786 Reading-Course for Farmers' Wives. 



beans or a starchy food is used, little thickening is required; if onions 

 or some other succulent vegetable, more thickening is required. Left- 

 over vegetables may be used in this way and a great variety of good, 

 wholesome, nourishing soups procured. Carrots, cabbage, onions, 

 potatoes, celery, peas and beans, in fact, practically all vegetables may 

 be used in making cream soups. Half water may be used instead of 

 all milk, but this lessens the quality of the soup and detracts from its 

 nutritive value. Fats other than butter may also be used and thus 

 materially reduce expense without lessening the nutritive value. 



Various sauces. — Starchy sauces may be made from liquids other 

 than milk, as meat and vegetable juices and water. Various forms of 

 fat may be used and thickening agents other than flour, as dried bread 

 and cracker crumbs, corn starch, or rice water. Examples: Tomato 

 sauce, bread crumb sauce and others. 



Croquettes are made by stirring some chopped or finely divided food, 

 as meat, boiled eggs, green peas or cheese, into a very thick starchy 

 sauce. When the mixture is cold it is shaped, egged and crumbed, 

 and fried or baked. 



Starchy puddings. A corn starch pudding is simply a modification 

 of the starchy sauce. Its goodness depends on a knowledge of how to 

 mix and cook starch in the powdered form. Any one who knows how 

 to make a white sauce should be able to make such a pudding without 

 the aid of a separate recipe. Corn starch has about i^. to i^ the thicken- 

 ing power of flour. 



Scalloped dishes. Many foods, such as cooked cabbage, onions, maca- 

 roni, turnips, corn, etc., may be varied by serving as a scalloped dish. 

 This is done by mixing them with a thin or medium thick white sauce, 

 pouring into a buttered baking dish, covering with dry crumbs which 

 have been coated with butter, and browning in the oven. 



Preparation of cereals. One of the most important articles of diet 

 in the household is the cereal. It is inexpensive and easy to prepare 

 and should often be the main feature of the breakfast, at least in the 

 household where economy must be the rule. It should come to the 

 table in a well-cooked palatable form. The appetite will soon revolt 

 against the disagreeable taste of imperfectly cooked grains, and then 

 some less desirable and more expensive form of food must be substituted 

 for the cheap and wholesome morning porridge. 



Well-cooked cereal is the rare exception rather than the rule, and 

 for this reason it frequently does not form a part of the breakfast meal. 

 Imperfect cooking of cereals is as often due to the use of insufficient 

 water in their preparation as to a too short time of cooking. If the starch 



