A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband With Bettina's Best Recipes (27 page)

"Good-bye, dear!"

The luncheon menu was as follows:

Oyster Cocktail in Pepper Cases
Cream of Celery Soup Croutons
Cheese Timbales Creamed Peas
Baked Apples
Baking-Powder Biscuit
Green Bean Salad Salted Wafers
Lemon Sherbet Devil's Food White Icing
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Oyster Cocktail in Pepper Cases
(Six portions)

6 green peppers
1 pint oysters
5 T-tomato catsup
1 T-lemon juice
1 T-horseradish
½ t-salt
½ t-tabasco sauce

Cut the stem end from the sweet green peppers. Remove the seeds and allow to stand in iced water. Pick over the oysters to remove any shells, and surround with chipped ice until ready to serve. Mix the catsup, lemon juice, horse radish, salt and tabasco sauce. Fill each pepper with four oysters, and put on tablespoon of the mixture on the top. Serve very cold.

Cheese Timbales
(Six portions)

1 T-butter
1 T-flour
½ C-milk
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
¼ C-fresh, soft bread crumbs
¼ C-grated American cheese
1 egg

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika. Mix well, gradually add the milk, cheese and bread crumbs. Cook three minutes, and then stir in the egg, well beaten. Butter six timbale moulds well. Place the cups in a pan of hot water and cook fifteen minutes in a moderate oven. Allow to stand three minutes, and remove from the moulds. Serve hot with creamed peas.

Bettina's Green String Bean Salad
(Six portions)

1 C-cooked green beans
¼ C-cut celery
¼ C-pimento, cut fine
1 hard-cooked egg, diced
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika
½ C-salad dressing
6 pieces of lettuce

Mix thoroughly the beans, celery, pimento, egg, salt and paprika. Add the salad dressing and serve on a piece of crisp lettuce.

Devil's Food Cake
(Twenty-four pieces)

2 C-brown sugar
1 C-milk
½ C-butter
2 eggs
3 squares chocolate
2 C-flour
1 t-soda
1 t-vanilla

Cream the butter, add one cup sugar. Mix egg yolks, the other cup sugar, one-half cup milk and chocolate; cook two minutes, stirring constantly. When cool, add this to the first mixture. Add the rest of the milk, vanilla, the flour and soda sifted together. Beat two minutes. Add stiffly beaten egg whites. Fill two tin pans prepared with waxed paper, bake in a moderate oven twenty-five minutes. When cool, ice with white icing.

W
HEN Bettina called the girls into the dining-room after several hours spent in hemming dish towels for Alice, they exclaimed that the time had passed so quickly. The table was set for twelve, and the chair at the right of the hostess was gaily decorated with white ribbon and white paper flowers.

"Oh, for me?" cried Alice. "How important I feel!"

As soon as the girls were seated, Ruth rose and placed before the guest of honor a large wicker basket heaped high with packages of all shapes and sizes, each wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with white ribbon. A card hung from the handle of the basket. "I'll read it aloud!" laughed Alice.

"Dear Alice, we have tried to choose
Some gifts for you that come by twos.
A few, perhaps, you'll often use,
While some may comfort and amuse,
If you should chance to get the blues,
When household cares your mind confuse.
"This basket, which our blessing bears,
Besides the gifts that come in pairs,
Our friendship and our love declares.
'Twill share your troubles and your cares
And hold the hose that Harry wears.
So keep them free from holes and tears."

"Goodness!" cried Alice. "The thought of my future cares
frightens me! But now I must open all the packages!"

She discovered a salt and pepper shaker, a pair of guest towels, a pair of hose, a sugar bowl and a creamer, and many other gifts in pairs. It was a long time before the girls could calm down sufficiently to eat the luncheon that Bettina, with Ruth's assistance, set before them.

Bettina served:

Bettina's Tuna Salad
Date Bread Sandwiches Salted Peanuts
Maple Ice Cream White Cake with Maple Icing
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Tuna Salad
(Twelve portions)

2 C-tuna fish
2 C-diced celery
3 hard-cooked eggs, diced
3 T-green pepper, chopped fine
4 T-sweet pickle, chopped fine
4 T-pimento, cut fine
2 t-salt
½ t-paprika
1 T-lemon juice
1 C-salad dressing

Mix the tuna, celery, eggs, sweet pickle, pepper, salt and paprika with a silver fork. (Care should always be taken not to mash salads.) Add the salad dressing; more than a cup may be necessary. Keep very cold, and serve attractively on a lettuce leaf.

Salad Dressing
(Twelve portions)

4 egg-yolks
½ C-vinegar
½ C-water
1 t-salt
1 t-mustard
4 T-sugar
¼ t-paprika
2 T-flour

Beat the egg yolks, add the vinegar. Mix the salt, mustard, sugar, paprika and flour thoroughly. Slowly add the water, taking care not to let the mixture get lumpy. Pour into the yolks and vinegar. Cook slowly, stirring constantly until thick and creamy. Thin with sour cream or whipped cream.

Date Bread
(Eighteen Sandwiches)

1 C-graham flour
2 C-white flour
3 t-baking powder
¹
/
₃
C-"C" sugar
2 t-salt
¹
/
₃
pound of dates, cut fine
1½ C-milk
1 egg

Mix the flour, baking-powder, sugar, salt and dates ground fine. Beat the egg with a fork, and add the milk. Pour slowly into the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly and pour into two well-buttered bread pans. Allow to stand fifteen minutes and bake forty minutes in a moderate oven. When cold, cut very thin and spread with butter for sandwiches. Date bread is better for sandwiches when one day old.

Maple Icing

1½ C-maple sugar
1½ C-granulated sugar
²
/
₃
C-milk
1 t-butter
¹
/
₈
t-cream of tartar

Cook all the ingredients together until a soft ball is formed when a little is dropped into cold water. Beat until creamy enough to pour on the cake.

Salted Peanuts
(Twelve portions)

²
/
₃
lb. peanuts (shelled)
4 T-olive oil
2 t-salt

Cover the peanuts with boiling water; allow to stand for fifteen minutes. Place one-third of the amount in a strainer (allowing remainder to stay in water) and remove the skins. Prepare all the peanuts the same way. Place two tablespoons of oil in the frying pan, when hot add the peanuts; stir constantly with a fork and cook over a moderate fire fifteen minutes. When brown remove the nuts, add another tablespoon of oil and another third of the peanuts, continue until all the nuts are cooked. Add the salt. Lard may be used in place of oil, but the latter makes the nuts taste and brown better.

"O
H, I forgot to tell you, Bettina," said Bob at the dinner table, "the Dixons are coming over this evening. Frank asked me if we would be at home."

"I'm so glad they're coming," said Bettina. "I haven't seen Charlotte for several weeks; I have been so busy with the affairs we girls have been giving for Alice. But I wish I had known this afternoon that they were coming. I'd like to celebrate with a little supper, but I haven't a single thing in the house that is suitable."

"There's the cider that Uncle John brought us," suggested Bob.

"Yes," said Bettina, "we might have cider. But what else?"

"I'll tell you," said Bob, "I'll make some popcorn balls. I've made them before, and I know exactly how."

"I'll help," said Bettina.

"No, I won't need you at all; I'm the chef."

"Well, Bobbie, at least you'll let me look on. May I be washing the dishes at the same time?"

"Yes, I'll permit that. These are going to be champion popcorn balls, I can tell you, Bettina—as big as pumpkins!"

"We'll serve them in that large flat wicker basket, and I'm sure they'll look and taste delicious. But we must hurry, Bob; it's after seven now!"

For dinner that night they had:

Broiled Ham Mashed Potatoes
Chili Sauce Creamed Onions Hot Scones
Prune Blanc Mange with Cream

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Broiled Ham
(Four portions)

1 lb. ham
2 C-milk

Soak a one-half inch slice of ham in one cup of lukewarm milk for half an hour. Drain and wipe dry. Place in a hot tin pan and cook for five minutes directly under the flame, turning frequently to prevent burning.

Scones
(Fourteen scones)

2 C-flour
4 t-baking powder
¹
/
₃
t-salt
2 T-lard
1 egg
²
/
₃
C-milk
1 T-"C" sugar
½ t-cinnamon

Mix the flour, baking-powder and salt. Cut in the lard with a knife, add all but one teaspoonful of the beaten egg, then add the milk gradually. Mix with a knife into a soft dough. Pat into a square shape one-half inch thick. Brush over the top with one teaspoonful of egg and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon (mixed thoroughly). Cut into one and one-half inch squares. Place in a tin pan and bake twelve minutes in a hot oven.

Prune Blanc Mange
(Four portions)

2 T-cornstarch
2 T-sugar
4 T-cold milk
²
/
₃
C-hot milk
¼ t-salt
½ C-cooked, cut prunes
½ t-lemon extract
½ t-vanilla

Mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt, and add the cold milk slowly. Gradually add the hot milk. Cook in a double boiler for twenty minutes. Add the prunes, lemon extract and vanilla. Beat well, and serve cold with cream.

"H
ELLO!" called Bob at the door one evening.

No answer.

"Hello, Bettina!" he called again. Again the dark house gave forth no reply.

Feeling, it must be admitted, a little out of harmony with a world that allowed weary and hungry husbands to come home to dark and empty houses when the clock said plainly that it was a quarter after six, Bob made his way to the kitchen. Perhaps Bettina had left his dinner there for him; perhaps she had been called away, or perhaps, even, she had rushed out on some errand after dinner preparations were begun. The kitchen, however, was so immaculate as to seem distinctly forbidding to a hungry man whose appetite was growing keener every minute. And he had been thinking all the way home that a hot dinner would taste so good!

At that moment a clamor of voices at the door aroused him.

"You poor old Bob!" cried Bettina, kissing him twice before Fred and Ruth without the least embarrassment. "Have you waited long?"

"It seemed hours," admitted Bob.

"Ruth and I have been to a tea for Alice. Fred came for her there, and I persuaded them to come home to dinner with me. I'll give you each something to do while I stir up a little cottage pudding. Then dinner will be ready in half an hour."

"Half an hour?" cried Bob. "But, Bettina, where is the dinner? I didn't see any!"

"In the fireless cooker, you crazy boy! Are you 'most starved?"

"Well," said Bob, "that cooker was the neatest, stiffest-looking thing in the kitchen! I didn't dream that it was busily cooking a dinner. Say, I'll be glad to see a hot meal again!"

The dinner consisted of:

Round Steak with Vegetables
Dutch Cheese
Bread Plum Butter
Cottage Pudding Vanilla Sauce

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Round Steak with Vegetables
(Six portions)

2 lbs. round steak
6 potatoes
6 carrots
6 onions
2 T-flour
2 T-lard
2 t-salt
¼ t-paprika
¼ C-water

Pound the flour into the round steak with the edge of a small plate. This breaks the fibers of the meat, making it more tender. Wash and peel the potatoes, slicing in half lengthwise. Scrape the carrots, and cut into one-half inch slices lengthwise. Wash the onions and remove their outside skins. Sprinkle the vegetables with one and a half level teaspoons of salt, and the paprika. Add the water, and place in the bottom of the large fireless cooker utensil. Place the lard in a frying pan, and when hot, add the meat. Brown thoroughly on each side. Salt the meat with one-half level teaspoon of salt, and place in the kettle on top of the vegetables. Place the heated disks of the fireless cooker over and under the utensil, and cook at least one hour in the cooker.