CHILDREN’S LUNCHEON BOXES

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 14 September 1935, Page 12

CHILDREN’S LUNCHEON BOXES

Try These Easily Prepared Fillings for Sandwiches

YY/HEN the children have to take their lunch to school every ** day, the task of finding something fresh becomes a worry to many mothers. Bobbie docs not like eggs, and Beryl will not eat cheese. It is difficult to know what to give them, but there is a host of tasty fillings which can be prepared with little trouble and used from day to day as a variation. They are useful, too, for those hastily-prepared picnic boxes when a Sunday afternoon run in the ear is decided upon.

Vegetable Loaf. This can bo cut in slices, and take the place of sandwiches sometimes One cupful of any left-over cooked vegetables, It cupfuls of hot milk, I cupful of fine breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoonful of melted butter, salt, pepper and parsley to taste, 1 -cupful of grated cheese, 3 eggs. Pour the milk over the breadcrumbs, mix in the butter, seasoning, and cheese, and lastly the well-beaten eggs. Arrange the vegetables, finely mashed, in a greased loaftin, and poirr the mixture over them. Bake about three-quarters of an- hou\ in a slow oven, or until the loaf is set and firm. Bate Sandwich.

Take 1 cupful of dates and remove the stones and ends. Place the dates in a basin with a tablespoonful of hot water, cover with a plate, and let them steam for a few minutes on the stove, then beat up the -dates with a fork until soft and smooth. When the .paste is cold, it is ready .to spread on bread and butter. This preparation can bo done the night before. A squeeze of lemon is an improvement to these sandwiches, and if the juice is used, it should be squeezed into the dates while they are being beaten—it will then be blended thoroughly. With Coconut. Prepare the dates as above, but ju3t before putting the sandwiches together, sprinkle -desiccated coconut over the date mixture. Walnut and Bates. Take -j cupful of stoned dates, and i cupful of very finely chopped walnuts (or walnut meal). Chop them up -well together—or, better still, pass them through the finest size of the mincing machine—and spread on slices of bread. Apple and Raisin. Peel and core several sweet apples, and grind them through a nut mill or fine- mincer, adding, while grinding, about half ns much seeded raisins as there is apple pulp. A little dust of cinnamon may bo added. The mixture is then ready' to spread on bread. This can also be prepared the night before. Mannite and Eggs. Put a little butter on a saucer, and stir it until a little creamy. Add a little marmite, and mix it with the butter until well blended, then spread on i the bread. Chop up a hard-boiled egg, and sprinkle it over. Place the slices, together, and cut into shapes.

| Raisin. | One cupful of seeded raisins, and 1 I cupful of walnuts or almonds, put together through the mincing machine, and afterwards beaten W'ell with the white of an egg, makes a filling that most children will like. Egg scrambled in tomato, strawberry, apricot, fig or any other jams; dried figs, lemon chces'e, and tomato sandwiches, are also good for the children, and are preferable to meat at any' -time. Sardine and Egg. Allow 1 sardine for every' 2 sandwiches, and 1 egg for -every 6. Remove the backbone from the fish, and boil the I eggs hard. Chop them Very fine, and shred the sardines. Mix them together, adding a very little vinegar, salt, and cayenne pepper. Spread on bread and butter. With Tomato. Bone and mash sardines, spread on slices of buttered brown- bread, and, before adding the top layer of bread, sprinkle a little tomato sauce on the sardine filling. Or you can put thin slices of fresb tomato in place of the sauce. Pork Sausage. Boil sausages, and, when cold, cut into thin slices, but allowing a generous filling for the sandwich. Add the smallest pinch of dry mustard. Although it is not advisable to include too many sweets or cakes in the luncheon-box, here are a few nourishing cakes' and scones, which are very good and harmless for the little ones, if supplemented by' more nourishing other foods:—• Nut, Prune and Orange Sandwich. Three ounces of flour, 3oz. of castor sugar, 2 eggs, stewed prunes (chopped fine for filling), i dessertspoonful of baking pow’der, the juice of i orange, 2 tablespoonfuls of chopped nuts. Whisk the eggs, then- add the sugar and whisk together until a thick cream is obtained. Add the orange juice. With a knife, stir flour in lightly', add the baking powder, and quickly' put half the mixture in a sandwich tin. To the other half add the nuts, and put in another sandwich tin. Bake for about ten minutes in a hot oven. When cool, spread one cake with the prune filling, and place the other on top. To give the cake a more festive appearance, brush the top cake with jam or melted jelly, and sprinkle with coconut.