HINTS FOR THE HOUSEWIFE

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 119, 13 February 1926, Page 17

HINTS FOR THE HOUSEWIFE

HOME COOK AN EXCELLENT DRESSING SUITABLE FOR ALL SALADS. Put a table-spoonful of butter tn a saucepan; when melted add a level tablespoonful of flour; cook for a minute without browning, then add half a cupful of milk and boil until v thick. Let cool for a few minutes, and stir in half a tcaspoonful salt, the same of mixed mustard, one good dessertspoonful sugar, a little pepper, and enough good vinegar to make it of the consistency of rich cream If liked, three tablespoonfuls of oil inav be added, and the addition of cream is an improvement, but the dressing is verv good without either. It will keep four davs in an airtight bottle. PINEAPPLE CAKE, Make an ordinary sandwich-cake mixtuie, and bake it in a deep caketin. Turn out and leave to cool. Meanwhile cut a small ripe pineapple into dice (rejecting all hard parts), and stew until tender, with .a little sugar arid water. Put aside to get cold and then strain off the juice into a cur With a sharp knife cut a piece ont of the centre of the cake, leaving a round cavity, and fill this with the cooked pineapple. Add some brandv or lioueiii to the pineapple juice, and pour it bv spoonfuls, over the cake, until it is all absorbed Mask the cake with whipped cream, and decorate with angelica and chopped nuts If cream is not available, use a good custard Strawberry Cake.—This is the same recipe, onlv instead of the pineapple use ripe uncooked strawberries, and decorate with strawberries as well ■ STUFFED MUSHROOMS. Six or seven mushrooms, 1 shallot or small onion, loz of minced cooked chicken or anv game, joz. of cooked ham, 1 tc.aspoonfu) of chopped parslev, 1 tablespoonful of breadcrumbs, joz. of butter, 1 tablespoonful stock, salt, pepper, cavenne round croutons of bread. Peel the mushrooms and wash them in salted water Drv with a cloth, cut off the stalks, trim anv ragged edges and add these trimmings, finely chopped, to the stuffing Peel and chop the shallot or onion finely, mince the chicken or game and ham. Melt the butter in a small pan, add the minced ingredients, and sti» over low heat for a few minutes. Add the breadcrumbs and stock . Season and simmer for five minutes. Put some of this stuffing on each mushroom, piling it up a little on the centre, place the mushrooms on a greased baking tin, cover with greased paper and bake in a moderate oven from 10 to 15 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender. Stamp out some small rounds of bread with a fluted cutter, frv in hot fat, and drain on soft paper Sprinkle the mushrooms with finely chopped parslyi ami put otic 011 each crouton of Imead.

DOMESTIC JOTTINGS AN IVORY LACE LAMPSHADE. For daintiness and novel effect a .'lampshade 1 saw recently somewhere in Paris would be hard to equal. It was of Mechlin lace in old ivory shade and spattered about it were sewn little crystal beads. It was so charming that instinctively one wondered “Why hasn’t that been thought ot before?” The lace was rather plentifully frilled, as it needed to be to look well. The tiny crystal beads, obviously, wer r a great asset. TO CLEAN SHADOW TISSUE "Middle Park” asks bow to clean a very soiled shadow tissue box couch and chair.| Heat some flour in the oven till i' is quite hot, but not at all coloured; then aid a rablespoonful of salt for every cupful of flour, and rub this mixture well into the shadow tissue This should be done out of door tt if possible, with sheets of paper spread underneath the chair to catch the flour Leave the flout on for some hours. Then shrike it qfl, and brush it well with a clean white brush A paste of fuller’s earth and benzine or petrol could also be used in the same way. The following method was recommended bv a correspondent, who said that she had found it a splendid method of cleaning:—“To a quart of lukewarm water 1 add a tablespoonful of cloudy ammonia, and soak a piece of Turkish towelling in it Then I wring out the towelling and rub the tissue well. Then I use a dry piece of towelling to finish the work. When finished the suite looks as clean as when new.” TO REMOVE STAINS FROM GLASS BOTTLES. To remove the chalk deposit that collects on the inside of water bottles and is difficult to remove bv ordinary washing, add about half-a-teacupful of vinegar and thoroughly well shake. Allow the vinegar to remain in the bottle for about half-an-hour, shaking from time to time, then pour out the vinegar and thoroughly rinse, when the glass will be clear To remove the brown stain often seen on the inside of a vinegar cruet, fill with a strong solution of washing soda, leave for a short time, then wash in the ordinary wav. THE NEW CASSEROLE. The life of anv casserole or pvrex dish may be prolonged by this simple process carried out when it is new; Take the new casserole and wrap well in an old thick towel, wrapping the lid separately Completely submerge it in a pan of cold water, and bring slowlv to the boil. When boiling remove from the stove verv carefully, and leave in the water until quite cold Heat will never crack a cassemle that lias been so treated I have heard of housewives treating all new cups and tumblers in the same wav, and thev sav -thill the little trouble enfaile 1 in ‘be process has saved them manv cracks in the china and glass