Every-day dishes and every-day work

well preserved in order to be again suitable for use. Uses of Stale Bread.— If properly made from wholesome and nutritious material, and well preserved, there are few other foods that can be combined into more varied and palatable dishes than left-over bread. To ensure the perfect preservation of the fragments, the loaf itself should receive good care. The receptacle used for containing the loaves should be frequently washed, scalded, and well dried. Crumbs and fragments should be kept in a separate receptacle, and as thoroughly cared for. It is well, in cutting bread, not to slice more than will be needed, and to use one loaf before beginning on another. Bread grows stale much faster after it is cut. Whole or half slices of bread which have become too dry to be palatable may be used for making zwieback, directions for the use and preparation of which are given on page 150. Broken pieces of bread not suitable for zwieback, crusts, and trimmings of the loaf make excellent croutons, a most palatable accompaniment for soups, gruels, hot milk, etc. To prepare the croutons, cut the fragments as nearly uniform in size as possible (half inch cubes are convenient), and place them on tins in a warmmg-oven to dry. Let them become crisply dry and lightly browned, but not scorched. They are preferable to crackers for use in soups, and require so little work to prepare, and are so economical withal, that one who has once tried them will be likely to keep a supply on hand. Crumbs and still smaller fragments may be utilized for thickening soups and for various dressings and puddings. If bits of bread and crumbs accumulate more rapidly than they can be used, they 162 EVEEY-DAT WOKE, may be carefully dried, not browned, in a warmingoven, or folded in a clean cloth, spread upon a bread-board, and rolled with a rolling-pin until fine. Prepared thus, stored in glass fruit-cans, and put away in a dry place, they will keep almost indefinitely, and are ready for use when needed. For scalloping vegetables of all kinds, these prepared crumbs are excellent ; they give a fine nutty flavor which fresh crumbs do not possess. Left-over Grains. — Left-over grains, if well kept, may be reheated in a double boiler without the addition of water, so as to be quite as palatable as when freshly cooked. Small quantities of them may also be utilized for preparing various kinds of desserts where the ingredients require previous cooking. Rice, barley, pearled wheat, and other whole grains may be satisfactorily used in soups in which a whole grain is required ; oatmeal, rolled oats, corn-meal, grits, etc. , with the addition of a little milk and cream, may be made into delicious gruels ; they may be also used advantageously in the preparation of vegetable soups, many of which are even improved by the addition of a few spoonfuls of well-kept cooked oatmeal or rolled oats. Left-over Vegetables. — Left-over portions of most varieties of vegetables can be best utilized for soup. Cold mashed potato may be made into potato cakes as directed in the chapter on vegetables, where also may be found many other recipes suited to the use of these left-over foods. Left-over Meats. — Most cook-books offer numerous recipes for croquettes, hashes, and fried dishes pre- ECONOMY OF MATERIAL 163