How To Prepare Fruit For Children

A far more wholesome way than in pies or puddings, is to put apples sliced, or plums, currants, gooseberries, etc, into a stone jar, and sprinkle among them as much sugar as necessary. Set the jar in an oven or on a hearth, with a teacupful of water to prevent the fruit from burning; or put the jar into a saucepan of water till its contents be perfectly done. Slices of bread or some rice may be put into the jar, to eat with the fruit.

Rice And Apples

Core as many nice apples as will fill the dish; boil them in light syrup; prepare a quarter of a pound of rice in milk, with sugar and salt; put some of the rice in the dish, and put in the apples, and fill up the intervals with rice, and bake it in the oven till it is a fine color.

A Nice Apple Cake For Children

Grate some stale bread, and slice about double the quantity of apples; butter a mould, and line it with sugar paste, and strew in some crumbs, mixed with a little sugar; then lay in apples with a few bits of butter over them, and so continue till the dish is full; cover it with crumbs, or prepared rice; season with cinnamon and sugar. Bake it well Fruits that have seeds are much healthier than stone fruits. But all fruits are better, for very young children, if baked or cooked in some manner, und eaten with bread. The French always eat bread with raw fruit. Apples and winter pears are very excellent food for children, indeed, for almost any person in health; but best when eaten at breakfast or dinner. If taken late in the evening fruit often proves injurious. The old saying -apples are gold in the morning, silver at noon, and lead at night, is pretty near the truth. Both apples and pears are often good and nutritious when baked or stewed, for those delicate constitutions that cannot bear raw fruit. Much of the fruit gathered when unripe, might be rendered fit for food by preserving it in sugar.

Ripe Currants are excellent food for children. Mash the fruit, sprinkle with sugar, and with good bread let them eat of this fruit freely.

Blackberry Jam

Gather the fruit in dry weather; allow half a pound of good brown sugar to every pound of fruit; boil the whole together gently for an hour, or till the blackberries are soft, stirring and mashing them well. Preserve it like any other jam, and it will be found very useful in families, particularly for children - regulating their bowels, and enabling you to dispense with cathartics. It may be spread on bread, or on puddings, instead of butter: and even when the blackberries are bought it is cheaper than butter. In the country every family should preserve, at least, half a peck of blackberries.

Bread And Milk

Cut about two ounces of any white bread into small thin slices, and put them into a small basin or a large breakfast cup. In a little saucepan (only used for that purpose) have half? pint of milk; when upon the point of boiling, pour over the bread; cover over the cup five minutes, and it is ready for use.

Porridge

When children are delicate, porridge is often preferable to bread and milk. Put two table-spoonfuls of grits or oatmeal in the milk saucepan, which moisten with half a pint of milk; let it boil ten minutes, keeping well stirred, add a small piece of butter and a little sugar, and it is ready for use.

Meats For Children

Mutton, lamb, and poultry, are the best. Birds and the white meat of fowls, are the most delicate food of this kind that can be given. These meats should be slowly cooked, and no gravy, if made rich with butter, should be eaten by a young child. Never give children hard, tough, half cooked meats, of any kind.

Vegetables For Children, Eggs, Etc

Their rice ought to be cooked in no more water than is necessary to swell it; their apples roasted, or stewed with no more water than is necessary to steam them; their vegetables so well cooked as to make them require little butter, and less digestion; their eggs boiled slow and soft. The boiling of their milk ought to be directed by the state of their bowels: if flatulent or bilious, a very little curry-powder may be given in their vegetables with good effect - such as turmeric and the warm seeds (not hot peppers), are particularly useful in such cases.

Potatoes And Peas

Potatoes, particularly some kinds, are not easily digested by children; but this is easily remedied by mashing them very fine, and seasoning them with sugar and a little milk. When peas are dressed for children, let them be seasoned with mint and sugar, which will take off the flatulency. If they are old, let them be pulped as the skins are perfectly indigestible by children's or weak stomachs. Never give them vegetables less stewed than would pulp through a colander.

Children's Diet For The Day (Soyer)

Bread and milk for breakfast at eight; the dinner at one, as follows throughout the week: roast mutton and apple pudding; roast beef and currant pudding, baked apples; boiled mutton with turnips, after which rice or vermicelli pudding; occasionally with beef, suet dumplings, plain and with currants in them, or pease pudding; or if unwell, a little veal or chicken-broth, or beef-tea. When in business, the first three years the children used to dine with us at one, at a side-table with their nurse. They then had a little plain meat, cut small in their plates, with potatoes, pieces of bread, and gravy, after which, three times a week, plain rice, bread, or other plain pudding, or rhubarb or apple tart; and, at five o'clock, their bread and milk again, previous to going to bed.

But 1 should recommend for nurserymaid and all:

First, about two pounds of mutton, well cooked, but with the real gravy of the meat in it, which will require about one hour before a moderate fire; dredge it ten minutes before being done; when taken up and in the dish, sprinkle a little salt over the meat, and pour over three or four spoonfuls of hot water to make a little light gravy.

Or, a few slices of roast beef, or a small piece roasted on purpose; after which a very plain currant pudding; or, occasionally, a little pickled pork, with pease pudding; or roast pork, with baked apples; and now and then a little salt beef, but very well boiled, with suet dumplings; and occasionally, for change, either bread, vermicelli, or tapioca puddings; in case of illness, and with the approbation of the doctor, veal, mutton, or chicken-broth, sago, gruel, panada, etc.