Apples and Dates

Apples and dates make a good combination requiring no sugar. To prepare them, steam until tender in a covered pan, one and one-half quarts of sliced apples and the grated peel of one lemon with one-half cupful of water. Add one-half cupful of chopped dates, simmer the fruits together for six minutes and serve cold.

Corn Fritters

Corn fritters are good for a change. To make them, run through the meat-chopper a can of the corn you put up last summer. Add two eggs, well beaten, just enough flour to hold the mixture together, and salt to taste. Beat thoroughly, then drop by spoonfuls into a pan in which there is hot fat to keep them from sticking. Fry a nice brown on each side and serve hot.

Re-Worked Butter

To make re-worked butter, use one pound of butter, one pint of rich milk, one tablespoonful of gelatine and salt to taste. Cream the butter, as for cake, then dissolve the gelatine in a little of the milk, heat the rest of it, pour it over the gelatine. When this becomes lukewarm, pour it slowly over the butter and work in a small churn or beat with an egg beater until well mixed, smooth and thick. Drop by the spoonful in a shallow dish and keep in a cool place.

Boston Brown Bread

Boston brown bread is a good standby. To make it, use one cupful of white flour or bread-crumbs, one cupful of corn-meal, one cupful of Graham flour, one teaspoonful of salt, three-quarters of a cupful of molasses, one and three-quarter cupfuls of sweet milk, three-quarters of a teaspoonful of soda, one teaspoonful of baking-powder. Sift the dry ingredients together then stir them into the liquids. Fill well-greased cans two-thirds full, cover tightly and steam for four hours. Good either hot or cold.

Orange Marmalade

If you have reason to think that your jelly supply will not last until spring, try this recipe for orange marmalade: Use three oranges and two lemons, or for the bitter flavor, one large grapefruit, one orange and one lemon. Squeeze out all the juice and put all the skins through a meat-chopper. Put both together and add three times as much water as the entire quantity of juice and skins. Let stand over night; next day boil for ten minutes, then measure and add an equal amount of granulated sugar. Boil from one and one-half to two hours and put up as nay other marmalade. This quantity makes about twelve glasses. If you can get oranges for a fair price, the marmalade will be very inexpensive, and will be a wholesome and delicious sweet for your table.

Measuring Hard Butter

To measure butter without softening it: If half a cupful is needed, fill a cup half full of water, then add pieces of butter until the cup is full. If a cupful is wanted, repeat the process.

Corn Bread With Rice

Corn bread with rice is an economical dish, requiring two cupfuls of sour milk, one teaspoonful of soda (scant), two cupfuls of boiled rice, one cupful or corn-meal, one tablespoonful of shortening. Combine the ingredients in the order named and bake in a greased pan until firm. Serve from the pan with a spoon.

Scotch Oat Crackers

Scotch oat crackers are crisp and good as well as cheap. To make, take two cupfuls of rolled oats, a quarter cupful of milk, a quarter cupful of molasses, one and a half tablespoonfuls of fat, a quarter teaspoonful of soda, a teaspoonful of salt. Crush or grind the oats in the food-chopper and mix with the other ingredients. Roll out in a thin sheet and cut into squares. Bake for twenty minutes in a moderate oven.

Soy Beans with Tomato Sauce

Soy-beans with tomato sauce are good. Prepare the sauce by cooking one cupful of stewed and drained tomatoes with a slice of onion, three cloves and a bit of bay leaf, and strain. Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter, add two tablespoonfuls of flour and when browned add the tomatoes gradually with one-half teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper. Cook thoroughly. To one cupful of tomato sauce add two cupfuls of boiled beans, and reheat.

Delmonico Potatoes

Delmonico potatoes make a good substitute for meat. Cut cooked potatoes into dice, place them in layers in a buttered baking dish, alternating with layers of thin, white sauce and shaved cheese. Allow about one-half as much white sauce and one-fourth as much cheese as potatoes. Sprinkle the top with buttered crumbs and bake in a moderate oven until the top is well browned. Cheese increases the food value of the potatoes, but the latter should be cooked before being combined with the cheese.

Louisiana Corn Bread

Louisiana rice corn bread: Rice improves either plain corn bread or corn bread made with eggs and milk. Use it in both. Corn bread made with eggs and milk is rich in protein and makes a good meal served with a little gravy. This recipe is not extravagant for the housekeeper who has an abundance of eggs and milk. Use three eggs, a pint of milk, one and a half cupfuls of cold boiled rice, and one and a half cupfuls of corn-meal, two tablespoonfuls of melted fat, a tablespoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of baking powder. Beat the eggs very light; add the other ingredients in the order named; beat hard and bake in a shallow greased pan in a hot oven.

Chocolate Cornstarch

Chocolate cornstarch pudding properly made, is almost as good as ice cream. To make it, put into a double boiler one cupful of milk, one cupful of water, one-half cupful of sugar and one ounce of unsweetened chocolate. When boiling hot add four level tablespoonfuls of cornstarch which has been wet in cold water. Cook until it thickens and the raw taste of cornstarch has disappeared, then add one teaspoonful of vanilla and pour slowly into this the stiffly beaten whites of three eggs. Mix thoroughly, then pour into a mold to harden. Serve with a custard sauce made of three egg yolks beaten with three tablespoonfuls of sugar and added to one and a half cupfuls of hot milk. Cook carefully until it thickens; flavor with one teaspoonful of vanilla and cool. Chocolate should be used largely, as it is both a food and a dessert; it is rich in fat and starches, and a pudding or other dessert in which this product has a part will be welcomed on days when a meat substitute is served as the main dish for dinner.

A Toothsome Rice Dish

is prepared thus: Place hot boiled rice on a platter, cover with white sauce and garnish with sliced hard-boiled eggs and a little finely-chopped ham, if you have it.

Dried Vegetables

can be stored easily, shipped easily, and do not freeze in winter. Small quantities, too trifling for canning, can be saved by drying, and will be found palatable and often better than the canned product. In this season of plenty the wise provider will store large quantities of dried vegetables for winter stews and soups. If she should be pressed for time, and sugar happens to be scarce, she may put up ample supplies of dried fruit for preserves later, or to be used, after soaking over night, like fresh fruit for sauces and desserts. For full directions for constructing different types of dryers and drying fruits, write to the Food Administration, Washington, D. C.

Peach Souffle

is a sugar-saving dessert that is sure to please. To one quart of peaches, canned or fresh, use one-half cupful of honey or syrup and three eggs. Drain and mash peaches through a colander, add the honey or syrup and egg yolks well beaten. Mix thoroughly, then beat the whites of eggs until stiff and fold carefully into the peach mixture. Turn the whole into a greased baking dish and bake in a quick oven for six minutes.

Cottage-Cheese Pie

uses up surplus milk. It requires one cupful of cottage-cheese, one-half cupful of maple syrup, two-thirds cupful of milk, beaten yolks of two eggs, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, one-half teaspoonful of vanilla, salt. Mix the ingredients in the order given, and pour into a pie plate lined with crust. When baked cool it slightly, cover with meringue, and brown in a slow oven. For the meringue use whites of two eggs, one-fourth teaspoonful of vanilla, four tablespoonfuls of maple syrup. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff, add the syrup gradually, and then the vanilla.

Plain Corn Bread

inexpensive, but good, is made by sifting together one cupful of yellow cornmeal, one cupful of wheat flour, two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder and one level teaspoonful of salt. Stir in enough sweet milk to make a rather stiff batter and beat it well. Pour the mixture into a well-greased pan and bake in a moderate oven for about a half hour. The mixture should be no thicker than pancake batter, and if properly made will make a moist, delicious bread.