A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband With Bettina's Best Recipes (26 page)

Bettina's Potatoes
(Two portions)

1 C-cold cooked potatoes diced
1 T-butter
1½ T-flour
1 T-pimento, cut up
1 piece of soft cheese—a 1-inch cube
½ t-salt

Melt the butter, add the flour, cheese and salt. Mix well, and add the milk gradually. Cook until thick and creamy. Add the pimento and potatoes. Serve hot. (Bob considers this dish superfine.)

Date Nut Bread
(Twelve pieces)

1 C-graham flour
1 C-white flour
½ C-"C" sugar
1 t-salt
4 T-nut meats
3 T-chopped dates
3 t-baking powder
1 C-milk

Mix the ingredients in the order given. Place in a well-buttered bread pan, and bake in a moderate oven for thirty-five minutes.

Chocolate Sponge Cake
(Fourteen cakes)

5 T-butter
4 T-cocoa
1 egg
¹
/
₈
C-sugar
1 t-cinnamon
¼ t-cloves
1 C-flour
3 t-baking powder
½ C-cold water
½ t-vanilla

Cream the butter, add the sugar. Stir in the egg and beat well. Add the cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, cocoa, flour, vanilla and water. Beat vigorously for two minutes. Bake in well-buttered gem pans for eighteen minutes. Serve warm if desired.

"A
HA, I've found you out!" Bettina heard a laughing voice shout as she hurried up the steps.

"Why, Jack, when did you come to town?"

"This afternoon. Went to Bob's office the very first thing, and he insisted on bringing me home with him to dinner. I told him it might 'put you out,' but he spent the time it took to come home assuring me that you were always waiting for company—kept a light ever burning in the window for them and all that. He said that I'd see,—that you'd be on the doorstep waiting for us!"

"And after all that—you weren't here!" said Bob reproachfully.

"I'm just as sorry as I can be not to live up to Bob's picture of me," said Bettina. "I generally am waiting for Bob,—almost on the doorstep if not quite. But this afternoon I've been to a shower for Alice,—do you remember Alice, Jack?"

"Very well. The gay dark-eyed one. You don't mean to say that she's found a man who's lively enough to suit her?"

"Well, she seems to be suited, all right. But I must fly into an apron if you boys are to get any dinner within a half-hour. Jack, you'll have to pardon me if after all of Bob's eloquence I give you a meal of left-overs——"

"Don't apologize to a bachelor, Bettina. He probably won't know left-overs from the real thing," said Bob.

"Bachelors are said to be the most critical of all," she answered. "But I'll do my little best to please."

That night Bettina served:

Roast Beef Pie
Bread Butter
Sliced Tomatoes with Salad Dressing
Marble Cake Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Roast Beef Pie
(Three portions)

2 C-chopped cold roast beef
1 C-gravy
1 C-cold diced potatoes (cooked)
2 T-chopped onion
1 C-flour
2 t-baking powder
2 t-lard
¹
/
₈
t-salt
6 T-milk

Mix the beef, gravy, potato and onion. Place in a shallow buttered baking dish. Make a biscuit dough by cutting the lard into the flour, which has been sifted with the baking powder, and salt, and gradually adding the milk. Pat the dough into shape and arrange carefully on top of the meat. Make holes in the top to allow the steam to escape. Bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes.

Marble Cake
(Fourteen slices)

1 C-sugar
½ C-butter

Cream together and divide into two parts, half for light and half for dark.

Dark Part

To one half add:
¼ C-molasses
½ C-milk
2 egg-yolks
1 C-flour
1 t-baking powder
1 t-powdered cinnamon
½ t-powdered cloves
¼ t-grated nutmeg
½ t-vanilla

Mix this together thoroughly and set aside while the light part is being mixed.

Light Part

To the other half of the butter and sugar add:

½ C-milk
1 C-flour
1 t-baking powder
½ t-vanilla
Whites of two eggs beaten stiff

Put large spoonfuls of light and dark batter, alternating, in a loaf cake pan well fitted with waxed paper, until the pan is two-thirds full. Bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

"W
HAT a cunning table!" exclaimed four girls in various words and ways. Ruth and Bettina smiled happily to each other, for they, too, had admired the low bowl of purple and yellow pansies in the center, and the tiny individual vases for a few pansies at each place. The dainty doilies were also attractive, and Ruth had darkened the room and lit the small yellow candles on the table.

"But Bettina helped with the soufflé and the gold hearts," she said gallantly. "Did you see her disappear a short time ago? She was baking the cakes. When she suggested refreshments that should be made just before they were served, I was frightened. But when she offered to bake the things, you may be sure I was delighted."

At this moment a small figure appeared in the doorway. "Weady, Cousin Wuth?"

"Yes, dear."

In popped little Marjorie, Ruth's cousin, carrying a huge bouquet of handkerchiefs folded like white roses, fastened somehow to long stems with green leaves attached, tied with streaming yellow satin ribbon. Making a low bow to Alice, she recited in a baby voice:

"A handkerchief posie to carry each day.
We trust they will not come amiss,
In fact, we are sure that no other bouquet
Was ever so useful as this!"

"Thank you, you darling!" said Alice, receiving the gift with delight.

Ruth served:

Apricot Soufflé Whipped Cream
Gold Hearts
Salted Peanuts Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Apricot Soufflé (Soo-Flay) "Lightened with Air"
(Six portions)

¼ lb. dried apricots
½ C-sugar
1 t-lemon extract or 1 t-lemon juice
¹
/
₈
t-salt
3 eggs
1 t-baking powder
¼ t-vanilla
6 candied cherries

Wash the dried apricots and soak for three hours in sufficient water to cover them. Cook slowly until tender (about ten minutes) in the same water in which they were soaked. Press through a colander, add the sugar and cook until very thick, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Add salt and extract. Allow to cool. Beat the egg whites until very stiff, add the baking-powder, apricots and vanilla. Stir just enough to mix. Pour into well buttered individual tin or aluminum moulds until two-thirds full. Place the moulds in a pan of hot water and bake thirty-five minutes in a slow oven. Turn off the fire and allow the pans to remain in a warm place so that they will not fall. When slightly cool, remove carefully and serve as quickly as possible. Place whipped cream and a candied cherry on the top.

Whipped Cream
(Six portions)

½ C-heavy cream
1 t-sugar
¼ t-vanilla
3 drops of lemon extract

Beat the cream until thick, add the sugar, vanilla and lemon extract. Place in a cool place until used.

Gold Hearts
(Twelve Hearts)

4 T-butter
½ C-sugar
3 egg-yolks
1 T-water
¼ C-milk
⁷
/
₈
C-flour
1 t-lemon extract
1 t-baking-powder
¹
/
₈
t-salt

Cream the butter, add the sugar, and mix well. Add the egg yolks, beaten well, and the water, milk, flour, baking-powder, lemon extract and salt. Beat for two minutes. Pour into a large flat pan prepared with waxed paper. The batter should be three-fourths of an inch thick in the pan. Bake twelve minutes in a moderate oven. Remove the paper, and cut when cool with a heart-shaped cooky cutter. Wet the cutter with water before using, as this assures even edges. Keep in a moist place until ready to serve.

Salted Almonds
(Six portions)

¼ lb. almonds (shelled)
1 qt. boiling water
1 t-salt
3 T-olive oil

Allow the almonds to stand in boiling water in a covered utensil for fifteen minutes. Rinse off with hot water and place in a colander. Remove the skins. Place oil in a frying-pan when hot, add nuts. Stir constantly over a moderate fire for fifteen minutes. Pour into a clean cloth. Rub off any oil which has remained on the almonds. Sprinkle salt over the nuts while warm. When thoroughly cooled, place the almonds in a covered tin can until ready to serve.

"I
T seems good to be alone this evening, doesn't it, Bettina?" said Bob, as they sat down to dinner. "Or are you growing so accustomed to gaiety lately that a dinner for two is a bore?"

"Bob!" said Bettina reproachfully. "If I thought you really believed that I was ever bored by a dinner for the two of us,—well, I'd never be in a wedding party again! Alice likes excitement, and I suppose that next week will be very gay, but after the wedding I hope that you and I can have a quiet winter, with just invitations enough to keep us from becoming too stupid."

"But tell me what the wedding will be like. Is it all planned down to the last detail? I suppose it is, although Harry doesn't seem to have any idea what it is to be."

"Poor Harry, he seems to be left out of most of the showers and parties so far."

"Don't pity him; he wouldn't go if he could. I'm just wondering what they'll do after the wedding. Will Alice go and Harry stay at home? Or, will he be obliging and force himself to go, too?"

"I don't know, I'm sure. Alice is so full of life that I don't see how she can settle down and never go anywhere, as Harry would have her. But time will tell. Perhaps they'll compromise. Meanwhile, we must plan some sort of a shower or prenuptial party that Harry can enjoy, too. One with the men included, I mean. Of course, I know he hates parties, but I
think he would really like a very jolly informal one with just a few friends!"

The dinner for two consisted of:

Cold Sliced Lamb Baked Potatoes
Creamed Carrots and Peas
Bread Butter
Apple Dumplings

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Creamed Carrots and Peas
(Three portions)

½ C-cooked, diced carrots
½ C-peas
½ t-salt
1 T-butter
1 T-flour
½ C-milk

Melt the butter, add the flour and salt, gradually add the milk. Cook two minutes. Add the peas and carrots. Serve very hot.

Apple Dumpling
(Three portions)

½ C-flour
1 t-baking powder
¹
/
₈
t-salt
4 T-sugar
1 T-lard
2 T-milk
2 apples
½ t-cinnamon

Mix the flour, baking-powder and salt, cut in the lard with a knife. Add the liquid, mixing to a soft dough. Roll on a well floured board to one-fourth of an inch in thickness. Wash, pare and quarter the apples. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Cut the dough in five inch squares; place two quarters of apple in the center of a square; moisten the edges of the dough with water and bring the four corners together around the apple. Place in a tin pan and bake in a moderate oven until the apples are soft. (About thirty minutes.) Serve warm with cream.

"O
H, Charlotte, I've just come from the loveliest luncheon," said Bettina, coming face to face with Mrs. Dixon in front of her own home.

"You have? Another for Alice?"

"No, this was in the country—on the interurban, at Cousin Kate's. Frances, her daughter, who was married last spring, has come home on a visit, and Cousin Kate was entertaining for her."

"Tell me about it!"

"Oh, it was just an informal luncheon, but I couldn't help thinking how delicious everything was, and at the same time inexpensive. In fact, I wrote down several of Cousin Kate's recipes after the guests had gone, and I'm sure that there aren't many such inexpensive luncheons that are also so good."

"You must let me have some of the recipes."

"Of course I will. Come in now, and copy them."

"I can't possibly, Bettina. As it is, I'm afraid that Frank will be home before I am. It's almost six o'clock now."

"Is it? Then I must hurry in and start dinner; I want to make some muffins. I hate to have Bob eat a cold dinner just because I've been out in the afternoon; in fact, I usually spend more time than usual in the morning fixing some dessert that he especially likes, if I'm to be out in the afternoon. Good-bye, Charlotte!"