tips from 1927

**Sara Noel** · 02-07-2009, 01:42 PM

I have an old household tips book from 1927 and thought that I'd periodically share some of the tips and recipes from it. Some are still practical while others are funny because they have modern solutions.

This is from The Butterick book of recipes and household tips.

When baking peppers
When baking stuffed peppers, place them in muffin pans. The peppers will keep their shape much better than when cooked in an ordinary baking dish.

Save trouble in sorting cranberries
Cranberries may be sorted easily by pouring them in a thin layer on a tray or platter and then tilting the platter. The sound berries will roll off easily while the soft or partially spoiled berries tend to stay in one place on the platter.

Vegetable cakes for children
The importance of vegetables in the diet of children is constantly being brought to the attention of mothers. Some of us, however, have great difficulty in getting our children to eat vegetables. My little girl didn't like them until it occurred to me to try serving them like meatballs. Prepare three or four cooked vegetables, cutting them into small pieces or putting them through the food chopper. Add bread crumbs and a beaten egg. Then shape these into little cakes, dust them with flour and brown them in the oven or fry them in a little fat. The child enjoys vegetables prepared this way.

Save the elbows of sweaters
When the elbow of a sweater shows signs of wear, I change the sleeves about so that the worn places come on the inside of the arm. It is necessary to shrink this part of the sleeve, and I do this by covering it with a wet cloth and pressing with a hot iron. While the sweater will not look as it it were new, it may be made to look very well and its usefulness prolonged.

To press seams
A toothbrush used for dampening seams for pressing saves time. The brush opens the seam as it is drawn along and facilitates the work.

**momof2joys** · 02-07-2009, 02:50 PM

These are very interesting....can't wait to read more!!

**Debbie-cat** · 02-07-2009, 02:54 PM

Those are neat Sara! Thanks for sharing!

**Sara Noel** · 02-07-2009, 03:33 PM

I'll add some recipes when I get a chance, too.

Here's one for Apple Fritters

1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp sugar
salt
2 cups flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
apples

To the milk add the well beaten egg yolks and the sugar, then the flour mixed and sifted with the baking powder and the salt. Then fold in the stiffly beaten whites. Add sliced sour apples, being careful to get the batter all over them. Drop by spoonfuls into deep fat and fry.

**Ashie06** · 02-07-2009, 03:45 PM

great thread and those apple fritters sound tasty!

**Persimmon Lace** · 02-07-2009, 03:51 PM

Thank you! I have a 1907 Ladies Home Journal and it has some great things in it!

**Sara Noel** · 02-07-2009, 04:11 PM

I have two framed prints from covers of LHJ (1910 and 1922) in my entryway.

**Sara Noel** · 02-07-2009, 06:36 PM

Save buttering biscuits
If the biscuit dough is rolled quite thin and then folded over, or if one roll is placed on the other before the biscuits are cut and then well buttered, cut and baked, the biscuits will split very uniformly and very little butter is necessary when they are eaten.

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 02-08-2009, 02:30 AM

This is neat, Sara! Thanks!

**Sara Noel** · 02-08-2009, 02:47 PM

Save tearing lettuce leaves
In some varieties of lettuce the leaves grow so closely together that it is almost impossible to separate them without tearing them. By cutting the root end very closely, even cutting it out a little and letting the cold water from the faucet run down into the heart of the lettuce, the leaves can be loosened without being torn.

**Sara Noel** · 02-08-2009, 09:01 PM

Save time in drying sweaters
A sweater can be dried quickly by using an ordinary window screen. Cover the screen with some thin cloth to protect the sweater, then lay the garment flat on the cloth and pat it into shape. Place the screen on two chairs near the stove or register, if possible, being sure that there is a free circulation of air around the screen.

**pollypurebred39** · 02-08-2009, 10:30 PM

Thanks Sara

**Sara Noel** · 02-08-2009, 11:45 PM

Saving line room
In bad weather when clothes are dried inside and you have limited space, string two lines about two and a half feet apart, hang clothes with one corner on one line and the other corner on the other line. In this manner, two lines will accommodate many more clothes.

**Sara Noel** · 02-09-2009, 12:08 PM

To remove a splinter
To remove a splinter, place a wide-mouthed bottle nearly full of hot water over the splinter and press tightly. The suction will draw the flesh down and the steam will remove the splinter.

**Sara Noel** · 02-09-2009, 12:24 PM

Save with holiday plants
A friend who had a new home where the grounds were still undeveloped was delighted with a Christmas gift of perennial plants. The gift was started in the spring before Christmas. They included hollyhocks, larkspur, foxglove, phlox and sweet williams. All of these were raised from seed. As the plants could not be presented at Christmas time, I wrote the names of them on a card, tied it to a small garden hoe and sent it on Christmas day.