Foods and home making

Usually bread for sandwiches is spread with butter. To prevent breaking the bread, first cream the butter, i.e., work the butter with a knife or fork or preferably with a spatula until the butter is pliable. Then the butter can be spread easily over the slice of bread. A spatula is desirable for spreading the bread. The filling put in sandwiches may be a chopped mixture or it may be in slices. If a filling such as ham or other meat is in slices, it is well to tear the slices in several pieces so as to make the sandwiches easier to eat. Lettuce leaves used in sandwiches should be torn in pieces before placing on the bread. For a school lunch, sandwiches are not usually cut into fancy shapes. However, if the bread slices are large, it is often desirable to cut the sandwiches in two. In order to prevent the bread of sandwiches from drying, it is well to wrap them either singly or in pairs in paraffin paper. Often the wrapping from bread loaves or other foods can be saved for this purpose. How can the box lunch be made interesting? A box lunch becomes uninteresting when it contains (1) dry foods only, (2) cold foods only, or (3) the same foods every day. A box lunch needs at least one juicy food. One of the reasons why fruits are such desirable lunch-box foods is that they are juicy. It is fine to have a hot food, such as soup or cocoa, in the lunch box. This is possible when one has a vacuum bottle. There are so many different kinds of sandwiches that it is possible to vary the sandwiches each day. By changing the sandwiches daily and the dessert often, you can keep the box lunch from becoming monotonous. 230 Luncheon or Supper Not only the filling but the kind of bread used in making the sandwiches may be varied. Whole-wheat, raisin, nut, date, and brown bread may be used in sandwich making. Sometimes two kinds of bread, such as a slice of white bread and a slice of whole-wheat bread, are used in making each sandwich. This plan is especially desirable if one is learning to like whole-wTheat bread. SANDWICH FILLINGS 1. Cold Meat. — Use ham, corned or plain beef, beef loaf, meat cakes, cooked tongues, or chicken. Slice or chop the meat. Use the meat plain or mix with salad dressing or white sauce. Salad dressing or white sauce makes the sandwiches more moist. Use enough salad dressing or white sauce to moisten, usually about equal parts by measure. Thick white sauce (see page 246) should be used for sandwich filling. A half teaspoon of dry mustard added to 1 cup of white sauce gives chopped ham a good taste. Use little or no salt in making white sauce for ham sandwiches. (Why?) Grated horse radish mixed with a small quantity of vinegar or lemon juice gives a good flavor to beef sandwiches. Use only a small quantity of the horse-radish mixture. 2. Bacon. — Cook thin slices until brown. (See page 100.) Place the browned bacon between slices of bread. 3. Cheese. — Use cottage, cream, or hard cheese. Slice or grate hard cheese. Use cheese plain or mix with chopped nuts, pimientos, or olives. 4. Eggs. — Use hard-cooked or scrambled eggs. (See page 96.) Slice or chop the hard-cooked egg and add salad dressing and chopped nuts to it if desired. Use the scrambled egg plain. A hard-cooked egg chopped or cut into bits and mixed with ingre- dients as follows is palatable and easy to prepare : 1 hard-cooked egg Few grains cayenne