A practical cook and text book for general use

To Cook Tomatoes with Corn. Prepare and cook tomatoes as in the preceding recipe. Have ready three or four ears of fresh sweet corn, cut from the cob in small pieces and scrape off what remains with the back of the knife, add to the tomato and cook five minutes, season and serve. To Cook Summer Squash. These should be young and tender enough to be cooked whole. Wash them and boil in as little water as possible, thirty-five minutes or until tender. When done put them in a thin cloth bag, or square of cloth kept for that purpose and press the water out. Season and re-heat and serve hot. If the squashes are too large or too old to boil whole they must ba pared, cut and the seeds removed before cooking. To Cook Winter Squash. The very hard-shelled varieties are the best. Wash and saw them into the sized pieces you wish. Remove all suspicious spots from the skin, and lay them in the steamer, without paring. Steam one-hour or less. When done remove from the skins with a' spoon, mash, season and press through the vegetable ricer into the serving dish. This method applies to the best squashes, that are often so dry they require the addition of a little boiling water when mashing. The softer varieties can be seasoned and mashed without the ricer. Squash is also very nice cut in small pieces and baked. To Cook Asparagus. Wash and with a sharp knife peel off the tough skin from the large stalks. Lay them in the steamer whole or cut them in inch pieces and stew in as little water as possible twenty minutes, or until tender. Season and serve plain, or on slices of toasted bread or rolls with white or nut butter sauce. SOUPS. These popular dishes are troublesome to prepare and have little to recommend them even as an introduction to a hearty meal. Fresh fruit taken at the beginning of a meal would serve a better purpose and require less time in preparing. If fruit were served in this way or eaten with the meal there would be less demand for a dessert and there would be no disposition to over-eat. Soups should cook slowly several hours then be strained through a sieve. Such as require " clearing " may be put through cheese cloth or a Japanese soup Strainer. Purees are a thick soup and are a better winter than summer dish. Legumes. Peas, beans and lentils are more nutritious than other vegetables, and with the cereals, barley, rice, wheat, etc., cracked, crushed or pearled should form the basis of soups and purees. Bean Soup. Pick over and wash one pint of white beans, soak them in one quart of cold water over night. In the morning drain and add two quarts ol cold water, stew slowly three hours then mash through a sieve and return to the kettle. There should be about two quarts of soup which may be thickened with granula or make a smooth paste of a heaping teaspoonful of entire wheat flour or corn starch and cold water, adding a few spoonfuls of the hot soup and carefully stir all the lumps out ; then slowly add it to the soup and cook five minutes. When ready to serve it should be of creamy consistency. Black wax beans, limas or any good bean, may be used in the same way^ also dried peas and lentils. Split peas need not soak over night, but may be put on to cook in the morning in cold water ; do not change the water unless the peas are old. Baked Bean and Tomato Soup. Put one pint of cold baked beans and one pint of sliced or canned tomatoes into a sauce pan with two quarts of cold water and one small onion, cook one hour and strain. Prepare for the table as in the preceding recipe. Tomatoes and Celery when stewed as vegetables, may be readily converted into sauces for other vegetables, by straining and thickening as for soups ; season with, sweet herbs or lemon. lO *.