RUTH AND BETTINA MAKE PREPARATIONS
"OH, Bettina, aren't the butterflies darling?" exclaimed Ruth, looking
once more at the table display of her work. "And with everything ready
to begin in the morning, won't things be easy for us both? What shall I
do next?"
"Not a thing, Ruth dear. You've worked too hard all this afternoon, I'm
afraid. Now we're going to sit down to a good hot dinner, and tell Bob
all about our preparations."
"M--m! Something smells good!" said Ruth. "I've been so busy with all
these cunning things that I haven't even thought of eating. But now that
you mention it, I'll admit that I have a fine healthy appetite."
"Well, dinner is almost ready, and Bob will be here any minute. It's all
in the oven except the corn: meat loaf, sweet potatoes and apricot
cobbler."
"Oh, how good it sounds! More sensible than all our fluffy dishes for
the announcement luncheon. But then, I do love fluffy things. I'm sure
Alice will like it, and all the others, too. Makes me 'most wish I'd
kept my engagement a secret, and announced it with ceremony as Alice is
doing. But I couldn't, somehow."
"No, you couldn't, Ruth, and neither could Fred. He'd give it away if
you didn't. So I guess there's no use wishing you had kept it. Anyhow,
you just suit me as you are. You've been such a dear to help with the
luncheon! Goodness, there's Bob now!"
The dinner consisted of:
Beef Loaf Sweet Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Bread Butter
Apricot Cobbler
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
=Beef Loaf= (Three portions)
1 lb. beef ground
1/4 lb. salt pork, ground
1/4 t-onion salt
1/3 C-fresh bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2 t-salt
1/8 t-pepper
1/8 C-tomato
1/4 C-water
1 T-fat drippings
Mix the ground beef and salt pork, add the onion salt, fresh crumbs,
egg, salt, pepper and tomato. Mix thoroughly. Shape into a loaf which
will fit into a small buttered pan. Add the water and pour fat drippings
over the top. (Bacon fat is good.) Cover the pan, and allow to cook in
the oven one-half hour. Uncover the loaf, basting frequently, and brown
it. This will take fifteen or twenty minutes. Serve hot. More water may
be added while cooking if necessary.
=Sweet Potatoes= (Three portions)
3 potatoes
3/4 t-salt
Peel the potatoes, salt them with one-fourth a teaspoon of salt in each
potato, and place them in the pan with the meat. This gives the potatoes
a good flavor.
=Bettina's Apricot Cobbler= (Three portions)
1 C-cooked and sweetened apricots
1 T-flour
1/2 t-cinnamon
1 C-flour
2 t-baking powder
1/3 t-salt
2 T-butter
1/3 C-milk
1/3 C-sugar
1/2 C-water
1/2 t-vanilla
Mix the apricots, one tablespoon flour and cinnamon. Mix and sift
together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter with a knife.
Add the milk until a soft dough is formed. Place the apricot mixture in
a baking-dish and the dough on top of the apricots. Cook the water and
sugar together for three minutes. Add the vanilla. When the cobbler has
baked fifteen minutes pour syrup over it. Bake ten minutes more in a
moderate oven.