Desserts certainly provide a pleasant way of topping off a meal. And a sweet or delicious beverage once in a while is a mouth-watering treat to anticipate. Most assuredly I have no intention of denying you these taste pleasures in your Eat-and-Grow-Younger diet.

What I am suggesting is that you limit your desserts, sweets and between-meal beverages to those that ''carry their own weight" in your youth-protecting diet. In other words, to desserts, sweets and treat beverages that are dividends—that add extra protein, minerals and vitamins to your daily intake of nutrients.

How can you determine which sweets to discard?

Easy enough—by their over-all content of vital food ele­ments. How much protein, for instance, is there in a slice of white-flour cake frosted with white-sugar icing; how many minerals in a piece of chocolate candy; how many vitamins in a white-flour crusted pie filled with a ready-mix artificially flavored and colored "pudding"? For all practical purposes, the answer is ''absolutely none"!

That is what I mean by insisting that a dessert, sweet or treat beverage should carry its own weight. Eggs, milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, nuts, seeds, fruits, honey, brown or raw sugar—these foods all possess something of nutritional worth to contribute to your diet program, and I have used them in numerous different combinations in all the fore­going recipes. We shall now re-combine all these highly nutritious foods into other delicious forms in order to pro duce desserts, sweets and beverages that are a genuine nutri­tive addition to any diet.

However, I don't mean to imply by this that you may overindulge in these taste treats to the neglect of meat and vegetable dishes at mealtime. A dividend means exactly what it implies—a small extra portion given as a compen­sation.

In this instance, the desserts, sweets and beverages given below are allowed you as a "compensation" for abandoning the health-wrecking artificial cakes, candies, pastries and soft drinks that add nothing to your diet except coal-tar dyes and flavorings, and youth-destroying starches.

ORANGE CHIFFON

3 egg yolks  1 tbsp. gelatin, unflavored

21/2 tbsp. honey or raw sugar juice of 4 oranges

1 cup thin cream  grated rind of 1 orange

1 cup whipping cream grated rind of 1/2 lemon

Beat the egg yolks slightly 111 the top of a double boiler, then stir in the sugar (or honey), thin cream and grated citrus peel. Place over boiling water and beat with a rotary egg beater until the mixture thickens, taking care not to let it boil. Remove from the fire, and add the gelatin which has been dissolved in 1/4 cup of cold water 5 minutes previously. Stir well, then pour into a deep bowl and continue beating until partially cool. Beat in the orange juice, then fold in the whipped cream. Pour into a mold that has been well rinsed in cold water, and place in the refrig­erator to set. This makes about 6 servings. Instead of commercial ice cream, made with white sugar, artificial flavorings and color­ings and thickening powders, prepare this chiffon cream for dessert or party refreshments. It's as good nutrition as it is good eating.

MILK PUDDING

21/2 cups milk  1 tsp. grated lemon rind

2  tbsp. butter  3 eggs, separated (if small, use

3  tbsp. honey, brown or raw 4)

sugar  ¾ cup cooked apples, apricots, 5 tbsp. millet meal  or crushed pineapple

1  tbsp. sesame seed or sunflower  1/4 cup shredded coconut (opseed meal  tional)

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Add the sugar, or honey, and 2 cups of the milk (reserving 1/2 cup to be mixed into a paste with the flour), and let come to a boil. Stir in the flour-milk paste and cook for 4 to 5 minutes longer. Remove from the fire and pour into a bowl to cool. Then stir in the beaten egg yolks into which have been mixed the grated lemon peel and the seed meal. Cut in the stiffly beaten whites with a silver knife. Pour the mix­ture into a well-greased baking dish and bake in a moderate oven until the pudding is about half done. Remove from the oven, and spread the cooked fruit quickly over the top, then sprinkle with the coconut if used. Return to the oven as quickly as possible to finish baking. Serve while hot. This makes about 6 portions.

DUCHESS CREAM PUDDING

2  cups milk  11/2tsp. vanilla

1 cup powdered skim milk  1 junket tablet

3  tbsp. brown or raw sugar, or 1 tbsp. water honey

Beat the milk powder into the liquid milk with a rotary egg beater. Add the sugar or honey and beat until smooth. Heat the milk to lukewarm (no° F. on a candy thermometer), but do not overheat. Remove from the fire and add the junket tablet which has been dissolved in the 1 tablespoon of cold water. Blend well into the warmed milk together with the vanilla. Pour at once into individual serving dishes (about 4 portions) and allow to stand in a warm room until set. Then chill. Serve with crushed fresh or canned fruit, berries or orange slices. Whipped cream may be used as a topping. Pure vegetable colorings (be sure to read your labels when buying food colorings, for most of them are coal-tar, aniline dyes) may be used to tint this delicious junket pudding for extra eye appeal. The added powdered milk makes this an extremely high-protein dessert, although a light, easily digested one, and a far creamier junket pudding than the ordinary kind. Serve this high-protein pudding with a meatless meal, or one whose quota of protein grams is below normal. Be­cause of its low-calorie count, this makes a splendid dessert for the reducing diet.

LEMON MILK SHERBET

3 cups milk  6 tbsp. honey

3 tbsp. grated lemon rind  1/2cup raw or brown sugar

¾ cup lemon juice  3 eggs

Beat the eggs until slightly thickened, add the sugar and con­tinue beating. Stir in the honey, lemon juice and grated rind, blending the milk in gradually at the last. Pour into the refrig­erator tray and freeze at highest speed. When mushy, remove from the refrigerator, stir vigorously or whip the sherbet to break up the ice crystals, then continue freezing. This sherbet is usually a "man's favorite." Serve it with a meat meal for a light, yet nour­ishing, dessert. Or keep some in the refrigerator (in the deep freeze, too) for a family or party treat. This recipe makes a little more than 1 quart.

BAVARIAN FRUIT WHIP

1 cup whipping cream  1/3cup chopped nuts

1 cup mixed fresh, canned, or 1 tbsp. honey frozen fruit (pineapple, 1 tsp. vanilla peaches, bananas, strawber­ries,

raspberries, blueberries, sweet cherries)

Whip the cream, and add the vanilla and honey. Mix well with the fruit and chill. Serve in sherbet glasses, and garnish the top with a candied cherry and two green citron slices. This is a light, easily prepared dessert that is fancy enough to serve for "company" meals.

APRICOT DAINTIES

¾ cup dried apricots 1 tsp. each grated orange and

1/2cup nut meats  lemon peel

3/4 cup coconut  1 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tbsp. powdered skim milk

Put the apricots, nuts and coconut through the food chopper. Add the grated citrus peel and the milk powder, blending thoroughly. Moisten with the lemon juice. If desired, roll in ground toasted coconut or nuts. This makes approximately 50 small balls; or the mixture may be shaped into rolls, thoroughly chilled and sliced; or packed into a loaf pan and cut into squares. Pack several pieces of this health sweet into lunches for the morning and afternoon pick-up desired by the school child or working person. How much safer from a health standpoint to nibble on this protein-containing natural sweet than to insult the stomach with candy bars or soft drinks.

SESAME SEED BALLS

1/2cup sesame seeds  1 lb. pitted dates

2 tbsp. honey  1/3 cup seedless raisins

1/2lb. dried apricots

Brown the sesame seeds slightly in the oven. Run all the fruit through the food chopper. Add the honey and blend thoroughly. Shape into small balls and roll in the browned sesame seeds, adding more honey if necessary to coat each piece well. If you were to travel in the Grecian isles of the Mediterranean, you'd very likely be served this delicious sesame seed confection.

SESAME SEED BUTTER CREAMS

1/2 cup browned sesame seeds ¾ cup raw sugar, plus another

1 cup milk  1/4 cup

1/2cup butter  few drops vanilla

Boil the ¾ cup of sugar, butter and milk together until the mixture barely forms a soft ball in cold water. Meanwhile caramelize* the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar in a heavy iron skillet so that the two are ready at the same time. Quickly scrape the caramelized syrup into the milk mixture, beating until it becomes quite thick, then add the seeds which previously have been lightly browned in the oven, and the vanilla. I£ the mixture seems slow in thickening, set in a pan of cold water. Drop by the teaspoonful onto a buttered platter to harden. When cold, this recipe makes about 2 dozen pieces o£ creamy candy with a real protein value, owing to its sesame seeds and milk.

SESAME SEED TAFFY TWISTS

1/3 cup browned sesame seeds 1 tbsp. butter

1/3 cup cream  11/3 cup brown or raw sugar

1/3 cup molasses  a few drops vanilla

Boil the cream, sugar, molasses and butter to the stage where a little dropped into cold water forms a harder-than-soft-ball (about 24o0 to 2440 F. on a candy thermometer). Add the sesame seeds and vanilla and beat until the mixture becomes quite thick. Drop by small spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet or platter, then chill in the refrigerator. When cool the candy is still slightly soft, and may be rolled into little balls or patties, and wrapped in twists of waxed paper. If kept chilled in the refrigerator until eaten, the candy will not stick to the paper.

There you have it—some basic recipe ideas from which you will make your own variations and adaptations as you follow the Eat-and-Grow-Younger program.

Good luck to you—all the way!

* The process of melting and browning sugar in a skillet until light brown and having a caramel flavor.