DIET FOR OLDER CHILDREN
MILK FOR GROWING CHILDREN—EGGS, MEAT AND FISH—BREADSTUFFS AND
CEREALS—RECIPES FOR NOURISHING DISHES
The emphasis laid on correct diet for babies throughout this book has
doubtless impressed its readers with the realization that on good
digestion the health and happiness of a child are built. The vigilance
which guarded the bottle feedings and the diet of the child under three
years of age should become a guard against indiscretions in feeding
between his third year and his adolescence. By the time the boy passes
into his teens he should be thoroughly grounded in good habits of
eating—the careful mastication of food, the avoidance of extremes and
excesses, regularity in meals; and let us hope that he has learned the
folly of eating between meals, especially sweets. He should have a
normal taste for normal, wholesome food; and he should still be eating
lightly before he goes to bed. Even in the big cities, where dinner is
eaten at night so that father may enjoy one good meal a day with his
family, the young child should have his heaviest meal at noon, and a
light supper.
From the fourth to the tenth year milk should still play a considerable
part in the child’s diet. It should be served once between breakfast
and dinner, or dinner and supper. A glass of milk with the meal is much
better than water. Tea and coffee should never be given to the growing
child. He may have, all told, from one pint to one quart of milk daily;
and to this may be added thin cream on his cereal and with certain
simple desserts, such as baked apples.
Eggs are a dependable food for the growing child. They may be
soft-boiled, poached, coddled, or shirred, the latter being eggs baked
in a dish that has been lightly buttered. Children should never be
given fried eggs or omelets. If eggs agree with a child—and they agree
with nearly all human beings—they may be given twice a day, one for
breakfast and one for supper.
The best meats for children are beefsteak, roast beef, roast lamb,
broiled mutton chop, broiled chicken, roast young turkey. Shad, bass,
and other delicate white fish may be given to the child between four
and twelve years of age. Meats must be cut up fine, and fish must be
freed from all bones before it is given to the child. Either meat or
fish should be served with the noon meal.
Plate gravy, especially from beef, is nourishing; but thickened gravy
made from flour and grease or drippings, with milk or stock added, is
too rich for the average juvenile stomach.
Ham, bacon, pork, sausage, liver, kidneys, dried and salt meat are to
be avoided, and such fish as cod, halibut, and mackerel are altogether
too strong for a child until he enters his teens.
White potatoes are a standby for growing children; they may be boiled,
baked, or mashed; but no child should be allowed to eat fried potatoes
of any sort.
The best vegetables for very young children are peas, asparagus tips,
string beans, carrots, squash, spinach, and very young beets. All these
vegetables must be well cooked to be easily digested. Baked sweet
potatoes, which children like very much, cauliflower, onions, and
turnips may be permitted at rare intervals; but, even with a child in
good health, they should not be served until he is six or seven years
old.
A very good combination for children is carrots and peas. The carrots
are first boiled in salted water until tender; then canned or fresh
peas are added; and, finally, milk which may be thickened slightly with
flour and butter rubbed smooth.
Salads, which are considered so important in the diet of grown-ups,
should not be given to children until they have passed the tenth year.
Well-made soup is important in the child’s diet. Mutton and chicken
broths should be the foundation for most of these soups. After the
meat has been strained out, the broth may be thickened with rice,
barley, or a little cornstarch or flour. Tomato soup should not be
given to very young children; but purées made of peas, spinach, celery,
or asparagus, rubbed through a sieve, may be given to children seven
years old or more.
In preparing cereals for children, bear in mind that the coarser
cereals are the more nourishing. The ready-to-serve cereals do not
give out the strength which the old-fashioned food-stuffs do. Oatmeal,
cracked wheat, rice, or hominy should be cooked in a double-boiler for
hours; and even those cereals which are advertised as “prepared” or
partly cooked should be recooked thoroughly, and well salted, and be
served with top milk, or cream and milk, or a little butter.
No child should be given hot breads of any kind, griddlecakes,
shortcake, nor even newly made bread. Homemade zwieback is the best
possible bread-stuff to offer children; next to that stale bread cut
thin and dried in the oven until it is crisp. Cornbread, split and
toasted or dried until crisp, is very desirable as a luncheon and
supper dish. Oatmeal, graham, or gluten crackers are better than plain
white wheat crackers.
Desserts form a very important item in the dietary of the child,
because they contain starch and sugar, important to the up-building
of the system. Custards, junket, rice pudding without raisins, and
an occasional dish of pure ice-cream should be the desserts up to six
or seven years. These can be varied by stewed fruit, or ripe fruit in
season, making sure that all the seeds and stems are removed.
No young child should be given pies or pastry of any description, rich
preserves, nuts, or candy. The child who has not been given candy in
his babyhood grows up with very little taste for it. Food, like fresh
air and sleeping, is very much a habit.
Fruits form a considerable and important part of the diet. Up to the
time a child is five years old he should have fruit juices; then solid
fruit. Sweet oranges yield up the best juice; but grape-fruit rubbed
through a sieve, fresh pears, strawberries, and raspberries, crushed
through a coarse sieve, may also be used.
Orange or prune juice can be given after seven or eight months of age.
Before the second bottle in the morning two teaspoonfuls may be given,
gradually increasing to one or two ounces at one year.
Apples, baked or stewed, are extremely healthful. Prunes well prepared
and rubbed through a sieve, pears stewed or baked until tender, peaches
and apricots pealed or stewed, are all worth places in the diet of a
child. Pulp in either fresh or cooked fruits should be avoided.
Children should never be given green fruit of any kind; and, in hot
weather, if they cause a tendency to diarrhea, fresh fruits must not be
permitted in the child’s diet, but all sorts of stewed fruits can be
substituted for them.
A word of warning about cocoa. This is an excellent beverage for a
young child, but it is a mistake to think that it must be made rich
with cream. A good quality of whole milk and just as much cocoa as the
recipe on the box demands should be used for young children. Whipped
cream on the cocoa is not necessary. If your children want ice-cream,
cold drinks, treats of any sort, make these at home. Know what your
children eat.
A few recipes for preparing food that children can easily digest follow:
_Albumen Water_—Divide the white of one fresh egg in several directions
with a sharp steel knife; to this add one pint of cold boiled water,
and a little salt. Shake well and give cold from bottle or with spoon.
_Rice Water_—Take one tablespoonful of rice; wash well; soak over
night. Add one pint of water and a little salt. Boil until grains are
soft—three to four hours. Add water from time to time to keep quantity
to one pint. Strain through muslin.
_Baked Milk_—In a jar put two quarts of fresh milk; cover this with
white paper, tied down tightly. Bake ten hours in a moderate oven.
_Egg Lemonade_—Beat the yolks of two eggs light; add the juice of two
lemons, and sugar to taste. Thin slightly with water, and turn all into
one cup of snow or pounded ice. Whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff
froth, and beat all together as quickly as possible. Serve immediately.
_Egg-nog_—Separate one egg, and beat the yolk and white lightly. To
one glass of cold milk add the yolk, one tablespoonful of sugar, and
vanilla or nutmeg to taste. Lastly, add the beaten white of the egg and
stir lightly.
_Beef Juice_—One pound of round steak cut thick. Broil slightly, press
out juice with meat-press or lemon-squeezer; add a little salt.
_Beef Juice No. 2_—Chop finely one pound of steak; place it in a jar;
pour in sufficient cold water to cover the meat; add a pinch of salt.
Cover the jar and place on the ice for six hours; shake from time to
time. Strain through a piece of muslin. This is very nourishing.
_Mutton or Chicken Broth_—Cover one pound of meat, free from fat, with
one pint of cold water; add a little salt; let it simmer for three or
four hours. Add water from time to time, and cook down to one-half
pint. Strain, and remove fat when cold. Serve hot or cold in jelly
form, as desired.
_Chicken Broth No. 2_—Cut fowl in small pieces; lay in salted water for
one hour; then place in cold water, bringing it slowly to a boil. Boil
gently until liquor has diminished one-third. Remove chicken. Season
liquor; bring to boil; and strain. Stir cup of hot milk slowly into two
beaten eggs; add mixture to broth, stirring slowly.
_Clam Broth_—For this use two separate pots, one for clams and one for
milk. Twelve clams to one pint of milk. Bring to a boil the clams and
liquor, removing the scum; bring the milk to a boil, seasoning with
pepper and butter. Strain the liquor from the clams and turn into the
milk. Serve hot at once.
_Split-pea Soup_—Take one cup of split-peas; wash well; and soak in two
quarts of water over night. In the morning put into kettle, with one
quart of soup stock and small piece of salt pork. Allow the whole to
boil slowly or simmer for about five hours. Strain; and return to fire,
with small lump of butter, salt and pepper.
_Potato Soup_—Take one cup of mashed potatoes well seasoned with salt
and pepper. Heat one quart of milk; thicken with flour. Stir in the
potatoes, with two tablespoonfuls of butter. Strain; and then beat in
one egg. Serve hot.
_Gruels: Rice, Barley, Wheat, Oats_—If made from flour use two to four
tablespoonfuls to one pint of water.
If made from the grains soak over night two tablespoonfuls, and then
cook four hours. Strain, and if milk is added stir in immediately after
removing the gruel from the fire.
_Farina_—Stir slowly four heaping tablespoons of farina into one pint
of boiling water or milk. Boil ten or fifteen minutes; salt to taste.
This can be served cold or hot, with syrup, sugar and cream or butter
and sugar.
_Chicken Jellied_—Cover a small chicken with water; boil until meat
comes off the bones, and the water is reduced to about a pint. Take off
the meat in good-sized pieces, removing fat and bones. Skim fat from
liquor; add salt and pepper to taste, together with half an ounce of
gelatine. When dissolved pour over meat. Liquor can be seasoned highly,
as meat absorbs much of the flavor. Place mixture in deep bowls to
form, and keep cool.
_Scraped Beef_—Slightly broil a small piece of sirloin steak. With
a dull knife scrape or shred this, taking the pulp only for use. A
tablespoonful may be given with salt.
_Milk Toast_—Remove the crusts from the toast; slash the edges with
a knife, and dip the edges in hot salted water. Make a cream of milk
thickened with cornstarch; season with salt and butter. Pour over
toast. Serve hot.
_Poached Eggs_—Break an egg into a cup, taking care not to break the
yolk. Turn into pan of boiling, salted water, and with spoon pour water
over egg, until there is a film over the top and the white is firm.
Serve on buttered toast.
_Boiled Rice_—Wash the rice. Cook in double-boiler with five times its
measure of cold, salted water for about one hour and a half, or until
tender.
_Creamed Potatoes_—Cut freshly boiled potatoes into squares. Cover with
milk, and boil up once or twice. Season with butter, salt, and pepper.
Thicken with a little flour and water.
_Creamed Macaroni_—Boil in one quart of salted water twenty minutes
ten or twelve sticks of macaroni broken into one-inch lengths. Strain
through colander and drain. Add one tablespoon of butter and flour
rubbed smooth to one and one-half cups of hot milk. When thickened
season and return the macaroni to heat. Add a little grated cheese
before serving.
DESSERTS
_Escalloped Apples_—Butter a deep dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar,
and small bits of butter, and cover with layer of peeled, sliced
apples. Another layer of the cinnamon, sugar, and butter; adding a
little flour sprinkled over. Continue this process until dish is full;
cover, and bake one hour. Serve hot or cold.
_Apple Tapioca_—Take one-half cup pearl tapioca, three apples, pared
and cored, one-fourth cup of sugar, one pint water, one-half teaspoon
salt, cinnamon and grated nutmeg.
Cover tapioca with one and one-half cups warm water, and soak five or
six hours. Pack apples in deep dish, filling cores with sugar, and pour
over them the tapioca, water, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bake one hour, or
until apples are soft. Serve hot, with cream or hard sauce.
_Apple Snow_—One large apple, peeled and grated; sprinkle over it one
cup of powdered sugar. Into this break the whites of two eggs and beat
in large bowl constantly for half an hour. Heap in glass dish and pour
over it a fine, smooth custard.
_Baked Custard_—Beat four eggs light and mix well with one quart of
milk. Add sugar and salt to taste, one teaspoon vanilla, and grate
nutmeg on top. Bake in moderate oven until a rich brown.
_Chocolate Blanc Mange_—Heat one quart of milk in a double-boiler
with one ounce of gelatine, dissolved first in cold water; add four
tablespoons grated chocolate and three-fourths cup of sugar; mix all
until smooth. Cook until dissolved; then boil five minutes and strain
into mold, adding one teaspoon vanilla. Serve with whipped cream.
Individual molds are very pleasing for children.
_Floating Island_—Heat one quart of milk in a double-boiler; stir in
two tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in a little cold milk. Add
sugar and vanilla to taste, together with one whole egg and the yolks
of three eggs; when the custard is thick like cream turn into dish to
cool. When ready to serve beat the whites of three eggs into stiff
froth and drop spoonfuls on the top of the custard.
_Bread and Butter Pudding_—Take six thin slices of buttered bread and
place in a dish; pour over the bread three gills of milk and three eggs
beaten together with sugar and nutmeg added to taste—a few raisins or
currants may be added if desired. Bake in slow oven one hour. Serve
with or without sauce.
_Prune Pudding_—One pound of prunes cooked until tender. Remove stones
and pick into small pieces. Dissolve two tablespoons of gelatine and
two-thirds cup of powdered sugar in one cup of cold water, and stir
into prunes. Add the whites of four eggs beaten to a froth. Bake twenty
minutes. Serve with cream.
_Prune Pulp_—Cook one pound of prunes slowly in a little water until
they are quite soft. Strain and rub through a coarse sieve.
_Junket_—One quart of fresh hot milk, sweetened to taste, and allowed
to cool slightly; add two tablespoons liquid rennet. Place on the ice
in wet molds. Do not stir or strain it. Serve cold with sweetened cream.
_Whey_—One pint of fresh milk warmed, but not above 100° F. Add two
teaspoons liquid rennet or essence of pepsin; stir slightly, then allow
it to stand until jellied; break up the curd with a fork and strain off
the whey through muslin. Place on ice.
_Bran Biscuits_—One pint of flour, one quart of bran, one teaspoon
baking soda, twelve tablespoons molasses, one teaspoon salt, one pint
of milk. Mix and bake in muffin rings.
_Good Luncheon Dish_—Butter a small baking dish lightly; spread over
bottom of dish finely broken crackers (not cracker dust) and moisten
slightly with rich milk; break an egg carefully on this, and then cover
with more broken crackers moistened with the milk, and salted. Bake a
couple of minutes in oven so that the egg is about as firm as a well
poached egg. This is a most nourishing dish.
The mother who guards her child’s diet not only during that danger
period of teething and weaning but during those years when he seems
to sprout like a young human weed, demanding the very highest form of
nourishment, may feel assured that she is laying the foundation for
his future health and happiness. You cannot make good citizens out
of dyspeptics. You cannot rear a generation of sturdy mothers from
girls who drink soda-water instead of milk, who eat candy instead of
custards, rich fried potatoes instead of nourishing baked ones, fancy
dishes of meat, gravy, and pastry instead of wholesome beefsteak and
mutton chops. It is a mistake to think because a child who is growing
will eat almost anything, that almost anything will nourish a growing
body.
Better babies mean better children in the public schools; but neglect
in the matter of diet will soon turn those better children into sickly
citizens.
The vigilance of the mother in the matters of diet, hours of sleep,
bathing, and fresh air should not relax until after her children have
passed successfully through the period of adolescence and have been
launched into strong, sturdy men and women, with their habits so firmly
fixed that the maternal influence in food as in morals goes out into
the world with them.