"Yes, and lamb stew, and in general meats with gravy. Then once a week
have macaroni in place of potatoes, and vary the way you cook it; at one
time have cheese and the next time tomatoes. You can put in about a
quarter of a can of those, and use the rest in other ways; perhaps put a
second quarter of the can into a beef stew and still have a half-can for
one night's vegetable. Then remember when you are cooking potatoes that
it is a time-saving plan to boil enough for two meals, or even more. You
can mash the first supply, because they must be freshly cooked for that;
but make more than you need, and the second time you can make
potato-cakes of the left-overs of those; the third time you can cream
what are still plain boiled. By the way, sometimes cut or chop these
potatoes quite fine, and after creaming them put crumbs on top and bake
them; that is a good change. Of course you can scallop the second
supply, too, or chop and brown them, or serve in any one of a dozen
ways; look those things all up, so you will not get into a rut. So many
women seem to know only two ways of cooking potatoes, for they always
serve them either boiled or mashed. And, Dolly, when you have a maid to
peel your potatoes for you, do try and teach her to cut the peel thin;
she will possess an inveterate determination to cut it thick, and it
will probably be a lifelong battle to teach her to do your way, but your
duty will be to persevere just the same. If she will not learn, at least
you can have her boil the potatoes whole first and scrape off the peel
afterwards; that will save them in spite of her.
"As to the other vegetables, I think we ought to add another dinner rule
to those I laid down when we were on that subject, and that is this: Buy
only the vegetables that are in season. You know that all winter long
city people can have spinach and string-beans and eggplant and such
things, because they come from the South, and also because many of them
can be kept in cold storage,--eggplant for one. But these are always
expensive. You must resolutely turn your back on them when you market;
you cannot have them at all."
"We have to have canned things, I suppose," said Dolly, writing down the
statement immediately, with conscious pride in her knowledge.
"Canned! Not at all. Canned vegetables are far too costly for you; like
everything else, they have risen in price. You must use them very
carefully indeed, and for every-day use you must depend on old-fashioned
winter things, parsnips and turnips and beets and onions; really, if you
cook them in nice new ways they are very good, too, and you will not
mind at all."
"I don't believe there are any new ways."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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