Every-day dishes and every-day work

Bean and Potato Soup. — Soak a half pint of dry white beans overnight ; in the morning drain and put to cook in boiling water. When tender, rub through a colander. Prepare sliced potato sufficient to make one quart, cook in as small a quantity of water as possible, rub through a colander, and add to the beans. Add milk or water sufficient to make two quarts, and as much prepared thyme as can be taken on the point of a penknife, with salt to season. Boil for a few minutes, add a teacup of thin cream, and serve. Black Bean Soup. — Soak a pint of black beans in water overnight. Cook in boiling water until tender, then rub through a colander. Add sufficient boiling water to make about two quarts in all. Add salt, and one half a small onion cut in slices to flavor. Turn into a double boiler and reheat. When sufficiently flavored, remove the onion with a skimmer, thicken the soup with two teaspoonfuls of browned flour, turn through the soup-strainer, and serve. If desired, a half cup of cream may be added, and the onion flavor omitted. Brown Soup. — Simmer together two pints of sliced potatoes and one third as much of the thin brown shavings (not thicker than a silver dime) from the top of a loaf of wholewheat bread, in one quart of water. The crust must not be burned or blackened, and should not include any of the soft portion of the loaf. When the potatoes are tender, mash all through a colander. Flavor with a cup of strained, stewed tomatoes, a little salt, and return to the fire ; when hot, add a half cup of cream, and boiling water to make the soup of proper consistency, and serve at once. If care has been taken to prepare the crust as directed, this soup will have a brown color and a fine, pungent flavor exceedingly pleasant to the taste. Canned Green Pea Soup. — Rub a can of green peas through a colander to remove the skins. Add a pint of milk, and heat to boiling. If too thin, thicken with a teaspoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold milk. Season with salt and a half cup of cream. A small teaspoonful of white sugar may be added, if desired. Green peas may be used instead of canned, in their season. When they have become a little too hard to serve alone, they may still be used for soup, if thoroughly cooked. Canned Corn Soup. — Open a can of green corn, turn it into a granite-ware dish, and thoroughly mash with a potato-masher until each kernel is broken, then rub through a colander to remove the skins. Add sufficient rich milk to make the soup of the desired consistency ; about one-half pint for each pint can of corn will be needed. Season with salt, reheat, and serve. If preferred, a larger quantity of milk and some cream may be used, and the soup, when reheated, thickened with a little cornstarch or flour. If lumpy, it may be turned through a colander a second time. Carrot Soup. — For a quart of soup, slice one large carrot and boil in a small quantity of water for two hours or longer ; then rub through a colander, add a quart of rich milk, and salt to season. Reheat, and when boiling, thicken with two teaspoonfuls of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold milk.