Twenty-Five Cent Dinners for Families of Six Part 7

=Iced Raspberries.=--Beat the white of one egg, (cost one cent,) with two tablespoonfuls of cold water; pick over a quart of fine ripe raspberries, (cost ten cents,) dip them one by one into the egg, and roll them in powdered sugar; lay them on white paper spread on a baking sheet, so that they do not touch, and dry them in a cold, dry place, sifting a little more sugar over them, if they seem to grow moist. When the berries are in season, twenty-five cents will cover the cost of a large dish.

=Raspberry Salad.=--Pick over a quart of ripe raspberries, (cost ten cents,) pile them high in the centre of a gla.s.s dish, pour over them a gla.s.s of wine, (cost five cents,) dust them with an ounce of powdered sugar, (cost one cent,) and keep on the ice till used. A good dishful can be made for about twenty cents.

=Compote of Strawberries.=--Carefully pick over a quart of ripe strawberries, (cost ten cents;) put them in an earthen dish, pour over them a syrup made by boiling quarter of a pound of sugar, (cost four cents,) with one gill of water, for ten minutes; let the berries stand in this syrup for one hour; then drain them and pile them in a heap in a shallow gla.s.s dish; add to the syrup the juice of one orange, (cost two cents,) or a gla.s.s of wine; boil it up and cool it a little, and strain it over the berries; cool and use. This delicious dish costs about fifteen cents.

=Strawberry Drops.=--Rub some ripe strawberries through a fine seive with a wooden spoon; add two ounces of this juice to half a pound of powdered sugar, (cost five cents,) put the mixture into a saucepan and stir it over the fire until it begins to simmer; remove it from the fire, and stir it briskly for five minutes, oil some paper, lay it on a baking sheet, drop the strawberries on it by the salt-spoonful, dry them in the mouth of a cool oven. Keep them between layers of white paper in a cool place. A good supply can be made for twenty-five cents.

=Compote of Mixed Fruit.=--Boil half a pound of loaf sugar, (cost eight cents,) with one gill of cold water for ten minutes; pick over half a pound of red currants, (cost five cents,) and a pint of raspberries, (cost five cents,) and simmer them in the syrup for ten minutes. Take up the fruit on a gla.s.s dish, cool the syrup a little and pour it over the fruit. The dish will cost less than twenty cents.

=Fruit Juice.=--Rub ripe fruit through a seive, with a wooden spoon, and then strain it free from skins and seeds; to every pound add quarter of a pound of loaf sugar; mix well; put into wide-mouthed gla.s.s bottles, and set them in a pan with cold water reaching to the necks of the bottles. Set the pan over the fire and let the water come to a boil; remove the pan and let the bottles stand in the water until they are quite cold. Then cork them tightly, and seal them with wax or resin.

Keep them in a cool, dry place. This juice added to ice-water, and sweetened to taste, makes a delicious sherbet.

THE END.