Chapter 2

Method--The milk should be freshly sour to get the best flavor. This is best obtained by adding a little sour milk to five or six times the amount of sweet milk. It should be kept in a warm place (the back of the stove) until the curd of the milk is thick and smooth and the whey is watery and has risen to the top. Drain in a cheese cloth bag until dry. Add cream (or butter) and salt. If the process needs to be hurried stir into the milk a cup full of nearly boiling water. Leave to settle before draining. As the cheese is very rich in protein it easily becomes tough by overheating. For the same reason it is very nourishing.

THE CONTINUED SUCCESS of a medicine depends entirely upon its merit. For nearly fifty years Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound has been demonstrating its worth among women as a valuable medicine for the treatment of female ills, and the tremendous volume of letters on file in the Pinkham laboratory at Lynn, Massachusetts, from grateful women in all parts of the United States and Canada is ample proof of its merit.

"A LOT OF GOOD" "I had female troubles for two years. I always had a headache and a pain in my side, and sometimes I felt so weak that I could not do my work. A friend advised me to take Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound and I have taken six bottles of it. It has done me a lot of good and I am still taking it. I will tell my friends of your medicine and hope they will try it." MRS. CAMILLE DesROCHE, Miscouche, Prince Edward's Island.

CAKE-MAKING Success in cake-making depends on careful combining of ingredients, accurate measurements and careful baking. To make cake light and close in texture, thorough beating is necessary.

Baking--Small and layer cakes require a hot oven for 10 to 20 minutes.

Loaf cakes need a moderate oven from 40 to 60 minutes. In the beginning the oven should be hot enough to cause the cake to rise and then to form a crust which holds the gases. When the cake has risen to its full height decrease the heat so that the cake may finish baking without becoming too brown. If the oven is too hot at first a crust will be formed before the cake is risen. If not hot enough, gas will not be retained in the cake. Either of these conditions will make the cake heavy.

Testing--The cake is baked if, when pressed lightly upon the top in the middle, it springs back again. It usually shrinks from the sides of the pan. A deep cake may be tested with a clean straw.

Methods of work--First grease and flour the pans. Collect all materials and utensils needed and make sure that the oven will be ready. Do this before combining any materials.

WE READ a good deal about "Pre-Natal Care"--the care of the mother before her child is born--and we all agree that a healthy and happy mother is the one to have the best babies.

"SO SMART AND HEALTHY" "When I would get out of bed in the morning I could hardly stand on my feet for weakness and a bearing-down pain. I heard of Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound and tried it with Lydia E. Pinkham's Liver Pills and used Lydia E. Pinkham's Sanative Wash for the white flow, and was doing fine. This was before my little girl was born. She is so smart and healthy and good-natured that I think the Compound must have made her that way." MRS. RICHARD WILLIAMS, Milltown, New Brunswick.

PLAIN CAKE for Loaf or Layer Cake [Illustration]

Ingredients 2 eggs 1 cup sugar 3 teaspoons Oleo or butter 1/2 cup milk 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 cups flour 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method--Beat eggs light, add sugar, butter, milk, salt and all but 2 tablespoons of the flour. Beat well, add vanilla, then add the remainder of the flour with the baking powder, sifted together. Bake in loaf or layer cake pans.

BROWNSTONE CAKE FILLING Ingredients--1/2 cup sugar, 1 square of chocolate, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, a few grains of salt, 1/2 cup of milk.

Method--Mix dry ingredients. Add liquid gradually. Cook in double boiler until thick and creamy.

WEAKNESS MAY SHOW in early girlhood and if attended to at that time and not allowed to develop into serious troubles by carelessness or overwork, girls will grow stronger as they grow older. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is what many mothers give their girls in these early years.

"MY MOTHER-IN-LAW TOLD ME" "I took Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound for female troubles. I would have headaches, backache, pains between my shoulders and under my shoulder-blades, and bad feelings in the lower parts on each side, in the groins. I was sometimes unable to do my work and felt very badly. My mother-in-law told me about the Vegetable Compound and I got some right away. It has done me more good than any other medicine I ever took, and I recommend it to my neighbors." MRS. EDGAR SIMMONS, R.R. No. 2, Pine Grove, Ontario.

SPONGE CAKE [Illustration]

Ingredients 2 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon cold water 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice 1 salt spoon salt 1/2 cup flour

Method--Beat yolks until thick and add sugar gradually. Add water and lemon juice. Sift flour and salt into yolk mixture and beat thoroughly. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites of eggs and bake in a moderate oven.

CRISPETTES Ingredients--2 eggs, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or cocoanut, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Method--Beat eggs very light, add sugar and remaining ingredients. Beat well and drop by tablespoonfuls on a buttered pan 2 inches apart. Bake in a moderately hot oven. Always use a tin pan.

A LITTLE CARE when one is young is not much to pay for good health afterwards. Take Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound for any weakness you may have. This well-known medicine is recommended by mothers to their daughters, by sisters to one another, and by friends and neighbors to the woman whose loved ones are far from her when she needs them most.

"AM PERFECTLY SATISFIED" "When my husband was called back to England in 1914, I took Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound to strengthen me so that I could work. My periods were twice a month and used to make me so weak, but I am able to do my work now and am perfectly satisfied with your medicine. I still get it at the chemist's, and strongly recommend it to any one I hear of suffering as I did." MRS. E. HORNBLOWER, 899 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario.

WAR CAKE [Illustration]

Ingredients 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup water 2 cups raisins 1/3 cup fat 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg 1 teaspoon ground cloves few grains salt.

Method--Boil the above ingredients together for three minutes. Let cool. When cold add 1 teaspoon soda dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water. Add 2 cups flour in which 1 teaspoon baking powder has been sifted. Bake in a moderate oven.

PANTRY HELPS If butter is too hard to serve, heat a bowl with boiling water and turn the empty bowl over the butter. This will not waste or impair the taste of the butter.

ARE YOU INTERESTED in a letter from a woman in South Africa who takes Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound?

"ONE OF YOUR LITTLE BOOKS" "I took Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound for weakness and because I felt run down. I tried a lot of medicine before I tried yours. One day I was standing on my stoop when a boy came up to me and handed me one of your little books. I read the book, and the next day my husband went to a chemist and bought me a bottle of Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound. I have taken the medicine ever since and I feel quite strong and well now as I am on the sixth bottle. I have written to my sister and told her all about the wonders it has done for me, and I am quite willing for you to use my name, as I cannot thank you enough for what it has done for me." MRS. W.F. RUSH, 128 6th Avenue, Mayfair, Fordesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.

CHOCOLATE CAKE [Illustration]

Ingredients 5 tablespoons butter 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/2 cup milk 1-1/2 cups flour 2 squares chocolate 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder.

Method--Cream butter and sugar. Add yolks of eggs beaten until thick, then milk, and all but 2 tablespoons of the flour. Beat thoroughly, add melted chocolate and vanilla. Add remaining flour, salt and baking powder sifted together. Fold in stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Bake in moderate oven.

A PROPRIETARY MEDICINE like everything else that comes before the public, has to prove its merits. The law of the survival of the fittest applies in this field as in others. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound has been used by women for nearly fifty years.

"I KNOW WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN HELPED" "My mother had taken Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, and when I needed something for my periods I took it and got good results. I recommend it to women with any female troubles, and I know other women who have been helped by it." MRS. MAX RETZER, Lumsden, Saskatchewan.

"I used to have very bad pains in my back and sides and often was not fit for work. I tried many medicines before I took yours. I saw Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound advertised in the 'Toronto Globe,' and now that it has helped me I recommend it to all my neighbors." ELIZABETH CAMPBELL, 13 St. Paul St., Lindsay, Ontario.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING [Illustration]

Ingredients 1-1/2 squares chocolate 1 cup sugar 1 cup boiling water

Method--Cut chocolate into small pieces, add sugar and water and stir until blended. Boil until a soft ball forms when dropped into ice-water. Cool. Beat until creamy and spread on cake.

WHITE FROSTING

Ingredients 1 egg white 1 cup confectioner's sugar 1/2 teaspoon flavoring

Method--Beat the white of egg until stiff. Stir in the sugar and flavoring and beat until creamy.

WHEN A MAN comes home from work at night, he wants to find his home clean and comfortable, his supper ready, his children happy and his wife smiling a welcome to him. These are only natural feelings and when things are the reverse and he has to help do the work, he looks for the cause of the trouble and its remedy. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound will help women keep strong and well.

"WITH MY HUSBAND'S HELP" "I used Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound for pains across the small of my back. They bothered me so badly that I could do my work only with my husband's help. One day we saw the 'ad' in our paper telling what Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is doing for women so I began to take it. It has helped me wonderfully. I am feeling fine, do all my housework and washing for seven in the family. I had been irregular too, and now I am all right. I am telling my friends what it has done for me and am sure it will do good for others. I will stand up for Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound any time." MRS. WM. JUHNKE, Foster, Oregon

MOCHA FROSTING [Illustration]

Ingredients 3 tablespoons butter 1 cup confectioner's sugar 2 tablespoons cold boiled coffee 2 tablespoons cocoa 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method--Cream the butter and sugar, add the remaining ingredients and enough more sugar to make it creamy.

Plain icing may be made by moistening confectioner's sugar with milk or water (either hot or cold) and adding flavoring. Either this or white frosting may be used as a foundation for nuts or chopped fruit. Orange frosting may be made by moistening the sugar with orange juice.

HOWEVER BUSY a woman is she always finds time to read the daily papers. And she may read the Bargains first and the Weather Report last, but she always reads the testimonial letters advertising Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound. She wants to know what experience other women have had with this great medicine.

"WHEN MY DAUGHTER WAS THIRTEEN" "When my daughter was thirteen and until she was fifteen she suffered every month so that she could hardly move around the house and when she would have the pains in school she would have to be carried home. She also had headache, dizzy and faint spells, and soreness in her back. I saw your advertisement in the 'Hamilton Spectator' and got Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound for her. She does not have the least bit of trouble now, and we both recommend your medicine. She works in a candy-shop now and seems well and strong. I give you permission to publish this letter as a testimonial." MRS. I.P. CLAUSE, 83 Oxford St., Hamilton, Ontario.

LEMON PIE WITH MERINGUE [Illustration]

Ingredients 3/4 cup sugar 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1 cup boiling water 3 tablespoons lemon juice and grated rind 1 tablespoon butter 2 egg yolks

Method--Mix sugar and corn starch thoroughly, pour boiling water over them, stirring constantly. Cook until thick and until starch is well done. Add lemon juice and butter. Cool slightly and add egg yolks. Pour into plate lined with pastry and bake until paste is cooked. Or pour into crust already baked.

MERINGUE Ingredients--2 egg whites beaten stiff, 2 to 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar, a few drops of vanilla. Add sugar gradually to stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Add flavoring. Spread over top of pie and cook until golden brown in a slow oven.

"MAN MAY WORK from sun to sun, but woman's work is never done." Women continually overdo and drift along from bad to worse. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is a standard medicine for women's troubles.

"WE HAVE TO DO OUR OWN WORK" "I saw in the newspapers where Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound was doing so much good to women, and as I needed something I began to take it. I used to be very sick, but I am not now. I live on a farm in the homestead district and we have to do all our own work. I tell all the women I see what Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound does for me. I think it saves me from going to a doctor and is the best medicine women can take." MRS. WILLIAM COULTAS, Fork River, Manitoba.

PIE CRUST [Illustration]

Ingredients 1-1/2 cups flour 3 tablespoons lard 1/2 teaspoon salt cold water 3 tablespoons butter

Method--Wash butter and squeeze until water and salt has been removed. Chill the lard then chop it into the flour, with two knives. Add salt and moisten it to a dough with cold water. (Ice water is not essential but is desirable in summer.) Toss on a floured board and roll out. Fold to make three layers and put the butter between the layers. Turn half way round, pat, and roll out. Cut off the sides of it and roll into shape for the plate. Roll the center for the upper crust, cutting slits in it to let out steam. Fold the upper crust under the edge of the lower crust. Bake in a moderately hot oven 40-50 minutes. Pastry may be used immediately or chilled before using. It must not come in contact with the ice.

IF THERE IS ONE THING more than another that a woman should care about it is her health. She may be cheated in her happiest hopes because she does not know that Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound can be safely taken by all women.

"MY BACK SEEMED THE WORST" "I was so weak that I could hardly do anything and my back seemed the worst. I read so much about Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound for women that I thought I would try it. I feel that it did help me. I am looking after my own home now and seem quite strong again. I have recommended your Vegetable Compound to quite a few friends and you can use my name if you wish to do so." MRS. H. PORTER, Box 440, Meaford, Ontario.

APPLE PIE [Illustration]

Ingredients 4 or 5 sour apples 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 tablespoon grated nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon lemon juice few gratings lemon rind 1 tablespoon butter

Method--Line pie-plate with pastry. Pare, core, and cut apples into eighths. Put row of slices around the plate 1/2 inch from the edge working towards the center until the plate is covered. Then pile on the remainder. Mix sugar, nutmeg, salt, lemon juice and grated rind and sprinkle over the apple. Dot all with butter. Wet the edges of the under crust, cover with the upper crust and press together. Bake for 40-45 minutes in a moderate oven.

DO YOU FEEL broken-down, nervous and weak sometimes? Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is excellent to take at such a time. It always helps and if taken regularly and persistently will relieve this condition.

"AS IF I MUST SCREAM" "I cannot speak too highly of what Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound has done for me. I was a nervous wreck and I just had to force myself to do my work. Even the sound of my own children playing made be feel as if I must scream if they did not get away from me. I could not even speak right to my husband. The doctor said that he could do nothing for me owing to my condition. My husband's grandmother advised me to take Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound. I started it right away and everyone noticed what a different woman I was in a short time. I was able to do my work once more, and it was a pleasure, not a burden." MRS. EMILY DAVIS, 721 McGee St., Winnipeg, Manitoba.

BAKED FRUIT PUDDING [Illustration]

Prepare fruit--apples, peaches,--and sprinkle with sugar, also with cinnamon or nutmeg if apples are used. Place fruit in baking-dish to within one inch of the top.

CRUST

Ingredients 1 cup flour 1 salt spoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons butter 1/3 cup milk

Method--Mix and sift the dry ingredients, cut in butter with knife and add milk. Roll the crust to fit the baking-dish, keeping it 1/2 inch thick and place over the fruit. Press edges of the crust to the rim of the dish and make a small opening in the crust near the center. Bake in a moderate oven 30 minutes. Serve with vanilla sauce.

THE RIGHT ROAD to Health is what every ailing woman is looking for and when one woman gets on that road she is always ready to direct some other woman to it.

"IT HAD HELPED MY SISTER" "I was a sufferer for three years, not able to do my housework. My husband was discouraged for I was no better and had the doctor all this time and nothing had helped me. I was always sleepy, had no appetite and suffered with my left side. My mother, in England, recommended Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound because it had helped my sister, so I have been taking it. I am now able to do my housework and I cannot praise your Vegetable Compound too highly, as I have great hopes for the future. I will tell anyone who writes to me what good it has done me." MRS. HENRY MASSON, St. Henry P.O., Montreal.

VANILLA SAUCE [Illustration]

Ingredients 1 cup boiling water 2 teaspoons corn-starch 1 tablespoon butter 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla little salt

Method--Mix the corn-starch with a little cold water and stir into the hot water, boiling five minutes. Put butter, sugar, flavoring and salt into a bowl and pour the thoroughly cooked cornstarch over it, stirring until the sugar and the butter are dissolved.

LEMON JELLY Ingredients--2 oranges, 1 lemon, the rind of one orange grated fine, 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon gelatine, 2 cups boiling water.

Method--Mix the juices and the fruit gratings with the sugar. Soak 1 tablespoon gelatine in 1 cup of cold water until soft. Stir in 2 cups of boiling water and add the sugar and fruit juices. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved, then pour into a mold to harden.

"WOMEN'S TROUBLES AND WOMEN'S WORK" "I was weak and had some troubles women often have and usually I was unfit to do my work. I saw your advertisement and decided to try Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound. I am very much pleased with the result and recommend your Vegetable Compound whenever I have a chance." MRS. WANDLESS, 360 Church St., Fredericton, New Brunswick.

"I have taken Lydia E. Pinkham's medicines and they have done me a lot of good. Since then I have been able to do my housework, and I have a lot to do as we live on a farm. Seeing your advertisement in the papers was what made me think of writing to you." MRS. WM. B. KEIVER, Upper New Horton, New Brunswick.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING [Illustration]

Ingredients 2 cups bread crumbs 4 cups of milk (or 2 of water and 2 of evaporated milk) 2 squares chocolate 2/3 cup sugar 1 salt spoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla

Method--Soak bread crumbs in milk until soft. Melt the chocolate over hot water and add the sugar to it. Beat eggs well and add with the remaining ingredients to the crumbs and milk. Mix well and bake in a buttered pudding-dish in a moderate oven, until thick and firm. A Meringue (see page 23) of egg white and sugar may be spread over the top about 15 minutes before it is done, or it can be served with cream, hard, or foamy sauce.

Hard Sauce--1/3 cup butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/3 teaspoon lemon extract, 2/3 teaspoon vanilla. Cream the butter, add sugar gradually, and flavoring.

LACK OF ENERGY or 'pep' makes a woman feel old while she is yet young in years and general appearance.

"NO SERIOUS TROUBLE" "I had no disease only I felt tired and had headache very often and thought I needed a tonic, so I got Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound and the Liver Pills. I am now on the third bottle and have not had headache for over two weeks. Of course I have not had any serious trouble at all." MRS. M.A. WATSON, Victoria St., Cobourg, Ontario.

"I was weak and run down, had no appetite and was nervous. The nurse who took care of me told me to try Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, and now I am getting strong. I recommend your medicine to my friends." MRS. D. MAXWELL, R.R. No. 2, Bothwell, Ontario.

CUP CUSTARDS [Illustration]

Ingredients 1 quart milk 4 eggs 4 tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt few grains nutmeg

Method--Scald one quart of rich creamy milk. Beat four egg yolks, add sugar and salt and beat until thick like cream. Beat the four egg whites until foamy, not stiff, mix well with the yolks and sugar and add scalded milk. Stand the cups in a shallow pan, stir the foam down, and fill the cups to overflowing or nearly so. Put hot water in the pan and bake in a hot oven, watching them carefully that they do not scorch. Lay buttered paper over if needed. Test with a knife as soon as they begin to puff up and if the blade comes out clean, not milky, they are done.

DO WOMEN READ our little books which come so regularly to their homes? We feel sure that they are read from cover to cover.

"I SEEMED TO BE SMOTHERING" "I suffered with irregular periods, was weak and run-down, could not eat and had headaches. The worst symptoms were dragging down pains, so bad I sometimes thought I would go crazy and I seemed to be smothering. I was in this condition for two or three years and could not seem to work. I tried all kinds of remedies but received no benefit. I found one of your booklets and felt inclined to try Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound. I received the best results from it and now I keep house and go out to work and am like a new woman." MRS. J.F. PEASEY, 387 King St. West, Toronto, Ontario.

SUBSTITUTES [Illustration]

Use jelly tumblers to bake custards in.

Use soldier's long wristers to make gaiters for a baby; just sew an elastic band at the bottom.

Use cold cream jars to keep pepper, allspice, and other spices in, and label with a sticker or a piece of surgeon's plaster.

Instead of the usual dust cap, cut a three-cornered piece of cheese-cloth, hemming the two sides without selvedge and tie around the head with the point at the back of your neck.

To avoid giving out fresh napkins at every meal, write each name on a spring clothes-pin and pin to the napkin. You can name your face towel in this way when camping out.

When cleaning fish use scissors in place of a knife and if it is to be scaled dip it first into boiling water.

DO YOU KEEP ON TAKING your medicine when you begin to improve, or do you stop taking it, trusting that you are on the road to recovery and no more medicine is needed, even if you have been sick for months and are having your first hours of relief from pains and nervousness?