Pumpkin

Select a pumpkin with a soft rind, if possible. Prepare and cook it in the same manner as winter squash. It may be used as a vegetable or made into pies.

Creamed Turnips

Scrub, pare, and cut turnips into half-inch dice. Cook each pint of prepared turnips with at least one quart of boiling salted water, in the cooker, for from one and one-half to three hours or more. When tender, drain them, reserving enough of the water to make one cupful of Sauce for Vegetables for each pint of turnips.

Mashed Turnip

Scrub and pare the turnips and cut them into pieces. Cook each pint of turnip with at least one quart of boiling salted water in the cooker for from one and one-half hours to three hours or more. When tender, drain and mash them in a colander and add to each pint one teaspoonful of salt, one-fourth teaspoonful of pepper, and two table-spoonfuls or more of butter. Serve very hot.

Italian Chestnuts

1 qt. chestnuts

1 1/2 qts. water

2 teaspoons salt

Shell and blanch the nuts by the directions given on page 189. Bring them to a boil with salted water, put them in a cooker for from two to four hours. Press them through a potato ricer or serve them whole, adding a little butter if desired. One quart of nuts will make about one pint when shelled and blanched.

Serves four or five persons.

Brussels Sprouts

1 qt. sprouts

2 or more qts. water

Salt Pepper

Butter

Wash the sprouts, bring them to a boil in salted water; put them into the cooker for from one to two hours, drain them and add salt, pepper, and butter to taste.

Serves six or seven persons.

Mushrooms

Creamed Mushrooms

Wash the mushrooms, cut them in slices if they are large, bring them to a boil in enough salted water to nearly cover them. It should take about a pint for each quart of mushrooms. Set the pan or pail in a cooker-pail of boiling water and put it into the cooker for from two to six hours. When it is nearly time to serve them, drain the water off, reserving three-fourths of a cupful to use in making one and one-half cupfuls of Sauce for Vegetables, or White Sauce.

Fricasseed Mushrooms

Wash the mushrooms and dry them thoroughly on a towel. Let them stand on the towel some time before cooking them, so that they may drain dry. Fry them in butter till they are brown in a cooker-pail or pan, and make one and one-half cupfuls of Brown Sauce for each quart of mushrooms, using any liquor that may have come from them, and water for the liquid of the sauce. Pour this sauce over the mushrooms. If a small quantity of mushrooms is being cooked, stand the pail or pan in a large cooker-pail of boiling water. Put them into a cooker for two hours or more.

Macaroni

Macaroni Italienne

1 cup macaroni in one-inch pieces 1 pt. stewed and strained tomatoes I cup stock or water I medium-sized onion

4 cloves 1 small bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar 1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 cup cheese, grated or shaved

Soak the macaroni in cold water for one hour; stick the cloves into the onion. Drain the macaroni, put it into a pan or pail, add the other ingredients, except the cheese, and, when boiling, set the pan or pail into a cooker-pail of boiling water and put it into a cooker for two hours.

Remove the onion and bay leaf and add the cheese. If it cannot be served as soon as the cheese is melted, slip the pail back into the cooker.

Serves five or six persons.

Macaroni

1/3 lb. macaroni (1 cup broken in pieces)

1 qt. water 1 teaspoon salt

Break the macaroni into one-inch pieces. Soak it in cold water for one hour, then drain it; or cook it without soaking. Drop it into the boiling water, let it boil, and put it into the hay-box for one and one-half hours if soaked, or two hours if not soaked. Stand the pail or pan in a cooker-pail of boiling water while in the hay-box. Macaroni will break to pieces if cooked too long. When tender, drain it in a colander and serve it plain, seasoned to taste with salt and pepper, or make it into Macaroni and Cheese or Macaroni and Ham.

Serves five or six persons.

Macaroni Milanaise

1 cup macaroni 1 small onion

2 cloves

1 pt. tomatoes, stewed and strained

1 cup water 1 tablespoon butter 1/2 cup grated cheese 6 sliced mushrooms 1/4 cup smoked tongue or ham, cut in strips

Break the macaroni, soak it for one hour, then drain it, and put it, with the other ingredients. except the last three, into a pan or pail. When boiling, set the pan into a cooker-pail of boiling water and put it into a cooker for two hours. Remove the onion and cloves, add the last three ingredients, and when the cheese is melted it is ready to serve. If it cannot be served at once replace it in the cooker.

Serves six or seven persons.