Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

For a quart mould of blanc-mange use one quart of milk, one level table-spoonful of sea-moss farina, four table-spoonfuls of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of vanilla, one ounce of scraped chocolate, and one table-spoonful of water. Put the milk in the double-boiler, and sprinkle the farina into it, stirring all the time. Place on the fire, and heat slowly, stirring frequently. When the milk and farina have been cooking for a quarter of an hour, put the sugar, chocolate, and water into a small frying-pan, and stir over a hot fire until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Add this to the milk and farina. Stir for two minutes; then take from the fire, and after adding the salt and vanilla, pour into the moulds, and set away to harden. Serve with sugar and cream. * For a three-pint mould, use three pints of milk, one package of gelatine, two ounces of scraped chocolate, six table-spoonfuls of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of vanilla, and two table-spoonfuls of water. Soak the gelatine for two hours in half a pint of the milk. At the end of that time put the remainder of the milk into the double-boiler. Now put the sugar, chocolate, and water into a small frying-pan, and stir over a hot fire until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Add this to the hot milk. Stir for two minutes, and add the soaked gelatine. Take from the fire, and add the salt and vanilla. Place the pan in another containing cold water, and stir the mixture for five or eight minutes ; then turn into moulds, and set away to harden. Serve with sugar and whipped or plain cream. * Bananas and Whipped Cream. If provision is to be made for six persons, use six or seven bananas, the juice of an orange, half a cupful of sugar, and one pint of cream, whipped to a froth. Pare and slice the bananas ; and after sprinkling them with the sugar, sprinkle with the orange juice also. Set the fruit in the refrigerator for an hour or two. Serve with whipped cream. If one prefer, four table-spoonfuls of wine may be used instead of orange juice. * Baked Bananas. Put into a bowl three table-spoonfuls of butter, six of sugar, and three of lemon juice, and set the bowl into a pan of hot water, so as to melt the butter. Peel the bananas, and lay them in a shallow baking-pan ; it must be perfectly clean, and the bananas must not touch each other. Baste the fruit with the mixture in the bowl, and bake for half an hour, basting three times more. This dish is nice either for an entree or for dessert. * Stewed Apples with Cream. For this dish use three pints of pared and quartered tart apples, the juice of one lemon, about one-fourth of a grated nutmeg, one pint of water, one scant pint of granulated sugar, and two quarts of whipped cream, sweetened with three table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar.