A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband With Bettina's Best Recipes (35 page)

Heat the asparagus tips in the liquid in the can. When hot, remove from can upon slices of toast, sprinkle salt and pepper over each portion. Pour one serving of white sauce over each portion.

Apple Tapioca
(Two portions)

4 T-pearl tapioca
3 T-cold water
1 C-boiling water
¹
/
₈
t-salt
4 T-sugar
¼ t-vanilla
2 sour apples

Soak the tapioca in the cold water for ten minutes in the upper part of the double boiler. Add the boiling water and salt. Cook until transparent. (About twenty minutes.) Cut the apples fine, mix thoroughly with the sugar, place in the bottom of a small baking dish, pour the tapioca mixture on them, and bake in a moderate oven until the apples are soft. (About twenty-five minutes. The time depends upon the variety of apple.)

"W
HY, Alice, come in! Are you going out to dinner, or just on your way home from some afternoon party?"

"I'm going down town to dinner with Harry; I'll meet him there. And afterward we are going to the theatre."

"What fun!"

"Yes, fun for me," said Alice slowly. "I persuaded him to go. Just think, Bettina, we haven't been to the theatre one single time since we've been married!"

"And that is—let's see—about six weeks?" said Bettina, laughing. "Come into the kitchen, Alice. I'm making a cranberry pie for dinner."

"A cranberry pie? One of those darling criss-crossy ones?" said Alice joyfully, throwing off her evening cloak. "Do let me help. I used to make little cranberry pies in a saucer when I was little! I had forgotten that they existed! Harry shall have one tomorrow!" And she rolled out the crust with deft fingers.

"How easily and quickly you do everything, Alice."

"Yes, too easily. Getting breakfast is fun, and getting dinner is fun, but it's over too soon. What do you do in the evening, Bettina?"

"Oh, stay at home and read and mend mostly. What do you do?"

"That's the trouble. Don't you get dreadfully bored just sitting around? Harry likes it—but I don't see how he can."

"But aren't you tired in the evening? I suppose he is."

"Tired? Mercy no! Not with the care of that little apartment! I like fun and excitement and something to do in the
evening! I've been studying household economy, as you suggested, and I've learned a lot, but I can't be doing that all the time! Well, I must run on, Bettina! Let me know how the pie turns out!"

That night Bettina served:

Bettina's Pork Chops and Dressing
Baked Potatoes Apple Sauce
Bread Butter
Cranberry Pie Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Pork Chops Bettina
(Two portions)

2 pork chops
½ t-chopped onion
1 T-chopped green pepper
1½ C-fresh bread crumbs
¼ t-chopped parsley
½ t-salt
1 T-melted butter
1 egg-yolk
¼ t-celery salt
1 T-water

Add the onion, green peppers, parsley, salt and celery salt to the crumbs. Add the egg-yolk, butter and water, and mix thoroughly. Wipe the chops, and place one in a small pan (to serve as a roasting pan), place the dressing on top. Place the other chop on top of the dressing. Press together and bake in a moderate oven one hour. Turn the chops so that the under one will brown. Baste occasionally with one-fourth of a cup of hot water to which has been added one teaspoon of butter. Put a lid on the pan so that the steam will cause the chops to cook. Place one tablespoon of water in the pan to prevent burning or drying out. Replenish when necessary.

Apple Sauce
(Two portions)

6 Jonathan apples
½ C-sugar
¹
/
₈
t-cinnamon
Enough water to cover

Wash, pare, core and quarter the apples. Cover with water and cook until tender when pierced with a knitting needle. Add the sugar and cook five minutes more. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top when serving.

Cranberry Pie
(Four portions)

2 C-cranberries
1 C-boiling water
1½ C-sugar
1 egg-yolk
1 T-water
1 T-flour
½ t-butter
½ t-almond extract

Cook the cranberries and water until the cranberries are soft. Add the sugar and cook five minutes.

Mix flour and water, add the egg-yolk, butter and extract. Mix thoroughly. Add to the cranberry mixture. Pour into the uncooked pie-crust. Place pastry bars lattice fashion across the top, and bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

Pie Crust
(Four portions)

1 C-flour
5 T-lard
¼ t-salt
3 T-water

Mix the flour and salt. Cut in the lard with a knife, and add the water very carefully, to form a stiff dough. Roll into shape, and reserve a small part of the dough for the bars. Fit the crust carefully into a deep tin pie-pan. Fill the crust with the cranberry filling, being careful not to let any juice run out. Cut the bars two-thirds of an inch wide. Moisten the ends, and arrange in criss-cross fashion across the pie.

"T
O-NIGHT," said Bettina at the dinner table, "I expect to finish three Christmas gifts—one for Alice, one for Mary and one for Eleanor. Now aren't you curious to know what I've been making?"

"Curiosity is no name for it," said Bob, "but I'm even more curious to know what particular thing it is that makes this ham so tender. Is it baked? Anyhow, it's the best I have ever eaten."

"Thank you," said Bettina, "but you always say that about sliced ham, no matter how it is cooked. But this is a little different. It is baked in milk."

"Great, anyhow," said Bob. "Now tell me about your conspiracy with Santa Claus."

"Well, I am making for Alice an indexed set of recipes—a card index. All the recipes are just for two, and they are all tried and true."

"Just for two,
Tried and true—
Sent, with Betty's love, to you."

echoed Bob. "You can write that on the card that goes with it."

"I shall have you think what to say on all the gifts, Bob. I must show you the box of cards. It is only a correspondence-card box, with the white cards to fit, but I'm sure that Alice will like her new cook book. Then for Mary and Eleanor I
have made card-table covers. Mary's is of white Indian head—just a square of it, bound with white tape and with white tape at the corners for tying it to the table. It is to have a white monogram. Eleanor's is linen-colored and is bound in green with a green monogram. Hers is finished and I shall finish Mary's this evening—that is, if you will read to me while I work!"

"Hurray!" said Bob. "What shall I read? Mark Twain?"

For dinner that night they had:

Baked Ham Baked Potatoes
Corn Bread Butter
Cranberry Sauce

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Baked Ham
(Three portions)

²
/
₃
lb. slice of ham one inch thick
1 C-milk
1 T-flour
1 T-water

Cover the ham with boiling water and let it stand ten minutes. Remove from the pan, and place the ham in a pan just large enough to hold it. Cover with the milk. Place in a moderate oven and bake thirty minutes. More milk may be added if necessary. When the ham is done, add more liquid (enough to make one-half a cup). Mix flour with water. Add the hot milk to this slowly. Heat and cook one minute. Serve with the ham.

Corn Bread
(Three portions)

½ C-corn meal
²
/
₃
C-flour
3 T-sugar
2 t-baking powder
½ t-salt
1 egg-yolk
²
/
₃
C-milk
1 T-melted butter

Mix the corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt thoroughly. Add the egg-yolk and milk, and beat two minutes. Add the melted butter. Mix well. Pour into a well buttered square cake pan. Bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes.

Cranberry Sauce
(Four portions)

1 qt. cranberries
2 C-sugar
2 C-water

Look over and wash the cranberries. Cook them in the water until they are soft and the skins are broken. Remove from the fire, add the sugar and stir well. Cook three minutes. Pour into a mould which has been dipped in cold water.

"B
OB," said Bettina, as she served the plum pudding, "Christmas is in the very air these days!"

"Did the Christmas spirit inspire this plum pudding?" said he. "Blessings on the head of Santa Claus! But why your outburst?"

"Because today I went shopping in earnest! I bought the very things that seem most Christmassy: tissue paper, white and green, gold cord, a ball of red twine, Santa Claus and holly stickers, and the cards to tie to the packages. I love to wrap up Christmas things!"

"And are most of your gifts ready to be wrapped?"

"No, not all, for some of them can't be made till the last minute. For instance, I thought and thought about Uncle Eric's gift! I want so much to please him, but he has everything that money can buy except perhaps a cook that suits him. Finally I decided to send him a box containing a jar of spiced peaches, a jar of Russian dressing, a little round fruit cake, and a box of fudge. The things will all be wrapped with tissue paper, and gold cord and holly——"

"Lucky Uncle Eric!" sighed Bob. "I wish Santa Claus would bring me a Christmas box like that—fruit cake and spiced peaches and Russian dressing——"

"Maybe he will if you're very good!" laughed Bettina. "If you eat everything your cook sets before you."

"Tell me something hard to do!" said Bob, with enthusiasm. For dinner that night they had:

Escalloped Eggs and Cheese
Baked Potatoes Currant Jelly
Rolls
Plum Pudding with Yellow Sauce
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Escalloped Eggs with Cheese
(Three portions)

3 hard-cooked eggs
2 T-butter
2 T-flour
1 C-milk
1 C-soft bread crumbs
2 C-cheese, cut fine
1 t-salt
1 t-parsley

Melt the butter, add the flour and mix well. Gradually add the milk. Cook one minute, add the cheese and the eggs cut in slices. Add the parsley and the salt. Place one-half the crumbs in the bottom of a well-buttered baking dish, add the egg mixture and cover with the remaining crumbs. Dot with butter, and brown in a moderate oven.

Bettina's Plum Pudding
(Four portions)

1 C-fresh bread crumbs
¼ C-suet, chopped fine
½ t-soda
¹
/
₈
t-ground cloves
½ t-ground cinnamon
¹
/
₈
t-salt
1 t-baking powder
¼ C-molasses
1 egg
¹
/
₃
C-milk
4 T-raisins
4 T-nuts

Mix the bread crumbs, suet, soda, cloves, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Add the raisins cut fine, and the nuts. Break the egg into the molasses, beat well, and add the milk. Mix with the first ingredients. Stir and mix thoroughly. Fill a well-buttered pudding mould one-half full. Steam one and a half hours, and serve with yellow sauce.

Yellow Sauce
(Four portions)

1 egg
¼ C-powdered sugar
1 T-milk
½ t-vanilla

Beat the egg white until stiff and dry. Add the yolk and beat one minute. Add the powdered sugar and continue beating. Add the milk gradually and the vanilla. Continue beating for one minute. Serve at once over a hot pudding.

"S
PEAKING of Christmas gifts," said Charlotte, "wouldn't anyone be delighted to receive a little jar of your Russian dressing, Bettina?"

"I'm sure I'd like it!" said Frank Dixon. "Much better than a pink necktie or a white gift book called 'Thoughts at Christmas-Tide!'"

"Mary Owen makes candied orange peel for all of her friends," said Bettina, "and I think that is so nice, for hers is delicious! She saves candy boxes through the year, and all of her close friends receive the same gift with Mary's card. We all know what to expect from her, and we are all delighted, too. And you see she doesn't have to worry over different gifts for each one. I do think Christmas is growing more sensible, don't you?"

"My sister in South Carolina sends out her Christmas gifts a few weeks early," said Frank. "She sends boxes of mistletoe to everyone. They seem to be welcome, too. By the way, Bob, did you and Bettina decide on your Christmas cards?"

"Yes," said Bob, "and they are partly ready. But we are waiting to get a little picture of the bungalow with snow on the roof—a winter picture seems most appropriate—and the snow isn't forthcoming! The weather man seems to be all upset this year."