The Healthy Life Part 22

SAVOURY EGG FRITTERS.

Six eggs, two large tomatoes, half-teaspoon mixed dried herbs, about three tablespoons ground biscuits ("Ixion" or any of the unsweetened "P.R." kinds).

Hard boil three of the eggs and chop them finely. Skin the tomatoes, mash them and add to the chopped eggs with the remaining eggs (well beaten), herbs and biscuit powder. Should the mixture be too moist to mould add more biscuit powder; if too dry add a little water. Cut and shape into finger shapes and either fry in olive oil or bake on b.u.t.tered tin or open earthenware baking dish. (The last-mentioned is the best method, as the baking dish can be brought to the table as it is, and there is only one dish instead of two to wash up afterwards.)

SAVOURY EGG PATTIES.

The above Egg Fritter mixture made rather moist may be used as a filling for savoury patties.

Make for these a short crust with 1/2 lb. of Artox meal, 3 oz. of Nutter and water. Slightly bake the sh.e.l.ls of pastry (made thin) before adding the filling, and finish to a golden brown.

Serve these and the fritters with either brown gravy or white sauce.

SWEET EGG SOUFFLE.

Five eggs, 3/4 lb. soft cane sugar, 1 oz. ground rice, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, rind of half a lemon.

Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs. Beat up the yolks and sift in the ground rice, sugar and grated rind of the lemon. To this batter add the well-whisked whites. Well heat the b.u.t.ter in a frying pan, turn in the batter and fry over gentle heat till set. Fold over the edges and place on well-greased flat dish and bake for barely a quarter of an hour. Sift over some soft cane sugar and serve very hot.

SNOW EGGS.

Three eggs, one and a quarter pints of milk, a teaspoon of soft cane sugar, vanilla flavouring.

Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs and whisk the whites to a very stiff froth with the sugar. Put the milk into a saucepan and when it boils drop in whites of eggs in small pieces shaped between two dessert spoons. Only a little should be cooked at a time in this way, and each should be allowed to poach for two minutes, and when done should be taken out with a slice and put on a sieve to drain. When all the whites are used in this way, strain the milk and add it to the well-beaten yolks. Pour into a double saucepan and stir over the fire till the custard thickens; flavour with vanilla to taste.

When _cold_ pour into a dish and lay the snow eggs on top.

(Kindly supplied by Mrs Edith Wilkinson.)

EGG-RAISED CHERRY CAKE.

9 oz. good "standard" flour, 5 oz. Nutter (or other nut fat), 5 oz. cane castor sugar, 2 oz. preserved cherries (glace), 2 oz.

well-washed sultanas, 2 oz. ground almonds, four eggs, outer rind of lemon (grated).

Beat Nutter and sugar to a cream; add eggs one by one, beating all the time; have ready the flour, with the fruit, grated lemon rind and ground almonds mixed in, and add gradually to the above mixture, beating all the time, and until of even consistency throughout. Line a cake tin with double thickness of b.u.t.tered paper, pour in the mixture and bake in moderate oven about one and a half hours.

_Any housewife who doubts the possibility of making light and dainty cakes without the now customary baking powder and baking soda, etc., should try the above recipe. No one could wish for a more excellent cake._

NOTE ON Ca.s.sEROLES.

Now that ca.s.serole cookery (_i.e._ cooking in earthenware dishes, both open and covered) is becoming more widely known and practised, readers will be glad to know that many housewives believe in boiling new earthenware before using it, as this effectually toughens and hardens it. This is particularly efficacious in the case of ordinary brown kitchenware, the articles being placed in a large pan of cold water which is then brought slowly to the boil. After being allowed to boil for ten minutes remove the pan and allow the water to cool before taking out the ware.

HEALTH QUERIES.

_Under this heading our contributor, Dr Valentine Knaggs, deals briefly month by month, and according as s.p.a.ce permits, with questions of general interest to health seekers and others._

_In all Queries relating to health difficulties it is essential that full details of the correspondent's customary diet should be clearly given._

_Correspondents are earnestly requested to write on _one side only of the paper_, giving full name and address, not for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. When an answer is required by post a stamped addressed envelope must be enclosed._--[EDS.]

EXCESSIVE PERSPIRATION.

Miss R.E.N. writes.--I am troubled with excessive perspiration. I neither eat meat nor drink tea. I have a cold sponge bath down to my waist every morning, and I change all my clothes when I go to bed. My diet is, roughly, as follows:

_Breakfast._--Oatmeal porridge with toast or bread and jam or golden syrup. Hot water.

_Lunch._--Peas, beans or lentils, eggs, cheese. Vegetables: potatoes and onions, or carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips.

Puddings, fruit or milk wholemeal bread, not much sugar except for sweetening fruits, etc.

_Tea meal._--Wholemeal bread and b.u.t.ter, nuts, jam, cake, pastry; hot water.

_At bedtime._--Hot water or coffee.

If our correspondent wishes to remedy this excessive perspiration she must get a hot towel-bath daily (all over),[14] wearing porous linen-mesh underclothing next the skin. She should also discontinue the soft sugary and starchy foods, and not mix fruit with other foods (it is best taken by itself, say, for breakfast). She needs more of the cooling salad vegetables. The following diet would be a great improvement:--

_On rising._--Half-pint of hot boiled water, sipped slowly.

_Breakfast._--Wholemeal bread or biscuits and b.u.t.ter (all made without salt), with salad or grated raw roots. Stop porridge, jam and golden syrup. Avoid drinking at meals.

_Lunch._--Two eggs, or 2 oz. of curd cheese. Two vegetables cooked in ca.s.serole without salt; wholemeal bread or biscuits and b.u.t.ter; a few figs, prunes, dried bananas, or raisins, washed but not cooked. Avoid milk puddings or stewed fruits as too fermentative and heating.

_Supper meal._--1 to 2 oz. flaked nuts, some crisp "P.R." or "Ixion"

biscuits with nut b.u.t.ter. Some fresh salad or grated roots. Stop jam, cake and pastry.

_At bedtime._--Half-pint of hot boiled water, or clear vegetable soup, sipped slowly.

[14] The Sanum Oxygen Baths are also excellent in a case of this kind.

DIET FOR ULCERATED THROAT.

Mrs L.B. writes.--Do you think it would be wise for a person suffering from ulcers in the throat and on other mucous membranes to adopt a diet devoid of meat, yeast and salt?

It would certainly be wise to discard meat and salt in a case of this kind, but yeast is sometimes useful taken as "unflavoured Marmite."

The chief cause of ulcers is the abuse of the soft cereal and sugary foods. In a case of this sort I should advise a diet consisting exclusively of well-dextrinised cereals--_e.g._ Granose, Melarvi, etc.--with plenty of grated raw roots and finely chopped salads and tomatoes. This can be combined with curd cheese, raw or lightly cooked eggs, flaked nuts or Brusson Jeune bread as the proteid part of the diet.

FARMING AND SCIATICA.

Mrs A.C.B. writes.--For two months my husband, who leads an active open-air life, has had severe pain all down the back of his left leg. It is like neuralgia, and comes on worse when sitting. He has been a farmer all his life, but is anything but strong and constantly taking cold. Are these pains likely to be due to wrong food?