Method of Preparing White Sauces

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour and salt, stirring constantly. When well mixed add the liquid, a little at a time. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. This is far better than mixing the flour with a little of the liquid when cold, as so many people do when creaming potatoes or other things. If the white sauce seems too thick for the purpose, thin with a little more liquid before removing from the fire.

CHAPTER XXI

A RAINY-DAY DINNER

THE rain had been falling all day in a heavy downpour, and Bettina had ventured out only to gather some red clover blooms for the porch table, which she was now setting for dinner. In spite of the rain, it was not cold, and she liked the contrast of the cheerful little table, with its white cloth and bright silver, and the gray day just outside the screen.

"If Bob would only come home early, how nice it would be!" she thought. "Perhaps that's he at the telephone now."

However, it proved to be Mrs. Dixon. "I phoned to ask you if I should throw away the yolks of two eggs. I've just used the whites."

"Oh, no, Mrs. Dixon! Beat them up well, and add a little cold water to them. Then set them in the ice-box. They will be just as good later as they would be now. You may want them for salad dressing or something else."

"If I ever have the white of the egg left, shall I treat that the same way?"

"No, don't beat that up at all, nor add any water. Just set it in the refrigerator as it is. I'm so glad you called up, Mrs. Dixon. Will you and your husband take dinner with us next Sunday? Perhaps we might all go to church first."

"We'd love to do that! I've just been worrying over Sunday dinner, and you've restored my peace of mind. But won't it be a great deal of work for you?"

"I won't let it be. I don't believe in those heavy, elaborate Sunday dinners that take all the morning to prepare. We'll just come home from church and have it in half an hour. You may help me."

"We'd love to come. I have so much to tell you. I've been very busy, but Frank has helped, and it has been such fun! You don't know how he enjoys the little house! Well, good-bye till tomorrow!"

"Boo!" shouted Bob in her ear, as she hung up the receiver. "I discovered your dark secret this morning! Frank Dixon told me!"

"Well, what did you think of it?"

"The only possible solution in that case. You are their good angel--that is, if she doesn't poison Frank with her cooking, or burn the house down when she's lighting the fire."

"She won't, don't worry! She takes to housekeeping as if she had always done it. Her house is immaculate; she has been cleaning and dusting and polishing from morning to night. I'm almost ashamed of mine!"

"I'm not!" said Bob, decidedly. "I don't see how you can keep it clean at all with a man like me scattering papers and cigar ashes everywhere. And I'm always losing my belongings, and always will, I suppose."

"That's only a sign that we haven't discovered the proper place for them all yet. But we'll work it out in time. Well, are you hungry?"

"Hungry? I should say so! Why, I could almost eat you!"

"Well, Bob, we have a rainy-day dinner tonight that I hope you'll enjoy. Hash! Does that frighten you?"

"Not your hash, Betty."

"Well, everything is ready."

The rainy evening menu consisted of:

Browned Hash Creamed Cauliflower Date Muffins Butter Apple Sauce Cake Chocolate

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Browned Hash= (Two portions)

1 C-chopped cold cooked beef 1 C-cold boiled potatoes diced a few drops of onion juice 2/3 t-salt 1/4 t-pepper 1 T-milk 1 T-fat (lard, butter or one-half of each)

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Spread the mixture evenly in a hot frying-pan in which the fat has been placed. Cook without stirring until a crust is formed on the bottom; fold over like an omelet and place on a hot platter.

Creamed Cauliflower= (Two portions)

1 head cauliflower 4 C-water 1 t-salt 1 C-vegetable white sauce

Separate cauliflower into sections, wash well and cook in boiling salted water until tender. (About half an hour.) Drain and cover with vegetable white sauce.

Date Muffins= (Ten muffins)

1/4 C-sugar 1/4 C-dates cut fine 1 egg 1/4 t-salt 3/4 C-milk 1-3/4 C-flour 4 t-baking powder 2 T-butter (melted)

Mix the sugar, dates, baking powder, flour and salt. Add milk in which one egg has been beaten. Beat two minutes. Add butter, melted. Fill well-buttered muffin pans half full of the mixture, and place in the oven. Bake twenty minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Apple Sauce Cake= (Ten portions)

1/2 C-butter 1 C-sugar 1 egg, beaten light 1-3/4 C-flour 1 t-soda 1-1/2 t-cinnamon 1/2 t-powdered cloves 1 C-hot, thick, strained, sweetened apple sauce 1 C-mixed, chopped raisins, nut meats and dates 1 t-vanilla

Cream the butter, add the sugar gradually. Stir well. Add the well-beaten egg. Mix the soda and apple-sauce, and add to the first ingredients. Alternately with the flour and spices, add the vanilla and fruit. Beat for two minutes. Turn into a square pan, and sift granulated sugar over the top. Bake in a moderate oven one-half hour.

CHAPTER XXII

BUYING A REFRIGERATOR

"SOMETHING in refrigerators?" said the clerk politely to Mrs. Dixon and Bettina.

"You talk to him," said Mrs. Dixon. "I don't know a thing about a refrigerator; that's why I begged you to come."

"Well," considered Bettina, her red brown head on one side, "we want one that will hold not less than a hundred pounds of ice. The large ones are much more economical in the long run. Here, Mrs. Dixon, is a hundred-pound fellow. May we examine it, please?"

"Certainly, madam."

"No, this won't do. See, Mrs. Dixon, the trap is in the bottom of the food chamber. That is wasteful and inconvenient, because in cleaning it you would have to leave the door of the larger compartment open. That would let the cold air out and waste the ice. Anyhow, you know the trap is the sewer of the refrigerator, and has no business in the food chamber. The trap really ought to be in the bottom of the ice chamber, where it can be cleaned without removing the food, or opening the door of the food compartment. Besides, I prefer to have the ice put in at a door on the side of the front, not on the top. Yes, here is the kind I mean. I like this trap, too. See, Mrs. Dixon, isn't it fine? It has a white enamel lining and shelves of open wire that can be removed."

"It looks nice, doesn't it? And when I get some white shelf paper on those shelves it will be like an attractive cupboard."

"Oh, my dear! You mustn't do that! That would prevent the circulation of air through the ice-box, which is the very thing that makes the food compartment cold. You see, that circulation of air goes on through these open-wire shelves. Another thing, I've seen people cover the ice with newspapers to keep it from melting, as they thought. But they were mistaken. Any friction causes warmth, and ice keeps better when there is nothing touching it."

"Well, if you like this one, I'll ask the price of it."

"It will be expensive, I'm afraid, but the most economical in the long run. Are you staying downtown to meet Mr. Dixon?"

"Yes, I'd like him to see the refrigerator. He takes such an interest in these household things I'm getting."

"Well, good-bye, dear. I must hurry home to get dinner. It won't take long, but I'll have to go, or Bob will get there first, and I'm a little sentimental about being there to greet him at the door."

Bettina's dinner that night consisted of:

Broiled Lamb Chops Boiled New Potatoes New Peas in Cream Vegetable Salad Bread Butter Rhubarb Pudding

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Broiled Lamb Chops= (Three portions)

3 chops 1 t-salt

Wipe chops and place in a red-hot frying-pan. As soon as the under surface is seared, turn and sear the other side. Turn down the fire a little, and continue to cook, turning chops often. Cook seven minutes if liked rare. When cooked, sprinkle with salt and spread with butter.

Creamed New Peas= (Three portions)

1 qt. peas 1/8 t-soda 1/2 t-salt

Shell one quart of peas, cover with cold water and let stand ten minutes, wash well, and drain off the water. Cover with boiled water and cook twenty to fifty minutes, according to age of peas. A pinch of soda may be added to the water. It softens the skins on the peas. Add salt when the peas have cooked twenty minutes.

White Sauce for Peas= (Three portions)

1 T-butter 1 T-flour 1/8 t-salt 1/2 C-milk

Melt the butter, add the flour and salt, mixing well, and the milk, stirring constantly. Cook two minutes. Add the peas.

Rhubarb Pudding= (Three portions)

1 C-cooked, sweetened rhubarb sauce 2 T-flour 1 T-cold water 1 egg-white 1/8 t-salt

Add the water slowly to the flour and mix well. Add the rhubarb sauce and cook until very thick (about five minutes). Add the stiffly beaten white of egg, mix thoroughly and turn into moistened moulds. Serve cold with cream.

CHAPTER XXIII

BETTINA'S SUNDAY DINNER

"THIS seems like old times!" remarked Mr. Dixon, as he and his wife strolled leisurely home from church with Bob and Bettina. "I haven't had this peaceful Sunday feeling since I was a youngster. Then all the Sundays were like this, cool, quiet and sunny--sprinkled all over with little girls in smooth curls and white leghorn hats, and little boys in uncomfortable, hot clothes a size too large, and newly polished shoes. I often recall the plentiful Sunday dinners, too!"

"Don't get your hopes too high!" said Bettina. "Though I will promise you one treat, wild roses on the table. Bob and I walked out into the country last evening and found them."

"What can I do?" inquired Mrs. Dixon, when she and Bettina were alone in the kitchen.

"You can sit here and talk to me while these potatoes are cooking and the veal birds getting done. You see, the birds have already cooked three-quarters of an hour this morning before I went to church. The waxed beans are in the fireless cooker; I have to make the butter sauce for them. And you see I have the new potatoes all prepared, standing in cold water. I have only to cook them in boiling salted water till they are done. That won't take long, as they aren't large. I set the table on the porch this morning. Bob can make the coffee in the percolator in a little while, when we're ready. He usually starts it when we come to the table, and then it is ready in time to serve last. By the way, if you like the Thousand Island dressing we are to have for the head lettuce, I'd like to give you the recipe. It is a very popular one just now."

"Oh, I've eaten it! Frank is very fond of it, and used to order it every chance he had at the hotel. Will you really tell me how to make it? So many good dinners now end with the salad and cheese and coffee, and I think Thousand Island dressing on head lettuce makes a splendid salad."

"Of course I'll show you. Well, the iced cantaloupe, which is our first course, is in the ice-box. Our dessert today is just cake with chocolate cream frosting, and coffee. It is such a simple Sunday dinner, but that's the kind I believe in!"

BETTINA'S SUNDAY DINNER

Iced Cantaloupe Veal Birds Boiled New Potatoes Gravy Waxed Beans Butter Sauce Bread Butter Head Lettuce Thousand Island Dressing Salt Wafers Cake with Chocolate Cream Frosting Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Veal Birds= (Six portions)

1-1/2 lb. veal steak 4 slices bacon 1 T-butter 1/2 C-crumbs, fresh 1/2 t-salt 1/4 t-paprika 2 T-milk 2 T-fat

Cut veal from the round (veal steak) into strips, four by two and a half inches. Put the trimming and four slices of bacon through the food chopper. Cook the chopped meat three minutes in the butter. Add to this the fresh bread crumbs, salt, pepper and milk. Spread this mixture on the strips of veal. Roll and tie securely with white cord, roll in flour and sauté until browned a little on both sides, in two tablespoons fat in frying pan. Place in a casserole or small covered pan. Season each bird with salt and a small piece of butter. Pour an inch and a half of water into the pan. Cook an hour, or a little less, in a moderate oven. Gravy may be made by adding four tablespoons of water to two level tablespoons of flour, mixing carefully and gradually pouring into the stock in which the meat has been cooked. Bring to a boil.

Thousand Island Salad Dressing= (Six portions)

1/2 C-olive oil 2 T-lemon juice 2 T-orange juice 1 t-onion juice 1/4 t-salt 1/4 t-paprika 1 t-Worcestershire sauce 1/4 t-mustard 1 t-chopped parsley

Place all the above ingredients in a pint fruit jar, fit a rubber on the jar cover, and shake vigorously until the dressing is well mixed and creamy. Pour over tomatoes, asparagus, peas, beans, spinach or lettuce. Serve as a salad.

Cake with Chocolate Cream Filling= (Six portions)

1/2 C-butter 1 C-sugar 1 beaten egg yolk 1-1/2 C-sifted flour 2 t-baking powder 1/4 t-mace 1/2 t-vanilla 1/2 C-milk 1 egg-white, stiffly beaten

Cream the butter, add the sugar, yolk of egg, dry ingredients and milk. Stir well, add the flavoring, beat two minutes, cut and fold in the egg white. Bake in a large round buttered pan in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. The pan should be seven inches in diameter. Cover with confectioner's icing.