10. The grains digest well with all other foods; though some persons cannot eat them in the form of mushes. They should always be thoroughly cooked.
11. Persons with feeble digestions should as a rule confine themselves to a single kind of fruit at a meal; they can make the changes from one meal to another.
12. Those who find it difficult to digest vegetables should not attempt more than one kind at a given meal, until the digestion is improved. And often it is best to leave them off entirely for a time.
13. In selecting vegetables for a single meal, do not, if there are several varieties, have all of them of the watery or juicy kinds, as cabbage, asparagus, white turnips, etc.; nor all of the drier sorts, such as baked beans, winter squashes, sweet potatoes, etc.; but blend the more and less nutritious kinds in a judicious manner. Or if you have only the watery ones at hand, be content with not more than two varieties; prepare a side dish of something rather nutritious, and then add a dish of warm corn bread, as an accompaniment, particularly if it be a cold day.
14. If you have for dinner a thin vegetable soup, follow with something more substantial, as baked beans, baked potatoes (sweet or Irish) or corn bread; but if you have bean or split-pea soup, let the other vegetables be of a kind less hearty.
15. On a very cold day have a warm dinner of good nutritious articles; select mainly solid foods with grains, rather than thin soups and watery vegetables.
16. On a warm day make the breakfast largely of fruits, with a moderate supply of cereals. The dinner may be of young vegetables (or fruits), a dish of grains, if you like, and a little bread. Eat lightly, and you will suffer less from heat—particularly if no seasonings are taken. For supper, a glass of cold grape juice, and a slice of loaf bread, is excellent in hot weather.
17. In very cold weather take the chill off your stewed fruit, fruit pies, or other dishes, before serving them. Pastries, if used, are best at the noonday meal—and so are puddings.
18. If there are invalids at the table, they should eat nothing that is very cold; food not much below blood heat is best, particularly in cold weather; and the dining-room should be comfortably warm.
19. Never have too great a variety at a single meal; have few dishes well prepared, and make the changes from one meal to another; this will please better on the whole, and it will not too rapidly exhaust your limited supplies.