Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 April 1912 — The KITCHEN CABINET [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The KITCHEN CABINET

aj3 HE common things of life are all so dear. The waKlng in the warm half gloom To find again the old familiar room. The scents and sights and sounds that never tire. The homely work, the plans, the lilt of baby’s laugh. The crackle of the open fire; The waiting, then the footsteps coming near. The opening door, the handclasp and the kiss. Is heaven not. after all, the now and here? The common things of life are all so dear. —Anon.

THE FIVE-CENT NAVY BEAN. The savory odors of the old-time baked beans have come down to us through several generations, and to hear of the nutty beans baked in the old brick ovens and served with the brown loaf and sweet blocks of homefattened pork makes us long for the experience of just cne taste. Those aromas floated all Saturday through the old-fashioned kitchen and made the young folks so hungry that they couldn’t wait until Sunday morning for the luring dish, but must needs dip Into it for supper; but this did not take away the relish for it when it appeared the next morning. Baked beans are fully as popular today as they were in grandfather’s time, yet with our complicated existence we find them harder to digest them than did our forefathers, who lived a simpler and more active life The skin of the bean is the indigestible part which the digestive juices cannot dissolve, so that if the skins are removed, as they are by the process of soup-making, they are much easier digested. When beans are combined with other foods, they are more easily digested than when used in large amounts alone. Left-over beans may by the thrifty housewife be changed into very palatable and nourishing dishes. The length qf time for soaking beans depends upon the age; the older and drier they are the more soaking they need. When the beans show the skin shriveled and broken they are ready to be put with the pork to bake.'

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