains something moist to offset the dry foods, tart foods to offset the sweet, and crisp foods as well as soft.

_Relishes._—Raw vegetables and pickles add crispness to the sandwich lunch. Try carrot and celery sticks, pieces of cauliflower or turnip, sliced cucumber or onion, or crisp lettuce leaves rolled together.

_Desserts._—With soup or salad, use cake or cookies for contrast. If the main dish is sandwiches, choose a juicy fresh fruit.

Fresh fruits are easy to pack and popular. As a change from the often-used apples, oranges, and bananas, try plums, grapes, and pears in season.

Baked and canned fruits travel well in covered containers—glass, plastic, or paper. Try an occasional baked pear or peach, as well as apple.

Sweet fruit desserts like pie or fruitcake or fruit-filled cookies taste best after a tart salad or a milk-flavored soup.

Baked custards are good to use when the main dish is low in protein. It is best not to use cake with cream filling, or cream pie or cream puffs. The fillings spoil easily in hot weather, or even in winter if the lunch is not kept in a cool place.

Index to Recipes

_Page_
Bean(s), dry—
baked, chili, with hamburger 37
baked, quick 38
chowder 39
creole 38
hopping john 39
hot pot 37
salad, hot 38
soup 37
stew, savory 39
_See also_ Soybean.
“Boiled” dinner 8
Cheese—
baked with macaroni 34
cottage, in salads 35
cottage, sandwich 35
fondue 34
puff 34
rabbit (rarebit) 35
Chicken—
a la king 20
curried 17
steamed 16
stewed 16
timbales 20
with dumplings 16
with rice 42
Chili con carne 39
Chop suey—
meat 19
vegetable with soybeans 38
Dumplings 16
Egg(s)—
and toast special 29
deviled, hot 29
eggaroni 31
in potato nests 32
omelet—
noodle 43
spanish 31
scrambled—
mexican 29
with luncheon meat 30
with potatoes 32
shirred—
on spinach 30
with cheese 30
Fish—
and noodles 24
and potato puffs 24
baked in milk 25
balls 24
fillets—
fried 25
oven-fried 25
stuffed 26
patties 24
with curry sauce 27
_See also_ Salmon; Shrimp; Tuna.
Frankfurter and potato soup 22
French toast with tomato-meat sauce 41
Griddlecakes—
apple 41
oatmeal, with sausages 41
Ham and scalloped potatoes 13
Hash—
browned 19
cakes 19
Hopping john 39
Kidney stew 9
Lamb, curried 21
Lentil soup 37
Liver loaf 14
Lunch-box suggestions 45, 46
Macaroni and cheese, baked 34
Meat—
and mashed potato pie 13
and potato cakes 13
balls and tomato sauce 8
hamburger, with chili beans 37
hash 19
loaf, soy 9
luncheon—
and scrambled eggs 30
“birds” 21
broiled 21
cups 21
salad 21
patties, scotch 8
pies 13, 21, 43
potatoburgers 13
tomato-meat sauce 41
_See also_ Kidney; Lamb; Liver; Pork.
Noodle(s)—
and fish 24
omelet 43
western style 43
Pea(s), dry—
hopping john 39
hot pot 37
soup 37
stew, savory 39
Peppers, green, stuffed 22
Pork—
and potato fry 19
scrapple 42
shoulder, stuffed 10
souffle 22
spareribs, sweet-sour 10
Potato(es)—
and egg scramble 32
and frankfurter soup 22
and meat cakes 13
and meat pie 13
and pork fry 19
meat-potatoburgers 13
nests with eggs 32
scalloped with ham 13
Poultry. _See_ Chicken; Turkey.
Rice with chicken 42
Salads—
bean, hot 38
cottage cheese 35
lunch-box 45
luncheon meat 21
tuna, jellied 25
Salmon—
loaf 26
with rice and tomatoes 27
Sandwich fillings 45
Sauce—
spanish 14
tomato-meat 41
Sausage with sweetpotato and apple 11
Scrapple, whole-wheat 42
Shrimp with curry sauce 27
Soup—
bean or pea 37
bean chowder 39
beet 12
frankfurter and potato 22
hot pot 37
lentil 37
main-dish 12
onion 12
split-pea 37
Soybean—
chop suey 38
souffle 38
Soy meat loaf 9
Spareribs—
baked 10
in “boiled” dinner 8
sweet-sour 10
Steak—
spanish 11
swiss 11
with brown gravy 11
with onion gravy 11
Stew—
bean 39
beef, brown 12
green-tomato 12
kidney 9
lamb or veal 12
with hamburger 12
Stuffing, savory 10
Tamale pie 43
Tongue-and-corn casserole 14
Tuna salad, jellied 25
Turkey—
roast half 17
roast quarter 17

This is a _Consumer Service_ of USDA

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1962

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.