LESSON XIX. SERVING A SIMPLE DINNER WITHOUT MEAT. BAKED OMELET. MACARONI AND CHEESE. PRELIMINARY PLAN AND METHOD OF WORK. At some previous time the teacher should talk over the plans for the dinner with the girls. It will be well to let them ask the members of the school board or other people interested in their work to partake of the dinner. They should decide on the menu with help and suggestions from the teacher. They should choose foods that they can bring from their homes. The main course of the dinner should consist of such a vegetable dish as baked beans, cowpeas, an omelet, or macaroni with white sauce and grated cheese. To accompany it there should be potatoes and a fresh green vegetable, such as spinach or cabbage and a hot bread. A simple dessert which the girls know how to make should be chosen. One duty should be assigned to each girl and she should be entirely responsible for that portion of the work. The teacher should supervise all the work carefully. The girls may be able to make simple menu cards for the dinner. The work of making the cards can be taken up in a drawing lesson. Melt the butter, add the flour and seasonings, combine thoroughly, then add the hot milk slowly. Separate the eggs, beat the yolks, and add the white sauce to them. Beat the whites until stiff and cut and fold them carefully into the yolk mixture so that the lightness is all retained. Turn into a greased baking dish and bake in a moderate oven 20 to 30 minutes. Serve hot. Serves 6. 1 Macaroni and Cheese. cup macaroni, noodles, or rice. 2 tablespoons fat. 3 tablespoons flour. teaspoon salt. Pepper. 11⁄2 cups milk. 1 cup grated cheese. 2 cups buttered bread crumbs (two tablespoons butter or other fat). Break the macaroni in 1-inch pieces and cook it in a large amount of boiling water salted 30 to 45 minutes. Drain it well when tender and pour cold water through it. Grate the cheese, break up the bread crumbs, and add two tablespoons melted butter to them. Make a white sauce of the fat, flour, seasonings, and milk. Add the macaroni and cheese to the white sauce, pour it into a butter-baking dish, cover with bread crumbs, and bake from 20 to 30 minutes in the oven, browning nicely. Serves 8. LESSON XX. SUGAR. Food value and cooking. The use of peanuts in candy. Peanut cookies, or peanut, molasses, or fudge candies to be made for a special entertainment. SUBJECT MATTER. Sugar is valuable to the body as a source of heat and energy. While it is easy of digestion, it is very irritating to the body if taken in large quantities, and hence it should be taken in small quantities and preferably at meal time or with other food. Two or three pieces of candy taken at the end of the meal will not be harmful, but candy eaten habitually between meals is sure to produce harmful effects in the body. Large quantities of candy are always disturbing to the body. Sugar is present in many fruits and some vegetables. Milk contains a good per cent of sugar. In preparing foods to which the addition of sugar seems desirable, care should be taken not to add it in large quantities. PRELIMINARY PLAN. As it is desirable to have a discussion of sugar and its value to the body, the preparation of cookies or candy for some school function or Christmas party can be undertaken in conjunction with this lesson. The lesson should be given at a time when it will mean most to the girls. The work should be so planned that the girls will learn something of the principles of sugar cookery as well as the specific recipes they are using. 1 cup fat. 1 cup sugar. 2 eggs. RECIPES. Cookies. 3 cups flour. 3 teaspoons baking powder. Cream the butter, add sugar and well-beaten eggs. Then add milk alternately with flour (sifted with baking powder). Mix to the consistency of a soft dough, adding more milk if necessary. Roll lightly, cut in shapes, and dip in the one-half cup sugar and cinnamon that have been sifted together. Place on buttered sheets, and bake in a hot oven about 10 minutes. Slip from pan and lay on cake cooler. To make a softer cooky, use only one-half cup butter in recipe. (3 to 4 dozen.) 2 tablespoons butter. cup sugar. 1 egg. 1 teaspoon baking powder. teaspoon salt. Peanut Cookies. cup flour. 2 tablespoons milk. cup finely chopped peanuts. 2 dozen whole peanuts shelled. Cream the butter, add the sugar and the egg well-beaten. Mix and sift dry ingredients, add to first mixture, then add milk, peanuts, and lemon juice. Drop from the teaspoon onto an unbuttered baking sheet, an inch apart, and place top of each. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in a moderate oven. (2 to 3 dozen.) 1 cup sugar. Peanut Brittle. peanut on 1 cup peanuts (1 quart with shells on). Heat sugar until it all melts and liquid becomes clear, remove immediately, add peanuts, chopped if desired, mixing them in thoroughly; quickly spread upon a smooth tin or iron sheet, press into shape with knife and cut into bars or squares. Serves ten. 2 cups molasses. cup sugar. 2 tablespoons butter. Molasses Candy. 1 tablespoon vinegar. Put molasses, sugar, and butter into a thick saucepan or kettle, and stir until sugar is dissolved. Boil until mixture becomes brittle when tried in cold water. Stir constantly at the last to prevent burning. (Butter may be omitted if it can not be easily secured.) Add vinegar and soda just before removing from fire. Pour into a well-greased pan and let stand until cool enough to handle. Then pull until light and porous and cut in small pieces with scissors, arranging on buttered plates. Serves 16 to 20. 2 cups sugar. 1 cup milk. cup caramelized sugar. Caramel Fudge. 1 tablespoon butter. Boil sugar and milk together, add caramelized sugar and butter, and boil to the soft ball stage. Take from fire and beat until the candy becomes creamy. Add nuts and turn into buttered pans; when cool cut into squares. Serves 16 to 20. See Farmers' Bulletin No. 535, "Sugar and its value as food." METHOD OF WORK. Devote a separate period to the discussion of the food value and cooking of sugar, if possible; then assign two recipes for the practical work, allowing the girls to work in groups. Assign only as much work as can be carefully supervised. Do not undertake both the cookies and the candy. TWENTY LESSONS IN SEWING. For the Rural Schools. OUTLINE OF THE COURSE. Lesson I. Preparation for sewing. Preparation and use of working equipment: Needles, pins, thread, tape measure, thimble, scissors, box for work. Talk on cleanliness and neatness (care of hands, etc.). Discussion of hemming. Hems folded on sheets of paper. Lesson II. Hemming towels. Turning and basting hems. Hemming towels of crash, flour, or meal sacks, or other coarse material for use in washing and drying dishes at home or in school. Lesson III. Hemming towels, continued. The overhanding stich and the hemming stitch. Lesson IV. Bags. A school bag. Bag (made of obtainable material) to hold sewing materials or cooking Lesson V. Bags, continued. Lesson VI. Bags, continued. Lesson VII. Bags, continued. space for the cord. Lesson VIII. Bags, continued. Preparing a cord or other draw string for the bag. Putting a double draw string in the bag so that it can easily be drawn up. Use of the bodkin. Lesson IX. Darning stockings. Use of a darning ball or a gourd as a substitute for the ball. Talk on care of the feet and care of stockings. Lesson X. Patching (used when special problem comes up). Hemming patches on cotton garments. Talk on care of clothes. Lesson XI. Cutting out an apron (or an undergarment).1 Lesson XII. Apron (or undergarment), continued. Basting the hem for hemming on the machine or by hand. Uneven basting. Lesson XIII. Apron (or undergarment), continued. Gathering the skirt and stitching to the belt. Lesson XVI. Apron (or undergarment), continued. Putting the bib and skirt on to the belt. Lesson XVII. Methods of fastening garments. Sewing buttons on aprons, petticoats, or other garments. Lesson XVIII. Methods of fastening garments, continued. Button holes on practice piece and on apron. Lesson XIX. A padded holder for handling hot dishes. Binding. Lesson XX. A cap to wear with the cooking apron. SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER. The teacher should be well acquainted with the conditions in which the girls live, should know how much money they can afford to pay for materials, what materials are available, what previous handwork the girls have had, whether they can afford to have sewing machines in their own homes, to what extent they make their own clothes, and to what extent they buy them ready-made. The lessons should be planned to furnish hand training, to give the instruction of which the girls can immediately make use in the care of their own clothes, and to provide opportunity for preparing the apron for the cooking lessons that are to follow. They should tend to I Should the teacher feel that an apron or petticoat is too large a piece for her girls to undertake, and should she desire to have more time put on the first 10 lessons, Lessons XI to XVIII may be omitted, two periods each devoted to both Lessons XIX and XX, and three lessons used for the making of a simple needle book or other small piece. develop habits of thrift, industry, and neatness. The girls should be encouraged to learn to sew, both to improve their own home conditions and to give them suggestion for a possible means of livelihood. If sewing machines are available and are in use in the homes represented in the school, it is well to have lessons given in machine sewing and to have the long seams run by machine. If the girls can not have sewing machines in their own homes, the lessons given should be limited to hand sewing. In some schools it may be necessary to simplify the lessons; in others an increased number of articles may be prepared in the time allotted. Should the apron and cap not be needed for the cooking class, an undergarment (petticoat) can well be substituted. The teacher should have a definite plan of procedure in mind for each lesson. The lesson should be opened with a brief and concrete class discussion of the new work that is to be taken up or the special stage that has been reached in work that is already under way. Though individual instruction is necessary, it should not take the place of this general presentation of subject matter, which economizes time and develops the real thought content of the work. New stitches can be demonstrated on large pieces of muslin with long darning needles and red or black Germantown yarn. The muslin may be pinned to the blackboard with thumb tacks and the stitches made large enough for all to see without difficulty. A variety of completed articles should be kept on hand to show additional application of points brought out in the lesson. Each class may be given the privilege of preparing one article to add to this collection, and a spirit of class pride and valuable team work thereby developed. During the lesson, posture, neatness, and order should be emphasized. Application can be secured by making the problems of interest. Care must be taken that none of the work demands unnecessary eye strain. Each lesson should be closed in time to have one of the members of the class give a brief summary of the steps that have been covered. Since the class period for sewing in the rural school will necessarily be brief, the girls can be encouraged to continue their work at some other period. However, no work outside of the class period should be permitted until the pupil has mastered the stitch and can be trusted to do the work in the right way. The privilege of sewing can be made the reward for lessons quickly learned, home practice can be assigned, or the class can meet out of school hours. All outside practice must be carefully supervised, the pupil bringing her work to the teacher for frequent inspection. |