Armour's Monthly Cook Book, Volume 2, No. 12, October 1913

Housekeeping money to many men means the actual money required for food. Not very many husbands realize how many little expenses the housekeeping money has to take care of – little expenses that have nothing to do with food. Here are some and the Editor will be very glad if the readers will send in their own experiences in this line.

Most men smoke, and most men like to pocket a nice fresh box of matches when starting off for the day. Matches don't cost much to be sure but a fresh box each morning cuts quite a hole in the housekeeping money which is used to buy them.

Does your husband like to sit up late reading, playing chess, etc.? That sort of thing increases the light and coal bill quite a bit.

The pennies given for charity, church collections, etc., are also "extras."

Returning little courtesies – very often to "his" people – such as sending flowers, books, and occasional lunch or matinee, etc., etc., all make quite a hole in the housekeeping money.

The wear and tear of household utensils, linen, etc., means constant replenishment of one thing or another. A man may realize that his buggy or motor car has to have certain parts replaced once in a while but he is not apt to think of the pots and pans of the household side of things unless reminded.

It is a good plan to keep a few simple medicines at hand in case of sudden sickness, also a few bandages and the usual dressings required for accidents. Does your housekeeping money make provision for this?

Money for the education of the children is not generally included in the housekeeping money, but when the children get old enough to want to have their friends visit them it means little lunches, suppers, entertainments of various kinds, all of which cuts into the housekeeping money. As this is really the social side of their education it is only fair that extra provision should be made for it.

Why Eat Fruit?

It is a very good plan to find out the medicinal and curative properties of the different fruits and to make the fruit your system requires a part of your diet.

Apples, for instance, have an excellent effect on the health generally. They contain a large proportion of water and a large quantity of potash as well as of malic acid, which has valuable properties, and ether which is beneficial to the liver. Plums, too, have certain virtues and lemons are good for several forms of stomach trouble. As for grapes, they are so valuable as to form a distinctive "cure" just in themselves. They possess an enormous quantity of potash and plenty of water and they also contain sugar and salts of tartar. That all means that grapes will do much for the person who is tired and run down, whose nerves are weakened and whose organs are overworked, that they will tone and regulate the system, purify the blood and assist the different organs in performing their functions. The presence of sugar indicates that they can provide fuel for the body – the human engine – whether it be the romping child or the man whose day is filled with hard physical labor. So it follows that grapes are really a very valuable addition to our diet list.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to have grapes on our table but wise manufacturers have found a way by which the juice of the grape may be possible at all times of the year and in every corner of the land. They have built large factories right in the very heart of the country where the best grapes grow and there the grapes are taken while the dew is still on them and their luscious fragrant deliciousness is squeezed out, poured into bottles and quickly sealed to prevent any escape of the exquisite bouquet.

Nothing is added – no water to weaken and adulterate, no sugar to sweeten, no coloring essence to deceive the eye. It is just the pure, natural juice of earth's best offering. This bottled concentration of earth's sweetness and richness with all the life and warmth of the sunshine is Armour's Grape Juice.

Start the day right with DEVONSHIRE FARM SAUSAGE

Baked Beans – A National Dish

To many people baked beans means just one thing – baked beans, served hot or cold. To the woman, however, who is really interested in furnishing variety in diet, and this in a very economical way, baked beans offers boundless possibilities. First of all, she lays in a stock of Veribest Baked Beans – Veribest, because she knows that in this particular brand the beans are even more thoroughly cooked than she herself could do them. There are two kinds of Veribest Baked Beans, plain, and with tomato sauce, and with both the mellow richness of the bean is preserved with all its natural flavor, making it a most toothsome dish as well as nutritious and economical. Having a good stock to draw from the economical housewife proceeds to serve baked beans to her family every day for a week, varying the dish each day.

For Monday there is a New England Supper – baked beans with hot Boston brown bread. Drop the can of baked beans into hot water and boil for 20 minutes. Turn out, garnish with parsley and serve with mustard pickles.

Tuesday, for lunch. – Bean Croquettes. Drain Veribest Pork and Beans (without tomato sauce), and pass them through a colander. Measure and allow one teaspoon of dry bread crumbs to each cup of beans. Season with cayenne pepper and a little minced parsley. For a pint of the mixture, beat one egg. Save enough of the egg to dip the croquettes in, and add the remainder to the beans. Mix and form into small croquettes, or balls, then roll in fine bread crumbs. Dip them in egg and again in the crumbs, and fry in deep boiling Simon Pure Leaf Lard. Border with slices of dill pickles or sweet green peppers.

Wednesday, School Lunches. – Bean Sandwiches. Cut some thin slices from a loaf of brown bread, butter and put crisp lettuce leaves, with a teaspoon of mayonnaise, on each half of the slices, and on the others spread a layer of Armour's Veribest Pork and Beans, which have been mashed until smooth. Put the slices together and wrap each sandwich separately in paraffin paper.

Thursday. – Bean Celery Salad. Mix one can of Veribest Pork and Beans, four tablespoons of celery cut in one eighth inch rings, two tablespoons of finely chopped onions, and one fourth cup of good boiled dressing. Marinate thoroughly, but stir slightly. Rub the salad dish with a cut clove of garlic. Arrange lettuce leaves around the salad bowl and in the center make a mound of the salad mixture, to which one fourth cup of whipped cream has been added. Garnish with stuffed olives cut in rings.

Friday. – Attractive Luncheon Dish. Heat one can of Veribest Pork and Beans (without tomato sauce), tossing about with fork to prevent breaking or mashing the beans. Season to taste. Serve in beet shells which have been previously prepared as follows: Wash the beets carefully, so as not to break the skins, and boil rapidly until tender. Then cover with cold water, and with the hands remove the skins. Scoop out the centers and fill the cases with the beans. Garnish with young celery leaves.

Saturday. – Puree of Beans. To one can of Armour's Veribest Beans and Tomato Sauce add two cups of milk; boil for a few minutes and pass through a sieve. Add salt and pepper to taste, a dash of sage, dry mustard and more water if required. Strain over croutons in the tureen and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Sunday Night Supper. – Bean Loaf. Two cups of Veribest Pork and Beans, mashed to a pulp, one fourth cup of chopped nuts, one cup of browned bread crumbs, two teaspoons of grated onion, two eggs, one half cup of cream or rich milk, one teaspoon of salt. Mix thoroughly and put into a greased bread pan. Brush with the beaten yolk of egg, milk or cream and bake one half hour. Serve with tomato sauce.

Homely Virtues

"Scorn not the homely virtues. We are prone
To search through all the world for something new;
And yet sometimes old-fashioned things are best —
Old-fashioned work, old-fashioned rectitude,
Old-fashioned honor and old-fashioned prayer,
Old-fashioned patience that can bide its time,
Old-fashioned firesides sacred from the world,
Old-fashioned satisfaction, with enough
Old-fashioned candour and simplicity,
Old-fashioned folks that practice what they preach."

Answers to Correspondents

Please tell me the proper way to send wedding announcements. In a family where there are several young men and women do I send each a separate one?

If economy is no object send each a separate card. If you do not care to do this and they are brothers and sisters you may say "The Misses Brown" and "The Messrs. James and John Wilson."

I would like very much to be able to help other housekeepers, but I always feel that I only know the simple things of my rather humdrum life in the country.– Mrs. D., Ohio.

What you know is not known to everyone, nor is what any housekeeper knows a matter of everyday use with other housekeepers. Everyone has some short cut or recipe, or personal way of doing things that would lighten the way for others. Your recommendation of butterine for instance, would carry weight with some housekeepers who had never before thought of trying it and they would be grateful always for being shown how to cut their butter bill. So with the other suggestions in your good letter from which I have taken extracts for the other pages. I want just such letters as yours. We must not forget that the younger generation of housekeepers are starting housekeeping and scanning columns like these for "the things everyone knows."

Yellow and white scheme for coming-out party.– H. M. B.

Many thanks for the nice things you say about the Cook Book. Am very glad you have enjoyed it so long. The color scheme you mention could be carried out further by wearing white dresses with yellow sashes and hair ribbons. Have yellow ices and cakes with white and yellow frosting. Egg sandwiches, potato salad garnished with hard boiled eggs halved and yellow flowers, which are quite plentiful now would all help to carry out the idea.

What is the seventh anniversary of a wedding called? and is the celebration of these anniversaries out of style?– E. G. T., Boise City.

It is perfectly proper to celebrate and you can have a merry time with little expense. Have tiny woolly toy sheep for favors and serve lamb salad (made after a chicken salad recipe). Wear a woolen dress and your husband white flannels.

I belong to a little card club and have to entertain the other members one afternoon soon. Can you suggest something which is easily prepared and can be served as a lap lunch?– Mrs. F. T., Huntington, W. Va.

Ham mousse in individual moulds with thin bread and butter sandwiches. Ice cream served in cantaloupe. Iced tea with a slice of lemon and Armour's Grape Juice, which needs no flavoring.

What can I put with my silverware when packing it away to keep it from tarnishing?– Mrs. S.

Pack in bags of Canton flannel before putting into the drawers or boxes and place with them a few pieces of camphor gum.

Please tell me if it is proper to eat cake with the fingers or must a fork be used?

It depends on the cake. If one with a soft filling, a fork will be necessary.

Requested Recipes

For G. H

Molasses Custard

Take one cup molasses (ribbon cane is the best; I have never tried corn syrup), add one half cup sugar, stir well and put on fire to boil for at least five minutes. Let cool for a short time, than add three well-beaten eggs, stirring constantly to keep the eggs from curdling. Add a tablespoonful of cornstarch. Bake in pie crust in the regular way but slowly. To keep from browning too quickly I sometimes place a tin in oven over pie.

Many thanks to Mrs. F. A. F., Jacksonville, Texas.

For Mrs. T. H., Oswego, N. Y