The Healthy Life Cook Book Part 2

Either the red, Egyptian lentils, or the green German lentils may be used for this soup. If the latter, soak overnight. Stew the lentils very gently in the water for 2 hours, taking off any sc.u.m that rises. Well wash the vegetables, slice them, and add to the soup. Stew for 2 hours more. Then rub through a sieve, or not, as preferred. Add the lemon juice, herb powder, and b.u.t.ter (nut or dairy), and serve.

8. MACARONI SOUP.

1/2 lb. small macaroni, 2 qts. water or vegetable stock, 3/4 lb. onions or 1 lb. tomatoes.

Break the macaroni into small pieces and add to the stock when nearly boiling. Cook with the lid off the saucepan until the macaroni is swollen and very tender. (This will take about an hour.) If onions are used for flavouring, steam separately until tender, and add to soup just before serving. If tomatoes are used, skin and cook slowly to pulp (without water) before adding. If the vegetable stock is already strong and well-flavoured, no addition of any kind will be needed.

9. PEA SOUP.

Use split peas, soak overnight, and prepare according to recipe given for lentil soup.

10. POTATO SOUP.

Peel thinly 2 lbs. potatoes. (A floury kind should be used for this soup.) Cut into small pieces, and put into a saucepan with enough water to cover them. Add three large onions (sliced), unless tomatoes are preferred for flavouring. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the potatoes are cooked to a mash. Rub through a sieve or beat with a fork. Now add 3/4 pint water or 1 pint milk, and a little nutmeg if liked. Boil up and serve.

If the milk is omitted, the juice and pulp of two or three tomatoes may be added, and the onions may be left out also.

11. P.R. SOUP.

1 head celery, 4 large tomatoes, 4 qts. water, 4 large English onions, 3 tablespoons coa.r.s.ely chopped parsley.

This soup figures often in the diet sheet of the Physical Regenerationists for gouty and rheumatic patients, but in addition to being a valuable medicine on account of its salts, it is the most delicious clear soup that I know of. To make: chop the ingredients to dice, cover closely, and simmer until the quant.i.ty of liquid is reduced to one half.

12. P.R. BEEF TEA SUBSt.i.tUTE.

1/4 pint pearl barley, 1/4 pint red lentils, 2 qts. cold bran water, flavouring.

To make the bran water, boil 1 measure of bran with 4 measures of water for not less than 30 minutes. Simmer together the barley, lentils, and bran water for 3 hours. To flavour, put 4 ozs. b.u.t.ter or 3 ozs. nutter into a pan with 1 lb. sliced onions. Shake over fire until brown, but do not let them burn or the flavour of the soup will be spoilt. Add these to the stock at the end of the first hour. Any other vegetable liked may be chopped to dice and added.

Tomato may be subst.i.tuted for the onion if preferred and no fat used.

Strain through a hair sieve, and serve the clear liquid after boiling up.

13. SAGO SOUP.

6 ozs. sago, 2 qts. stock, juice of 1 lemon.

Wash the sago and soak it for 1 hour. Put it in a saucepan with the lemon juice and stock, and stew for 1 hour.

14. TOMATO SOUP.

1 qt. water or white stock, 1 lb. tomatoes.

Slice the tomatoes, and simmer very gently in the water until tender. Rub through a sieve. Boil up and serve.

15. VEGETABLE STOCK.

To 4 qts. water allow 1 pint lentils, or rather less than 1 pint haricots.

In addition allow 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 onion, and 1/4 head of celery.

Clean apple peelings and cores, and any fresh vegetable cuttings may also be added with advantage. For white stock, use the white haricot beans, rice, or macaroni in place of lentils or brown haricots. Soak the pulse overnight, and simmer with the vegetables for 4 hours. Any stock not used should be emptied out of the stock pot, and boiled up afresh each day.

III.--SAVOURY DISHES.

The recipes following are intended to be used as subst.i.tutes for meat, fish, etc.

The body needs for its sustenance water, mineral salts, [Footnote: I allude to mineral salts as found in the vegetable kingdom, not to the manufactured salts, like the ordinary table salt, etc., which are simply poisons when taken as food.] fats and oils, carbo-hydrates (starch and sugar), and proteids (the flesh and muscle-forming elements). All vegetable foods (in their natural state) contain all these elements, and, at a pinch, human life might be supported on any one of them. I say "at a pinch" because if the nuts, cereals and pulses were ruled out of the dietary, it would, for most people, be deficient in fat and proteid.

Wholewheat, according to a physiologist whose work is one of the standard books on the subject, is a perfectly-proportioned, complete food. Hence it is possible to live entirely on good bread and water.

Nuts are the best subst.i.tute for flesh meat. Next in order come the pulses. After these come wholewheat and unpolished rice. Both nuts and pulses contain, like flesh meat, a large quant.i.ty of proteid in a concentrated form. No one needs more than 1/4 lb. per day, at most, of either. (Eggs, of course, are a good meat subst.i.tute, so far as the percentage of proteid is concerned.)

1. ALMONDS, ROASTED.

Take any quant.i.ty of sh.e.l.led almonds and blanch by pouring boiling water on them. The skins can then be easily removed. Lay the blanched almonds on a tin, and bake to a pale yellow colour. On no account let them brown, as this develops irritating properties. To be eaten with vegetable stews and pies. (That is, with any stew or pie which contains neither nuts nor pulse.)

2. CHESTNUTS, BOILED.

An excellent dish for children and persons with weak digestive powers. The chestnuts need not be peeled or p.r.i.c.ked, but merely well covered with cold water and brought to the boil, after which they should boil for a good half hour. Drain off the water and serve hot. They may also be boiled, peeled, mashed and eaten with hot milk.

3. CHESTNUT SAVOURY.

Boil for 15 minutes. Sh.e.l.l. Fry in a very little nut fat for 10 minutes.

Barely cover with water, and stew gently until tender. When done, add some chopped parsley and thicken with chestnut flour or fine wholemeal. For those who prefer it, milk and dairy b.u.t.ter may be subst.i.tuted for the water and nut fat.

4. CHESTNUT PIE.

1 lb. chestnuts, 1/2 lb. tomatoes, short crust.

Boil the chestnuts for half an hour. Sh.e.l.l. Skin the tomatoes and cut in slices. Well grease a small pie-dish, put in the chestnuts and tomatoes in alternate layers. Cover with short crust (pastry recipe No. 3) and bake until a pale brown. Serve with parsley, tomato, or white sauce.

5. CHESTNUT RISSOLES.

1 lb. chestnuts, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, cornflour and water or 1 egg.