EVENING MEAL

Evening meal or tea meal should be the last meal at which solid food is eaten. It should always be a light one, and the later it is eaten the less substantial it should be. Heavy or hard work after tea is no excuse for a supper. This meal must be taken at least three hours before retiring. From 4 to 6 oz. of Allinson wholemeal bread may be allowed with a poached or lightly boiled egg, a salad, or fruit, or some kind of green food. The fluid drunk may be Brunak, cocoa, milk and water, bran tea, or even plain water, boiled and taken cool. Those who are restless at night, nervous, or sleepless must not drink tea at this meal. Fruit in the evening is not considered good, and when taken it should be cooked rather than raw. Boiled celery will be found to be lighter on the stomach at this meal than the raw vegetable. When it is boiled, as little water as possible should be used; the water that the celery is boiled in may be thickened with Allinson fine wheatmeal, made into sauce, and poured over the cooked celery; by this means we do not loose the valuable salts dissolved out of the food by boiling. Mustard and cress, watercress, radishes, and spring onions may be eaten if the evening meal is taken 4 or 5 hours before going to bed. Those who are away from home all day, and who take their food to their work may have some kind of milk pudding at this meal. Wheatmeal blancmange, or cold milk pudding may occasionally be eaten those who are costive will find a boiled onion or some braized onions very useful. Boil the onion in as little water as possible and serve up with the liquor it is boiled in. To prepare braized onions, fry them first until nicely brown, using butter or olive oil, then add a cupful of boiling water to the contents of the frying pan, cover with a plate, and let cook for an hour. This is not really a rich food, but one easy of digestion and of great use to the sleepless. Those who want to rise early must make their last meal a light one. Those troubled with

Hygienic livers will never take such meals, even if tea has been early, or hard work done since the tea meal was taken. No solid food must be eaten. The most that should be consumed is a cup of Brunak, cocoa, lemon water, bran tea, or even boiled water, but never milk. In winter warm drinks may be taken, and in summer cool ones.

LEMON WATER is made by squeezing the juice of 1/2 a lemon into a tumbler of warm or cold water; to this is added just enough sugar to take off the tartness. Some peel the lemon first, then cut in slices, pour boiling water over the slices, grate in a little of the peel, and add sugar to taste.

BRUNAK.--Take 1-1/2 to 2 teaspoonfuls of Brunak for each large cupful required, mix it with sufficient water, and boil for 2 or 3 minutes to get the full flavour, then strain and add hot milk and sugar to taste. Can be made in a coffee-pot, teapot, or jug if preferred. May be stood on the hob to draw; or it you have any left over from a previous meal it can be boiled up again and served as freshly made.

COCOA.--This is best made by putting a teaspoonful of any good cocoa, such as Allinson's, into a breakfast cup; boiling water is then poured upon this and stirred; 1 tablespoonful of milk must be added to each cup, and 1 teaspoonful of sugar where sugar is used, or 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of condensed milk and no extra sugar.

BRAN TEA.--Mix 1 oz. of bran with 1 pint of water; boil for 1/2 an hour, strain, and drink cool. A little orange or lemon juice is a pleasant addition. When this is used as a drink at breakfast or tea, a little milk and sugar may be added to it.

CHOCOLATE.--Allow 1 bar of Allinson's chocolate for each cup of fluid. Break the chocolate in bits, put into a saucepan, add a little boiling water, put on the fire, and stir until the chocolate is dissolved, then add rest of fluid and boil 2 or 3 minutes. Pour the chocolate into cups, and add about 1 tablespoonful of fresh milk to each cup, but no extra sugar. The milk may be added to the chocolate whilst boiling, if desired.

WHOLEMEAL COOKERY

Most of my readers have received great benefit from eating wholemeal bread instead of white, and they may all gain further good it they will use Allinson wholemeal flour in place of white for all cooking purposes. Those who are at all constipated, or who suffer from piles, varicose veins, varicocele, back pain, &c., should never use white flour in cooking. Those who are inclined to stoutness should use wholemeal flour rather than white. Hygienists and health-reformers should not permit white flour to enter their houses, unless it is to make bill-stickers' paste or some like stuff. Toothless children must not be given any food but milk and water until they cut at least two teeth.

Every kind of cookery can be done with wholemeal flour. In making ordinary white sauce or vegetable sauce, this is how we make it; Chop fine some onion or parsley; boil in a small quantity of water, stir in wholemeal flour and milk, add a little pepper and salt, thin with hot water, and thus produce a sauce that helps down vegetables and potatoes. In making a brown sauce we put a little butter or olive oil in the frying-pan; let it bubble and sputter, dredge in Allinson wholemeal flour, stir it round with a knife until browned, add boiling water, pepper, salt, a little ketchup, and you then have a nice brown sauce for many dishes. If we wish to make it very tasty we fry a finely chopped onion first and add that to it. White sweet sauce is made from wholemeal flour, milk, sugar, and a little cinnamon, cloves, lemon juice, vanilla, or other flavouring. Yorkshire puddings, Norfolk dumplings, batter puddings, and such puddings can all be made with wholemeal flour, and are more nourishing and healthy, and do not lie so heavy as those made from white flour. Pancakes can be made from wholemeal flour just as well as from white.

All kinds of pastry, pie-crusts, under crusts, &c., are best made from Allinson wholemeal, and if much butter, lard, or dripping is used they will lie just as heavy, and cause heartburn just as much as those made with white flour. There is a substitute for pie-crusts that is very tasty, and not at all harmful. We call it "batter," and it can be used for savoury dishes as well as sweet ones.