A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband With Bettina's Best Recipes (4 page)

"With a conical ice-cream mould. It is so easy that way."

"And this salad! Fred is so fond of salad, but I don't know a thing about making it."

"Well, I washed the lettuce thoroughly, and when it was very wet I put it on the ice in a cloth. I poured boiling water over these tomatoes to make the skins peel off easily. And, oh, yes, these cucumbers are crisp because I kept the slices in ice water for awhile before I served them. Good salad is always very cold; the ingredients ought to be chilled before they are mixed."

"These dear little cakes, Bettina! How could you make them in such cunning shapes?"

"With a fancy cutter. And I dipped it in warm water each time before I used it, so that it would cut evenly. I'd love to show you girls all that I know about cooking. Do learn it now while you're at home; it will save much labor and even tears! Why, Bob said——"

"I knew that was coming!" laughed Alice. "Girls, in self-defense, let's keep the conversation strictly on Betty's menu, and away from Betty's husband!"

And so they discussed:

Strawberries au Naturel
Kornlet Soup Whipped Cream
Croutons
Salmon Timbales with Egg Sauce
Buttered Beets Potato Croquettes
Pinwheel Biscuit Butter Balls
Vegetable Salad Salad Dressing
Wafers
Fancy Cakes Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Strawberries au Naturel
(Ten portions)

2 quarts strawberries
1 C-powdered sugar

Pick over selected berries, place in a colander and wash, draining carefully. Press powdered sugar into cordial glasses to shape into a small mould. Remove from glasses onto centers of paper doilies placed on fruit plates. Attractively arrange ten berries around each mound. Berries should be kept cool and not hulled. Natural leaves may be used very effectively on the doily.

Croutons for the Soup
(Ten portions)

4 slices bread
2 T-butter (melted)
½ t-salt

Cut stale bread in one-third inch cubes. Brown in the oven. Add melted butter and salt. Mix and reheat the croutons.

Salmon Timbales
(Eight portions)

1 C-salmon flaked
¼ C-bread crumbs
1 slightly beaten egg
²
/
₃
C-milk
1 T-lemon juice
¹
/
₈
t-paprika
¼ t-salt

Mix ingredients in order named. Fill small buttered moulds or cups one-half full. Set in a pan of hot water, and bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Serve with following sauce:

Egg Sauce
(Eight portions)

3 T-butter
3 T-flour
1½ C-milk
½ t-salt
¼ t-pepper
1 egg yolk

Melt the butter, stir flour in well, and slowly add the milk. Let it boil about two minutes, stirring constantly. Season, add yolk of egg, and mix well. (The oil from the salmon may be substituted for melted butter as far as it will go.)

White Cakes
(Sixteen cakes)

¹
/
₃
C-butter
1 C-sugar
²
/
₃
C-milk
2 C-sifted flour
3 t-baking powder
½ t-lemon extract
½ t-vanilla
3 egg whites

Cream butter, add sugar, and continue creaming. Alternately add the dry ingredients mixed and sifted. Add the milk. Beat well, add flavoring. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites. Spread evenly, two-thirds of an inch thick, on waxed paper, placed in a pan. Bake twenty minutes in moderate oven. Remove from oven, allow cake to remain in pan five minutes. Carefully remove and cool. Cut with fancy cutters.

White Mountain Cream Icing for Cakes

1 C-granulated sugar
¹
/
₈
t-cream tartar
¼ C-water
1 egg white
½ t-vanilla

Boil the sugar, water and cream of tartar together without stirring. Remove from fire as soon as the syrup hairs when dropped from a spoon. Pour very slowly onto the stiffly beaten egg white. Beat vigorously with sweeping strokes until cool. If icing gets too hard to spread, add a little warm water and keep beating. Add extract and spread on cakes. Decorate with tiny pink candies.

"G
UESS who!" said a voice behind Bettina, as two hands blinded her eyes.

"Why, Bob, dear! Good for you! How did you get home so early?"

"I caught a ride with Dixon in his new car. And I thought you might need me to help get dinner; it's nice to be needed! But here I've been picturing you toiling over a hot stove, and, instead, I find you on the porch with a magazine, as cool as a cucumber!"

"The day of toiling over a hot stove in summer is over. At least for anyone with sense! But I'm glad you did come home early, and you
can
help with dinner. Will you make the French dressing for the salad? See, I'll measure it out, and you can stir it this way with a fork until it's well mixed and a little thick."

"I know a much better way than that. Just watch your Uncle Bob; see? I'll put it in this little Mason jar and shake it. It's a lot easier and—there you are! We'll use what we need tonight, put the jar away in the ice-box, and the next time we can give it another good shaking before we use it."

"Why, Bob, what an ingenious boy you are! I never would have thought of that!"

"You married a man with brains, Betty dear! What is there besides the salad?"

"Halibut steak. It's Friday, you know, and there is such good inexpensive fish on the market. A pound is plenty for
us. The potatoes are ready for the white sauce, the beans are in the fireless cooker, and for dessert there is fresh pineapple sliced. The pineapple is all ready. Will you get it, dear? In the ice-box in a covered jar."

"Why didn't you slice it into the serving dish?"

"Because it had to be covered tight. Pineapple has a penetrating odor, and milk and butter absorb it in no time."

"What else shall I do, Madam Bettina?"

"Well, you may fix the lemon for the fish. No, not sliced; a slice is too hard to handle. Just cut it in halves and then once the other way, in quarters; see? You may also cut up a little of that parsley for the creamed new potatoes. That reminds me that I am going to have parsley growing in a kitchen window box some day. Now you can take the beans out of the cooker, and I'll put butter sauce on them. No, it isn't really a sauce,—just melted butter with salt and pepper. There, Bobby dear! Dinner is served, and you helped! How do you like the coreopsis on the table?"

"You always manage to have flowers of some kind, don't you, Betty? I'm growing so accustomed to that little habit of yours that I suppose I wouldn't have any appetite if I had to eat on an ordinary undecorated table!"

"Don't you make fun of me, old fellow! You'd have an appetite no matter when, how or what you had to eat! But things are good tonight, aren't they?"

Bob had helped to prepare:

Halibut Steak New Potatoes in Cream
String Beans Butter Sauce
Bread Butter
Tomato, Cucumber and Pimento Salad French Dressing
Sliced Fresh Pineapple

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Halibut Steak
(Two portions)

²
/
₃
lb. Halibut Steak
3 T-flour
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika

Wash one pound of Halibut steak and wipe dry. Cut in two pieces. Roll in flour, and cook ten minutes in a frying pan
in hot fat. Brown on one side, and then on the other. Season with salt and paprika. Serve very hot.

String Beans with Butter Sauce
(Two portions)

1½ C-string beans
2 C-water
1 T-butter
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika

Remove ends and strings from green beans. Add water and cook over a moderate fire for twenty-five minutes. Drain off the water, add butter, salt and paprika. Reheat and serve.

Tomato, Cucumber and Pimento Salad
(Two portions)

1 tomato sliced
½ C-sliced cucumbers
1 T-pimento cut fine
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika
2 pieces lettuce

Arrange lettuce on serving dishes. Place portions of tomato, cucumber and pimento on the lettuce. Sprinkle with salt and paprika. Serve with French dressing.

French Dressing
(Two portions)

4 T-olive oil
2 T-vinegar
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika

Mix ingredients, which have been thoroughly chilled, and beat until the mixture thickens. Pour over the vegetables.

Pineapple Sliced
(Two portions)

1 pineapple
½ C-sugar

Remove the skin and eyes from the pineapple. Cut crosswise in half-inch slices, and the slices in cubes, at the same time discarding the core. Sprinkle with sugar and stand in a cold place for an hour before serving.

"H
ELLO, is this you, Bettina? This is Mother! I'll have to speak in a low voice. Who do you think is here? No,—Cousin Matilda! Just between trains, but she says she must see how you are 'situated'! Clementine has such a wonderful establishment now, you know! No, of course not, but I want her to see how happy you are. She seems to have the idea that an 'establishment' is necessary! Just to see the house, you know! I know the porch isn't ready, but don't worry! About three, then. Good-by!"

That afternoon Bettina looked anxiously through the living room window across the bare little front yard. If only critical Cousin Matilda had waited a few months before coming! But then, the only thing to do was to be as cheerful about it as possible——

"So this is little Bettina!" said a majestic voice at the door. "And how is love in a cottage? How charmingly simple everything is!"

"They planned it all just as they wanted it," explained Bettina's mother proudly. "On a small scale, of course, but perhaps some day——"

"But I couldn't ever be happier than I am right now, Cousin Matilda. What do you think of our big living room? Browns and tans seemed best and safest in a little house like this, and I knew I shouldn't tire of them as of any other color! I do so dislike going into a bungalow with one little room in blue, another in pink, and so on. The walls are all alike, even in
the bedrooms. And the curtains are just simple cotton voiles, ecru in the living and dining rooms, and white in the bedrooms. No side curtains to catch the dust and keep out the air. But I beg your pardon for seeming too complacent; I love it all so that I just can't help boasting."

"What is this, my dear? A wedding gift?"

"Yes, isn't it lovely? It is a sampler in cross-stitch that Bob's great-great-grandmother made! His Aunt Margaret had it put under the glass cover of this tea cart, and gave it to us for a wedding present. See, the cart is brown willow, and I think it looks well with our furniture, don't you? This is to be a living porch, but we haven't furnished it yet except for this green matting rug. And Bob brought that hanging basket home from the florist's the other day.... Oh, yes, this is my Japanese garden! Bob laughs at me, I have so much fun watching it."

"What a lovely table decoration those red cherries make in your dining room, my dear! Like a picture, in that piece of dull green pottery!"

"Yes, Bob says I decorate the table differently for every meal! We use this breakfast alcove for breakfast, Sunday evening tea, or any informal meal when we are alone. You see how convenient it is! I do want to put a round serving table with leaves on our living porch. Then we can eat there on warm evenings in summer."

"Bettina is very accomplished in economy," said her mother. "You must let her tell you some of her methods."

"Clementine would be interested, I'm sure," said Cousin Matilda in her languid way. "Is this your guest room?"

"Yes, and Bob and I are proud of that. We white enameled the furniture ourselves! It is some that we found in a second-hand store, and it was certainly a bargain, though it didn't look it at the time. I sewed the rags together for these blue and white rugs. Bob made that little open desk out of a small table that we found somewhere. Now that it is white, too, I think it is cunning. And, Cousin Matilda, I give you three guesses as to the place in which I keep my sewing machine!"

"Why, I haven't seen it yet. In the kitchen?"

"Goodness, no! Well, I'll tell you! This looks like a dressing table, but is merely a shelf with a mirror above it. The shelf has a cretonne cover and 'petticoat' that reaches the floor. And underneath it—behold the sewing machine! Bob made the shelf high enough and wide enough to let the sewing machine slip under it! But, Cousin Matilda, you must be tired of Bettina's economies! Please sit down with mother in the living room and I will get the 'party.'"

And Bettina wheeled her tea cart into the kitchen, returning with luncheon napkins, plates, glasses, a pitcher of iced fruit juice, a plate of little chocolate cakes, and several sprays of wild roses.