_Milk Toast._ One tablespoon of cornstarch or flour; one cup of milk, salt to taste, and boil. Butter the toast and pour over it the above white sauce. _Water Toast._ Pour over plain or buttered toast enough boiling water to thoroughly moisten it. * * * * * _Souffles of Fruit, etc._ The distinguished feature of a souffle is a pastry or pulpy foundation mixture, and the addition of stiffly beaten egg-white. A souffle may or may not be baked. _Plain Souffle._ Two tablespoons flour; 1 cup of liquid (water, milk, or fruit juice); 3 or 4 eggs; sugar to suit the fruit. If thick fruit pulp is used, omit the thickening. Beat the egg-yolks until thick. Add sugar gradually and continue beating. Add the fruit (if lemon juice add some rind also). Fold in the well-beaten whites. Bake in a buttered dish (set in a pan of hot water) for thirty-five or forty minutes in a slow oven. _Fresh Fruit Souffle._ Reduce the fruit to a pulp. Strawberries, peaches, prunes, apples, bananas, etc., may be used. Sweeten the pulp. Beat the egg-white to a stiff froth, add the fruit pulp slowly. Chill and serve with whipped cream or soft custard. _Chocolate Souffle._ Two tablespoons flour; 2 tablespoons butter; three-quarters cup of milk; one-third cup of sugar; 2 tablespoons hot water. Melt the butter, add the flour, and stir well. Pour the milk in gradually and cook until well boiled. Add the melted chocolate, to which the sugar and hot water have been added. Beat in the yolks and fold in the whites of the eggs. Bake twenty-five minutes. _Farina Souffle._ Cook the farina (4 tablespoons) in a pint of boiling water. Stir this with the egg-yolks, add sugar or salt, and later fold in the egg-whites, flavor, and set away to cool. FOOTNOTES: [16] Many of the recipes given for fruit beverages are adapted from _Practical Dietetics_ by Alida Frances Pattee, Publisher, Mt. Vernon, N. Y. [17] _Nutrition and Dietetics_, by Dr. W. S. Hall, D. Appleton & Co., New York. CHAPTER XII INFANT FEEDING One of the fundamental problems of to-day, as it was of yesterday and will be of to-morrow, is the correct feeding of infants and children. Every civilized country faces the same problem, largely because the artificial feeding of infants has become so prevalent. Unfortunately, many women who must labor outside of the home must resort partially, if not entirely, to artificial feeding of their infants. Usually on account of the inconvenience of breast feeding and the strain on the mother, the infant is given artificial food, often improperly prepared. Although infant mortality is high among the poorer classes, it is marvelous that so many of these infants survive. It is an encouraging fact, however, that women among the well-to-do and educated classes are appreciating the importance of breast feeding and that the number of these who are not only willing but anxious to nurse their infants is increasing.