CORNER FOR BUSY BEES.-
♦ TINK'S LITTLE COOKS, RELIEVING MOTHER FOR A DAY. (Conducted by TINKER BELL.) Dear Girls, — Often is the time when mother has the 'flu, or perhaps has to hurry away to tend some sick relative, leaving not only the house, but also father, to the care of "daughter." The house most girls can easily manage, and, provided that father has nicely cooked meals, always ready at just the right time, he will be no trouble at all either. Busy bees must always be prepared for such an emergency, so to-day I'll plan out for you the cooking for one day. Breakfast in order to be a success at all must be ready to give the worker plenty of time to eat it before dashing off to the office or the workshop. Before setting about preparing the meal we must know exactly what we're going to have. First, there will be porridge, then poached eggs on toast, then hot rolls and butter and marmalade, tea or coffee, whichever the family prefer.
If the porridge is of the "cooked-in-two-minutes" kind, the first thing to do is to put the kettle on for the tea, but should the porridge require a lot of cooking it must be attended to first. The rolls only take ten minutes to cook, and must be cooked so that t.hey are still warm when they are to be eaten. To make breakfast rolls put lib of flour in a basin with a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of baking soda, also a teaspoonful of cream of tartar with the lumps pressed out. Crumble into these ingredients a dessertspoonful of butter; with a little buttermilk quickly form into a scone consistency. With floured hands form into all sorts of neat shapes, twists, horseshoes, plaits, little cottage loaves, etc. Place well apart on a floured tin, and bake in a smart oven for ten minutes.
Any girl can cook porridge, likewise toast, so that we need not dwell on these subjects. But don't forget the salt in the porridge. The. eggs are poached in a frying pan of water with just a dash of vinegar in it. For lunch we will have specially prepared sausages and a few buns, purchased from the nearest baker. Place the sausages in a baking dish, and pour over them a batter made as follows: Beat one egg well, add a little milk, one cup of flour, and, last of all, one teaspoonful of baking powder. Cook until they are nicely browned.
Hot dinner at night is the most important meal of all, but it's not hard-to prepare. For it we will have tomato soup, creamed potatoes, fried chopp and cauliflower with white sauce and apple sponge as a dessert.
To make the tomato soup take four large tomatoes, one carrot, one onion, one ounce dripping, a little pepper and salt,/one pint stock, one dessert* spoonful sago. Wipe and slice tomatoes, peel and slice other vegetables. Cook for five minutes in dripping with r out browning. Add stock, and simmer till tender. Pass through a sieve, return to saucepan, sprinkle in the sago, then boil till clear.
The chops are put in a baking dish with a little fat, and are cooked for an hour in a hot oven. Drain off the fat, leaving the sediment. Mix a tablespoonful of flour with seasoning, and stir to a paste with water, taking* care to keep it free from lumps. Pour into the baking aish and mix well. Pour on a little boiling water, and boil for about five minutes. '
To prepare creamed potatoes, boil them in. the usual way, and mash them with milk and butter.
. Cauliflower cooked by placing it in boiling water, to which a little salt and soda has been added, and boiling it till tender. White sauce is made by bringing half a pint of milk to the boil and adding a little paste made of cornflour and cold water. Add a little butter and some, pepper and salt, and continue to boil uatil it is thick.
Apple sponge is not hard to make. Peel and slice some apples. Stew and pour into a dish, then cover with the following batter: Beat until creamy, half cup sugar and one tablespoonful butter, add one egg and beat well; add a little milk, then one cup of flour. The baking powder is mixed in last of all, and the sponge is cooked for twenty minutes in a hot oven.
Girls must be prepared to take up mother's duties in the kitchen if at some time she is indisposed, so if you ask to be allowed to look after the meals on some Saturday, you will learn by experience the best way to do things.
Should any of these recipes prove too expensive for any of our readers they may be altered to suit.
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