Oatmeal Gruel

2 tablespoonfuls oatmeal. ¼ teaspoonful salt.

1 quart boiling water.

Boil one hour. Strain, and serve with milk or cream.

No. 2. - Pound half a cup of coarse oatmeal until it is mealy. Put it in a tumbler, and fill the tumbler with cold water. Stir well; let it settle; then pour off the mealy water into a saucepan. Fill again, and pour off the water, and again repeat this, being careful each time not to disturb the sediment in the bottom of the tumbler. Then boil the water twenty minutes. Add one saltspoonful of salt. If very thick, add a little cream or milk. Strain and serve hot. Beef essence or beef tea may be used in place of cream. This is the most palatable and convenient way of making gruel from oatmeal.

Farina Gruel

1 tablespoonful Hecker's farina. 1 saltspoonful salt.

1 cup boiling water. 1 cup milk.

Put all but the milk in the double boiler, and cook fifteen minutes, or until it thickens, then add the milk and boil again. Sweeten to taste.

Farina is a granulated preparation of the inner portion of the finest wheat, freed from bran and floury dust. It contains nitrogenous or flesh-forming material, is easily digested, and is a more nutritive food for invalids and children than cornstarch, sago, arrowroot, or tapioca, which contain only starch.

Cracker Gruel

4 tablesp. powdered cracker. 1 cup boiling water.

1 cup milk.

½ teaspoonful salt.

Boil up once and serve.

Egg Gruel

1 egg (yolk beaten well). 1 teaspoonful sugar.

1 cup hot milk.

White of egg, beaten till foamy.

Flavor with nutmeg or lemon. Good for a violent cold if taken very hot after retiring.

Panada, No. 1

1 cup stoned raisins.

1 quart water.

2 slices toasted bread, or

1 cup bread crumbs.

2 eggs.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

Boil the raisins one hour. Skim out the raisins, and add the bread to the boiling water; boil fifteen minutes, stirring well. Beat the eggs, add the sugar, and pour the panada over them, stirring all the time.

No. 2. - Split two Boston or Graham crackers. Put them into a bowl, sprinkle with sugar and salt, and cover with boiling water. Set the bowl in a pan of boiling water for half an hour, or until the crackers are clear. Slide them out into a hot saucer, and serve very hot with sugar and cream.

No. 3. - Boil one tablespoonful of cracker crumbs five minutes in one cup of boiling water, slightly sweetened, salted, and flavored with lemon.

Oatmeal Mush For Children Or Invalids

1 cup granulated oatmeal. ½ teaspoonful salt.

1 scant quart boiling water.

Put the meal and salt in the double boiler, pour on the boiling water, and cook two or three hours. Remove the cover just before serving, and stir with a fork to let the steam escape. If the water in the lower boiler be strongly salted, the meal will cook more quickly. Serve with sugar, or salt, and cream. Baked sour apples, apple sauce, and apple jelly are delicious eaten with the oatmeal. They should be served with the mush, and the cream and sugar poured over the whole. They give the acid flavor which so many crave in the morning.

Coarse oatmeal is not suitable for any form of water brash, acidity, or bowel irritation. It often causes eruptions on the skin in warm weather.