THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER.
Any elaborate discussion of the relations of food to the needs of the body would not come within the scope of a work of this character; but there are a few facts concerning the diet of children to which we would call the attention of those mothers who wish their little brood to brighten home with radiant eyes, rosy cheeks, plump, graceful forms, and hearts bubbling over with the vivacity which springs from perfect health. Let them discard sago, arrowroot, and tapioca, all largely composed of starch, as comparatively useless in nourishing the growing body, which calls for the most complete nutrients; these often do very well in illness, where no great degree of nourishment is necessary, and where simply a given quantity of bland, innutritious food is required to help the system do without stronger aliment, calculated to irritate overworked and sensitive organs.
Indigestible articles, such as fat meat, rich pastry, hot bread, unripe fruit and vegetables, tea, coffee, spices, and stimulants, should be avoided in the diet of children. Good wheaten bread, farina, ripe fruit, fresh vegetables, meat-juices, milk, and sugar, should make up the list of staples; when meats are used they should be nutritious and digestible, such as good mutton, young beef, and tender poultry; bread and milk and fruit, for breakfast; meat, vegetables, bread and some light dessert, for dinner; bread and milk, or their equivalents, for supper; in other words, plain food and plenty of it, will keep mind and body in a sound condition, and supply all the requirements of growth.
Meats should be carefully cooked, so as to preserve all their natural juices; but no rich sauces, or made gravies, should accompany them to the table; a few ripe vegetables cooked until perfectly tender, roasted or baked potatoes, seed-bearing fruits, generally stewed, and plenty of light bread at least a day old, should be eaten with the meat. In stewing fruit only enough water should be used to prevent burning, and plenty of sugar should be employed to sweeten it; all fruit is less apt to be injurious if eaten early in the day. Eggs should be plain boiled, and rather soft. Milk should be boiled when there is any undue action of the bowels; otherwise it should be used uncooked with plenty of bread.
Hearty, vigorous children, who play much in the open air, can digest more meat than those who are confined indoors; and the cravings of a healthy appetite should always be appeased, care being taken that the stomach has the proper intervals of rest. Regularity of meals is really most important at all ages; the digestive organs must have time to assimilate their food supply. In childhood and youth, the period of growth, the needs of the system are more pressing than at any other time of life; if at this time children are fed on rich and stimulating food, they will be prone to fevers; if they are underfed they suffer both mentally and physically from slow starvation; equal and regular nutrition is imperative to the well being of the little ones, if we would have them grow up capable of performing in the fullest degree the highest functions of life. Therefore give the children plenty of plain, wholesome food; their active systems will appropriate it. If they continue serene in temper, equable in disposition, and generally healthy,—if the eyes are bright, the skin clear, the sleep serene,—the diet is proper and sufficient.
In the following receipts for preparing children's food the quantities are calculated for four.
206. Oatmeal Porridge.—Oatmeal is an extremely strengthening food; when it is well cooked it produces a large volume of nutritive matter in proportion to its bulk; and combined with milk it is the strongest and best of the cereals. Its flavor is sweet and pleasant; it appears in market in two forms, a rather rough meal, and the unbroken grain, after the husk has been removed; in either shape it should be thoroughly boiled, and combined with milk. A good thick porridge can be made by stirring four ounces of oatmeal into a quart of boiling milk, and then pouring this into a quart of water boiling on the fire, and allowing it to boil half or three-quarters of an hour; care must be taken not to burn it; just before it is done it should be seasoned with a teaspoonful of salt; and sweetened to taste at the table.
207. A good Breakfast can be made of fresh milk sweetened with a little sugar and eaten with bread a day old, lightly buttered.
208. Stewed Fruit.—Put a quart of apples pared and sliced over the fire in a thick sauce-pan, with half a pint of water, to prevent burning, and when tender break them well up and sweeten them with four ounces or more of sugar, according to the flavor of the apples. Serve them with bread and butter in the morning, or at noon.
209. Ripe Currants.—A pound of ripe currants mashed, and mixed with half a pound, or more, of sugar, makes an excellent accompaniment for bread, being served spread upon the slices.
210. Blackberry Jam.—This is an invaluable addition to the breakfast, or noon dinner, in place of butter. It is an excellent agent for regulating the action of the bowels. It is made by boiling with every pound of thoroughly ripe blackberries half a pound of good brown sugar; the boiling to be continued one hour, and the berries well broken up.
211. Baked Fruit.—In addition to baking apples in the ordinary way, plums, peaches, pears, and berries, are good when put into a stone jar with layers of stale bread and sugar, and about a gill of water, and baking the fruit slowly in a moderate oven for an hour and a half.
212. Broiled Chops.—Trim nearly all the fat from a pound of loin mutton chops, broil them over a clear, bright fire for about fifteen minutes, taking care not to burn them; when they are done put them on a hot platter, season them with half a teaspoonful of salt, and if they are very dry put a little butter over them, using not more than a quarter of an ounce. Serve them with mashed potatoes.
213. Beefsteak.—A tender sirloin steak is the best cut for general use. It should be chosen in accordance with the directions given in the chapter on marketing, and broiled over a brisk, clear fire for about twenty minutes; the seasoning of salt should be added after it is taken from the fire, and placed on a hot dish; and but very little butter, if any, should be used. Serve it with baked potatoes, finely broken with a fork.
214. Broiled Chicken.—A tender, but not very fat chicken, makes an excellent dinner for children. It should be plucked, singed, split down the back, carefully drawn, and wiped with a damp cloth, but not washed; the joints and breast-bone should be broken with the rolling pin, the chicken being covered with a folded towel to protect the flesh; it should then be broiled, inside first, over a clear, brisk fire, or better still, laid in a pan on a couple of slices of bread, and quickly roasted in a hot oven; by the latter process all the juices of the bird are saved; some gravy will flow from a good chicken, and from this the superfluous fat should be removed; if the chicken is very fat the bread under it should not be given to the children.
215. Boiled Eggs.—Eggs are usually spoiled in cooking; if they are plunged into boiling water, and maintained at the boiling point, the effect is to harden the albumen while the yolk remains almost raw, and make them totally unfit for digestion. A good way to cook them is to place them over the fire in cold water, bring them slowly to a boil, and then at once set the vessel containing them back from the fire, and let the eggs stand in the water about one minute if they are to be soft, and two minutes, or longer, if they are to be hard. Poor eggs cooked in this way are superior in flavor and digestibility to new-laid eggs boiled rapidly. One minute is quite long enough to boil them if they are wanted in their best condition.
216. Baked Potatoes.—Potatoes for baking should be of equal and medium size, with smooth skins; they should be well washed with a brush or cloth, and put into a quick oven; they will bake in from twenty to thirty-five minutes, according to variety and ripeness; as soon as you find they yield readily when pressed between the fingers, they are done; and should be served at once, uncovered. If they stand they grow heavy, and if you put them in a covered dish you will make them watery.
217. Boiled Potatoes.—Potatoes for children's use should be very carefully boiled; and if not used as soon as they are done, should be kept hot and dry, by pouring off the water, covering them with a dry cloth, and setting them on the back of the stove. After washing them thoroughly, pare them entirely, or take off one ring around each; if they are new, put them over the fire in hot water; if they are old, put them on in cold water; in either case, add a tablespoonful of salt, and boil them from fifteen to thirty minutes, as they require, until you can pierce them easily with a fork; then drain off all the water, cover them with a clean dry towel, and set them on the back of the fire until you are ready to use them.
218. Apple Cake.—Grate a small loaf of stale bread; pare and slice about a quart of apples; lightly butter a pudding mould, dust it well with flour, and then with sugar, and fill it with layers of bread crumbs, apples, and sugar, using a very little cinnamon to flavor it; let the top layer be of crumbs, and put a few bits of butter on it; bake the cake for one hour in a moderate oven; and serve it for dessert.
219. Fruit Farina.—Sprinkle three tablespoonfuls of farina into one quart of boiling milk, using a sauce-pan set into a kettle of boiling water, in order to prevent burning; flavor and sweeten to taste, and boil for half an hour, stirring occasionally; then add one pint of any ripe berries, or sliced apples, and boil until the fruit is cooked, about twenty minutes: the pudding may be boiled in a mould or a cloth after the fruit is added. It should be served with powdered sugar.
220. Plain Cookies.—Beat one egg with one cup of sugar to a cream, work two ounces of butter soft, and beat it with the egg and sugar, grate in quarter of a nutmeg, add one gill of milk, and prepared flour enough to make a sufficiently stiff paste to roll out about a pound. Roll an eighth of an inch thick, cut out with a biscuit cutter, or an inverted cup, and lay on a floured baking pan, and bake about twenty minutes in a moderate oven.
221. Plain Gingerbread.—Partly melt one ounce of butter, stir it into half a pint of molasses, with a tablespoonful of ground ginger, and half a pint of boiling water, stir in smoothly half a pound of prepared flour, and pour the batter into a buttered baking pan; bake it about half an hour in a quick oven, trying it with a broom straw, at the end of twenty minutes; as soon as the straw passes through it without sticking, the cake is done.
222. Strawberry Shortcake.—Rub two ounces of butter into a pound of prepared flour, mix it stiff enough to mould with about half a pint of milk; put the dough upon a round tin plate, gently flattening with the roller; bake it about twenty minutes in a quick oven, trying it with a broom straw to be sure it is done, before taking it from the oven; let it cool a little, tear it open by first separating the edges all around with a fork, and then pulling it in two pieces; upon the bottom put a thick layer of strawberries, or any perfectly ripe fruit, plentifully sprinkled with sugar; then lay on the fruit the upper half of the shortcake, with the crust down; add another layer of fruit, with plenty of sugar, and serve it with sweet milk or cream. This is rather rich, but a small piece may be given to the children as a treat, at the noon dinner.
223. Apple Custard.—Pare and core six apples; set them in a pan with a very little water, and stew them until tender; then put them in a pudding dish without breaking, fill the centres with sugar, and pour over them a custard made of a quart of milk, five eggs, four ounces of sugar, and a very little nutmeg; set the pudding-dish in a baking-pan half full of water, and bake it about half an hour. Serve it either hot or cold, at the noon dinner.