The Fun of Cooking Part 19

If, in cooking the vegetables, they get dry, put in a little more b.u.t.ter and tomato.

Miss Betty said if Mildred would stir this often she did not need to use the hot-water pan of the chafing-dish. "It takes so much longer to cook with it that I never use it if I can help it," she explained. "And now for the potatoes, Brownie."

SCALLOPED POTATOES

Wash and peel six large potatoes, and slice them thin. b.u.t.ter a baking dish and put in a layer; sprinkle with salt and just a little pepper and dot with very little bits of b.u.t.ter. When the dish is full pour over it a cupful of milk and sift fine crumbs over the top, and add some more bits of b.u.t.ter. Bake for three quarters of an hour.

Like the oysters this dish was made ready in the afternoon, all but putting on the milk and crumbs.

"You don't need a receipt for cocoa, do you?" Miss Betty stopped to ask.

"No, indeed; we can make that with our eyes shut," laughed Mildred.

"Then we will go on to the sandwiches. Here are two kinds which are very good with oysters, and perhaps they may possibly give you ghost-dreams; I hope they will!"

TOMATO AND CHEESE SANDWICHES

Scald and peel some tomatoes and put them on ice till firm; then slice very thin indeed, and take out all the soft part and seeds; sprinkle with a little salt. Slice some white bread thin and b.u.t.ter it; lay a slice of tomato on a slice of bread and on top put a very thin slice of cheese--just a sc.r.a.ping of it; add the other slice of bread, press together and cut into attractive shape.

"I just happened to see the remains of that cold boiled ham you evidently had left over from yesterday, sitting in the refrigerator and looking lonely, so I planned these, which are much better than the common kind:"

DEVILED HAM SANDWICHES

Put some cold cooked ham through the meat chopper till smooth; add a very little dry mustard, a tiny pinch of black pepper and a very tiny one of red pepper. To a small cupful of the meat add two tablespoonfuls of melted b.u.t.ter and press into a cup; when cold spread this on b.u.t.tered bread.

"My, those sound good," murmured Jack to himself, "and they sound like Hallowe'en, too."

"So they do," laughed Mother Blair, beginning to slice the bread and spread it. "Let's make them now and put them on ice, all rolled up in a wet napkin."

She and Brownie went to work, but Mildred said she was not quite ready yet. "I want another chafing-dish rule," she said. "Two are not enough, and they are all we have for our books."

"Well, just one or two more, and then I must fly," said Miss Betty; "you see I have to get the things for my own special receipt for the party.

Here is a good one:"

PANNED OYSTERS, CREAMED

Take four oysters for each person. Make some slices of toast, b.u.t.ter them and cut them into rounds just the size to fit into the bottom of little brown baking dishes, or any small individual dishes which can go to the table. Put the oysters on these with a shake of salt and pepper for each and a bit of b.u.t.ter the size of the tip of your little finger. Put the dishes into the oven for ten minutes, or till the oysters curl at the edges; then take them out and put two teaspoonfuls of hot, thick, sweet cream on each, and a bit of parsley; stand each dish on a plate and send to the table.

"I know you will like that; now here is another:"

CREAMED EGGS

Take one egg for each person; put the lower pan over the flame and fill with hot water from the tea-kettle; put in the eggs and boil for ten minutes with the cover of the pan on. Take them out, peel them and wrap them in a napkin to keep them hot. Set away the lower pan, and in the upper one put:

1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter; melt this and add 1 tablespoonful of flour and rub together until smooth. Add 1/2 pint of cream or very rich milk, and stir till thick; add 1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

1 pinch of cayenne.

1/2 teaspoonful paprika.

Drop the eggs in and turn them over once or twice till they are very hot; serve each one on a round of b.u.t.tered toast on a hot plate.

"Now that is positively all I can stop to give you now; I must begin on my own dish," said Miss Betty, putting on her hat. "But I'll be back again in just two minutes."

When she came she was carrying a huge pineapple, the largest the children had ever seen, and in a bag three large oranges and three bananas. "Now," she exclaimed as she put them on the kitchen table, "you shall see me make something very nice." This was the way she made it:

STUFFED PINEAPPLE

Get a large pineapple and cut off the brush at the top, but leave a little slice of the fruit on it, so it will stand. Scoop out the inside of the pineapple (and when you find a bit of the hard core do not put it with the rest but throw it away); cut the pieces all up into small dice. Cut the oranges in halves and take out the pulp with a spoon and mix with the pineapple; cut up the bananas and add these too. Then sweeten with powdered sugar. Set this away in a cold place. In serving it, fill the pineapple and put the brush on again and stand the fruit on a round dish with some heavy, stiff green leaves around it. The one who is served first is pa.s.sed the plate; she takes off the brush and lays it by the side of the pineapple, and with a ladle dips out some of the inside on her dessert plate.

It took quite a time to prepare this, but they all liked to do it, and enjoyed the surprise it was going to be when it was first pa.s.sed. Mother Blair said she did _so_ hope she might take off the pineapple's cover, and when they came to think of it, as she was always served first, of course she would!

Well, the Hallowe'en supper was a perfect success. Jack, though nervous, proved that his camping lessons were not wasted, and Mildred's chafing-dish was as easy to manage as could be. But the next day when they all talked it over, not one of the family and not one of the guests had had a single ghost-dream after all!

CHAPTER XII

WHEN MOTHER BLAIR WAS SICK

One day Mother Blair woke up with a very sore throat, and the doctor said, when he had looked at it, that she must stay in bed for a day or two, and that Brownie had better go visiting.

"But where can I go, school and all?" the little girl asked Mildred very soberly after the doctor had gone. "If I lose my goggerfy lessons now I won't be the top of the cla.s.s, and I thought I was sure to be; and when I'm the very top of all, you know Father gives me a dollar."

"Perhaps Miss Betty would like to have you visit her," Mildred said; "wouldn't that be fun? You could come in every single day and see how things are going with us, and we could wave at you out of the window--Mother could, I mean,--and it would be just lovely. I'll run over and ask her if you may come."

Miss Betty said she would be perfectly delighted to have a visit from Brownie, and Mother Blair said in a very croaky voice that it was a bright idea. So that very morning Brownie packed a bag and Jack carried it over for her, and she went visiting.

Mildred found she could be excused from school for a day or two, so she became nurse; and Norah said she guessed she could run the house alone after all the years she'd been learning how; so everything was just as smooth as could be.

When her mother's room was made all tidy and she had settled down to take a nap, Mildred ran across to Miss Betty's house to ask her what to give her mother to eat.

"The doctor said soft things, because her poor throat is so sore. What do you think I'd better give her for lunch, Miss Betty?"

"Invalids have to have nouris.h.i.+ng things, Mildred, strong soups and eggs and cereals with cream, and custards. Suppose you plan to have a cream soup for to-day and start a meat soup for to-morrow; it takes two days to make that kind, you know. And--let me see--with cream soup you might have an egg, I think, and perhaps junket; that is the very softest thing in the world. Then by night perhaps she can have cream toast; that is perfectly delicious; if my throat feels sore toward night, Mildred, will you please make enough for two? I just love it."

Mildred laughed and promised that she would.

"And soft boiled custard in a pretty gla.s.s cup; and tea, I suppose. By to-morrow she will be so much better that I think she can have ever so many other things. Shall I write out the receipts for you now? Here is a good one for the soup."

CREAM SOUP

(This makes one cupful.)

2/3 cup milk.

1/2 tablespoonful b.u.t.ter.

1/2 tablespoonful flour.

1/4 teaspoonful salt.

1 shake pepper.