1.
Green-Pea Soup.
Roast Shoulder of Veal.
Boiled Potatoes. Asparagus with Eggs.
Cherry Dumplings.

Green-Pea Soup.—One quart shelled pease cooked until tender, one quart milk, two tablespoonfuls butter, one teaspoonful sugar, one tablespoonful flour, salt to taste. Press the pease, after they have been boiled and drained, through a colander; put them back on the fire, and stir into them the milk, boiling hot, thickened with the butter and flour and seasoned with the sugar and salt. Boil up once, and serve.

Asparagus with Eggs.—One bunch asparagus, two hard-boiled eggs, one cup white sauce. Boil the asparagus until tender; cut the stalks into inch lengths, rejecting the hard woody portions; chop the hard-boiled eggs coarsely, and stir with the asparagus into the white sauce, which must be boiling hot. Serve at once.

Cherry Dumplings.—Make a biscuit crust of two cups of flour, a tablespoonful of butter rubbed into it, a little salt, a teaspoonful of baking-powder, and milk enough to make a soft dough. Roll out into a sheet a quarter of an inch thick, and cut into squares about three inches across. Stone the cherries; put a spoonful into the centre of each square of paste; sprinkle with sugar, fold the edges across, and pinch them together. Lay them with the pinched edges downward in a pan, and bake to a light brown. Eat with a hard sauce made as directed in the preceding chapter.

2.
Fish Chowder.
Broiled Lamb Chops. Raw Tomatoes.
Young Onions Stewed.
Strawberry MÉringue.

Fish Chowder.—Two pounds fresh fish, two good-sized potatoes, one cup milk, a quarter of a pound of salt pork, one onion minced, one tablespoonful chopped parsley, enough boiling water to cover all the ingredients after they are in the pot. Cut up the fish, the pork, and the potatoes (which should have been peeled and parboiled) into pieces less than an inch square. Place in a pot or saucepan first a layer of pork, then one of fish strewn with onions and parsley, then one of potatoes; repeat the layers in this order until all the materials are used. Pour in the water, cover closely, and let it cook slowly a full hour. Split and butter half a dozen Boston crackers; let them soak in the cupful of milk over the fire for five minutes; take them out, and lay them in the tureen, and pour the chowder over them. Pass lemon with it.

This chowder is even better the second day than the first, although there is rarely much left over.

Strawberry MÉringue.—Line a pie-dish with puff paste, bake this carefully, and then place in it a thick layer of hulled strawberries; rather small ones are best for this purpose. Sprinkle them with powdered sugar, and heap over them a mÉringue made of the whites of four eggs whipped stiff with half a cup of powdered sugar. Just before putting it in stir lightly into it a cupful of the berries. Set the pie-plate containing the mÉringue in the oven long enough to brown delicately, and eat when perfectly cold.

3.
Asparagus Soup.
Boiled Chicken. Green Pease.
Summer Squash.
Raspberry Pudding.

Asparagus Soup.—Boil a bunch of asparagus until it is very tender. When done, cut off the green tips, and put them aside, and rub the stalks in a colander, getting all of them through that you can. Heat four cups of milk in a double boiler, add the strained asparagus to this, and thicken with a tablespoonful of butter rubbed in one of flour. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add the asparagus tops (which should have been kept hot), and serve.

Raspberry Pudding.—Two cups raspberries (red or black), three cups flour, three eggs, two cups milk, one tablespoonful butter, two teaspoonfuls baking-powder, saltspoonful salt. Beat the eggs very light, and mix with the butter, melted, and the milk. Stir into this the flour sifted with the salt and baking-powder, taking care that the batter does not lump. Dredge the berries with flour, add them to the pudding, and boil this in a plain pudding mould, set in a pot of boiling water, for three hours. Take care that the water does not come over the top of the mould. Serve with hard sauce.

4.
Egg Soup.
Roast Lamb. Mint Sauce.
Beets. Succotash. Green Pease.
Melons.

Egg Soup.—One quart milk, four eggs, one onion sliced, one tablespoonful flour, one tablespoonful butter, salt and pepper to taste. Heat the milk to scalding in a double boiler with the onion. Thicken the milk with the flour and butter, and season to taste. Poach the eggs in boiling water, lay them in the bottom of the tureen, and strain the soup upon them. Simple and nutritious.

Mint Sauce.—Four tablespoonfuls vinegar, one tablespoonful mint chopped very fine, one tablespoonful white sugar, a very little salt and pepper. Pour the vinegar upon the sugar and mint, and let them stand in a cool place a full hour before using. Add the salt and pepper just before sending to table.

For the benefit of those who are sometimes unable to procure the fresh herb, it may be stated that the dried mint sold in bottles is an excellent substitute.

5.
Cheese Soup.
Beef À la Mode.
Fried Cucumbers. Cauliflower. Green Corn.
Fresh Fruit.

Cheese Soup.—One egg; a half-cupful grated cheese; one onion; two cups milk; two cups veal, chicken, or other white stock; one tablespoonful flour; one tablespoonful butter; pepper and salt to taste. Heat the milk and stock with the onion. Remove the latter, and thicken the liquid with the butter and flour rubbed smooth together. Stir in the cheese, pour a little of the soup on the egg beaten light, add this to the soup in the pot, season, and serve immediately. It is a good plan to put a tiny pinch of soda into the milk before adding the cheese.

Beef À la Mode.—Select a good piece of beef from the round, and "plug" it thickly with beef suet or with strips of fat salt pork. Make other incisions into which to crowd a force-meat made of finely chopped salt pork mixed with twice the bulk of bread-crumbs, and seasoned with herbs, allspice, onion, and vinegar. Fasten the meat securely in shape with a stout band of cotton cloth, lay it in a pot, pour over it three cups of boiling water, cover closely, and cook slowly for three hours, or until tender. Turn the meat once. Thicken the gravy left in the pot with browned flour, and pass with the meat.

This piece of meat will be as good cold as it is hot, and makes a welcome piÈce de rÉsistance upon which to rely for lunch or tea.

Fried Cucumbers.—Peel the cucumbers; slice them lengthwise, making about four slices of a cucumber of ordinary size. Lay them in salt and water for an hour, take out, drain, and dry. Dip first in beaten egg, then in cracker-crumbs, and fry as you would egg-plant.

6.
Boiled Cod. Egg Sauce.
Lima Beans. Mashed Potatoes.
Tomatoes. Mayonnaise Dressing.
Baked Peach Pudding.

Baked Peach Pudding.—Two cups flour, one cup milk, one egg, one teaspoonful baking-powder, one tablespoonful butter, saltspoonful salt, eight medium-sized peaches, peeled and stoned. Beat the egg with the milk, stir in the butter, melted, and the flour sifted with the salt and baking-powder. Place the peaches in the bottom of a pudding dish, sprinkle them well with sugar, pour the batter over them, bake the pudding in a quick oven, and eat it before it has time to fall. Serve either hard or liquid sauce with it.