A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband With Bettina's Best Recipes (37 page)

"Say Mister Bob, Billy," another voice corrected severely.

"Hello, Jacky! Good evening, Marjorie! Coasting good?"

"Oh, pretty good. You don't know what we've got at our house!"

"Four Angora kittens!" interrupted Marjorie eagerly, before Bob had a chance to guess. "Four whole kittens. Can't see a thing, though, but they'll learn after a while! We're going to sell three of 'em, and keep one, and——"

"See here, Marjorie!" exclaimed Bob. "I'd like to buy one myself, for a Christmas present to some one! How about it? You ask your mother to save one for me—I'll stop in tomorrow morning and talk to her about it. Could you take care of it for me till Christmas morning?"

And Bob strode on with a happy grin on his face. Wouldn't Bettina laugh at the idea of an Angora kitten!

For dinner that night Bettina served:

Beef Steak Baked Potatoes
Cauliflower in Cream Cranberry Jelly Moulds
Bread Butter
Burnt Sugar Cake Confectioner's Icing
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Cranberry Jelly
(Three portions)

2 C-cranberries
²
/
₃
C-water
¾ C-sugar

Look over the cranberries, removing any stems and soft berries. Add the water and cook until the skins have burst and all the berries are soft. Press through a strainer, removing all the pulp. Add the sugar to the pulp, and cook until the mixture is thick, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. When the jelly stands up on a plate it is done. Pour into moulds (preferably of china or glass) which have been wet with cold water.

Burnt Sugar Cake
(Sixteen pieces)

½ C-butter
1½ C-sugar
2 eggs
¼ t-salt
2½ C-flour
4 t-baking powder
1 C-boiling water
1 t-vanilla

Caramelize two-thirds of a cup of sugar. When the sugar is melted and reaches the light brown or the "caramel" stage, add the water. Cook until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved in the water. Allow it to cool. Cream the butter, add the rest of the uncooked sugar, and then add the egg-yolks. Mix well. Add the salt, flour, baking-powder, vanilla and the cooled liquid. Beat two minutes and add the egg-whites stiffly beaten. Pour into two pans prepared with buttered paper. Bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Ice with confectioner's icing.

Confectioner's Icing
(Sixteen portions)

2 T-cream or milk
½ t-vanilla
1 T-carmelized syrup or maple syrup
1½ C-powdered sugar

Mix the cream, vanilla and syrup. Add the sugar (sifted) until the right consistency to spread. Spread carefully between the layers and on the top. Set aside to cool, and to allow the icing to "set." (More sugar may be needed in making the icing.)

O
F course a tiny Christmas tree was the centerpiece on Bettina's breakfast table, set for a nine o'clock family breakfast. All of the Christmas gifts except those that were too large were grouped around the base of the tree. Bettina refused to allow even Bob to have a peep at the gifts until the guests, Father, Mother, Uncle John and Aunt Lucy, had arrived.

"Now, don't you give us too much to eat, Bettina," laughed Father. "I know your mother has been making some mighty elaborate preparations for dinner at home, and you must leave us with an appetite."

"Well, you won't have any appetite left if you eat all you want of these waffles of mine!" exclaimed Bob, coming in from the kitchen with a spoon in his hand and an apron tied around his neck.

"Go back to the kitchen, Cook!" said Uncle John. "We don't want to see you, but we're willing to taste your waffles. Bring 'em on!"

"First," said Bettina, "we'll eat our grapefruit. Then we'll open our packages, and then, Bob, you can help me serve the rest of our Christmas breakfast."

"Come on!" said Uncle John. "Then I'll be Santa Claus and deliver the presents!"

For breakfast Bettina served:

Grapefruit with Maraschino Cherries
Oatmeal and Dates Whipped Cream
Ham Cooked with Milk Creamed Potatoes
Muffins Orange Marmalade
Waffles Maple Syrup
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Oatmeal with Dates
(Six portions)

1 C-oatmeal
1½ C-water
1 t-salt
½ C-dates, cut fine

Mix the oatmeal, salt and water, and cook directly over the fire for three minutes. Add the dates, put in the fireless, and cook all night. Serve with unsweetened whipped cream.

Ham Cooked in Milk
(Four portions)

1 lb. ham (a slice two-thirds of an inch thick)
1 C-milk

Pour boiling water over the ham, and allow it to stand ten minutes. Remove the ham, and place in the frying-pan. Add the milk, and allow to cook slowly for twenty-five minutes. Remove from the milk and garnish with parsley.

Muffins
(Twelve muffins)

2 C-flour
4 t-baking powder
¹
/
₃
C-sugar
½ t-salt
1 egg
1 C-milk
2 t-melted butter

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the egg, beaten, and milk, and beat two minutes. Add the melted butter. Fill well-buttered muffin pans one-half full. Bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven.

Waffles
(Six portions)

1¾ C-flour
2 T-sugar
1 t-salt
3 t-baking powder
2 well-beaten eggs
¾ C-milk
1 T-melted butter

Mix and sift the flour, sugar, salt and baking-powder. Add the eggs and milk. Beat two minutes. Add the butter. Bake in well-greased waffle irons.

"W
ELL, this is something like it!" said Bob, as he sat down to dinner one evening several days after Christmas. "A good plain meal again. I'm so tired of Christmas trees and Christmas flowers and Christmas food that I don't believe I'll care to see any more of them till—well, next year."

"Everything is put away now," said Bettina. "All the presents are in their permanent places. Except Fluff," she added, glancing at the Persian kitten cuddled in an arm chair. "I couldn't put Fluff away, and don't care to. Isn't he a darling? Just the very touch that the living room needed to make it absolutely homelike!"

"Well," said Bob, "we did need a cat, but I think we need a dog, too. About next spring I'll get one, if I can find one to suit me."

"Oh, Bob, won't a dog be a nuisance? And destructive? And do you suppose Fluff could endure one?"

"Fluff can learn to endure one," Bob said. "Every home ought to have a dog in it. Oh, we'll get a good dog some day, Bettina, if I keep my eyes open."

"Have another muffin," said Bettina. "They'll do to change the subject. Some day I may long for a dog, too, but just now—well, Fluff seems to be a pet enough for one house."

For supper that night they had:

Bettina's Scrambled Eggs Creamed Potatoes
Corn Gems Plum Butter
Hickory Nut Cake Confectioner's Icing
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Bettina's Scrambled Eggs
(Two portions)

2 eggs
1 tonions, cut fine
¹
/
₈
t-celery salt
1 T-chopped pimento
1 T-green pepper, chopped
2 T-ham, cooked and cut fine
2 T-milk
½ T-butter
¹
/
₃
t-salt
¹
/
₈
t-paprika

Melt the butter in a frying-pan, and when hot, add the onions, pimento and green pepper. Let cook slowly one minute. Beat the egg, add the milk, celery salt, salt, paprika and chopped ham. Add the mixture to that in the frying-pan. Cook, stirring until it is thick and creamy. (About two minutes.) Serve immediately on a hot platter.

Corn Gems
(Six gems)

½ C-corn meal
3 T-sugar
½ C-white flour
2 t-baking powder
¼ t-salt
1 egg
½ C-milk
1 T-melted butter

Mix the cornmeal, sugar, flour, baking-powder, salt, egg and milk. Beat two minutes. Pour into well-buttered muffin pans, filling each half full. Bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven.

[329]
[330]

JANUARY.

Simpler meals and wiser buying,——
More of planning,—less of hurry,——
More of smiling,—less of sighing,——
More of fun, and less of worry,
In this New Year's Resolution,
Trouble finds a swift solution.

"I
DO love to cook!" exclaimed Alice enthusiastically.

"And we have had such delicious meals since we began to keep house, if I do say it! But oh, the bills, the bills! Bettina, isn't it terrible? But you can't get any meal at all without paying for it, can you? I really do dread having Harry get the first month's grocery bill, though."

"You ought not to have to say that, Alice," said Bettina, laughing nevertheless. "Why don't you have an allowance, and pay the grocery bill yourself?"

"Because I know I could never manage to pay it," said Alice, making a little face. "I do love to have perfect little meals and cooking is such fun, but you just can't have things right without having them expensive; I've found that out. Last night we had a simple enough dinner—a very good steak with French fried potatoes and creamed asparagus on toast. Then a fruit salad with mayonnaise and steamed suet pudding and coffee. Harry said everything was perfect, but——"

"I'm sure it was, Alice. You are so clever at everything
you do. But wasn't that expensive for just a home dinner for two? Steak and creamed asparagus! And mayonnaise is so expensive! Then think of the gas you use, too!"

"I didn't think of the gas," said Alice ruefully. "I thought of Harry's likes, and of variety, and of a meal that balanced well. But not much about economy. I'll have to consult you, Bettina. I'll tell you: Couldn't I plan my menus ahead for a week, and bring them over to you to criticise? That would be fun, and I'm sure you could teach me a great deal."

"I'd love to have you, Alice," smiled Bettina.

For luncheon Bettina served:

Chicken Loaf Creamed Potatoes
Baking Powder Biscuits Cranberry jelly
Caramel Custard Whipped Cream
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Chicken Loaf
(Two portions)

½ C-cooked chicken
½ C-ground, cooked veal
½ C-soft bread crumbs
½ t-salt
¹
/
₈
t-celery salt
1 t-chopped parsley
1 egg
½ C-milk