Bread Dressing

1 C-soft bread crumbs 1 T-melted butter 1 t-chopped parsley 1/2 t-chopped onion 1/8 t-celery salt 1/2 t-salt 1/8 t-pepper 2 T-water

Mix all the ingredients in the order named, stirring lightly with a fork. Place in shape on the meat. Care should be taken not to have the dressing soggy or heavy.

Prune Pudding= (Four portions)

1 C-cooked, seeded and chopped prunes 3/4 C-sugar 1/4 C-nut meats, cut fine 1/2 C-milk 1 t-vanilla 1/2 t-lemon extract 1/2 C-cracker crumbs 1 t-baking powder 1/8 t-salt

Mix all the ingredients in the order named. Pour into a well-buttered shallow earthenware dish. Place the dish in a pan of hot water and bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven, or until the mixture is firm. Serve warm. Individual amounts may be made in moulds.

CHAPTER LXXIV

THE DIXONS COME TO DINNER

"CHARLOTTE, you must have Bettina tell you how to cook fish this way," said Frank.

"It's the Bechamel sauce on it that you like, I suspect," said Bettina. "And it isn't at all hard to make. I serve it with so many things. We like it with carrots----"

"Oh, is it the very same sauce that you serve with carrots?" said Charlotte. "I can make it, Frank. I'll have it for dinner one of these days, with halibut, just as Bettina has served it tonight."

"There is only one thing to think about especially in making it," said Bettina. "After you have beaten the egg slightly, add a very little of the hot liquid to it, and then pour the mixture into the rest. Then cook it a short time, not long, as a sauce made with egg sometimes separates."

"I'll remember," said Charlotte. "You do have such good meals, Bettina. How do you manage it? Sometimes I can think of the best things to cook, and other days I don't seem to have a bit of imagination!"

"I plan my menu all out a week, and sometimes two weeks, ahead," said Bettina. "It is really quite a complicated process, as I want to have a variety, as well as inexpensive things that are on the market. Of course, I may change my plans in many details, but I keep to the general outline. Planning the meals seems simple, but it really requires a lot of thinking sometimes. Excuse me while I bring in the dessert. Bob, will you please help me take the plates?"

The menu that night consisted of:

Sautéd Halibut Steak Bechamel Sauce Potato Cubes Butter Sauce Sliced Cucumbers and Onions with Vinegar Rolls Butter Prune Whip Whipped Cream Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Bechamel Sauce= (Four portions)

2 T-butter 2 T-flour 1-1/2 C-milk 1/3 t-salt 1/8 t-paprika 1 egg-yolk

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and pepper, mix well, and gradually add the milk. Cook until it thickens. (Not as thick as white sauce for vegetables.) Add the egg yolk. Serve immediately.

To add egg yolk to the hot liquid, beat the egg slightly, add a small portion of the hot liquid slowly and pour it all into the remainder of the hot liquid. Cook only a short time, as the mixture may separate if cooked longer.

Potato Cubes= (Four portions)

2 C-raw potatoes cut in 3/4-inch cubes 1/2 t-salt 4 C-boiling water

Add the salt to the boiling water, add the potatoes and boil till tender. (About ten minutes.) Drain and shake over the fire for a moment. Add the sauce, and serve.

Butter Sauce= (Four portions)

2 T-butter 1 T-chopped parsley 1 t-chopped green pepper 1/4 t-paprika

Mix together, heat and add to the potatoes.

Prune Whip= (Four portions)

1/3 lb. prunes 3 egg-whites 1 T-lemon juice 1/2 C-sugar

Pick over and wash the prunes, then soak for several hours in cold water, enough to cover. Cook slowly until soft, about fifteen minutes. Rub through a strainer. Add sugar and lemon juice and cook five minutes; the mixture should be the consistency of marmalade.

Beat the whites until stiff, add the prunes when cold, pile lightly into a buttered baking dish and bake twenty minutes in a slow oven. Serve with cream.

CHAPTER LXXV

THE WEDDING INVITATIONS

BOB and Bettina had scarcely sat down to dinner one crisp cold evening, when they heard laughing voices at the door. "It sounds like Alice," said Bettina. "What can she be up to now? And Harry, too!"

Bob had already thrown open the door, and there, as Bettina had guessed, were Alice and Harry, each carrying a large box.

"We've come to deliver your invitation to the wedding," said Alice. "It may be unconventional, but it's fun. The rest we are going down to mail--that is, if we don't get frightened at the idea, and pitch the boxes in the river instead."

"If that's the way you feel," said Harry firmly, "I'll carry your box myself."

"Please don't, Harry! Just think, I may never have another opportunity of mailing the invitations to my own wedding, so don't deprive me of the privilege."

"Stay to dinner won't you?" said Bettina. "We had really planned on having Uncle John and Aunt Mary this evening, but they didn't come to town after all. So I am sure we have plenty, even to apple dumplings for dessert."

"Harry had asked me to take dinner with him down town," said Alice, "by way of celebrating when these invitations were mailed. But perhaps we might stay here instead, since this was the very place in which we met first! Harry, I believe sentiment demands that we accept Bettina's invitation."

"I must broil another steak," said Bettina, "but that will take only a few minutes. I'm so glad you can stay."

"But we'll have to leave immediately after dinner," said Alice, "for these invitations simply must be mailed this evening."

That night for dinner, Bettina served:

Beefsteak Mashed Potatoes Turnips Lettuce Bettina's Russian Salad Dressing Apple Dumplings and Cream

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Turnips= (Four portions)

4 turnips 1 T-butter 1/4 t-salt 1/8 t-pepper

Wash, pare and cut the turnips in small pieces. Cook until transparent and tender. Drain, mash, add the butter, salt and pepper, mix thoroughly and return to the fire to dry out the superfluous water. Serve hot with vinegar. (Never cook turnips until brown.)

Head Lettuce= (Four portions)

1 head lettuce

Remove the outer leaves and core of the lettuce. Clean thoroughly. Place very wet in a towel, wrap well and lay directly on the ice. Allow to stand one hour before serving to allow the lettuce to get very cold and crisp.

Bettina's Russian Dressing= (Four portions)

1/2 C-salad dressing 2 T-chili sauce 1 T-chopped green pepper

Mix the ingredients in the order named. Shake thoroughly in a glass jar. Serve cold.

Apple Dumplings= (Four portions)

1 C-flour 2 t-baking powder 1/4 t-salt 2 T-lard 1/3 C-water 4 apples 1/2 C-sugar 1 t-cinnamon

Mix thoroughly the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the lard with a knife, and then add the water, mixing to a soft dough. Roll on a well-floured board to one-fourth of an inch in thickness. Wipe and pare the apples, and cut them in quarters.

Cut the dough in four square pieces. Place four quarters of apple in the center of each piece of dough. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Moisten the edges of the dough with water. Bring the four corners of each piece up around the apple, pressing tightly together. Pierce with a fork to allow the escape of steam. Place each dumpling upside down on a floured tin, and bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Serve warm with cream.

CHAPTER LXXVI

HALLOWE'EN PREPARATIONS

"THERE it is again!" said Bob to Ruth, who was dining with them. "And now it's gone!"

"I feel the same old Hallowe'en thrill that I used to, years ago," said Bettina, "when I turn around suddenly and see a jack-o'-lantern grinning in at the window! Don't you love them?"

"Those are the Stewart children," said Bob. "They're just hoping that I'll come out and chase them away! There's no fun for them in having us like it too well! You girls ought to give at least an imitation of a shriek apiece. You don't have ladylike nerves at all!"

"Bob, that jack-o'-lantern reminds me that we have a piece of work laid out for you--making the jack-o'-lanterns for a Hallowe'en party we have planned. Will you do it?"

"Will I?" said Bob. "Indeed I will! I haven't made one for years and years! Not since I was a boy!"

"Years and years and years and years!" said Ruth, laughing. "Well, this party is in honor of Harry, so you mustn't tell him anything about it--not even that we're giving it. And Bob, I believe Fred would help make the jack-o'-lanterns."

"See here, Ruth," said Bob, "you want Fred to get half the credit for the artistic job I'm going to do. Well, for your sake, I may let him help a little, but I'm bossing the work, I can tell you. Why, I'm particular."

That evening's menu consisted of:

Breaded Lamb Chops Baked Potatoes Creamed Peas Sliced Tomatoes Salad Dressing Steamed Date Pudding Lemon Sauce Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Breaded Lamb Chops= (Four portions)

4 chops 1 egg-yolk 1 T-water 1/2 C-bread crumbs 1/2 t-salt 1 T-butter

Wash and look over the chops carefully to remove any particles of bone. Beat the egg yolk and water. Dip each chop into the egg mixture, and then roll in the crumbs, to which the salt has been added. Place in a buttered pan, dot well with butter, and bake twenty-five minutes in a hot oven.