Foods and home making

Carrots and some other root vegetables may be cooked with their skins. This prevents a loss of some of their mineral 1 See page 121 of the Journal of Home Economics, February, 1928. Vegetables for Dinner 419 matter and vitamins. It is advisable to cook carrots without scraping. CREAMED CARROTS 6 medium carrots (2 pounds) 1 cup medium white sauce (page 246) Scrub the carrots. Do not scrape them. Place in boiling salted water (i teaspoon salt to i quart water). Boil gently until the carrots are tender. Drain off the water. Peel the carrots and cut them into cubes, slices, or strips. If the carrots are scraped before cooking, use less water. Then com- bine the small quantity of vegetable water remaining with milk to make 1 cup of liquid for the white sauce. Add the carrots to the sauce. Heat ; serve hot. Yield : 6 servings. Variation: Creamed Carrots with Peanut Butter. — Prepare creamed carrots as directed in the foregoing. To the sauce add 3 tablespoons peanut butter. The peanut butter adds flavor and food value to the sauce and makes it of a pleasing creamy color. Spinach contains much moisture. As shown by Experiment 26, heating the vegetable draws moisture from the leaves. Hence no water need be added for cooking. SPINACH 1 pound spinach 2 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon lemon juice £ teaspoon pepper or vinegar, if desired 1 teaspoon sugar Wash the spinach as directed on page 279. Drain the leaves well. Put them in a saucepan. Add no water. Place over a flame. Stir occasionally until the leaves are wilted. Then continue to cook until the vegetable is tender and there is very little liquid in the pan. Cut the leaves into pieces with a knife and fork. Add the salt, pep- per, sugar, and butter. Add lemon juice or vinegar if desired. Stir until the ingredients are mixed and the butter melted. Serve hot. Variation. — Grated horseradish gives spinach a good taste. Omit the teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar and add 1 tablespoon of a mixture of grated horseradish and vinegar. Onions may be prepared so that they are mild in flavor. This is done by cooking them in a large quantity of water. The water 420 Dinner not only extracts some of the flavoring, but some of the mineral matter and vitamins. In the case of onions, it may be advisable to lose some of the nourishing substances for the sake of flavor. ONIONS Peel the onions, keeping the hands under water as suggested on page 279. Put the onions in the boiling salted water. Cook them un- covered, letting the water boil gently. Continue to cook them until they are tender. Drain the water from the vegetable. Add the remaining ingredients. Cook until the top milk or cream is hot. Serve hot. Yield : 6 servings. If onions are cooked uncovered in a large quantity of gently boil- ing water in a well-ventilated kitchen, not much odor is noticed. When onions are cooked in the fireless cooker or in a heat-regu- lated oven, the strong onion odor does not permeate the house. Practically all vegetables may be cooked in water. After having cooked potatoes, carrots, spinach, and onions, you should try cooking many others. In cooking vegetables : 1. Use boiling water. After the vegetables are added to the boiling water it should continue to boil gently so as not to break up the vege- tables.