A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband With Bettina's Best Recipes (45 page)

Pork Chops
(Two portions)

2 pork chops
½ C-cracker crumbs
1 T-egg
1 T-water
1 T-bacon fat

Wipe the chops with a damp cloth. Mix the crumbs and the salt. Beat the egg and the water together. Dip the chops in the crumbs, then in the egg mixture and then in the crumbs. Place the bacon fat in the frying-pan and when hot add the chops. Brown thoroughly on both sides, add half a cup of water, and cook over a moderate fire until tender. (About thirty minutes.) Cover with a lid while cooking. More water may be needed to prevent burning.

Bettina Salad
(Two portions)

1 tomato
1 green pepper
2 T-pimento cut in small pieces
2 T-grated cheese
1 t-salt
¼ t-onion salt
¼ t-celery salt
¹
/
₈
t-paprika
½ C-salad dressing
2 pieces of lettuce

Arrange the lettuce leaves on a plate. Place a slice of tomato, two slices of green pepper, one tablespoon of pimento and one tablespoon of cheese on each serving. Mix the salad dressing with salt, paprika, celery and onion salts. Pour half of the mixture over a portion of the salad.

Orange Dessert
(Two portions)

2 slices of sponge cake
1 orange
2 T-sugar
2 T-nut meats, cut fine
²
/
₃
C-whipped cream
1 t-vanilla

Add the vanilla and the sugar to the whipped cream. Arrange the slices of cake on the plates. Place one-fourth of the orange, divided into sections and sprinkled with sugar, on each slice. Pile the whipped cream on the orange. Place one tablespoon of nut meats and the remaining fourth of the orange (cut small) on each portion. Do not arrange this dessert until just ready to serve.

"T
HIS is some dinner, Bettina!" said Bob, over his dessert. "It's like a celebration, somehow, with the pink candles on the table, and the flowers, and the company menu. Why, Bettina, I do believe it is an anniversary! Isn't it? Let me see! The second anniversary of our engagement!"

"I've been waiting to see if you would remember that, Bob, and I must say that I'm a little ashamed of you! After all, it took the pink candles and the company dinner to make you think of it! Well, I suppose men are all alike!" And she sighed the sigh of deep disillusionment.

Bob waited for a moment to see the dimple reappear in her cheek, and the twinkle in her eyes, and then he, too, sighed—a sigh of relief.

"Bless your heart, Bettina, don't you sigh like that again! You almost had me thinking that you were in earnest. Now you took the very nicest way to remind me of that anniversary. Instead of feeling neglected like some women——"

"What do you know about 'some women,' Bob?"

"Only what I've read in books——"

"Well, the books don't know. But I give you fair warning, Bob, that on the next anniversary you fail to remember, I'll feed you bread and milk, and not chicken."

"This is a fine dessert," said Bob meekly and tactfully.

"Do you like it? I enjoy making it, it looks so light and fluffy. I pile it very lightly into the glass dish to make it that way. I prefer gelatin in glass dishes, don't you, Bob?"

"You bet I do! Everything about this anniversary dinner is fine except for my own stupidity!"

That night Bettina served:

Bettina's Chicken En Casserole
Whole Wheat Bread Butter
Cranberry Jelly
Head Lettuce with Salad Dressing
Bettina's Sponge
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Bettina's Chicken En Casserole
(Two portions)

4 pieces of chicken
2 T-flour
1 T-lard
1 C-boiling water
1 t-salt
2 T-butter
½ C-cooked potatoes, cut in cubes
½ C-cooked carrots
¼ C-cooked celery
1 T-raw onion
1 t-salt

Roll the chicken in the flour. Place the lard in the frying-pan, and when very hot, add the chicken, browning thoroughly on all sides. Season with the salt. Place in the casserole and add the boiling water. Cover, and place in a moderate oven for one hour. Melt the butter, and when hot, add the potatoes, carrots, onion, celery and salt. Stir constantly, and when well-browned, add to the chicken mixture. Allow to cook for half an hour. More water may be needed. Serve in the casserole.

Bettina's Sponge
(Three portions)

2 t-granulated gelatin
1 T-cold water
4 T-sugar
1 T-lemon juice
1 C-boiling water
½ C-whipped cream
6 cocoanut macaroons, crushed
8 candied cherries, cut fine
2 T-nut meats, cut fine

Add the cold water to the gelatin and allow it to stand
five minutes. Add the sugar and the lemon juice. Mix well, and add boiling water. When thoroughly dissolved, allow to cool. When the mixture begins to congeal, or thicken, add the whipped cream, crushed macaroons, cherries and nut meats. Beat until the mixture begins to thicken. Pile lightly into a glass dish and set away to harden for one hour.

"H
OW do you like this kind of meat, Ruth?" asked Bob. "It is a little invention of Bettina's own. I call it a symphony and no 'mis-steak.'"

"It is an economy, not a symphony," said Bettina, "but if it leads you to make such dreadful puns as that, I'll wish I had fed you something else for dinner."

"To me," said Ruth, "this dish is a delicacy and a despair. How can you think of things like this? I know I never could do it in the wide world!"

"I can't compose symphonies or poems," said Bettina, "so I express myself in this way. And most of my music is played in a simple key. It is difficult to think of a variety of inexpensive meat dishes, and sometimes I have to invent them in order to keep within my allowance, and still vary my menus. Creamed onions are economical and healthful, too, so you see that my whole dinner is inexpensive."

"And also delicious," said Ruth. "I don't see how you manage to keep cooked onions from having a strong smell, and to keep the house so free from the odor."

"O that someone would patent
That someone would patent and sell
An onion with an onion taste
And with a violet smell,"

quoted Bob.

"Well," said Bettina, "I'm afraid that a house in which onions have recently been cooking, can't be entirely free from the odor, but I largely overcome the difficulty by peeling them under cold water, and then cooking them in an uncovered vessel. Then, too, I wonder if you know that boiling them for five minutes and then draining them and covering them with boiling water again—even draining them twice and finishing the cooking in fresh boiling water—is a splendid thing for taking away the strong taste."

"No, I didn't know that. Bettina, dear, your kind of apple sauce is as fine a dessert as I ever ate."

"You're good to say so, Ruth. I was afraid when I urged you to stay tonight that you might think this meal very plain and simple for a guest, but I know it is healthful and economical and Bob seems to thrive, so I'll not be remorseful."

"Just let me ask you what gives this apple sauce such a delicate flavor. It isn't a bit like common, ordinary apple sauce."

"I don't know; maybe it's the butter. I always put that in, and a few grains of salt. This has also a thin slice of lemon cooked in it—rind and all—and of course there is a little cinnamon, though some people prefer nutmeg. Then I try to be careful in putting in the sugar, for I know that some apples require more than others. These were tart apples; I like them better for apple sauce."

"The reason why I'm never cross
Is 'cause I'm fed on apple sauce,"

remarked Bob complacently.

"But I am sure you'd fret and cry
If fed instead on apple pie,"

added Ruth.

"Not Bettina's apple pie!" said Bob decidedly. "You may just be sure that it would improve any disposition!"

Dinner that night consisted of:

Bettina Steak
New Potatoes with Maitre d'Hotel Sauce
Creamed Onions
Apple Sauce
Bread Butter

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Bettina Steak
(Four portions)

1 lb. ground beef from the round
¼ C-bread crumbs
¼ C-milk
1 egg, well beaten
¹
/
₈
t-grated nutmeg
½ t-onion juice or onion salt
½ t-chopped green pepper
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika
½ t-chopped parsley

Soak the crumbs in milk for three minutes, add the meat, egg, nutmeg, onion juice, parsley, salt, green pepper and paprika. Mix well. Pat into shape one and one-half inches thick in a well buttered tin pan. Cook five minutes under a very hot broiler. Turn down the heat a little and cook ten minutes more. Turn the steak into another buttered pan the same size and cook that side ten minutes. Pie tins may be used to cook the meat in.

Creamed Onions
(Four portions)

6 onions
1½ C-vegetable white sauce

Peel six medium sized onions under cold water. Place in a stewpan and cover with boiling water. Boil five minutes, drain, cover again with boiling water and cook ten minutes. Drain, recover with boiling water and cook ten minutes longer or until tender. Serve with hot white sauce.

Apple Sauce

6 tart apples
½ C-water
½ C-sugar
1 thin slice of lemon
¹
/
₈
t-cinnamon
½ t-butter
A few grains of salt

Wash, peel, quarter and core the apples. Add the water, cover the kettle with a lid and cook till apples are soft. Add other ingredients. Cook enough longer to dissolve the sugar. Mash or put through a colander, if desired.

APRIL.

Tell me, housewife blithe and fair.
How does your garden grow?
Crisp and green the lettuce there,——
Onions, row by row,——
Radishes beyond compare!
Spring and I with tender care
Watch them well, you know!

"I
WAS so afraid Father wouldn't let me come, Aunt Bettina!" exclaimed Mildred, after the first greetings. "And your letter sounded so jolly—about the cooking and all—well, if Father had said 'no' I should simply have died."

"Died, Mildred?" asked Bob. "I must say you look fairly healthy to me, too much so to pine away soon!"

"I don't intend to die now, Uncle Bob! I'm going to live and have the most fun helping Aunt Bettina! I like that so much better than lessons. I brought two aprons in my suit case; Mother said I acted as if I wouldn't meet anybody in a three day visit but your kitchen stove. And to tell the truth, Aunt Bettina, I just hope I won't! I'd rather help you cook than see sights or meet people."

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Bob tragically. "Just when I was counting on you to climb to the dome of the capitol with me, too! Why was I ever born?"

"You'll have to do your climbing alone, I'm afraid," Mildred replied cheerfully. "Now, Aunt Bettina, may I set the table for you? Do show me what you are going to have for dinner! Little custards? Oh, how cunning! Made in moulds and served cold with maple syrup? Aunt
Bettina, I just believe I could make that dessert myself! Will you teach me while I'm here?"