FLAVORINGS. 371 



will use buckwheat for cakes, rice for puddings, barley in soups, oat- 

 meal and cornmeal for mushes ; you must learn to use them all in as 

 many ways as possible. The grains are cheaper foods for us than vege- 

 tables, although dried peas, beans, and lentils follow hard upon them. 

 Even the potato, which may be called our favorite vegetable, is more 

 expensive than wheat flour, if we are talking only of food values. 



"Except in the height of their season have nothing to do with 

 green vegetables, at least not under the impression that they are cheap; 

 if you buy them, know that you are paying for flavors and variety 

 rather than for food. But even in the early spring buy plenty of such 

 vegetables as onions, carrots, parsley, and other green herbs for your 

 soups and stews. When you go for a walk in the country, be sure 

 to bring home some mint and sorrel in your pocket; the former will 

 make a nice meat sauce, the latter a delightful flavor in soup. It will 

 be perfectly easy for you to grow in the window-box that delicious herb 

 parsley, and have it always fresh. 



" For a low purse there is no help so great as a knowledge of flavor- 

 Ings. When we remember that we can live on bread, beans, and peas, 

 and a little cheap meat and fat the year round, if we can make it ' go 

 down,' we shall realize the importance of such additions as rouse the 

 appetite ; there is room here for all your skill and all your invention. 

 Always make a cheap but nutritious dish inviting in appearance ; espe- 

 cially does this influence the appetites of children, who are delighted 

 with a very plain cake if only a few raisins or some sugar appear on the 

 top. 



" The bills of fare (given below) where seventy-eight cents covers 

 the cost of food for a family of six per day, and where the amount of 

 food is carefully weighed and estimated, is meant to suggest to you how 

 in a few cases your food problem can be solved. You can, no doubt, 

 spend the money in ways that will better suit the tastes of your family; 

 but I beg you to examine anew your favorite dishes to see if they are as 

 nutritious as they should be for their price. Remember that the pro- 

 teid column is the one you must look to most carefully, because it should 

 not fall below the figures I give. If, for instance, you should economize 

 on meat in order to buy cake and pastry, this column would suffer at the 

 expense of the Other two, and the family would be undernourished." 

 ABET,. 



The Aladdin Oven. Of all the appliances for cooking that are 

 known to the writer, the most valuable is the "Aladdin Oven," in- 



