This column encourages reader’s recipe contributions and requests, helpful hints and timely trivia. Simply phone them to 683-7266 or mail them to 527 Philip Road. Thank you!

He we are in the summer of the year, when we have all types of cooking techniques just anxious and ready to be used on our quickly maturing vegetable crops. New recipes are being born, thanks to the efforts of innovative homemakers intent on enticing even more individuals into the world of vegetable consumption. Many youngsters who detest cooked veggies are the same ones who crowd others out when they attend a “dipping party” featuring an array of colorful “finger foods” and bowl after bowl of interesting looking sauces. Portions of fresh vegetables can be offered in unique shapes (suitable for dipping) and appear so enticing that few individuals can resist plunging them into an array of colorful dips just to see how they taste. The manner in which foods are presented can often “spark” their popularity. Some of the same individuals, who will go to great lengths to pick each and every portion of carrots out of vegetable soup, will be the first to help themselves to a slice of carrot cake. Also, little children absorb lots more of our adult conversations than we give them credit for. So if you dislike or have had a bad experience with a certain food in your adult life, there is nothing to be gained by sharing that tiny tidbit of information with a child. Allow him the privilege of arriving at his own conclusions as new foods are introduced into his diet.

For those of you not familiar with watercress, its leaves lend a spicy flavor to a variety of foods, whether it is tucked into sandwiches, used in soups, combined with meats or included in salads. I, for one, thoroughly enjoy it when it is made into:

Watercress Biscuits

In a bowl, combine about a half a cup of finely minced watercress with three cups of prepared biscuit mix and a tablespoon or two of finely grated onions. Stir in about three quarters of a cup of milk to make the dough stiff. Next, turn this stiff dough out onto a floured board and knead it four or five times, then roll it out into a half-inch thickness. Using a long, straight edged knife, cut it into one-inch diamond shapes. Place these shapes onto an ungreased baking sheet, brush with some melted butter and bake for 12-15 minutes in the oven at 375 degrees. Serve piping hot and I assure you, they are quite tasty!

Tasty Sandwich

½ cup finely minced watercress

1 small 3 oz. package of cream cheese

½ cup chopped walnuts

2 hard boiled eggs

salt to taste

Combine these above ingredients, mix them together well and add salt to season. Spread the mixture between buttered sliced of bread and make them into six sandwiches.

Watercress, a cruciferous vegetable is actually a nutritional winner, capable of adding a lively, spicy flavor to a variety of foods; tucked into sandwiches, in soups, combined with meats as well as used in salads.

Homemaker’s Hint: A little time saver idea for the busy cook… I often place two sets of measuring spoons on the same ring so if the recipe advises you to add the wet ingredients first, added by the dry ingredients, I am prepared.

For thousands of years, human beings had to struggle for food. Getting enough food to survive usually required hard work such as hunting, farming and fishing. And, when food supplies ran low, people had to survive for days or weeks without eating much. Therefore, for much of human history, getting too fat wasn’t the problem. Today, few of us have to hunt, farm or fish for our daily meals. All we have to do is open the refrigerator, go to the supermarket or stop at a drive through. Consequently, today it is much easier to gain weight and store fat as energy than to lose it.

This is the time of the year that can spark undeserved anxiety on behalf of the many conscientious homemakers who are endeavoring to create and serve wholesome, nourishing meals to a family whose food tastes can be spasmodically affected as heat causes the thermometer to spiral upwards. I have witnessed some individuals who can easily “put away” a full course meal in a crowded atmosphere where temperatures hover well over 100 degrees and never relinquish a single bite; much less leave the table with less than a completely full stomach. However, by the same token, I have witnessed patrons, theretofore described as hearty eaters, scarcely able to choke down more than a few mouthfuls when the thermometer tickles those high digits. It all depends on the individual (a fact that I was ignorant of when my children were tiny). No two individuals can be expected to react the same, for there can be extenuating circumstances as well as various viewpoints. If food was hard to come by at some point in your life, you might very well tend to display more voraciousness than someone who has never experienced hunger pangs.

In reply to the reader who questioned my opinion regarding a young man who insists on living on a diet of meats, breads and milk and flatly refuses to ingest anything in the fruit and vegetable family?

My personal opinion is that he could definitely profit by meeting (the sooner the better) with some nutritional experts in addition to an “in depth” talk with your family physician. When you consider the fact that nearly all of the nutrients essential to good health are found in fruits and vegetables, he is certainly doing his body an injustice by depriving it of something so important. Consider incorporating some ground up fresh veggies in the broth of your meat that he is so fond of and when you serve him his next slice of your homemade cream pie, incorporate some diced fruit within the cream.

Cream Pie

1 baked nine-inch pie shell                                    1 cup granulated sugar

6 Tbsp. Flour                                                     2 cups milk

3 egg yolks, beaten                                              bits of finely cut pineapple

½ tsp. salt                                                          1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in the top of your double boiler over hot water. Add your two cups of milk slowly to this, then allow it to cook for approximately 10 minutes, while you stir continually. Then pour a bit of the hot mixture into your beaten egg yolks; add to remaining mixture in double boiler and cook for an additional 4 minutes. Stir mixture constantly. Cool, then add vanilla extract and pour immediately into pie shell. Cover with meringue and proceed to bake in a slow oven of 300 degrees for at least 15 minutes or until slightly browned.

Homemaker’s Hint: Remember how we were taught that the three R’s always stood for reading, writing and arithmetic? Well, in today’s environmentally conscious world, they might more appropriately mean reduce, reuse and recycle. Not only could this advice help you save money and energy but also serve to sustain the environment. Think about it, won’t you?

“If friendships cool, they aren’t true friendships, and not worthy of the name. Time alone can prove the worth of friendships and those that weaken over a period of time are simply acquaintances not capable of feeling affection.”

When you are pressed for time, yet that “sweet tooth” persists, you can rely on these recipes:

Tom Thumb Cookies

1 cup cake flour

½ tsp. baking power

1 ½ cups brown sugar

½ cup Crisco

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. flour

1 ½ cups shredded coconut

1 cup nutmeats, chopped

Sift and measure the flour. Now, add the baking powder to this and proceed to sift once again. Cream the Crisco and add the sugar, vanilla and eggs and beat well. Next, add the dry ingredients. Spread this resulting batter into an 8” x 8” x2” greased baking pan and bake in a slow oven of 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Now, mix together 2 Tbsp. of flour, nutmeats and coconut and spread this evenly over your baked mixture. Return to oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes. When cool, cut into rectangles.

Homemaker’s Hint: For the reader who is unable to continue her daily walk due to a neighbor’s dog.

I would strongly suggest that you spray your ankle area with “bitter apple spray.”

“Have you ever noticed how many flowers leave a bit of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them?”

This next recipe especially appeals to any of the young people who frequently visit you.

Peanut Butter Bread

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 cup granulated sugar

¾ cup chunky peanut butter

½ tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine flour, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt in a good-sized bowl. Then cut the peanut butter into this until the mixture becomes crumbly. Next, combine your milk, eggs and extract. Then stir this mixture into the dry ingredients just until they are moistened. Place the resulting batter into your 9” x 5” x 3” loaf pan and slide it into a 350 degree oven for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick (inserted near the center) comes out clean. Remove immediately from oven and wait for approximately 10 minutes before removing it from the baking pan to a wire rack to cool.

Homemaker’s Hint: Please be especially attentive to your pet’s needs during this warm weather and keep water and shade available to them at all times.

When I received a request for this next recipe, it brought to mind an embarrassing incident that occurred many years ago, when some friends (my husband’s employer and his wife) whom I had never met, invited us out to a dinner at a lavish restaurant. My dentist had just fitted me with a temporary metal device over one tooth and without thinking my food selection order consisted mainly of a hot cheese. Unfortunately that hot cheese adhered to that metal like a magnet and no amount of pushing and prodding (with my tongue) could loosen its grip on my tooth. Since this tooth was located right in front and I could not open my lips without revealing the bits of food and cheese. I did not offer much in the way of conversation for fear of totally mortifying my husband.

Food Facts: Onions possess a remarkable flavor infinity for almost all meats, vegetables, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese and even some fruits. Since the flavoring substance in onions is a volatile oil, it evaporates rapidly when exposed to air, so cut the onions just before using them as seasoning.

Homemaker’s Hints: You might wish to know that it is wise to avoid eating when you are upset or agitated. Such states of emotional distress causes your body to release adrenaline and once this happens, the adrenaline depletes the digestive system of adequate blood and energy that is necessary for effective digestion. Should you find yourself emotionally upset, never consume anything except perhaps juice or soup; but definitely never a full meal.

Just the mere name of this next recipe rekindles memories of White Mountain Goats clinging to the high rock precipices. Thanks to the invention of binoculars, you can literally erase the distance between you and an object miles away. To this day, I still stand in awe of those spindly-legged white creatures who so skillfully teeter on the tops of solid rock. It’s truly a sight to behold and you marvel at the agility they display in so skillfully maneuvering their way through those high altitude peaks.

Swiss Potato Soup

4 large white potatoes

2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded

2 6-oz. cans of chunky drained tuna

4 eggs

½ cup sliced green onions, including tops

2 cups half and half

1 tsp. parsley

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

Peel the potatoes and slice them (about five cups). Place them into a large saucepan and add water, salt marjoram and just the white portion only of the three onions finely chopped. Bring this mixture to a boil, then let simmer for 25 minutes or until very tender. Next, remove from the heat and mash with a potato masher. Melt the butter and blend it together with the flour, cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the potato mixture. Finely chop the remaining two onions (right along with both the white and green part) and add this to the soup along with the parsley and pepper. Cover and allow the soup to stand for just a few moments before serving. Pass the cheese at the table to spoon into each serving.