A DELICIOUS APPETIZER

Take as many slices of delicately browned toast as people to serve, several large, firm tomatoes sliced, one green pepper, and store cheese.

Place a slice of tomato on each slice of toast and season with salt and pepper and a dot of b.u.t.ter. Place several long, curly strips of pepper around the tomato, and cover with a thin slice of the cheese. Place in the oven until the cheese is melted. Serve piping hot.

CELERY RELISH

Boil about six pieces of celery root. When soft, peel and mash. Season with salt, pepper, a little onion powder, a teaspoon of home-made mustard and plenty of mayonnaise. Shape into pyramids, put mayonnaise on the top of the pyramid, and on top of that either a little well-seasoned caviar or some sardellen b.u.t.ter shaped in a pastry bag. Serve on a slice of beets and a lettuce leaf.

SARDELLEN

Take one-quarter pound salted sardellen and soak in water over night.

Bone the next morning, put in cloth and press until dry; chop very fine, almost to a paste; take one-half pound sweet b.u.t.ter, stir to a cream and add the sardellen. Serve on toasted cracker or bread. Sprinkle with the grated yellow and grated white of egg.

STUFFED EGGS

Hard boil eggs, drop into cold water, remove sh.e.l.ls, cut each in half lengthwise. Turn out yolks into a bowl. Carefully place whites together in pairs, mash yolks with back of a spoon. For every six yolks put into bowl one tablespoon melted b.u.t.ter, one-half teaspoon mustard (the kind prepared for table), one teaspoon salt, dash of cayenne pepper. Rub these together thoroughly with yolks. Make little b.a.l.l.s of this paste the size of the yolks. Fit one ball into each pair whites.

NUT AND CHEESE RELISH

Mix one package cream cheese with one cup of chopped nut meats, one teaspoon of chopped parsley, two tablespoons of whipped cream, salt and red pepper. Roll into b.a.l.l.s and serve cold, garnished with parsley and chopped nuts.

GRAPE-FRUIT c.o.c.kTAIL

Cut the grape-fruit into halves, crosswise, and scoop out the pulp, rejecting the white inner skin as well as the seeds. Clean the sh.e.l.ls; cut the edges with a sharp knife into scallops and throw them into cold water. Set the pulp on the ice. At serving time put a teaspoon of cracked ice in the bottom of each sh.e.l.l; fill with the pulp, mixed thoroughly with powdered sugar and a little sherry, if desired; and place a maraschino cherry or bit of bright-colored jelly in the centre of each. Lay on paper doilies or surround with bits of asparagus fern.

AMBROSIA

Fill gla.s.s with alternate layers of sliced orange and cocoanut; cover with powdered sugar and place a maraschino cherry on the top of each.

PEACH c.o.c.kTAIL

Fill the gla.s.ses with sliced peaches; cover with orange or lemon juice; sweeten to taste; add a little shaved ice and serve.

Apricot and cherry c.o.c.ktails may be made in the same way.

RASPBERRY c.o.c.kTAIL

Mash a pint of ripe, red currants; strain them through cheesecloth; pour the juice over a pint of red raspberries and set on the ice to chill. At serving time sweeten to taste and pour into the gla.s.ses, putting one teaspoon of powdered sugar on the top of each.

PINEAPPLE AND BANANA c.o.c.kTAIL

Take equal parts of banana and fresh or canned pineapple; cut into small cubes and cover with lemon or pineapple juice. Serve in gla.s.ses or orange sh.e.l.ls placed on autumn leaves or sprays of green fern.

STRAWBERRY c.o.c.kTAIL

Slice five or six large strawberries into each gla.s.s and squeeze over them the juice of an orange. At serving time add one heaping teaspoon of powdered sugar and one tablespoon of shaved ice.

MUSK MELONS

Cut melon in half, seed and put on ice one hour before serving. When ready to serve, fill with crushed ice and sprinkle with, powdered sugar.

Allow one-half melon for each person. Very refreshing for summer luncheons or dinners. For dinner serve before soup.

FILLED LEMONS

Select good-sized lemons; cut off tip to stand the lemon upright; cut top for cover. Scoop out all the lemon pulp, and put in a bowl; put sh.e.l.ls in a bowl of cold water. For six lemons take one box of boneless sardines, six anchovies, and two green peppers, cut very fine. Wet with lemon-juice until moist; fill in sh.e.l.ls after wiping dry; insert a pimento on top; put on cover of lemon; serve on doily with horseradish and watercress.

RED PEPPER CANAPeS

Mix together two chopped hard-boiled eggs, one tablespoon of chopped red peppers (canned), a saltspoon of salt, a tiny pinch of mustard and two tablespoons of grated American cheese with sufficient melted b.u.t.ter to form a paste; spread over the rounds of fried bread and place in a very hot oven for about three minutes. Serve on a folded napkin, garnished with watercress.

SALTED PEANUTS

Sh.e.l.l and skin freshly roasted peanuts and proceed as in salting almonds.

SALTED ALMONDS

Pour boiling water on the almonds; cool and remove the skins; dry thoroughly and brown in a hot oven, using a half tablespoon of b.u.t.ter or olive oil (preferably the oil) to each cup of nuts, which must be shaken frequently. When brown, sprinkle well with salt and spread on paper to dry and cool.

A still easier way to prepare the nuts is to cook them over the fire, using a larger quant.i.ty of olive oil. As the oil can be saved and used again, this method is not necessarily extravagant.

*SANDWICHES*

Bread should be twenty-four hours old and cut in thin, even slices. If fancy forms are desired, shape before spreading with b.u.t.ter. Cream b.u.t.ter and spread evenly.

ANCHOVY SANDWICHES

Pound the anchovies to a paste and mix with an equal quant.i.ty of olives stoned and finely chopped.