Domestic

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 1, 5 January 1922, Page 41

Domestic

By Maureen

„ LEMON SYRUP. Two ounces citric acid, 31bs sugar, 1 teadpoonful essence of lemon, 2 quarts boiling water. Boil the sugar and water for' a few minutes. Add the acid, and when dissolved strain all into a basin. Add the essence and bottle when cold. APPLE PASTIES. Ingredients: lib, apples, sugar, gib short-crust pastry. Method: Stew the apples with the sugar, and place inside pastry, or simply core apple, and place inside round of pastry, add sugar, seal edges of pastry, and bake in quick oven 20 minutes. These heat nicely in front of the fire. "MUFFINS. One pint of water, one pint of milk, two eggs, a piece of butter the size of an egg, a piece of lard the size of an egg, one teaspoonful of baking-powder, salt to taste, and enough flour to make as stiff as cake batter. Beat the eggs light, then add the milk and water, then salt, flour, and sugar, then the butter and lard melted. After this is finished, add the baking powder. Bake 15 minutes in well-greased pans in a hot oven. APPLE CAKE. 2 eggs, separated : 1 cupful milk, 1 tablespoonful melted , butter, 1 teaspoonful salt, If cupful flour, 2 ten spoonsful baking powder. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks: add the milk, melted butter, salt, flour, and baking powder. Beat in the stiffly-beaten egg whites. Pour into a shallow baking-pan ; cover the top with slices of apples, dust with half a cupful of sugar and mace or cinnamon. Bake for half an hour. Serve warm, plain or with milk or cream. QUEEN CAKES. Ingredients: fib flour, fib butter, A teacupful milk, gib currants, Jib castor sugar, 2 eggs, 1 teauooonful baking powder, essence lemon or almonds to taste. Method : Put butter and sugar into a basin and beat to a light cream. Add eggs one at a time. When all eggs are in add sifted flour and fruit and sufficient milk to make consistency of cake batter. Put into small greased tins and bake from quarter to half-hour. Grated lemon rind may,be used for flavoring. NURSING , HINTS. Linseed Poultice. —In a shallow saucepan boil one cupful of water and then add gradually one cupful of linseed meal, beating constantly with a knife. When the mixture will drop from the knife, leaving the blade clean, quickly spread it to a thickness of between one-quarter and one

half-inch, on a thin piece of muslin. Carry to the. patient on a hot plate. Apply to the skin gradually* so as not to burn, and cover with several thicknesses of flannel, Keep in place with a bandage.'

A Hot Fomentation. —A fomentation is used to reduce inflammation. Place a towel in a basin, or some other deep vessel, allowing the ends to extend over the opposite sides of the vessel. Place a piece of flannel upon this. Pour two teaspoonsful of turpentine into two pints of boiling water, stir, and then pour the whole over the flannel. Cover with the towel. Carry to the bedside of the patient. Wring dry by twisting the ends of the towel in opposite directions. Quickly place the flannel on the skin; cover with a thick pad, and bandage. Always bo careful not to burn the patient. Vaseline or olive oil may he rubbed on the skin before and after using.

A Mustard Bath. —For a headache, a cold, or insomnia, a hot mustard foot bath is often helpful. Sit the patient well wrapped up in a chair cover both patient and tub with a blanket. Fill the tub with about three gallons of water heated to about 105 degrees. Make three tablespoonsful of mustard into a thin paste; add to the water and stir well. Gradually add hotter water, being careful not to pour it on the feet or ankles. The bath may last from 10 to 20 minutes. When finished, the patient must go to bed immediately. More or less water and mustard can be used according to the size of the tub.

Dry Toast for Invalids. —Invalid dry toast should be made by cutting stale bread in one-third inch slices and remove crusts. Place on wire toaster and hold over clear fire to dry one side, holding some distance from coals; turn and dry other side. Hold nearer to coals and color a golden brown, first on one side and then on the other. The moisture in the bread should be evaporated, thus making the toast dry and crisp. By this means of toasting some of the starch becomes dextriniscd, and the bread is rendered easier of digestion. If only charred on the outside and soft in the inside, it forms in the stomach a soggy, indigestible mass.