A Healthy Vegetarian

Good macaroni will keep in good condition for a long time. It is rough, elastic, and hard; while the inferior article is smooth, soft, breaks easily, becomes moldy with keeping. Inferior macaroni contains a large percentage of starch, and but a small amount of gluten. When put into hot water, it assumes a white, pasty appearance, and splits in cooking. Good macaroni when put into hot water absorbs a portion of the water, swells to nearly double its size, but perfectly retains its shape. It contains a much smaller amount of gluten.

Do not wash macaroni. Break into pieces of convenient size if it is long. Always put to cook in boiling liquid, taking care to have plenty of water in the saucepan (as it absorbs a large quantity), and cook until tender. The length of time required may vary from twenty minutes, if fresh, to one hour if stale. When tender, turn into a colander and drain, and pour cold water through it to prevent the tubes from sticking together. The fluid used for cooking may be water, milk, or a mixture of both; also soup stock, tomato juice, or any preferred liquid.

Macaroni serves as an important adjunct to the making of various soups, and also forms the basis of other palatable dishes.

• 3 oz. of macaroni
• 2 cups of breadcrumbs
• 2 onions, chopped very fine
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 3 eggs, well beaten
• 3 oz. of butter
• 1 teaspoon of curry
• salt to taste.
  

Boil the macaroni until tender. Saute the onion in the butter, mix the breadcrumbs with the tomatoes, add the eggs, curry, onion and salt. Mix all this with the macaroni; spoon the mixture into a pie-dish. Bake the pie for 1 hour at 350* F


photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography