DRIED VEGETABLES
Dried vegetables should be soaked in cold water for twelve hours or longer, and then cooked slowly until tender; dried julienne should be soaked for twenty-four hours before cooking.
MACARONI, NOODLES, RICE, CEREALS
Macaroni, noodles and similar pastas, rice, and the cereals furnish much nutriment at low cost; oatmeal and corn meal are among our cheapest foods.
Ready cooked cereals, though they are convenient and give variety to the diet, are more expensive than raw cereals well cooked; not only do they yield less food value, but, being dry, they require more cream or milk to make them palatable.
LEFT-OVER VEGETABLES
Left-over vegetables and cereals, even in small quantities, should be saved for use in entrées, desserts, salads, sauces, and soups. Celery tops should be saved for flavoring and garnishing, the root stalk chopped and added to the stock pot, and the outside stalks stewed, creamed, or used for cream soup. The outside leaves of lettuce should be shredded for salad, or, for any large quantity, cooked the same as spinach.
CANNED VEGETABLES
The flavor of canned vegetables is improved if, before being cooked, they are rinsed with cold water and exposed to the air. Parsley and chives may be kept growing in pots in the kitchen window to be used as needed.