The Washington times., 1920-08-18
zzH IHE WASHINGTON ~IiMEs MAGAZINE PAGE. =
Variety in
the Diet
BY Loretto @. Lynch,

A RE you getting into a rut? Do
~ you md yourself purchasing
and cooking the same old
thlng every day. month in and
month out? And do you also feel
that. after all is said and done. your
enorts are not appreciated2 II so.
your meals lack variety And hu-
man nature seems TO crave variety
In order to be happy. Even the best
food. with the greatest food value,
is not desirable without variety.
many housewives get into the
habit OF serving bread, meat and
potatoes Tor the principal meal OF
the day. And often IL is the same
meat In the same old way.
Many women are not Acquainted
with the hank steak and it's possi- .
oilitles. Here the usual bread
served at the meal may be made
into a stuffng for the steak, and
spaghetti or tea-biscuit served.
To prepare a flank steak, wipe IL
with damp cloth and trim IL IL IL
seems a bit ragged Moisten two
cups OF soft bread crumbs with
some melted butter or other fat or
oil. Finely mince a small onion, a
tablespoon OF parsely and a couple
OF stalks ofscelery. Season highly
with salt, pepper and paprika. Mix
with the crumbs and spread over
the steak Then roll and Tie Sc
curely with a cord. Place in the
roasting pan and drench with -four.
+ Slice an onion and place IL on the
meat. Put some bits of fat in the
pan.
When the hour in the pan has
nicely Drowned. add a cup of boil
Ing water. Baste occasionally and
roast. allowing fifteen minutes for
each pound the meat weighs. Serve
with a nice thick gravy and boiled
carrots, small white turnips or any
>other combination of vegetables
that seems desirable. Tomatoes may
be introduced into the gravy either
before or during the cooking process.
Then there is the matter of pota-
toes. 1t is so easy to get into the
habit of serving potatoes in tho
same old style, day in and day out
Don't we all know of housewives
who serve boiled or mashed pota-
toes day in and day out until the
best potatoes that grow pail?
Yet. with very little extra trouble
one can introduce much variety into
the potato course. How the men
folks do love French fried potatoes!
These are a little more trouble to
prepare, to be sure, but then you
might serve them with some dish
that is comparatively easy of prep
sration.
For instance, broiled steak or
chops which only take ten or fifteen
minutes to prepare will be thrice
welcome il you serve French fries
with them. To prepare them. scrub
and pare three or four potatoes.
Cut them into strips. The shops
are showing a pleasing variety Of
tools for cutting these potatoes
quickly into pieces of uniform size.
Dry the strips carefully between
folds of soft towel If you have
not much fat, put what you have
into the top of double boiler
having a bottom rather narrow in
diameter. This will make the fat
deeper than If you spread it on a
wide pan. Lower the potato strips
gently into the fat after it has
ceased bubbling and become still.
When done. remove with wire
egg-beater. let drain few moments
and sprinkle with salt. Reheat the
fat after each frying and be careful
not to attempt to cook too many at
one time. as this tends to cool the
fat below the proper temperature.
Potatoes absorb fat if they are put
into fat that is too cool. This not
only makes the potatoes difficult to
digest. but il also causes you to lose
the fat that should be available for
use in frying at many other times.
Then there is the woman who
never varies the dessert or the
drink she serves. There may be
coffee at every meal. Vary 1t by
making it sometimes hot and some
times cold. Serve cocoa hot or
chilled. or hot or iced-tea ocCa-
sionally.