The Fun of Cooking: A Story for Girls and Boys. Caroline French Benton

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      1 cup of milk.

      Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, well beaten without separating, then the molasses mixed with the spices and soda, then the flour, then the milk. Stir and beat well. Put in a shallow tin and bake slowly.

      "Things don't sound as good as they taste, do they?" said Mildred, as she read the receipt over. "I just love gingerbread, but butter and lard and soda don't sound appetizing."

      "Well, then, try this," laughed Mother Blair; "every bit of this sounds good:"

      Cream the butter and sugar; put the soda in the milk, stir thoroughly, and put in next; then the flour. Beat well. Grease a shallow pan and spread the mixture evenly over the bottom, and scatter the nuts on top. Bake till light brown, and cut in squares while warm.

      "Oh, those do sound good!" Mildred exclaimed, as she wrote the last words down.

      "What sounds good?" asked Miss Betty's voice, as her pretty head popped in the door. So they told her all about the luncheons, and she said she knew some good things, too, and the first one was:

      Cut the chocolate up into bits and put it in a saucer over the tea-kettle; when it melts, add the sugar and butter and vanilla; stir, and drop in some small crackers, only one at a time, and lay them on a greased paper to dry.

      "Oh, Mother, I've just got to stop writing and make some of those this very minute!" Mildred exclaimed. Miss Betty said she had lots of things she wanted to talk over with Mother Blair while Mildred was busy. Brownie came running in just then, and the two girls worked so fast they had a whole plateful of crackers done in no time; and after everybody had had one apiece to eat, Mildred said: "Now, I will learn to make some more things."

      "Let me see," said her mother, slowly. "Sandwiches and cake – what else can you think of for luncheons, Betty?"

      "Deviled eggs," said Miss Betty, as quick as a flash. "Please let me tell how!"

      Boil three eggs for ten minutes; peel them, cut them in halves, and put the yolks in a bowl; add

      Mix well, fill the whites, press smooth with a knife, and put two halves together.

      "But three eggs are too many for Jack," complained Brownie. "He won't need three; can't I have one for my lunch here?"

      Miss Betty laughed, and said it would be easy for Mildred to make enough for everybody instead of making three, as the rule said.

      "If I just made one, I suppose I'd take pinches instead of teaspoonfuls," said Mildred, thoughtfully. "I mean, I'd take just a little of everything, enough to make the egg taste good?"

      "Exactly!" said Miss Betty; "that is just the way a real grown-up cook does. And, Mildred, when I had to take my lunch to school, I used to have the best thing – salad. I had it when there were no real sandwiches, only bread and butter; it was put in a little round china jar with a tin top that screwed on, so it never spilled. But perhaps Jack doesn't like salad."

      "He just loves it," said Brownie; "he loves every single thing to eat that there is!"

      "Then he will surely 'just love' these things! Write them down, Mildred."

      Or use celery in place of the egg, or use both.

      Beat the dressing well and mix with the chicken and egg.

      Make more dressing if the salad is too dry.

      Cut a seedless orange in halves; take out the pulp with a spoon; use alone, or mix with bits of banana or other fruit; or use chopped celery and apple together. Add the dressing.

      "There!" said Miss Betty, triumphantly, as Mildred read the receipts aloud when she had copied them. "If Jack doesn't like those, he isn't the boy I take him for. And you see, Mildred, when you have no salad for him, you can sometimes put in a nice stalk of celery; and when you have had the same fruit over and over, you can just give him a fruit salad. I do believe I'll start on a long journey and take a whole week's supply of lunches along. All these receipts make me feel just like it!"

      "Oh, do let me go too," begged Mildred.

      "So you shall," laughed Miss Betty. "But before we start, I must tell you one thing more: if you want an ab-so-lute-ly perfect lunch, you must always have a surprise for the very last thing of all."

      "How do you make one?" asked Brownie, curiously.

      "Oh, you don't make them at all, or at least not usually; a surprise is something which has to be eaten last of all, after all the sandwiches and other things are gone, for a sort of dessert; sometimes I had a piece of maple-sugar, or a bit of sweet chocolate, or a couple of marshmallows; sometimes it was a fig or two, or a few dates. But it was always hidden down in the very bottom of the box, and everything had to be finished up before I opened the little paper it was in. Honestly, I don't think boys need surprises at all, because they will eat everything up any way, but often girls will skip a sandwich or two, unless they know about the surprise."

      "When I take my lunch, I shall have one every time," said Brownie.

      "So shall I," laughed Mother Blair.

      "I shall certainly give Jack one every day, because of Cæsar," said Mildred.

      The next morning bright and early, Mildred hurried to get Jack's luncheon all ready before breakfast, and her mother said she would help her, just for once. First they made three beautiful thin sandwiches out of bread and butter spread with the nice beefsteak filling, and wrapped these up by themselves and put them in one corner of the box; then in the opposite corner went the surprise, this time four little chocolate crackers, all wrapped up carefully; on top of them, to hide them, went three more sandwiches, made of brown bread and butter and cheese; then СКАЧАТЬ