Today’s menu comes from Ida Bailey Allen’s Double-Quick Cooking for the Part-time Homemaker. The chapter titled “Time Saving Family Luncheons and Dinners” includes a week’s worth of menus and recipes for both lunch and dinner. Lunch menus also give suggestions for carried lunches and variations for the homemaker’s midday meal.
I was really excited to try the lemon rice pudding with apple whip sauce but was a little worried since my last few puddings haven’t turned out very well. I’m happy to say that today’s menu was a success!
I used the “Fifth Day” luncheon menu. I did switch the luncheon and the dinner soups because we still are having shortages of certain ingredients.
Luncheon Menu
- Spinach Soup (celery in the original menu–I switched this)
- Toasted Peanut Butter Sandwiches
- Lemon Rice Pudding
- Tea for adults
- milk for children
Spinach Soup
- 1 lb chopped raw spinach or 1/2 pkg frosted spinach
- 1 qt boiling water
- 2 bouillon cubes OR 1 tsp brewer’s yeast extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp enriched flour
- 1 tbsp butter or margarine
- 1/2 c light cream or evaporated milk
Combine spinach and water and boil 10 minutes. Add the bouillon cubes or extract, salt, pepper, and the flour stirred smooth with the butter. Stir until boiling, then gradually stir in the cream or evaporated milk. Serve as is, or sieve. Serves 4-6.
Note: We used raw spinach, bouillon cubes, and evaporated milk.
Lemon Rice Pudding
- 2 c cooked rice
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 c sugar OR 1/3 c honey
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 c milk
- juice and rind 1/2 lemon
Mix the ingredients in the order given. Pour into a shallow oiled pudding dish. Set in a pan of hot water and bake slowly in a moderate oven, 350°F until firm in the center, about 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold with melted jelly or Apple Whip Sauce.
Note: We put the full amount of sugar in, but then added a drizzle of honey, as well. It took much longer than 30 minutes to bake. It was more like 2.5 hours before the center was firm and it probably could have stayed in the oven a while longer.
Apple Whip Sauce
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 c powdered sugar OR 1 tbsp honey
- 1 c grated raw apple
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Gradually whip in the sweetening, apple, and lemon juice. Serve at once with puddings, or in place of whipped cream on gelatin desserts.
Note: We used powdered sugar. This really needs to be served immediately or it begins to separate.
Results
The spinach soup was warm and creamy. If you like spinach, chances are you’ll enjoy this soup. It’s not incredibly filling, so I was appreciative of the toasted peanut butter sandwiches. I thought the nuttiness and slight crunch of the toasted sandwiches went well with the soup.
The lemon rice pudding with apple whip sauce was delicious. I was surprised by how long it took to bake compared to what the recipe suggested it would take. It took so long after the rest of the meal that I lost the daylight I needed to take pictures and actually ran outside to take them in what light was left. Artificial lighting at night often makes my pictures too shadowy. I think you can still see what it looked like, though. It was creamy and lightly lemony. The sauce tasted more like apple juice than I expected. It was refreshing and sweet. I liked the pudding equally with or without the sauce.
I’m happy the lemon rice pudding turned out well. This was a nice menu and I’d recommend all of it. I think the soup was a handy recipe for a home front housewife. The spinach could have come from a Victory garden, helping to cut costs. All of the recipes include options in their ingredient lists so you can customize them to work with whatever is in your pantry. I found this helpful today, and I know it was helpful then.
Stay safe and well. Let me know if you try any of these recipes.
History in the Kitchen 