Chapter I: Part 1

THE PROGRESS
MEATLESS COOK BOOK
AND
VALUABLE RECIPES AND SUGGESTIONS
FOR
CLEANING CLOTHING, HATS, GLOVES, HOUSE FURNISHINGS, WALLS AND WOODWORK
AND
ALL KINDS OF HELPS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD

PUBLISHED BY
THE NEW LITERATURE PUBLISHING CO.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

COPYRIGHT, 1911
BY
LOTTA M. LAKE

THE HICKS-JUDD CO.
Printers & Binders
San Francisco, Cal.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Preface 7
Suggestions for Starting the Day 9
Weights and Measures 15
Yeast 17
Helps About Breads 19
Biscuits 26
Griddle Cakes 29
Cereals and Breakfast Dishes 32
Eggs 34
Cheese Dishes 40
Sandwiches 45
Soups 47
Vegetables 53
Asparagus 53
Beans 54
Brussels Sprouts 57
Cabbage 57
Carrots 58
Cauliflower 59
Corn 59
Cucumbers 60
Eggplant 60
Spinach 61
Macaroni 62
Onions 67
Potatoes 69
Protose 73
Parsnips 73
Green Peas 74
Peppers 74
Boiled Rice 75
Squash 76
Tomatoes 76
Turnips 78
Mushrooms 79
Nut Recipes 63
To Blanch Nuts 63
Salted Almonds 63
Chestnuts 64
Nut Roasts 65
Peanut Butter 66
Sauces, Relishes, etc. 81
Salad Combinations 84
Fruit Salads 90
Fritters 93
Pies 94
Puddings 103
Pudding Sauces 110
About Milk 113
Cream and Whipped Cream 114
Fruits 119
Doughnuts 123
Baking Cakes 124
Cakes 126
Cake Fillings 135
Icings 138
Cookies 142
Chilled Dishes 145
Ice Cream Sauces 148
Punches 150
Cold Beverages 153
Hot Beverages 158
Candies and Sweets 160
Jellies and Preserves 166
Canning in Jars 174
Canning Vegetables 176
Chutney, Catsup and Pickles 177
Wines, Flavorings and Vinegars 182
Personal Comforts and Things Good to Know 185
Bathroom and Toilet 189
The Hair 192
Gloves, Parasols, etc. 194
Shoes and Rubbers 196
Hats, Feathers, Ribbons and Laces 199
Removing Stains 211
Furs 217
Disinfectants, Scents, etc. 219
Pests of Various Kinds 222
Flowers, Plants and Green Things 225
Bottles, Glass, Mirrors, etc. 230
Paper and Books 235
Coal, Stoves and Furnaces 237
Cleaning Metals, etc. 242
Cleaning Bric-a-Brac 247
Cleaning Compounds 248

PREFACE

This book is gotten up to meet the wants of young housekeepers who wish to use plain practical methods of keeping house in such manner that they do not spend all or even =one-half= their days in the kitchen; who wish to manage their household so sensibly that the feeling of drudgery is removed, and they can be “chief cook and bottle washer” if necessary, yet meet with a smile the husband coming for meals.

And for the “tired out” housekeeper who spends so much time planning and executing the family cooking and the serving of varied and elaborate meals, that she has no time to devote to the so-called recreations of life, frequently feeling obliged to give up everything to prevent a “complete nervous breakdown.”

If your children hear constant talk regarding food and its preparation, unless they learn better later on, they will most likely consider =eating= the chief thing in life. While every one must eat, let each one endeavor to make the preparation and the partaking of the daily meals a pleasure to the cook, and the manager of the cook. For unless a house is run on one or two “flat wheels” (as the streetcar men express it), there =must= be a manager.

This book is also a plea for “the simple life” in a sensible way.

We are independent beings, and we must decide our course for ourselves. If any of these things appeal to your thinking selves, use and enjoy them. If not, just ignore them, but, =do not dictate= as to the right or wrong of your neighbor’s using them. You remember Epictetus said “Does a man bathe quickly? Do not say that he bathes badly, but that he bathes quickly. For unless you perfectly understand the principle from which he acts, how do =you= know whether =he= is acting wrong.”

The aim in this book is =not= to present an immense variety of recipes, but a number of good, plain, wholesome dishes; with directions for =using= and not =wasting= ingredients.

The housekeeper need not be what is termed “stingy,” but it is criminal to =waste=, and statistics prove that no other nation is so prodigal as the American. So let the women, the rulers of the house, see to it that they are doing their part in benefiting mankind. “Charity begins at home.” Attend to yours.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STARTING THE DAY

You will find, by sometimes pleasant experience (sometimes the reverse) that rising before 6.30 o’clock summer mornings, and before 7 in winter, is conducive to a smooth day. Of course, this is under ordinary conditions and environments. You have time to “do” your hair and don a neat shirt waist or dressing jacket and skirt. If a plain tulle veil to match the hair in color is fastened lightly over the head, it does not look unsightly, and may be removed before luncheon, a curl or puff (as the style may be) added, if desired, and the hair found dressed for the day. It is also surprising how such a filmy, almost unseen, cover prevents dust entering the hair.

While breakfast is cooking, a carpet sweeper can be run over rugs in the downstairs rooms; the hardwood floors wiped with a “dustless duster” (which absorbs the dust and polishes at the same time), or with a dust cloth two feet square made by stitching old stockings together.

After breakfast, a few moments will suffice for the dusting of furniture and bric-a-brac, and the first floor is cleaned for the day.

Dusters should be frequently shaken out of doors while dusting.

After the breakfast work is done, the upstairs can be arranged and dusted.

All bath-rooms, wash bowls and toilets should then be left in absolute cleanliness, and hardwood stairs wiped with a dust cloth if necessary. In some houses, twice a week is sufficient to clean stairs and bathroom floors, and once in four weeks for cleaning windows.

If the work in a house is attended to regularly, there is never any need for the old fashioned “House Cleaning.”

Whenever rugs and draperies need cleaning, have them cleaned immediately.

THE KITCHEN SINK

If it is convenient, by all means have a row of brass hooks over the sink, on which to hang the following articles, viz:

A small three-cornered piece of zinc, each corner differing in shape, to use in cleaning corners of pans, etc. Have a hole in one corner to hang by.

A small stiff bristled brush for cleaning vegetables, with a screw-eye in one end to hang by.

A wire dish for holding laundry and toilet soap, and another for sapolio and a small piece of flannel (or cotton cloth).

A perforated dish into which to empty coffee grounds, etc., to prevent stoppage of the sink drain.

A wire soap shaker to hold scraps of soap.

An ordinary granite water dipper.

A medium size sauce pan also utilized for dipping.

Do not omit a wire dish cloth.

A long wire with bristles on one end for cleaning bottles.

A medium size scrubbing brush with pointed ends for cleaning the sink with Dutch Cleanser.

A granite dish pan should hang or be placed near the sink, also a granite basin in which to wash vegetables.

A sink should have boiling water poured in it each day, and if signs of stoppage occur, throw in a handful of copperas and usually the water poured in during the day will dissolve the copperas slowly and clean the pipes.

On a shelf near the sink it is well to keep a can of Dutch Cleanser, a package of borax, if the water is “hard,” and a package of pearline or similar powder.

THE KITCHEN FLOOR

The best linoleum is the most satisfactory and lasting cover for kitchen, pantry and back hall floors. It cleans beautifully with a scrub brush and naphtha soap, rinsing and wiping dry. Ordinarily, once a week is sufficient for scrubbing the kitchen, but the floor should be wiped or carefully mopped with a small mop at least every other day or oftener, if necessary.

For spots and stains difficult to remove from linoleum, Dutch Cleanser is almost a certain remedy.

THE KITCHEN TABLE

If possible, have what is termed a combination table, and have a tinner cover the top with zinc. On this all hot dishes may be set with no ill results, and it is most easy to clean. If you can enjoy the luxury of a kitchen cabinet, select one with a tall cupboard on top, as that uses space otherwise wasted. If not already zinc covered, have it done. The cost is small, and the comfort and time saving enormous. In the upper drawers in the combination table, you can keep whatever articles you wish. But somewhere, manage to keep a bunch of papers, for their use is manifold. When gathering the dishes preparatory to washing them, always crush several pieces of paper and wipe out grease; wipe off the table with paper when grease has been spilled; and wipe off the stove with paper. All this is a great aid to greater comfort in washing these things.

THE GARBAGE

In some cities a garbage collector calls on certain days, and a convenient way is to keep an old coal hod indoors (so as not to attract flies) with a newspaper in it, into which to empty garbage as it accumulates during the day. This can be easily emptied into an outside garbage can each night.

These matters must be governed by existing conditions.

AROUND THE KITCHEN STOVE

Brass hooks are convenient for holding the following, viz: Dust pan, soft brush, and old whisk broom.

Asbestos plates or old shallow baking pans to invert under kettles to prevent burning.

Cover squares of old shoe leather with ticking or any material suitable for holders, leaving a space about three inches not sewed in one edge of cover through which to slip leather when cover is washed. Sew a brass ring to one corner to hang by.

Hem a square of ticking and attach a brass ring to hang by, to use in handling hot dishes about the stove.

A turkey wing is most handy to brush under low furniture.

Provide a place for drying dish cloths and towels.

For drying glass and silver, make towels of linen, to do away with lint. But nothing seems so satisfactory for drying china, as the soft towels made from flour and sugar bags, the one hundred pound size.

Knitted dish cloths of fine twine can now be purchased in any linen department for a few cents. They are durable and just right to handle.

By all means have a nickle tea kettle.

OTHER HELPS

Have a small dish in refrigerator or other cool place, into which to drop egg shells which are washed before breaking eggs for cooking, and save for settling coffee.

A good can opener and cork screw.

A good, not too heavy broom, and an old one.

Save all worn out flannels and soft cotton underwear for cleaning purposes.

Pieces of medium grade sandpaper tacked over a strip of board 4×10 inches, similar to a razor sharpener, is fine for whetting knives.

Always keep a pair of clean shears convenient for cutting orange and lemon peel, certain vegetables, etc.

A rubber window dryer, used on or off the handle.

Get a good Fireless Cooker.

And a steam cooker, if you can—a copper one, or it will rust out, and get it with two doors.

Three or four empty pound baking powder cans, with covers.

A light weight mop.

Good scrub brush.

Wire basket to keep vegetables from burning to bottom of kettle.

Buy a good clock.

COOKING UTENSILS

A word to the wise: have plenty and proper dishes for cooking, and if you cannot purchase both dishes and bric-a-brac, by all means leave out the bric-a-brac.

Have a good food chopper for grinding nuts, cheese, bread, herbs, etc., etc.

A wooden chopping bowl and sharp chopping knife.

A nutmeg grater, also a large grater having different size punctures.

Quart measure—with other divisions marked.

Measuring cup.

Small sharp vegetable knife.

Large sharp bread knife.

Two steel knives and forks.

A long doughnut fork and doughnut cutter.

A cooky cutter.

Lemon reamer.

Egg beater.

One draining, two mixing, two table, one dessert, three teaspoons.

Pancake turner.

Steamed pudding dish.

Bread pans.

Large baking pans.

Perforated pie tins.

Patent cake tins.

Six granite cups to hold left-overs, etc.

Granite saucers and different sized round basins.

Double boiler.

Small steamer and kettle to fit.

Funnel.

Three different sized stew pans, granite.

Three different sized sheet iron frying pans.

A granite colander.

Three sizes, wire strainers.

Moulding board and glass rolling pin.

Flour sieve.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

For convenience in using, measurements in this book are given in both cups and pints.

Have a measuring cup and no difficulty will be experienced.

2 cupfuls butter= 1 pound= 1 pint
4 cupfuls flour= 1 pound= 1 quart
2 cupfuls sugar= 1 pound= 1 pint
2½ cupfuls powdered sugar= 1 pound= 1 pint
1 cupful bread crumbs= 4 ounces
1 cupful grated cheese= ¼ pound
¾ cupful macaroni= ¼ pound
1 cupful nut meats= ¼ pound
1 cupful dates= ½ pound
¼ cupful dates= 4 tablespoonfuls
⅓ cupful dates= 6 tablespoonfuls
2 cupfuls milk or water= 1 pound
10 eggs= 1 pound

READ THIS

Granulated sugar is used almost universally.

Soda may be dissolved in either hot or cold water.

When mixing, add ingredients in order given.

Butter is softened, =not melted=, by placing on small tin in oven.

Flour is =never= used without being sifted, and measurements given mean =after= sifting.

All measurements given are =even= or =level=.

YEAST

A yeast cake may be kept fresh for a week by burying it in the flour.

A liberal pinch of soda dissolved in a little warm water and added to slightly soured yeast will sweeten it.

EVERLASTING YEAST

=1 cupful mashed potatoes=
=3 cupfuls lukewarm water=
=yeast cake=
=1 tablespoonful salt=
=3 tablespoonfuls sugar=
=½ teaspoonful ginger=

Peel and boil old potatoes, put through a colander, mix with the other ingredients with the yeast dissolved in a little warm water. Add the ginger the first time in starting the yeast, but not again. Let this mixture stand for three days before using. When you make bread, repeat the formula, omitting the yeast and ginger, add the ingredients to the first mixture and let stand over night. In the morning, stir it thoroughly, take out a pint to start your next yeast, sift the flour with the remainder, knead and put into pans. By noon the bread may be baked. This makes three loaves. Keep the yeast in a tight jar, and it will keep for about ten days in warm weather.

MAKING DRY YEAST

After mixing bread at night, the following morning take a large cupful of the light sponge and stir into it dry corn meal. Spread it out thinly to dry, stirring occasionally. When perfectly dry, like coarse powder, it is ready for use, and will keep indefinitely. Use about two tablespoonfuls for a medium size baking.

YEAST

1 handful of hops
2 quarts cold water
2 cupfuls grated raw potato
1 yeast cake
½ cupful salt
½ cupful sugar

Put the hops in cold water, let boil for five minutes and strain. Add potato, salt and sugar, boiling all together for five minutes. Have a yeast cake dissolved in a little warm water, and when the potato mixture is nearly cold, stir in the yeast cake and let rise.

HELPS ABOUT BREADS

When the temperature is too low for bread to rise well, set the bread pan on folded newspaper or something to prevent it getting chilled; an asbestos mat is good; cover the pan with towels and newspaper; a hot water bag filled with hot water and placed on top of these coverings, and the bag itself covered, is one of the best helps.

Always stir in all the flour possible at the first mixing.

Never fill the bread pans over half full.

Knead the dough into loaves, let rise, work over again, let rise in the pans and bake.

If you mix bread dough with water, your loaves will stand a hotter fire than when mixed with milk.

If flour is warmed before mixing bread in cold weather, it will aid in the rising.

Too much kneading is unnecessary.

One cupful of liquid yeast is equal to one dried yeast cake or about three-fourths of a compressed yeast cake.

A little sugar sprinkled on the bottom of the oven helps brown the top of your loaves.

For sandwich making, bake the bread in one pound baking powder cans, filling them half full of the dough.

Some good cooks add one teaspoonful of glycerine to every four cupfuls of flour in making bread. It makes the dough “richer.”

KEEPING BREAD FRESH

As soon as bread is cold, put each loaf in a paper bag, putting the bags in an earthen jar with cover, or in a bread tin.

A dish containing a wet sponge set inside the bread tin is good. Of course, see that the sponge is kept sweet. And a cut apple inside the bread tin helps.

Bread wrapped in paraffin paper before being placed in the jar or box, keeps well.

STALE BREAD

Dip stale loaves in water, quickly removing to a hot oven for about ten minutes.

When not needed as bread, put stale pieces through the chopper and save every crumb in a receptacle covered with a cloth, not with a tight cover, to prevent mold.

CUTTING BREAD

Tie a piece of coarse white thread or common twine around the hot bread where you wish to cut. It cuts perfectly smooth and straight.

BREADS OF VARIOUS NAMES

ENTIRE WHEAT BREAD

1 pint milk
1 pint water
3 tablespoonfuls sugar
2 teaspoonfuls salt
1 cake yeast foam
entire wheat flour

At night scald the milk, add water, sugar and salt and the yeast dissolved in a little of the warm milk and water. Stir in all possible of the whole wheat flour. Cover and keep in warm place till morning. Knead just enough to work into loaves to =half fill= bread pans, and when the loaves have risen to nearly the top of the pan, bake.

WHITE BREAD, ROLLS AND BREAD DOUGHNUTS

1 pint hot water or milk
1 pint cold water or milk
butter, size of egg
3 tablespoonfuls sugar
3 teaspoonfuls salt
1 cake compressed yeast

Mix at night.

Dissolve yeast in ½ cupful lukewarm water. Stir butter, sugar and salt into the pint of hot water or milk, adding the cold water or milk after butter becomes softened, then add the yeast and all the flour you can stir in. Cover and keep in warm place till morning. Place on the floured moulding board, and knead just enough to work into three loaves, leaving a fourth loaf to work into rolls.

Place the three loaves in bread pans, cover, let rise, and bake. Take the fourth loaf, work in a second piece of softened butter, mould into rolls, place in tin to rise.

Usually, in about half an hour, bread and rolls are ready to bake.

If the rolls are wanted later, place them in the refrigerator or cold place, till time to allow them to rise and bake.

BREAD DOUGHNUTS

Take one loaf of the bread mixture, dip a tablespoon first into hot cooking oil, then into this one loaf, and drop a small thin piece from the spoon into the hot oil ready for frying. They are fine with maple or sugar syrup.

RYE BREAD

1 cupful scalded milk
1 cupful boiling water
⅓ cupful sugar
3 cupfuls flour
2 tablespoonfuls butter
1 tablespoonful salt
1 cake compressed yeast

Mix at night.

Dissolve the yeast in a little warm water, and as soon as the hot liquids are simply =warm=, not =hot=, add them to the yeast; then stir in the sugar, softened butter, salt and flour; cover and keep in a warm place to rise over night.

Next morning, add rye meal until thick enough to work into loaves. Allow this to rise, then work it into loaves, place in bread tins, let rise again and bake. Makes two loaves.

BOSTON BROWN BREAD No. 1

1 cupful corn meal
1 cupful graham flour
1⅓ cupfuls sour milk
½ cupful molasses
½ teaspoonful soda
1 teaspoonful salt

Pour molasses into your mixing bowl, add the milk, then the soda dissolved in a little water, then meal and flour, and pour into two one-pound baking powder cans, put covers on tightly and steam three hours.

BOSTON BROWN BREAD No. 2

¾ cupful graham flour
½ cupful corn meal
¾ cupful sour milk
¼ cupful molasses
¾ teaspoonful salt
½ teaspoonful soda

Mix as in No. 1, pour into a two quart granite basin, cover tightly (place a weight on cover if necessary), steam two and one-half hours, and bake ten minutes.

BROWN BREAD No. 1

2 cupfuls graham flour
½ cupful corn meal
1 cupful milk
butter, size of walnut
½ cupful molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoonful soda
½ teaspoonful salt

Pour molasses and milk into your mixing bowl, add the soda dissolved in a little water, salt, the butter softened, flour and meal. Bake in ordinary oven.

BROWN BREAD No. 2

2 cupfuls milk
2 cupfuls corn meal
1 cupful graham flour
1 teaspoonful salt
½ teaspoonful soda
2 teaspoonfuls baking powder
½ cupful molasses

Mix and bake as in Brown Bread No. 1.

GRAHAM BREAD No. 1

1 pint milk
1 pint water
3 tablespoonfuls sugar
2 cupfuls dried raisins
2 teaspoonfuls salt
1 cake yeast foam
graham flour

Have the raisins washed and dried the day before, then proceed as per Entire Wheat Bread recipe, adding the perfectly dry raisins in the last kneading.

GRAHAM BREAD No. 2

2 cupfuls sour milk
¼ cupful molasses
2 cupfuls graham flour
1 cupful corn meal
1 teaspoonful salt
1 teaspoonful soda
butter, size of egg
1 cupful chopped raisins

Dissolve soda in a little water and stir it in the sour milk, add molasses, salt and part of the flour and corn meal, softened butter, adding the raisins and remainder of flour and meal alternately.

Bake for about three-quarters of an hour.

ROLLS

One recipe is given under White Bread. If these rolls are molded and the pan placed in a dish of warm water, or in a gas oven with the flame turned very low, they will be ready for baking in from ten to twenty minutes.

A cupful of finely chopped nut meats added to the above recipe at the last kneading, is fine.

NUT ROLLS

Use the recipe for Baking Powder Biscuit, roll very thin, spread with butter and sprinkle with chopped raisins, or nuts or both. Roll this dough tightly, like jelly roll, cut into slices, and bake.

PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

2 cupfuls milk
¼ cupful butter
flour
2 tablespoonfuls sugar
1 teaspoonful salt
1 compressed yeast cake

To the scalding milk add salt, sugar, a little flour and the softened butter. Dissolve the yeast cake in about half a cupful of lukewarm water, stirring into the milk mixture as soon as it is lukewarm, not hot. Add sufficient flour to form a soft dough. Knead till it is smooth, put back into mixing pan, cover and let stand in a warm place till light. Usually it becomes very light in two hours. Turn it on the bread board, knead a little more, roll and cut into pieces to shape into rolls. Spread half of the inside with butter, fold the other half over and press it down. Place these in a covered well buttered pan till they are twice their original size, and bake from ten to twenty minutes.

BISCUITS

BAKING BISCUITS

Have the oven hot at first, letting it cool gradually.

BAKING POWDER BISCUITS

4 cupfuls flour
2 cupfuls milk
½ cupful butter
1 teaspoonful salt
3 teaspoonfuls baking powder
pinch of sugar

Sift the baking powder with the flour into the milk and the softened butter, add salt and sugar, roll to half inch in thickness, cut and bake.

Instead of milk, water may be used by adding a little more butter.

By rolling the dough very thin, cutting small biscuits, placing one on top of another to bake, very convenient biscuits for buttering for parties and luncheons can be made.

GRAHAM BISCUITS

1 cupful sour milk
1 tablespoonful sugar
½ teaspoonful salt
½ teaspoonful soda
graham flour
butter, size of egg

Stir the soda dissolved in a little water into the milk, add salt, sugar, a little graham flour, the melted or softened butter, and more graham flour till the liquid has absorbed all possible. Dip a dessert spoon into cold water, then into the dough, taking enough to make a small biscuit, place in a buttered pan, repeating till dough is all used. Bake about twenty minutes.

Use same recipe for white biscuits by substituting white flour for graham, and two teaspoonfuls baking powder for soda.

MAPLE TEA BISCUITS

4 cupfuls flour
⅓ cupful butter
1 cupful ground maple sugar
½ teaspoonful salt
2 teaspoonfuls baking powder
sweet milk

Into part of the flour stir half a cupful of milk, salt, then the softened butter and the balance of the flour with baking powder sifted in, and enough milk to make a soft dough. Add the maple sugar (ground by putting through the food chopper), roll about one-half inch thick, cut into biscuits and bake in a quick oven.

GRAHAM GEMS

1½ cupfuls graham flour
1¼ cupfuls cold water
1 teaspoonful salt

Stir the flour gradually into the salted water. Stir very briskly for about five minutes and pour into hot gem pan. Makes 12 gems and takes about 15 minutes to bake.

MUFFINS

2 cupfuls flour
2 eggs
butter, size of egg
2 teaspoonfuls baking powder
1 teaspoonful salt
½ cupful milk

To the flour sifted with the baking powder, add the salt, the well beaten eggs and the milk. Drop from a dessertspoon into hot gem pans, and bake in quick oven.

Makes 12 muffins and takes about 15 minutes to bake.

POP-OVERS

1 cupful flour
1 cupful milk
½ teaspoonful salt
2 eggs

To the beaten eggs add milk and salt, stir in flour, pour in hot buttered gem pans and bake about twenty minutes.

BAKED BUCKWHEAT CAKE

1 cupful sour milk
1 tablespoonful molasses
buckwheat flour
1 teaspoonful salt
½ teaspoonful soda

Into the sour milk, stir salt, soda dissolved in a little warm water and molasses; add buckwheat till the mixture is like cake dough. Bake about thirty minutes in a rather deep pan, serve in squares thick enough to cut in two and butter. This is a fine bread for winter luncheon.

JOHNNY-CAKE

1 cupful sour milk
1 cupful corn meal
1 cupful flour
butter, size of egg
½ teaspoonful salt
½ teaspoonful soda
1 tablespoonful sugar
1 egg

To the beaten egg, add sugar, salt, corn meal and softened butter, then the milk, soda dissolved in little water, and the flour. Bake in buttered pan about twenty five minutes; makes a medium size loaf.

GRIDDLE CAKES

BAKING POWDER GRIDDLE CAKES

2 cupfuls sweet milk
2 eggs
flour
butter, size of egg
½ teaspoonful salt
2 teaspoonfuls baking powder
1 teaspoonful sugar

Add the beaten egg to the milk, stir in the salt, sugar and softened butter, and sift in the flour in which the baking powder has been mixed. Use enough flour to make a batter like that of cake.

Corn meal with part flour, buckwheat or graham flour, may be substituted.

In berry season, huckleberries, blueberries or raspberries added to the above griddle cake batter, are delicious.

Cold boiled rice and left over cereals may be stirred in almost any recipe for griddle cakes.

A little vinegar added to the sour milk batter of griddle cakes just before frying, is good.

BUCKWHEAT GRIDDLE CAKES No. 1

1 quart buckwheat flour
warm water
1 yeast cake
1 tablespoonful molasses
1 teaspoonful salt

Mix at night.

To the yeast dissolved in a little lukewarm water add the salt, molasses, a little warm water, a little flour, continuing to add flour and water till you have a thin batter. Keep in a warm place till morning, add a pinch of soda, fry and serve with butter and syrup, maple or sugar syrup.

SUGAR SYRUP FOR HOT CAKES

Into one cupful of cold water in a quart basin, stir all the granulated sugar that will dissolve. More sugar and water can be added as necessary to keep the syrup the right consistency.

This syrup never becomes hard.

BUCKWHEAT GRIDDLE CAKES No. 2

2 cupfuls scalded milk
⅓ cupful bread crumbs
¾ of a yeast cake
buckwheat flour
½ teaspoonful salt
¼ teaspoonful soda
1 tablespoonful molasses

Mix at night.

Pour the hot milk over the crumbs and when the mixture is just lukewarm, add the yeast dissolved in a little warm water, salt, and enough buckwheat flour to make a batter about like that of cake. Keep in a warm place till morning, add the soda dissolved in a little warm water, and the molasses. Fry, and serve as desired. If about one cupful of the batter is set aside, it can be used instead of yeast for the next making.

OATMEAL CAKES

1 cupful oatmeal
1 cupful sour milk
½ cupful sugar
flour
½ teaspoonful salt
1 teaspoonful soda
1 egg

Mix at night.

Stir the oatmeal into the milk and let stand in a not too cold place over night. In the morning, add the sugar, salt, soda dissolved in a little warm water, and flour enough to make a batter like that of cake. Fry on a buttered griddle and serve with butter and syrup.

SOUR MILK GRIDDLE CAKES

2 cupfuls sour milk
1 egg
flour, either graham, wheat flour or buckwheat
butter, size of egg
½ teaspoonful salt
1 teaspoonful soda
1 teaspoonful sugar

Add the beaten egg to the sour milk, then stir in the salt, sugar, soda dissolved in a little water, the softened butter and enough flour to make a batter like that of cake. Fry and serve as prepared.

Bread crumbs or even corn meal with part flour may be used instead of all flour, or buckwheat, or graham flour may be substituted.

FRENCH PANCAKES WITH JELLY

2 cupfuls flour
2 cupfuls milk
3 eggs
½ teaspoonful salt
1 tablespoonful sugar

Stir the flour into the beaten eggs, add the sugar, salt and milk. Stir thoroughly, fry, spread with jelly, and roll.

CEREALS AND BREAKFAST DISHES

Good directions for cooking cereals will be found on each package.

Many cooked cereals sliced cold, dipped in flour and fried, are fine served with syrup and butter.

CORN MEAL MUSH

Wet two cupfuls corn meal in one and one-half cupfuls cold water, stir in slowly three and one-half cupfuls boiling water and one-half teaspoonful salt. Cook at least one hour in double boiler. If cooked in a kettle, butter the inside first, to prevent sticking. Serve with syrup, or sugar and cream.

Cook enough mush to have some left to slice and fry. Dip the slices in white of egg to make crisp.

FRIED CORN MEAL MUSH

Cut slices about three-fourths of an inch in thickness from the cold mush, dip on a plate containing flour, and fry in butter. Serve with butter, syrup, or any desired way.

Cream of Wheat when cooked, may be sliced cold and fried like corn mush.

PLAIN AND FANCY TOASTS

BIRD’S NEST TOAST

Have buttered dry toast ready. Break each egg and leave the yolk in the shell. Add a pinch of salt to the white and beat stiffly. Arrange the beaten white on the toast, place yolk in center, put in the oven and cook to suit.

CHEESE TOAST

Butter slices of bread, lay on a thin slice of cheese or cover with grated cheese, and place in a pan in the oven, leaving just long enough for cheese to melt. Crackers may be similarly toasted.

DRY TOAST

Place slices of bread on clean top of hot range or on asbestos mat over gas stove, turning over to brown on upper side after under side is browned.

MARSHMALLOW TOAST

Cut bread in thin slices, butter, or spread with jelly, cut marshmallows in halves, place on top and put in oven for about two minutes, till the marshmallow is a bit browned. Serve immediately.

MILK TOAST

2 cupfuls milk
4 tablespoonfuls flour
butter, size of egg
½ teaspoonful salt

Stir flour smoothly in half the milk, heat the remainder of milk to boiling, stir in the flour and milk, add butter and salt, pouring over previously toasted bread. Serve hot. Bread is easily toasted by laying in a corn popper and holding over coals.

EGGS

BEATING EGGS

A teaspoonful of cold water added to the white of an egg, makes it whip more quickly, as well as increase in quantity.

A pinch of salt will make white of an egg whip more quickly.

Add a pinch of cream of tartar while whipping white of egg, to keep from falling afterward.

TO PRESERVE EGGS

Add one quart fresh slaked lime to two gallons of water, pour into a cask and put in the eggs till ready for use. They will keep for months.

Eggs may be kept for months in table salt.

Or to three gallons of water add one pint fresh slaked lime and one-half pint table salt. Keep the eggs always covered in the brine.

EGG SUBSTITUTE

One tablespoonful of corn starch is equal to one egg. Try it in doughnuts.

Unused yolks should be put in a cold place in an uncovered glass of water, where they will keep several days.

If a small piece of shell gets in a broken egg, take a piece of shell and the smaller piece will adhere to it, so it may be easily removed.

When a bit of yolk gets in with the white in separating the parts, touch the yolk with a piece of dry cloth and it will adhere to it.

BAKED EGGS

6 eggs
1¾ cupfuls bread crumbs
2 cupfuls milk
½ cupful melted butter
½ teaspoonful salt
a little pepper

Soak the bread crumbs in milk with pepper and salt for an hour or more in a mixing bowl. Add the butter, stir well, and pour in a small deep bread pan. With a spoon, make six depressions the size of an egg, break the eggs into these hollows, and bake thirty minutes.

BOILED EGGS

Cover eggs in cold water, and remove after water has boiled two minutes if soft boiled eggs are desired, boiling longer for hard boiled.

Whenever soft boiled eggs are left over, boil them hard at once, so they may be utilized cold.

DEVILED EGGS No. 1

4 hard boiled eggs
melted butter
¼ teaspoonful mustard
dash of pepper
2 tablespoonfuls grated cheese
1 tablespoonful vinegar
pinch of salt

Boil the eggs fifteen minutes, and plunge into cold water as soon as taken from the fire, to set the whites. Cut eggs in two and mash the yolks, add cheese, vinegar, mustard, pepper, salt, and enough butter to make the mixture right to shape in the size of yolks. Place these in the whites to look like whole eggs. Wrap each one in a small piece of paraffin paper, and pack in a small box.

DEVILED EGGS No. 2

Proceed as in Deviled Eggs No. 1, substituting chowchow sauce from a pickle bottle for mustard, and chopped olives for cheese.

After making Deviled Eggs, try dipping some in egg and bread crumbs, frying in cooking oil.

EGG GRAVY

2 eggs
½ cupful milk
butter size of walnut
salt and pepper

Add to the beaten eggs all the other ingredients, pour into a cold stew pan and stir constantly over the fire till of the right consistency. Serve from a gravy bowl on hot potatoes.

EGG OMELET No. 1

4 eggs
¼ cupful water
1 tablespoonful flour
pinch of salt

Smooth flour and water together, stir in the beaten yolks and salt, then stir in very lightly the stiffly beaten whites, and pour into a hot buttered pan. Shake the pan gently to keep the mixture from burning. As soon as brown on the bottom, fold it over and serve at once on a hot dish.

Chopped mushrooms are nice in omelet.

Add a little chopped green pepper to an omelet.

EGG OMELET No. 2

5 eggs
2 tablespoonfuls cream
1 tablespoonful butter
1 tablespoonful chopped parsley
½ teaspoonful onion juice
pinch of salt
little pepper
dash of nutmeg

Beat the whites stiffly and set in a very cold place. Beat in with the yolks all of the other ingredients, add carefully to the whites and cook in hot buttered pan. As soon as the bottom of the mixture is a trifle set, lift the pan frequently to prevent burning. When the mixture is browned on the bottom, set in the oven to brown top.

FRUIT OMELET

raisins
prunes
citron
currants
lemons
figs
oranges
juice of 1 orange
dash of cinnamon

Mix only enough of the fruit to just half fill a cup; run it through the chopper, add cinnamon and put all in a double boiler with the orange juice and let cook thirty minutes.

Make the omelet of

4 eggs
pinch of salt
1 tablespoonful sugar
1 teaspoonful butter

Beat eggs, add sugar and butter. Melt a second teaspoonful butter in a pan, turn in the mixture, letting it brown, continually lifting up the set part to let the uncooked run on the hot pan. When it is all set, pour in the hot fruit, fold over instantly and turn on a plate.

FRIED EGGS

Eggs fried in a hot pan in which a piece of butter is first melted, salt and pepper added, are relished by many.

A spoonful of flour sprinkled over butter in the pan ready to fry eggs, will prevent their sticking.

POACHED EGGS No. 1

Break each egg carefully in a dish of boiling water, into which a teaspoonful of vinegar has been stirred, remove in a draining spoon and season. Serve on buttered toast. Dried sliced bread dipped in milk and quickly removed and fried in butter, with a poached egg served on each slice, is nice.

Chopped olives mixed with one beaten egg, a little water, pepper and salt, fried brown, is a nice accompaniment to poached eggs.

POACHED EGGS No. 2

Use boiling milk instead of water and proceed as in Poached Eggs No. 1.

RAW EGGS

For one who enjoys it, an egg broken carefully into a glass, seasoned with salt, a few drops of lemon juice, vinegar or a little wine, and swallowed whole, is delicious.

Or, to a well beaten egg, fill the glass with cream or milk, a tablespoonful of sugar, and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

SCRAMBLED EGGS

Beat, add one tablespoonful milk, a little salt and pepper. Pour into a hot buttered frying pan and stir constantly, adding a bit of butter. Serve as desired.

For a change, add a few drops of lemon juice when scrambling eggs.

CHEESE DISHES

BAKED CHEESE No. 1

1 cupful grated cheese
1 cupful bread crumbs
1½ cupfuls milk
1 egg
½ teaspoonful salt
¼ teaspoonful pepper

Mix all together, bake about thirty minutes, and serve immediately.

BAKED CHEESE No. 2

grated cheese
eggs
bread crumbs
pepper
salt
butter

Butter a deep pie plate, cover the bottom with a layer of cheese, then break over the cheese as many eggs as desired, sprinkle with pepper and salt, add another layer of cheese, then a layer of bread crumbs, and scatter over the top small pieces of butter. Bake fifteen to twenty minutes.

To keep cut cheese from moulding, wrap in a cloth wrung out of vinegar.

CHEESE BALLS

1 cupful flour
½ cupful butter
¼ cupful grated cheese
1 egg
pinch of salt
dash of cayenne pepper

Thoroughly mix flour and softened butter, add cheese and beaten egg, salt and pepper, roll to one-half inch in thickness, cut with a small cutter and bake, or dip in a beaten egg with bread crumbs and fry in cooking oil.

Serve on lettuce leaves with a dressing made of equal parts olive oil and vinegar.

CREAM CHEESE

Use grated cheese (grate it by putting through the food chopper), season with salt and a dash of cayenne pepper, and moisten with sweet or sour cream. After standing a day or two, mould the mixture into balls and serve like cream cheese.

DUTCH OR COTTAGE CHEESE

Scald sour or buttermilk; as soon as the whey separates, pour it off, and let the curd drain in a strainer. When quite dry, add a little salt and enough sweet cream or milk to produce the right consistency to mould into balls. Cottage cheese may be moulded into various shapes, rolled in chopped parsley and used to decorate various salads.

CHEESE CUSTARD

¼ cupful grated cheese
¼ cupful milk
4 eggs
pinch of salt
dash of pepper

Cook all together in a double boiler till like smooth custard, then pour into small buttered cups and bake ten minutes in a slow oven.

CHEESE DREAMS

2 eggs
1½ tablespoonfuls flour
cheese
1 cupful milk
buttered sliced bread
pinch of salt

Cut bread very thin, butter, and lay in slices of cheese or sprinkle in grated cheese thickly, like sandwiches. Smooth flour in with beaten eggs, stir in milk and salt, dip sandwiches in and fry brown in a buttered pan.

CHEESE PUDDING No. 1

1 cupful grated cheese
1 cupful boiling milk
2 eggs
1 tablespoonful bread crumbs
1 dessertspoonful butter
1 teaspoonful flour
1 teaspoonful salt
dash of pepper

Mix in a bowl, cheese, flour, salt, pepper and crumbs, add the boiling milk, softened butter, yolks and stiffly beaten whites. Stir thoroughly, bake in a buttered dish twenty minutes, and serve hot.

CHEESE PUDDING No. 2

½ cupful bread crumbs
1½ cupfuls milk
2 cupfuls grated cheese
1 cupful whipped cream
3 eggs
½ teaspoonful mustard
1 tablespoonful butter
pinch of salt
dash of pepper

Mix together crumbs, salt, pepper, mustard and milk, put in double boiler, removing when hot to add cheese and beaten yolks. When cool, add stiffly beaten whites and cream. Fill baking cups half full, set in a pan of hot water, and bake fifteen or twenty minutes in a quick oven.

CHEESE STRAWS No. 1

2½ cupfuls grated cheese
½ cupful butter
flour
pinch of salt
dash cayenne pepper

Mix cheese and softened butter thoroughly, add salt and pepper and sufficient flour to roll the dough very thin. Put in a buttered pan, draw a knife across the dough in sections one-half inch in width, and bake in quick oven.

CHEESE STRAWS No. 2

½ cupful flour
¼ cupful butter
½ cupful grated cheese
1 egg
½ teaspoonful baking powder
½ teaspoonful salt
dash cayenne pepper

Mix part of flour, beaten egg and softened butter, add cheese, salt and pepper, and remainder of flour with baking powder sifted in. Roll thin, place in pan and mark into straws with a sharp knife. Bake quickly.

MACARONI AND CHEESE No. 1

½ cupful macaroni
1 chopped onion
2 cupfuls strained tomatoes
2 cupfuls grated cheese
2 tablespoonfuls olive oil
½ teaspoonful salt
½ cupful milk

Break the macaroni into inch pieces, boil thirty minutes and pour off water. Put olive oil in a stew pan, add onion and shake over fire till onion is soft. Add macaroni and tomatoes, heat thoroughly, stir in the other ingredients, cook for about ten minutes and serve hot.

Two cupfuls tomatoes are generally in one ordinary can of tomatoes. This serves ten people.

MACARONI AND CHEESE No. 2

¾ cupful macaroni
1 cupful grated cheese
1 tablespoonful corn starch
a little salt
1 cupful milk

Prepare the macaroni as per directions in Macaroni and Cheese No. 1. After taking macaroni from the boiling water, butter a baking dish, put in part of the macaroni and cover it with milk and the corn starch smoothed in. Then sprinkle with half of the cheese, then the macaroni, then another layer of cheese, a little salt, and put in the oven to bake for about twenty minutes.

WELSH RAREBIT No. 1

4 cupfuls grated cheese
¾ cupful ale
yolk of 1 egg
dash of pepper
1 teaspoonful dry mustard
1 teaspoonful Worcestershire sauce
pinch of salt
1 teaspoonful butter

Melt butter in stew pan, add cheese, and gradually the ale, stirring constantly. Break egg and stir in mustard and sauce, pepper and salt. Stir all together and cook for a few minutes, then pour over toasted bread.

If the mixture becomes stringy or curdled, add a pinch of soda to make it creamy.

WELSH RAREBIT No. 2

4 cupfuls grated cheese
¼ cupful milk
1 egg
dash cayenne pepper
½ teaspoonful dry mustard
1 tablespoonful butter
pinch of salt

Melt butter in cooking dish, add cheese, then beaten egg and other ingredients, stirring constantly. Pour over toasted buttered bread. Serves five people.

SANDWICHES

ABOUT SANDWICHES

Bake bread in baking powder cans. Butter cans and fill one-third full when dough is to be baked with the covers on (which makes a tender crust), and one-half full when it is to be baked without covers.

When necessary to make sandwiches some time in advance of their being eaten, wrap them in a cloth wrung out of hot water and put in a cool place.

Do not use bread any less than a day old.

HERB SANDWICHES

Mix chopped lettuce, pepper grass, watercress and peppermint with mayonnaise dressing.

VEGETABLE SANDWICHES

Cold boiled oyster plant, beets and cauliflower with any preferred dressing.

SANDWICH FILLING COMBINATIONS

Cream cheese and dates.

Apples and onions.

Two parts nuts, one part preserved ginger, moistened with thick cream.

Olives and walnuts moistened with Mayonnaise Dressing.

Sweetened mashed bananas.

Jam or marmalade covered with cream cheese.

For a sweet sandwich, chopped figs and dates, with a few drops of lemon juice.

Many people like cayenne pepper sprinkled on bread and butter sandwiches for evening refreshment.

Chopped cold boiled eggs and lettuce with French Dressing.

Finely chopped peanuts and Mayonnaise.

Chopped nuts, cream cheese, olive oil and lemon juice.

Chopped mint leaves with French Dressing.

Chopped onions and Mayonnaise.

Lettuce leaves spread with Mayonnaise, sprinkled with grated cheese and nuts.

SOUPS

If soup is too salty, add a few slices of raw potato and cook a few minutes longer for the potato to absorb the salt.

If soup appears lacking in strength, stir in a little grated cheese.

NUT STOCK FOR SOUPS

Put two cupfuls of mixed chopped nuts in a stew pan with one quart of water and let them stew slowly for two hours, then strain and remove the water for stock.

The nuts may be used in soups, cakes, or any preferred way.

SOUP BASIS

Water drained from boiled rice and from all vegetables, is used as a basis or “stock” for soups.

CROUTONS

Cut rather dry bread into one-half inch slices, and cut them into small pieces. Put in a pan in the oven to brown. Place half a dozen or more pieces on each plate of soup just before serving.

CREAM OF ASPARAGUS SOUP

1 bunch of asparagus
2 cupfuls milk
¼ cupful cream
¼ teaspoonful salt
1 tablespoonful flour
1 tablespoonful butter
dash of pepper

Wash asparagus and cut off the tips. Put the stalks in cold water and boil till tender. Put them through a colander, then put back in the water they boiled in. Heat milk to the boiling point and stir in the butter and flour smoothed together. Boil ten minutes, pour into the asparagus, season, add cream and the asparagus tips which have been boiled by themselves in cold water till tender.

A spoonful of whipped cream is nice on almost any soup, added just before serving.

BEAN SOUP

Take as many stewed or baked beans as desired, put through a colander, add as much water as wished and boil about ten minutes. Add butter size of an egg to a small kettle of soup, season with salt and pepper. Make the soup as thick as desired and just before taking from the fire, stir in about a cupful of milk. A few sprigs of parsley on each plate of soup is pleasing.

CREAM OF PEA SOUP

1 quart shelled peas
1 quart milk
1 onion
1 cupful cream
dash of pepper
3 tablespoonfuls butter
1 tablespoonful olive oil
2 tablespoonfuls flour
½ teaspoonful salt

Put peas and onion in cold water to cover them, and boil fifteen minutes. Heat the milk in double boiler. Smooth butter and flour together and gradually pour the hot milk on the mixture, pour it all in double boiler and heat. Take the onion from the peas and run them through a strainer, add them to the milk mixture, add salt, pepper, oil and cream, and keep at boiling point ten minutes.

PLAIN POTATO SOUP

Peel, and cut in very thin small pieces three medium size potatoes. Put one-fourth cupful of butter in a soup kettle and let it melt and brown, but not burn. Turn the potatoes on the butter and stir till most of the butter is absorbed, for about fifteen minutes, being careful not to let the mixture burn. Add one cupful of cold water and let the potatoes come to boiling point and boil five minutes. Then add, gradually, one cupful of milk and as soon as it reaches the boiling point, add one tablespoonful of flour smoothed in three-fourths of a cup of milk, one teaspoonful of salt and a pinch of pepper. Remove from fire and serve.

QUICK SOUP

1 quart can tomatoes
1 slice of onion
2 cupfuls water
¼ cupful flour
2 tablespoonfuls butter
1 teaspoonful salt
a blade of mace

Put tomatoes, water, salt, onion and mace to boiling point, and add flour and butter smoothed together. Stir constantly till the mixture boils, run through a sieve, heat and serve with croutons.

SALSIFY SOUP

Salsify is the vegetable oyster. Scrape the salsify, cut in small pieces to fill a quart measure, put immediately into cold water. Cook till tender, being careful not to burn it, put through a colander, add one quart milk, butter size of egg and one-half teaspoonful salt. Let come to a boil and remove from fire.

TOMATO SOUP

1 quart cut tomatoes
2 cupfuls water
1 slice of onion
1 cucumber
⅛ teaspoonful cloves
1 dessertspoonful sugar
part of a bay leaf

Wash, peel, and cut the tomato and cucumber in small pieces to make one quart. Boil with the other ingredients for twenty minutes, put through a strainer.

Prepare

2 tablespoonfuls butter
3 tablespoonfuls flour
1 teaspoonful salt
⅓ teaspoonful soda

Warm the butter and smooth in the flour, add salt and soda dissolved in a little hot water, stirring constantly, add gradually the hot soup, let come to a boil, and remove from fire.

VEGETABLE SOUP

2 potatoes
2 quarts water
1 cupful tomato
1 carrot
1 onion
1 turnip
¼ cupful rice
1 teaspoonful salt
dash of pepper
2 tablespoonfuls olive oil

Peel potatoes, turnip and onion, scrape the carrot, slice each very thinly, put into the cold water and boil one hour. Pour boiling water over the rice in double boiler, cook till partly done, then add to the vegetables that have been cooked one hour, and put in the other ingredients and cook one more hour.

CORN CHOWDER

4 cupfuls chopped corn
4 cupfuls sliced potatoes
2 chopped onions
2 tablespoonfuls olive oil
½ cupful flour
2 cupfuls hot milk
salt

Cut the kernels from about a dozen ears of corn and put through the food chopper. Slice the potatoes very thinly. Put the oil in the kettle, and stir the onions in it for about five minutes, then put in a layer of corn, then potatoes, sprinkling each layer with salt and flour, adding the layers till vegetables are all used. Then just cover with boiling water and let cook for thirty minutes, turn in the hot milk and serve hot.

NUT CHOWDER

4 potatoes
2 turnips
1 onion
2 cupfuls milk
2 tablespoonfuls flour
2 tablespoonfuls peanut butter
2 cupfuls chopped nuts
1 quart water
1 tablespoonful olive oil
a little thyme and sweet marjoram
1 teaspoonful salt

Put the nuts with the water and stew slowly for two hours, then strain. Peel and cut in thin slices potatoes, turnips and onions. Put the oil in a soup kettle, then add a layer of potatoes, one of the turnips and onions, sprinkle in a little thyme, sweet marjoram and salt, and then add a layer of nuts, then potatoes, turnips, etc., till the ingredients are all used, and finally pour on the boiling hot water strained from the nuts. Cook about twenty minutes, and stir in the flour which has been gradually smoothed into the milk, and the peanut butter. Serve hot. Makes four plates.

VEGETABLES

BAKED ASPARAGUS

1 cupful asparagus
1 cupful milk
3 eggs
1 teaspoonful chopped parsley
2 tablespoonfuls butter
2 tablespoonfuls flour
½ teaspoonful salt

Cook the asparagus and parsley together in a stew pan, same as Boiled Asparagus. When tender, remove from fire and stir in the well beaten eggs. Smooth the flour in part gradually adding all of the milk, and pour over asparagus in stew pan over fire, add butter and salt and when well mixed, but not boiling, turn into a buttered baking mould, set the mould in a pan of hot water and bake until firm. Serve with melted butter.

BOILED ASPARAGUS