Science in the Kitchen

Chapter 100

The following four days" bills of fare,--the first two served by a Michigan lady to her family of four persons, the second used by an Illinois family of eight,--although made up of much less variety, serve to show how one may live substantially even at a very small cost.

BREAKFAST NO. 1

Apples Graham Mush with Dates Toasted Wafers Bread Dried Apples Stewed with Cherries Milk Cream

_Cost:_ Apples, 4c.; Graham mush and dates, 3c.; toasted wafers, 3c.; bread, 2c.; sauce, 3c.; milk and cream, 5c.

Total, 20 cents, or 5 cents apiece.

DINNER NO. 1

Baked Potatoes with Gravy Mashed Peas Oatmeal Blancmange Whole-Wheat Bread Stewed Fruit Milk Cream

_Cost:_ Mashed peas, 3c.; baked potato and gravy, 3c.; whole-wheat bread, 2c.; milk and cream, 5c.; Oatmeal Blancmange, 2c.; Sauce, 5c.

Total cost, 20 cents, or 5 cents apiece.

BREAKFAST NO. 2

Apples Graham Grits Zwieback Cream Milk

_Cost:_ Apples, 4c.; Graham grits, 2c.; Graham gems, 5c.; Zwieback, 2c.; cream and milk, 5c.

Total, 20 cents, or 5 cents per person.

DINNER NO. 2

Pea and Tomato Soup Scalloped Potatoes Graham Rolls Rice Custard Milk Cream

_Cost:_ Soup, 4c.; potatoes, 1c.; rolls 4c.; milk and cream, 5c.; rice custard, 6c.

Total, 20 cents, or 5 cents each.

BREAKFAST NO. 3

Baked Apples Graham Grits with Cream Cream Toast Graham Gems Graham and Whole-Wheat Wafers Stewed Prunes

BREAKFAST NO. 4

Oatmeal with Cream Blueberry Toast Breakfast Rolls Graham and Whole-Wheat Wafers Stewed Apples

DINNER NO. 3

Bean Soup with Croutons Mashed Potatoes Pearl Wheat Macaroni with Tomato Sauce Oatmeal Crackers Patent Flour Bread Fresh Apples

DINNER NO. 4

Rice Soup Baked Potatoes with Cream Gravy Baked Beans Graham Crackers Whole-Wheat Bread Fresh Apples Farina with Cream

Material necessary to furnish these four meals for eight persons,-- Six lbs. flour, 18c.; two lbs. crackers, different varieties, 20c.; pearl wheat, oatmeal, graham grits, and farina, one half lb. each, 10c.; one peck apples, 30c.; prunes, 10c.; one half lb. rice, 3-1/2c.; two lbs. beans, 8c.; one can tomatoes, 10.; one half peck of potatoes, 13c.; blueberries, 10c.; eight qts. milk, 32c.; macaroni, 5c.; sugar, 1-1/2c.

Total, $1.71, or cost to each individual, 5-2/3 cents a meal.

TABLE TOPICS.

The food on which the man who would be healthy should live must be selected so as to ensure variety without excess.--_Dr. Richardson._

Hearty foods are those in which there is an abundance of potential energy.--_Prof. At.w.a.ter._

AN OLD-FASHIONED RECIPE FOR A LITTLE HOME COMFORT.--Take of thought for self one part, two parts of thought for family; equal parts of common sense and broad intelligence, a large modic.u.m of the sense of fitness of things, a heaping measure of living above what your neighbors think of you, twice the quant.i.ty of keeping within your income, a sprinkling of what tends to refinement and aesthetic beauty, stirred thick with the true brand of Christian principle, and set it to rise.--_Sel._

For all things have an equal right to live.

"T is only just prerogative we have; But nourish life with vegetable food, and shun the sacrilegious taste of blood.--_Ovid._

A BATCH OF DINNERS

HOLIDAY DINNERS,

A Special dinner for a holiday celebration has so long been a time-honored custom in most families, that the majority of housewives consider it indispensable. While we admire the beautiful custom of gathering one"s friends and neighbors around the hospitable board, and by no means object to a special dinner on holiday occasions, yet we are no wise in sympathy with the indiscriminate feastings so universally indulged in at such dinners, whereby stomachs are overloaded with a decidedly unhealthful quality of food, to be followed by dull brains and aching heads for days to come.

And this is not the extent of the evil. Holiday feasting undoubtedly has much to do with the excessive use of intoxicants noticeable at such times. Tempted to overeat by the rich and highly seasoned viands which make up the bill of fare, the heaviness resulting from a stomach thus overburdened creates a thirst not readily satisfied. A person who has noted how frequently one is called upon to a.s.suage thirst after having eaten too heartily of food on any occasion, will hardly doubt that indigestible holiday dinners are detrimental to the cause of total abstinence.

Then, for the sake of health and the cause of temperance, while an ample repast is provided, let not the bill of fare be so lavish as to tempt to gormandizing; and let the viands be of the most simple and wholesome character practicable, although, of course, inviting. As an aid in this direction, we offer the following bills of fare;--

THANKSGIVING MENUS.

NO. 1

Tomato Soap with Pasta d"Italia Stuffed Potatoes Canned Asparagus Pulp Succotash Celery Graham Grits Fruit Rolls Graham Puffs Buns Canned Peaches Pumpkin Pie Baked Chestnuts Grape Apples Fresh Fruits

NO. 2

Vegetable Oyster Soup Potato Puff Roasted Sweet Potatoes Parsnip Stewed with Celery Beet Salad Boiled Wheat with Raisins Cream Crisps Whole-Wheat Bread Crescents with Peach Jelly Canned Fruit Cranberry Tarts Almonds and Pecans

HOLIDAY MENUS.