To be particularly nice, mince the ham, cream with the b.u.t.ter, season with mustard, spread on one slice of bread, cover with a crisp lettuce leaf, add the top slice of bread, then cut in triangles.

LETTUCE SANDWICHES

On thin slices of b.u.t.tered bread lay a fresh leaf of lettuce, and spread with salad dressing, before adding top slice.

OLIVE AND CHEESE SANDWICHES

These are especially good for afternoon tea or parties. b.u.t.ter the bread each time before slicing, so it can be cut very thin without breaking.

Spread with cream cheese that has been rubbed to a paste with cream, and sprinkle with chopped olives. Cut in fancy shapes.

RAISIN SANDWICHES

Spread thinly sliced brown bread with b.u.t.ter first, then with raisins, seeded and chopped.

CRACKER SANDWICHES

b.u.t.ter graham crackers, and spread with chopped and mixed nuts and raisins. Or, take square soda crackers, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and toast a light brown. The latter, served hot, are also very nice for afternoon tea.

Though children should not be allowed to drink tea and coffee, (and young people are better off without them,) every little maid should be taught how to prepare these drinks for the grown-ups, most of whom are apt to be critical.

TEA

First, find out the kind your friends like if you possibly can, and do not give Ceylon to a lover of uncolored j.a.pan! Then have fresh boiling water, and scald out your teapot, which should be earthenware or china.

While it is still hot, put in the tea, a teaspoonful for each cup if you use the ordinary kinds, but only half a teaspoonful of some of the strong black varieties. Pour on immediately the required amount of boiling water, and set in a warm place, or cover with a cozy for five minutes. If desired cold, then pour off the grounds, and when cool enough, put in the ice box or serve at once with chopped ice. Never boil tea, nor allow to stand on the leaves very long, as it draws out the injurious tannin, besides impairing the flavor. A thin slice of lemon in each gla.s.s improves the taste as well as the looks.

COFFEE

People have different ways of making coffee, but a very easy one is to measure out a tablespoonful of ground coffee for each cup desired, tie up in a square cheesecloth, and cover with an equal number of cups of boiling water. Set on the stove where it will keep just below the boiling point, for three minutes, then pour and serve with cream and sugar. But to make this way, grind very fine. If your friends prefer boiled coffee, however, measure out a tablespoonful for each person, moisten well with part of the white of an egg, cover with one cup of cold water, and when that boils, add rest of the required amount from your boiling teakettle. Cook for five minutes, then settle with a third of a cup of cold water, and place where it will not boil up again. This will make one cupful apiece.

COCOA

Cool drinks are most welcomed in hot weather, and several kinds are quite nice for little girls to make. Iced cocoa requires for each person half a gla.s.s of milk and half a gla.s.s of water, heated to the boiling point. Mix in a cup a round teaspoonful of cocoa with one round spoonful of sugar, and dissolve with the hot milk. Then put together in the kettle, boil gently several minutes, and flavor with a drop or two of vanilla before taking from the fire. After cooling, place on ice, and when ready to serve, pour in gla.s.ses over ice, and cover the top with sweetened whipped cream. Delicious hot, however.

GRAPE JUICE

Grape-juice is the most nourishing kind of a fruit drink, and every family ought to put up enough in the fall when grapes are plentiful and cheap to last all winter. First pick the fruit from the stem, wash and put on in water enough to cover. Cook until the grapes lose their form, put in a jelly-bag, and let them hang overnight. Next day measure, and put on to boil with half as much sugar. Cook for five minutes and put at once into air-tight bottles. When ready to serve, either dilute with a small quant.i.ty of water or pour on chopped ice.

LEMONADE

A most refreshing beverage on a very warm day is a lemonade made from the juice of two lemons, a half cupful of sugar and eight gla.s.ses of water, to which is added the pulp of a small grapefruit that has been removed with a sharp-edged teaspoon. Fill up gla.s.ses with shaved ice.

FRUIT SYRUPS

During the canning season often a small quant.i.ty of rich juice will be left. If this is strained through a cloth and bottled boiling hot, it will make a splendid drink, diluted with water and served iced.

CHAPTER XVII

A Few More Desserts

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARSHMALLOW CREAM]

Before closing, let us consider some simple every day desserts that every little cook should know how to make. And first comes

BREAD PUDDING

For a small family, take a quart baking dish, cover the bottom with broken bread, sprinkle with raisins or currants, dot with tiny lumps of b.u.t.ter, and then repeat the process. Over this second layer pour a custard made by beating very light two eggs, adding two cups of milk, a pinch of salt, half a cupful of sugar, and a little grated nutmeg. Bake until a light brown on top, and serve with cream and sugar.

BROWN BETTY

b.u.t.ter thin slices of bread, line the bottom of the pudding dish, add a layer of sliced apples, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and repeat these layers until the dish is full. Cover with a tin lid and bake twenty minutes, then remove lid and leave until brown on top. The cover is necessary to keep in the moisture, as the juice of the apples is the only liquid. Serve with cream and sugar, or hot sauce.

COTTAGE PUDDING

Cream one-third of a cup of b.u.t.ter with three-fourths of a cup of sugar, add one egg, beaten very light, one cup of milk, and two cups of flour sifted with two teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Stir thoroughly and bake in a shallow pan. Cut in squares and serve hot, with hot chocolate or lemon sauce.

LEMON SAUCE

Make a syrup by boiling for five minutes one cup of sugar with one-quarter cup of water and a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter. Removing from the fire, add the strained juice of half a lemon.

FRUIT BATTER PUDDING

Take one cup of flour, half a teaspoonful of salt, and one-half teaspoonful baking-powder, sifted well, half a cupful of sugar, and stir to a smooth batter with half cup of milk. Add one tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter, and two eggs, beaten light, then pour into a b.u.t.tered pudding dish over two cupfuls of fresh fruit, either berries, sliced apples, bananas or peaches, and bake slowly half an hour. Serve immediately with hot pudding sauce, flavored with nutmeg.

SPONGE CAKE

Beat very light the yolks of three eggs, add one cup of sugar, half a cup of cold water, one and one-half cups of flour sifted several times with two scant teaspoonfuls of baking powder, flavor with half a teaspoonful of lemon extract, and lastly fold in the stiff whites. Bake in a sheet from thirty to forty minutes.