172 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



December, 1914 



SUCCESTIONS FOK 



EFFIE M . PjDBINSON 



THE HOME TABLE 



Graduate oftftk l&tionat^framing Scffoot 

 of Cookery , l^onb'on , <sJl<//and^ 



BY the time this article finds itself in the house- 

 keeper's hands, she will be in the throes of the 

 busiest time of all the year, not only has she all her 

 ordinary work to do, but a great deal of extra prepar- 

 ation and planning to be done within a certain time 

 ■ — Christmas Day. The whole house must be set in 

 order from top to bottom and rooms prepared for the 

 returning school or college members, or perhaps for 

 guests for over the holidays; and the presents and 

 cards to be decided upon, prepared and sent off. 



Where the Housekeeper Needs a Time Card 



Later, during the last two weeks or so, comes the 

 preparation for the meals, not actually for Christmas 

 Day alone, but in the majority of houses there are 

 several days when the members of the family are home 

 all day, requiring meals. By this time the house- 

 keeper is usually pretty well fagged out and this is 

 where commerce again comes to her aid. There is 

 really no need, as so many housekeepers do, to spend 

 hours of labor in preparing fruit, chopping peel and 

 suet, and making bread crumbs and attending to all 

 the tedious minor details necessary to the making of 

 home-made plum pudding and mincemeat. There are 

 some excellent brands, made by reliable people, who 

 understand what is required in a Christmas pudding, 

 and indeed this term "home made" is somewhat of a 

 fetish, is it not? 



Specialists Versus Amateurs 



Preparations made by people who devote their 

 whole time, energy and brains to turning out a product 

 that will really sell on its own merit, must surely be as 

 good anyway as the, perhaps, hurried preparation of 

 an overtired housekeeper or the careless work of a 

 disinterested maid. So I suggest buying your Christ- 

 mas pudding and your mincemeat from the maker 

 whose products you like the best. After the usually 

 too plentiful first courses of the Christmas dinner the 

 pudding is more to gratify the eye than for satisfying 

 hunger and a ready-made pudding steamed in its 

 tin until piping hot, turned out on a hot dish, with a 

 sprig of holly with the berries on for decoration and 

 with flaming brandy around it, will cause just as much 

 jollity as if you had spent hours of labor for the few 

 minutes of consumption. As a rule, a very good recipe 



fcr sweet sauce to be served with the pudding is to be 

 found on the tins and it is a good plan to get the paper 

 off the tin before putting it in the saucepan to steam. 

 However, any favorite recipe will do flavored with 

 brandy. 



Mincemeat can also be bought ready prepared, 

 either in glass jars quite ready to use or in packages 

 compressed, to which you must add moistening of 

 cider or any other liquid you yourself prefer. Both are 

 excellent and you can please yourself as to which is 

 most convenient. 



Vegetarian Mincemeat 



There is a mincemeat made without using suet or 

 meat, which I call "vegetarian," and which, it is 

 claimed is more digestible than the usual kind. I 

 will give the recipe here as it may be preferred by 

 some: 



i lb. apples, chopped fine \ lb. currants, cleaned 



\i lb. large grapes, skinned i lb. mixed candied peel, chopped 



and seeded fine 



J lb. raisins, stoned and chopped } lb. brown sugar 

 i lemon or orange, grated rind and juice 



You can make half the quantity and use it for your 

 children's party. Don't make the children sick because 

 it is a holiday' 



A Special Pudding for Children 



Talking about children, I do not believe in giving 

 little people rich puddings, holiday or no holiday. 

 Here is a recipe that was used at Christmas time in 

 our family, I remember, until the children were quite 

 big and, served the same way as the "real" pudding, 

 gave just as much satisfaction. Take three quarters 

 of a pound each of flour, chopped suet, and seeded 

 raisins, cut fine, half a teaspoonful of salt and about 

 half a pint of sweet milk. That does not sound at all 

 appetizing, but mix those ingredients most thoroughly 

 together and put the mixture into a bowl, greased well, 

 twist a piece of greased paper over the bowl and steam 

 that pudding fcr about five hours and it will be a rich 

 brown and look and taste delicious. It is most whole- 



Good Christmas Cakes 



Since you have not been bothered and tired out 

 making the plum pudding, you can devote more time 



and energy making cake. Home-made cake is always 

 delicious. Here are the ingredients of a Christmas 

 cake that is made like any other cake: 



i lb. flour, sifted 

 \ lb. butter 

 2 oz. brown sugar 

 i lb. molasses : 

 2 oz. mixed peel 



3 eggs 



i teaspoonful carb. of soda 

 6 oz currants, cleaned and picked over 

 6 oz. Sultana raisins, cleaned and 

 picked over 



Always grease the tins and for a cake that will take 

 an hour or more to cook line the tin bottom and sides 

 with greased papers — not waxed paper as that will 

 smell like tallow; but grease the paper with melted 

 lard or oil with a pastry brush. 



Another excellent cake is the following: 



ii oz. butter i lb. raisins or Sultana raisins 



ii oz. flour J lb. sweet almonds (blanched and 



io oz. gran, sugar chopped) 



6 eggs i lb. mixed peel (chopped) 



1 lb. currants j lb. mixed spices 



These cakes will keep quite a long time if let get 

 thoroughly cold, wrapped in several layers of waxed 

 paper, and then in a clean cloth and kept in the icebox. 

 These cakes can quite well be made a week or so before 

 Christmas. 



Be sure when making cake to buy the best "pure 

 food" flavorings and spices. Nowadays, by the pure 

 food laws, merchants are obliged to label their products 

 so that there can be no excuse for getting an inferior 

 article and it certainly pays in cake making to use the 

 best ingredients. There is a cake tin with a removable 

 bottom which I find very convenient. 



Orange Baskets 



Have you ever tried making orange baskets? We 

 always have them at holiday time; they are not only 

 delicicus but quite amusing to the children. We cut 

 the skin from the upper half of the orange, leaving 

 an inch wide strip for the handle. Oranges with 

 rather heavy skins are best for the purpose. Remove 

 the pulp carefully so as not to spoil the handle. Make 

 an ordinary orange jelly, not too stiff, fill each basket 

 almost full, and allow to harden. Then fill up the 

 basket with whipped cream and decorate with a 

 maraschino cherry on top. This maks a very enjoy- 

 able dessert for tea. 



ROYAL— the most cel- 

 ebrated of all trie baking 

 powders in the world — 

 celebrated for its great 

 leavening strength and 

 purity. It makes your 

 cakes, biscuit, bread, etc., 

 healthful, it insures you 

 against alum and all 

 forms of adulteration that 

 go with the cheap brands. 



The ** Royal Baker and Pastry Cook," a complete cook 

 book containing over 500 valuable cooking receipts sent 

 free on request. 



ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK 



The Easy Jell-O Way 



Below are two Jell-O recipes. One is for Plain Cherry Jell-O, the 

 other for Roman Sponge, which is nothing more than plain Cherry Jell-O 

 whipped, with whipped cream, crushed macaroons and a handful of 

 nutmeats stirred into it. Making this delightful 



dish is so simple a matter that every woman is fasci- 

 nated by the wizardry of it. 



Cherry Jell-O — Dissolve a package of Cherry Jell-O in a pint of boiling 

 water and let it harden. 



Roman Sponge — Dissolve one package of Cherry Jell-O in one pint of 

 boiling water. When cold whip to consistency of whipped cream, then add 

 one cup whipped cream, one-half dozen macaroons crushed, and a handful of 

 chopped nuts. Set away to harden. Garnish with cherries and serve with 

 whipped cream. 



Seven pure fruit flavors: Strawberry, Raspberry, Lemon, Or- 

 ange, Cherry, Peach, Chocolate. 10 cents a package at any 

 grocer's. 



A beautiful Recipe Book, with pictures by Rose Cecil O'Neill, 

 author and illustrator of "The Kewpies," will be sent free to all 

 who write and ask for it. 



THE GENESEE PURE FOOD CO. 



Le Roy, New York 



All foods advertised in this department have been tested and approved by Effie M. Robinson. They are also sold and recommended by the Doubleday, Page & Co. Cooperative Store 



