A simple course in home economics for rural schools

Cover with whipped cream and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Corn Choivder 1½ inch cup fat salt pork — cut into small pieces, try out. Add 1 onion — sliced — brown in fat 2 C. potatoes — sliced or diced 1 t. salt 2 C, boiling water. Combine these ingredients. Cook until potatoes are soft, add 1 C. corn 4 C. scalded milk. Heat to the boiling point, add 8 common — buttered crackers. 106 Bulletin of the University of Texas Season as desired. Serve at once. Amount serves 6. Tapioca Custard Pudding % C. pearl tapioca — soak 1 h. in cold water, drain, add to 4 C. scalded milk Cook in double boiler 30 m. or until transparent. Add 1/2 C. sugar 1 t. salt 1 T. butter 3 eggs — slightly beaten. Turn into buttered baking dish, bake 30 m. in slow oven. Simple Courses in Home Economics 107 PEANUTS Subject Matter The peanut is not a nut. It is a pea and belongs to the same family as the common pea and bean. The term nut was applied because the flavor is similar to that of true nuts. This pea deserves to hold as high rank among the foodstuffs used by man as do beans and other peas. Peanuts, like peas and beans, are a concentrated food. They contain more fat and less starch than the other legumes, but have about the same amount of protein, or muscle-building food. The high value of the peanut as a muscle-building food. — Legumes have a high nutritive value and contain a large per cent of protein or muscle-building substance. Few of our vegetable foodstuffs contain more than 10 per cent or 15 per cent protein, while the legumes have from 20 per cent to 30 per cent and there are many varieties from which to chose. The protein, or musclebuilding food, is a daily necessity in our diet, and in the form of meat, or eggs, or cheese, is one of the most expensie food substances. The peanut, therefore, so rich in protein, is strongly to be recommended to those to whom economy is important, as it is, especially when raised at home, a comparatively cheap source of protein. Peanuts are not indigestible if properly used. — Peanuts are thought by many to be indigestible. They have gained this reputation because usually they have been improperly prepared and eaten in large quantities after a hearty meal or between meals, or late at night. They are, as a rule, poorly masticated. The peanut, therefore, has caused digestive troubles and fallen into disrepute because of its abuse rather than its use. Rules for preparing peanuts. — The peanut, in order to be properly digested, should be regarded as a rich leguminous food, should be properly prepared, and used only in its proper place as any other member of the legume family is used. In the use and preparation of the peanut, the following things should be kept in mind: 108 Bulletin of the University of Texas Peanuts are high in protein and consequently take the place of meat in the dietary. Peanuts are high in fats and can be used in place of other fats. For example : peanut sandwiches may be prepared without the addition of butter, and peanut bread does not need shortening, as the peanut furnishes a sufficient quantity of fat in both instances.