To poach. Grease the bottom of a small skillet with some fat. Put in boiling water with 1 teaspoon salt. Drop in egg from saucer, and turn fire low, or remove skillet. Let stand 2 to 5 minutes, until white is set. Remove with perforated spoon or ladle. Serve on toast which has been dipped in boiling salted water and slightly buttered.
Cocoa. For children four to eight years old, make cocoa weak, using only ¼ teaspoon cocoa to a cup of milk. Blend the cocoa with ¼ teaspoon sugar and 1 tablespoon boiling water. Add ½ cup of boiling water and boil for five minutes. A larger portion may be made at one time, and kept on ice. Heat the milk in a double boiler and add the hot cocoa to this. Do not let the milk boil.
Soups and Purées. For thin soups, take equal parts of milk and the vegetable water from cooking potatoes, rice, spinach, carrots, celery, corn, lima or string beans, peas. Heat in double boiler.
Purées are made by mashing and straining any of these vegetables, and adding milk.
The most nutritious thickening is given by adding cereal gruel, or raw egg beaten in just before serving, after removing from the stove. Thickening of flour or cornstarch requires cooking for half an hour. Flour in melted fat is indigestible.
Vegetables. Use fresh, tender vegetables. Sort carefully, removing bruised and blemished places. Wash or scrub thoroughly through two or three waters, using a colander. If canned, remove all immediately from container. For children under two years, potatoes should be baked, and other vegetables cooked thoroughly and put through a fine sieve, removing all cellulose. For children of two and three years, vegetables should be minced; for those four to eight years, merely diced.
Baked potato. Remove skin from two ends to permit escape of steam in cooking. Bake in hot oven until mealy—about forty-five minutes. Pierce with hot fork or break open slightly to permit escape of steam.
Boiled potatoes. Boil in skins to prevent loss of mineral nutrients. Put into boiling water; add 1 teaspoon of salt to each pint of water, and boil gently for half an hour. Test with a fork, and when mellow, drain off the water, remove the cover, and let the moisture evaporate. If very large potatoes are used, add a cup of cold water when the outside is cooked; this prevents overcooking of outside portion.
Other vegetables may be baked, steamed (cooked in a steamer), or stewed. The ordinary method of cooking vegetables by boiling in a large quantity of water removes the essential minerals and watersoaks the vegetables.
Dried peas, beans, lentils, should be soaked overnight, salted and boiled for fifteen minutes, then put into the casserole or fireless cooker and cooked from six to ten hours.