Star-Phoenix from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada • 101

Saturday, November 10, 1979 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Star-Phoenix 13 No-bake Layered Coconut Bars cup butter or margarine 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 cup graham wafer crumbs One third cup milk (or use 3 tbsp. light rum, reducing milk to i4 cup and omitting vanilla i 1 tsp. vanilla 1- cup flake coconut 30 whole graham wafers 4 squares semi-sweet chocolate 2 tbsp. margarine Combine cup margarine, sugar, crumbs and milk in saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat till margarine is melted and mixture thickens.

Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and coconut. Line nine-inch pan with 14 of the wafers spread with half the coconut mixture. Add another layer of nine wafers, pressing down lightly and top with remaining coconut mixture. Add the remaining wafers. Melt chocolate and two tbsp.

margarine over hot water. Remove from heat, spread over wafers and cool. Cut into bars. Pineapple Meringos 1 roll refrigerated butterscotch nut cookies 2 egg whites 12 cup sugar l2 cup crushed drained pineapple l-2 cup shredded coconut 4 cup chopped walnuts Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease 10-inch square or 12x8-ineh baking pan.

Slice cookie dough into 4-inch slices. Fit in bottom of prepared pan. Lightly press together to form base. In small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar gradually and continue beating, about five minutes, until all sugar granules are dissolved and meringue stands in stiff peaks.

Fold pineapple andxoconut into meringue. Spread o7er cookie dough base and sprinkle with nuts. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until base is completely cooked. Cool and cut into squares. Refrigerate any leftovers, as this is quite a soft treat.

You could make it with your own cookie dough instead of the prepared By Jean Maepherson There's always a reason to be baking goodies. If fts not tor your bridge club, its for the church bazaar; if not for that, then its time to be thinking about all those unexpected guests during the upcoming holiday season. The price of baking materials is shocking, so we must make sure we choose things that are not too complicated, and make the ingredients go just as far as possible. Sometimes I substitute semi-sweet chocolate for chocolate chips in my recipes if the texture is not an added factor, its just as good. Somehow I hate to melt those dear little chipits when somebody w7ent to all the trouble of making them that shape.

(Recently my grandson ate a whole package of butterscotch chips, and I cried (secretly for two days. The nut niblets are slightly cheaper than walnuts, but here again you have to be careful that texture doesn't matter. If you crush your own graham wafers, they're less expensive than graham wafer crumbs. I like flake coconut better than the shredded kind, and its easier to work with. Margarine can nearly always be substituted for butter in baking.

Mocha Coconut Balls 1 pkge. semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 tbsp. instant coffee One third cup hot water 3 tbsp. corn syrup 3 cups sifted icing sugar 1 cup finely chopped walnuts 1 l4 cups vanilla Wafer crumbs 1 14 cups flake coconut Melt chocolate chips over hot water. Dissolve instant coffee in the hot water.

Blend corn syrup, sugar and dissolved coffee into melted chocolate. Stir chopped nuts, crumbs, and '-2 cup of the coconut into chocolate mixture. Shape mixture into one-inch balls. Roll in the remaining coconut. Store in tightly covered contained for two days to mellow flavors.

Makes about four dozen balls. Nanaimo Bars 2 cup butter or margarine '4 cup white sugar 1 egg 4 tbsp. cocoa 2 cups graham wafer crumbs Mocha balls and no-bake bars 1 cup coconut i2 cup chopped nuts i4 cup butter 3 tbsp. milk 2 tbsp. vanilla pudding powder 2 cups sifted icing sugar 4 squares semisweet chocolate 1 tsp.

butter Mix the cup butter, white sugar and egg and cocoa. Set over boiling water and stir until mixture resembles a custard. Combine crumbs, coconut and nuts. Combine with the custard blending well. Spread and press firmly into a 9x9-ineh pan.

Cream the '4 cup butter, milk, custard powder and icing sugar. Spread over mixture in pan. Melt the chocolate over hot water; add butter and blend well. Spread over the icing. Let set.

Chill and keep Maepherson is a Saskatoon food columnist. The bill for the five of us came to $21.95. A tip brought it to $24. In addition to the North American dishes, the restaurant offers a number of Greek ones including souvlaki at $6.95 and trajolaky at $5.95. Greek-style ribs are also available at $9.50.

Included on the list of Cage specialities is shishka-bob at $9.75. Tomatoes, peppers, onions and mushrooms are added to marinated tenderloin, skewered and then served on a bed of rice. Oh yes, and the restaurant has a liquor licence. My wife and I found the Bird Cage a nice break from both the kitchen at home and the family, fast-food services. If the family is looking for something a little different, Taco Time at 206 Avenue North might be worth a try.

A large variety of Mexican dishes are offered at reasonable prices. The largest taco the soft super goes for $1.49. The children enjoy plain tacos at 81 cents. The Mexican seasoning is softened to suit the American taste- but, also take it easy the first time in applying the sauce which is left on the tables. Special hot sauce is also available on request.

For the information of uninformed gringos, a super taco is a corn tortilla filled with seasoned ground beef, sour cream and Cheddar cheese garnished with lettuce and tomato sauce. A meat burrito is a blend of seasoned beef and cheese wrapped up in a flour tortilla and deep fried. It might be fun for you to experiment with the other offerings. Robinson is a member of the Star-Phoenix editorial staff. french fries plates and fish-and-chips.

Still, our three- and six-year-olds were more than happy with the hamburgers. And at only $1.25 each, the price was right. The soup-of-the-day was chicken noodle. It was brought quickly and still steaming. More importantly, it was tasty and chuck full of noodles, meat and celery.

I shared mine with the six-year-old. Considering the large number of customers in the restaurant, the service was surprisingly fast. The main courses were delivered in short order and were they enormous My wife and I were each served two, large cutlets smothered with thick gravy. They were accompanied by mashed potatoes, carrots and a huge helping of cole slaw. The childrens hamburgers were large and the french fries plentiful.

Mikes french loaf was loaded with thinly-sliced beef. The cutlets were tender and tasty. However, I believe the potatoes were of the instant kind. Home-style mashed ones would have been more enjoyable. The 11-year-old consumed his beef-on-a-bun in no time, while the six-year-old wrapped up the final pieces of his hamburger by dipping it into his brother's beef dip.

Our youngest couldnt make it half-way through her hamburger and french fries. It would be nice if the restaurant provided a larger children's menu, but it should be noted that 20 types of pizzas are available for the younger set. The kids washed down their dinners with soft drinks and chocolate milk at 65 cents a glass. A good cup of coffee is served for 40 cents. We topped off the meal with cherry custard ice cream.

The three desserts not included with the main courses cost an additional 85 cents each. By Art Robinson Occasionally, my wife decides to take the entire family out for Sunday dinner. She makes the decision. I pay. On such occasions and they are rare indeed we look for a family restaurant where the menus offer something more substantial than hamburgers and french fries.

But even then, it's sometimes hard to convince our offspring to try something new and different. On this particular Sunday we decided to try the Bird Cage Restaurant at 120 Second Ave. North. The downtown facility was busy at 6 p.m. when we arrived without a reservation but we were quickly led to a comfortable booth fashioned, of course, in the style of a bird cage.

The distinct seating arrangement allows for a maximum number ol tables, yet provides privacy. The restaurant offers a large assortment of main courses at good prices. In addition, there are several more expensive house specialities such as steak-and-lobster at $16.95 and South African lobster trails with drawn butter at $18.95. But, with a family of five, lobster tails all-round would produce a whopping bill not quite in keeping with the slim pickings in my billfold. Besides, the breaded veal cutlets at only $4.95 sounded great.

Also available as Sunday specials at the same price were fried chicken and ham steak. The price includes the soup-of-the-day, tea or coffee and ice cream or jello for dessert. While my wile and I decided on the veal cutlets, our 11-year-old went with the beef dip, served ith cole slaw and french fries at $4.25. The only children offerings were hamburger-.