BEST FOODS METHODS OF PREPARING. 143 



Cream Shells. Bake nice little sponge cakes in gem. 

 irons until quickly and delicately done. When partly 

 cool, open them at the sides, and put in a teaspoonful of 

 whipped cream, flavored with orange or vanilla. 



Cream Gravy for Toast and Vegetables. For a family 

 of six, pour one and a half pints of milk and one cupful of 

 cream in a saucepan, with half a teaspoonful of salt. Mix 

 a large tablespoonful of flour with three of cold milk, and 

 stir into it the boiling milk ; when thickened, remove it 

 from the fire, and stir in the beaten yolk of an egg. This 

 is very much liked by children as a "gravy" for baked 

 and boiled potatoes, or when poured over slices of toasted 

 bread. It is also a nice dressing for asparagus, green 

 peas, and string beans. 



A Substitute for Cream. When cream is not plenty, 

 a very passable substitute can be made by pouring a pint 

 of hot milk upon the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, and 

 adding a teaspoonful of white sugar. 



PIES. 



There has been a great outcry among food-reformers 

 over "pie." But there are pies and pies ; and the latter 

 sort are still worth perpetuating. There is that pie of the 

 dark ages, a thin layer of spiced fruit between two sodden, 

 greasy layers of "crust." And there is the pie of the 

 skilled cook of to-day, rich, juicy, self-flavored fruits, en- 

 closed in a pastry as delicate and tender as congealed 

 foam ! Ah ! sad the fafce of such pie, when it finds it- 

 self alone with a knife and fork and a " crowned head !" 



One important objection to pie-making, is that it re- 

 quires a good deal of time, compared with other prepara- 

 tions of food ; and a busy house-keeper had better rely 

 on a good variety of puddings and fruit desserts, as a 

 general thing, in place of these elaborations. But, if pies 

 are made, let them be worth while let them be good 



