Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

MANY housekeepers look upon all dessert in the light of luxuries ; others draw the line at dishes that call for eggs. Now, some dessert dish, if properly made, should form a part of every dinner, if no fruit be served. Even with fruit, some people require sugar. When no dessert is provided, a greater quantity of meat and vegetables must be eaten to satisfy the demands of nature. For some this is all right, but for the majority of people a certain amount of sugar and starch is necessary. Children should not be deprived of this kind of food. Even for the poor it is economical to provide a simple dessert. In arranging for a dinner, plan a light dessert when the rest of the meal is to be substantial. On the other hand, when the main part of the dinner is to be light, let the dessert be hot and substantial. For example, if the first part of the meal consists of cold meat and vegetables, or a hash and one vegetable, serve a hot apple pudding for dessert. A good one can be made of a pint of flour, prepared as for cream-of-tartar biscuit, rolled thin, and filled with pared and quartered apples, then steamed for two hours, and served with molasses or sugar sauce. Or the apples may be put into a stew-pan with a little water and sugar or a little molasses, stewed for a few minutes, covered with the biscuit dough, and cooked for about twenty minutes longer. No sauce will be needed with this pudding. Nothing could be cheaper, and it will be very palatable and wholesome. Apples may be added to boiled sago or tapioca with a pleasing result. Soak a cupful of either tapioca or sago in three cupfuls of cold water over night ; then cook it in a double-boiler for half an hour. Add to the contents of the boiler one cupful of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, and two quarts of pared and quartered apples. Bake in a pudding-dish for an hour and a quarter. Cool slightly, and serve with or without sugar and cream or milk. These puddings are so simple that they will not hurt even an invalid. The simple dishes that can be made of apples are numerous ; and as the fruit is so cheap and healthful, it should be used freely through the fall and winter. Puddings made of milk and rice, tapioca, sago, cornstarch, etc., are healthful, and cheap, and, to most tastes, appetizing, when properly cooked. The trouble with almost all simple dishes is that the cook thinks that they are not worth careful treatment ; but refined taste shows itself in the simplest operation of cooking as well as in the making of elaborate dishes. HOT PUDDINGS m erf.1 l ~* ~~ bfls * Hot Farina Pudding. Use one quart of milk, four heaping table-spoonfuls of farina, and one teaspoonful of salt. Put all the milk but half a cupful on to boil. When it boils, add the farina and salt, mixed with the cold milk. Cook for one hour, stirring frequently, and serve with sugar and milk. * Corn-starch Pudding. The materials needed are : one quart of milk, five table-spoonfuls of corn-starch, the yolks of three eggs, and one teaspoonful of salt. Reserve a cupful of the milk, and put the remainder on the stove in a double-boiler. Mix the cold milk, yolks, corn-starch, and salt, and stir into the boiling milk. Cook for ten minutes, stirring frequently. Pour into a pudding-dish, and serve with strawberry sauce.