Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1882 — HOUSEKEEPERS’ HELPS. [ARTICLE]

HOUSEKEEPERS’ HELPS.

Rancid butter can be made sweet if worked thoroughly in sweet milk. Shells can be cleaned by washing them in cold water and then boiling in milk. Powdered borax will drive away ants and cockroaches if sprinkled where they frequent. To cleanse white fur, rub in white flour and hang out of doors for half an hour; repeat two or three times and it will look like new. Equal parts of gum arabic, gum myrrh and blood root, made into a powder and used as a snuff, will remove every trace of catarrh. To make a crape veil look equal to new, and restore the stiffne-s and luster, place it on the grass after the dew has fallen and let it remain about a half hour. Almond Cakes.—One pound of flour,, half a pound of loaf sugar, quarter of a j ound of butter, two ounces of bitter almonds, two < ggs and a table-spoonful of vinegar. Bake in amall cakes. Irish Stew. —Take cold meat tint has been le;t from a roast and cut into small squares; put into a stcwpan with sliced raw potatoes and onions; season with salt and pepper and mix a tablespoonful of flour with two of water and stir in while cooking. Stewed Carrots. —Boil the carrots until they are half done, then scrape into thin slices; put them into a stewpan with as much milk as will hardly cover them, a very little salt and pep per and a small quantity of chopped parsley; simmer.. them until they are perfectly tender, but not broken. When nearly done add a piece of butter rolled in flour. Serve hot. Rice and Afile Pudding.—Boil a cupful of rice for ten minutes; drain it through a hair sieve unt 1 quite diy. Put a cloth into a pudding dish and lay the rice round it like a crust. Cut six apples into quarteis and lay them in the middle of the rice, with a little chopped lemon peel, a couple of cloves arid some sugar. Cover the fruit with t ome rice, tie up tight and boil for an hour. Serve with melted butter sweet ened and poured over it, or with cream. Rice Wafei.es.—For breakfast must be started the day before you wish to eat them; that is, the rice must be boiled. A good way to accomplish this is to make a rice pudding to-day and reserve half a cupful of the cooked rice f r to-morrow's waffles. To this quantity add a pint of sweet milk, the yelks of three eggs, two ounces of butter (or a good sized lump) and a little salt. M>x half a teaspoonful of soda with one pint of flow, beat these all together and bake in waffle irons in a hot oven. Rice Balls.—A novel way to serve rice»is to make it in balls. Proceed in this way: Take one-quarter of a pound of raw rice, wash it and cook it in a farina kettle with one quart of sweet milk, half a cup of sugar, a little salt and nutmeg, or any other flavor you choose. When the rice is tender and the milk is all absorbed in it, take it from the kettle and fill some small teacups with it; press the rice firmly so that the kernels wdll adhere to each other. Before carrying the rice to the table tutn the bills out of the cups on a fruit dish; if taken out with care, they will preserve their shape. Madeira wine, with plenty of sugar in it, makes a nice sauce for the rice.