Even those who are by no means decided vegetarians may be glad to pass over a dinner occasionally without meat. It is perhaps not too much to say that every housekeeper ought to be able to provide a meal without the aid of meat. We do not mean by this simply the cooking of vegetables or the preparations of puddings, but the presentation of dishes intended to take the place of flesh, such as soups and broths made without meat, vegetable stews, lentil fritters and other healthful and nutritious dishes. A vegetarian menu is not so simple as it sounds. It requires knowledge and discrimination on the housekeeper's part to serve a solid meal without flesh or fowl. Now that meat is so dear it is the favorable moment to try a vegetable diet for a time. One mistake to be avoided in this catering is the putting down of too many dishes of a pulpy character--food which is soft is excellent with other things, but alone it is neither satisfying nor very nourishing, at least to a person of strong digestion. All of them should not be white, for instance, and the same rule holds good in other things besides color. A nice dish for this kind of diet is a vegetable curry, in which all the vegetables are treated like meat and turned out crisp; all the vegetables, too, must be fresh and young for this method of serving, so that anything like stringiness is absolutely impossible. Crisco is entirely vegetable. Bean Cutlets 2 tablespoonfuls Crisco 1 tablespoonful flour 1/2 cupful bean liquor Salt and pepper to taste 2 eggs 1/4 lb. dried beans A few cooked mixed vegetables Breadcrumbs Soak beans in water twenty-four hours, then boil for several hours till quite tender, drain them, preserving liquor, chop them very fine; blend Crisco with flour in saucepan over fire, add bean liquor, beans, salt and pepper, and yolks of eggs; turn out on to a dish and set aside till cold. Then cut out with cutlet-cutter or shape with knife; dip in beaten whites of the eggs, then in fine breadcrumbs, repeat a second time, and fry in hot Crisco. Serve on hot platter decorated with a few hot cooked mixed vegetables. Sufficient for eight cutlets. [Illustration] Devilled Bananas 2 tablespoonfuls Crisco 1/2 teaspoonful salt 8 bananas 1 teaspoonful chopped pickles Few grains red pepper, or 1 dessertspoonful chopped chillies Slice bananas, mix with salt, chopped pickles and red pepper or chopped chillies and put them into hot Crisco. Cook for four minutes and serve. Sufficient for eight bananas. Cauliflower Snow 2 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco 2 cauliflowers 4 poached eggs Salt and paprika to taste Toasted bread