Steam the peas in a separate pan. If young, about 20 minutes should be
sufficient; they are spoiled by over-cooking.

Add the cooked peas to the cooked rice, with the butter, parsley, and
lemon juice. Stir over the fire until the mixture is thoroughly hot.

Serve with or without tomato sauce and new potatoes.

5. CONVALESCENTS' SOUP.

1 small head celery, 1 large onion, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 3 tablespoons
coarsely chopped parsley, P.R. Barley malt meal, Mapleton's or P.R. almond
or pine-kernel cream, 3 pints boiling water.

Well wash the vegetables and slice them, and add them with the parsley to
the boiling water. (The water should be distilled, if possible, and the
cooking done in a large earthenware jar or casserole. See notes _re_
casseroles in Chap. IV.) Simmer gently for 2 hours, or until quite soft.
Then strain through a hair sieve. Do not rub the vegetables through the
sieve to make a puree, simply strain and press all the juices out. The
vegetable juices are all wanted, but not the fibre. To each pint of this
vegetable broth allow 1 heaped tablespoon barley malt meal, 1 tablespoon
nut cream, and 1/2 lb. tomatoes. Mix the meal to a thin paste with some of
the cooled broth (from the pint). Put the rest of the pint in a saucepan
or casserole and bring to the boil. Add the meal and boil for 10 minutes.
Break up the tomatoes and cook slowly to a pulp (without water). Rub
through a sieve. (The skin and pips are not to be forced through.) Add
this pulp to the soup. Lastly mix the nut-cream to a thin cream by
dripping slowly a little water or cool broth into it, stirring hard with a
teaspoon all the time. Add this to the soup, re-heat, but do _not_ boil,
serve.

This soup is rather irksome to make, but is intensely nourishing and easy
of digestion. The pine-kernel cream is the more digestible of the two
creams. Care should be taken not to _cook_ these nut creams. If the soup
is for an invalid care should also be taken that, while getting all the
valuable vegetable juices, no skin or pips, etc., are included. The
vegetable broth may be prepared a day in advance, but it will not keep for
three days except in very cold weather. (When it is desired to keep soup
it should be brought to the boil with the lid of the stockpot or casserole
on, and put away without the lid being removed or the contents stirred.)

6. FINE OATMEAL BISCUITS.

2 ozs. flour, 3-1/2 ozs. Robinson's "Patent" Groats, 2 ozs. castor sugar,
2