May 2021 - Secret Recipes

May 31, 2021

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Smile

Happy Monday, everyone! Today is, among other things, Memorial Day. A special day of solace, remembering and honoring all those who’ve died, serving in any one of our country’s Armed Forces to protect all of our freedoms.

#NationalSmileDay

Today is also National Smile Day – so let’s turn a frown upside-down! I do still look forward to Mondays. They always make me smile, as they continue to be my 52 Chances per year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with all of you!

#TheRecipeDetective

‘Smile and the world smiles with you!’ – Stanley Gordon West

I’ve mentioned many times in my blog posts that Mom’s Food-for-Thought editorials were written with a great love and passion for entertaining, helping and informing her readers. Likewise, her cartoons were drawn with a subtle, satirical humor, also meant to amuse her readers and bring a little smile to their day.

Similarly, as Mom did in her own patch-work-quilt-style writings, I try to bring “my readers” a hodge-podge of happy recollections of, both, Mom and the nostalgia of days gone by. Add in a few smiles and, maybe, a giggle or two. I also enjoy sharing little bits of knowledge on hot topics and current events; with a recipe or two from Mom’s vast collection (and, on rare occasions, my own) thrown into the mix. It’s like the whipped cream and cherry on top of a banana split!

#BananaSplit

Mom had always accredited Fred Sanders of the Sanders Candy Company with the invention of the banana split. She enjoyed their confections and ice cream treats often as a young girl, growing up in the Detroit suburbs. As for the official inventor of the banana split – some claim it originated in Wilmington, OH; while others say it began in Latrobe, PA.

Sanders Chocolates was re-founded in 1875, by Fred Sanders Schmidt in Detroit, MI; following the destruction of his original location, during “The Great Fire” in Chicago in 1871. By 1962, when Fred’s grandson took over, the company had grown to 111 ‘Sanders Chocolate & Ice Cream Shops’ in the Great Lakes area; where they sold their own delectable candy, baked goods, light lunches, ice cream sodas, and sundaes with various toppings. They’re very famous for their Bumpy Cake, Hot Fudge and Cream Puffs.

MEMORIAL DAY 1990 MEMORIES…

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 94)

EVERY DAY, IN OUR OFFICE

Every day, in our office and our home, because it’s hard to separate the two, is the fact that things here are quite unpredictable! The layout of the newsletter is done – as I described it before – like a patchwork quilt, [as] are the books, at best, for there is not enough ‘quiet’ time in which to carry out a major project.

Mostly, it is a day filled with pleasant interruptions – such as the grandchildren dropping by to see us for a few minutes – or a radio station calling and asking me to fill in at the last minute! There are visits from the rest of the family, a phone call from my mother once in a while, when she needs somebody to talk to… and I am always a ready listener.

There are the discussions over how to handle a particular problem with a shipping order, or how a dish should be coming out that doesn’t! Countless things occur in this office (and/or home) that contribute to the overall picture.

This is what I tried to describe… to Julie Greenwalt of People magazine, when she called and asked me to think about those typical things that happen, here, which could be photographed to accompany the story she was writing about us. It will be interesting to see how it comes out, as this book [cited above] will be ‘going to press’ before People does with their story [which came out in their May 7, 1990 issue].

I love the attitude of George Burns, who was always an inspiration to everyone, of every age! Doing what we like best, whether we succeed or not, is what keeps us going and keeps us happy. I cannot imagine doing something badly that I enjoy doing. So, of course, we do our best at something we enjoy, because that is part of the satisfaction of doing it – seeing the good that results from our efforts.

[Paul and I,] both, take time during the week to enjoy something completely unrelated to our work and even our family. I bowl on a wonderful women’s league every Wednesday morning and Paul bowls with the men’s league on Friday nights.

For the past four or five years, I’ve driven to Algonac, about 40 miles round-trip, to participate in one of the nicest groups I’ve had the privilege of belonging to; and while I have yet to have that 200-game, whether I bowl badly or splendidly, I drive home all smiles, happy that I went! Paul, on the other hand, bowls just down the street from us here in town. He bowled so much when we were dating, I tell people we were married by an ordained pin setter!

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Road Trip

Happy Monday to all! I hope it’s a memorable one for you! Personally, I always look forward to Mondays because they are my 52 Chances each year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with all of you!

#TheRecipeDetective

This is the last full week of May, with Memorial Day next Monday, and then on to June we go! Many families are planning vacations or backyard barbeques for celebrating this coming weekend, as it is considered to be the unofficial start to summer! So break out your barbeque grill, if you haven’t already, and prepare to fire it up!

Remember May is still, among other things, National Barbecue Month, National Egg Month, National Hamburger Month, National Salad Month, National Salsa Month, and National Strawberry Month! While Friday celebrates National Beef Burger Day, National Brisket Day, and National Hamburger Day! Plus, because it’s the Friday before Memorial Day, National Don’t Fry Day, National Road Trip Day, and National Cooler Day are also being observed!

#RoadTripDay

Outdoor activities are on the rise again, especially as the weather is getting more summer-like and the days are getting longer. If you can, take a road trip on Friday – either for the day or for the whole, four-day weekend! Pack a cooler with some strawberry pie, barbequed chicken, hamburgers, deviled eggs, and salads for a roadside park picnic. That’ll cover most of the celebrations mentioned above.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in… No Laugh’n Matter by Gloria Pitzer

[Printed in “The Times Herald” (Port Huron, MI; July 2, 1973; p. 8A)]

NEED A VACATION? WAIT ‘TIL RETURN!

[aka: Vacation Returns (OR The Last Resort)]

It is only upon returning from a vacation that we realized just how much we could use one! Ours was nothing to write home about, so all of you out there, who were looking for a postcard from us, now know why you didn’t get one.

If – when I [was] at home, among conveniences, and circumstances used to force me to once write those ‘please-excuse-my-child’ notes in lipstick on the back of a Citizen’s Federal Savings [bank] slip and take telephone messages down in the dust on the end tables – you just know that any postcard I’d be apt to send from our vacation would probably be written in campfire charcoal on the back of a Handi-Wipe!

I still hate to refer to it in the strictest sense as a ‘vacation’. I mean, a cross country trip by station wagon with our five kids would be anything BUT a vacation! And somehow, I recall that the cross country trip got even more cross as we crossed the country, when we were traveling with the kids – especially on the way back [home].

We spent more time deciding which child got to sit next to the window than we ever did reading the road maps – and that was just in the driveway before we even left home! Upon reading those maps, however, we would be forced to make the crucial decision – deciding which fork in the road to take. Usually, [we chose] the wrong fork in the road – but then, we had never been lost that way before.

Once in a while, and even to this day, when Paul and I travel alone, without the children to distract us, we’ll find we’re lost on some turnpike off-ramp and, when out of state we’ll hope to see another vehicle with a Michigan license plate and start to follow them because we’re convinced that they know where they’re going and will probably, at least, get us back to the state line. But, in our case, [we] could use a bumper sticker for the car that reads: ‘Don’t follow me. I’m lost too!’

When the children were vacationing with us, in the old days, it seemed that ‘who-sits-next-to-the-windows’ is an on-going debate. The argument got so sticky at one point that I simply buried my face in a AAA tour book and pretended not to hear them until, from the midst of the back seat crowd, came a tortured voice, which pleaded in anguish, ‘But I HAVE to sit by the window!’

‘Nonsense!’ I said, without looking up. ‘Give me one good reason WHY you HAVE to sit by the window!’

‘Because’ said the voice with some agitation, ‘I’m driving! I’m Daddy!’

Even the cost of a simple vacation has been affected by the national inflation, I see today. You might say the cost of getting away, has gotten away; because, if you really wish to relive your vacation, the only way you can do it these days is to show your friends colored slides of all of your traveler’s checks!

We did learn a few things, though, about our trips [that] I’m perfectly willing to share with you. We now realize that the same vacation conveniences that would cost us $90 a day, while traveling, we could have had for free if we had stayed home.

Besides, nothing can deflate your ego, or undermine your significance as a person, like returning from a 3-week vacation; and, as you begin to carry the suitcases from the car into the house, have your neighbor greet you with: ‘Hi there! Going someplace?’

All we have to recall of our last vacation is the vivid memory of how the best restaurant to eat in was always just a block down the road from the one we stopped at and thought it would be the last one we’d come to before dark. But I will always remember how Daddy would lie on the beach about how he was missed at the office!

And…that hitchhiker we picked up, who, within 5 minutes, begged us to let him out of the car because he had been suddenly drenched with a Dairy Queen milkshake and 6 popsicle sticks were poked into his fringe-sleeved, suede jacket.

As I said, if you’re traveling with children, and you think you need the vacation you’re about to take, it’s nothing compared to the one you’ll be ready for when you get back!

I remember fighting with my siblings about who got to sit next to the back-seat-windows and thinking that it wasn’t fair for the boys to get the “premium seats” because they were older – they were always older! As the two youngest of the bunch, Cheryl and I often had to sit in the “way-back-seat” of the station wagon. Nowadays, it’s called “third row seating”; nonetheless, Cheryl and I always called it the “way-back-seat”.

Sure, we each got window seats by being “way-in-the-back”, but we were also facing the back! Thus, all we saw was what we already passed. Plus, facing backwards often gave me motion sickness. I also recall what Mom said (above) about getting lost a different way! Instead of asking Dad, “Are we there yet?”; we’d always ask him, “Are we lost yet – or is this a new scenic route?”

When my parents were empty-nesters and needed a break from their long work week, they often chose to go on a day’s drive or weekend road trip somewhere. It didn’t matter if it was a planned route or “a new scenic route”, because they were together, away from it all, and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Sometimes, however, work would manage to creep back in whenever they stopped for a bite to eat. Mom always managed to find something really good that she wanted to analyze and duplicate when she got back home.

My husband and I can relate to Mom’s story (above), as we’ve gone through it too with our three kids (and we’re grateful there weren’t five kids). Now that we are empty-nesters, we love taking spontaneous road trips like my parents did. Michigan, and the whole Great Lakes region, is a wonderful place to explore and unwind from a hectic work week!

#GoodSam

Needless to say, I can’t wait until we can begin our ‘motor-home camping’ again with our Good Sam friends. It’s our weekend vacation pleasure, May through October. Becoming part of the Good Sam organization is the best thing that has ever happened to us, where we could both enjoy mutual friendships and activities. Wonderful, caring people, who constantly remind us that ‘there are no strangers in Good Sam – only friends we haven’t met, yet!’ – Gloria Pitzer

[As seen in… “GOOD SAM – CARING AND CAMPING”, from Gloria Pitzer’s Secret Recipes^TM Newsletter (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; May-June 1987, 126^th issue, p. 3)]

DEAR FRIENDS – The best part of April [1995] will be our bus trip to Branson, Missouri with ‘The Art Lewis Tour’. Art is the co-host of my every Tuesday radio visits on WSGW-Radio (Saginaw, MI)…Paul and I haven’t been to Branson in 8 years. The best part…we aren’t doing the driving…Art is! And we’ll be in the company of so many new friends! – Gloria Pitzer [From the front-page introduction of Mom’s Spring-1995 newsletter, Secret Recipes Quarterly.]

Mom and Dad seemed to make friends everywhere they went. Some trips were just for relaxation and fun. But other trips usually involved some Secret Recipes^TM work too, as Mom really did enjoy what she did and it was easy to incorporate a lecture or a restaurant review and an imitation of a dish (or two); even an occasional, in-studio, radio show interview, instead of through the phone lines, as Mom usually did.

Since our camping experiences with the national RV organization, Good Sam, we have truly adopted their slogan… ‘In Good Sam there are no strangers – only friends you haven’t met yet!’ How very true. What would we have done had we not been blessed with meeting Irv and Helen Henze [or] Helen and Chuck Mogg? How much we miss Chuck since he passed away. Friends are those people who know everything there is to know about you, but like you anyhow! – Gloria Pitzer [As seen in… “MORE THAN FRIENDS”, from My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 100)]

TO THE GOOD SAM RV CLUB (MI & OH Branches): ‘Thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet with and talk to people from all over the country, relative to their recipe interests and food needs… Since our camping experiences with… Good Sam, [Paul and I] have truly adopted their slogan, ‘In Good Sam, there are no strangers – only friends we haven’t met yet!’ – Gloria Pitzer (1989)

LAST THOUGHTS…

#WHBY

TODAY IS ALSO going to be my last regular monthly visit on the “Good Neighbor” show, with Kathy Keene, since next Monday is Memorial Day (and Kathy is retiring soon). The show airs on weekdays, 11am to 1pm, Central Time; and I’m usually on during the first half hour. If you’re not in the Appleton, WI radio area, you can also listen to the broadcast, live or later, through WHBY’s website!

IN CLOSING…

#NationalWyomingDay

In honor of today, being National Wyoming Day, here is Mom’s “secret recipe” for Wyoming Lamb Kabobs; as seen in… The American Cookery Cookbook (Happy Newspaper Features, Pearl Beach, MI; July 1976, p. 40)

P.S. FOOD-FOR-THOUGHT UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, NEXT MONDAY…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

May is still celebrating, among other things… American Cheese Month, National Asparagus Month, National Inventor’s Month, National Get Caught Reading Month, National Photography Month, National Preservation Month, National Recommitment Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

Other celebrations for this week include:

Today is also… National Yucatan Shrimp Day, National Brother’s Day, and National Escargot Day!

Tuesday, May 25^th, is… National Brown-Bag It Day and National Wine Day!

Wednesday, May 26^th, is… National Blueberry Cheesecake Day and National Senior Health & Fitness Day (which is always the last Wednesday in May)!

Thursday, May 27^th, is… National Grape Popsicle Day!

Saturday, May 29^th, is… National Coq Au Vin Day!

Sunday, May 30^th, is… National Creativity Day, National Water a Flower Day, and National Mint Julep Day!

AND NEXT MONDAY, May 31^st, is… National Macaroon Day, National Utah Day, National Smile Day, and of course National Memorial Day!

#TGIM

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-thank-god-its-monday-day-first-monday-in-january/

…21 down and 31 to go!

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

May 17, 2021

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – The Last Four Years

Happy Monday and a continued happy National Inventor’s Month to all! I always look forward to Mondays because they are my 52 Chances each year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with all of you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#NationalInventorsMonth

Since this is still National Inventor’s Month, among other things, I want to continue telling you even more about my mom, Gloria Pitzer, the ORIGINAL Secret Recipes^TM Detective and INVENTOR of the copycat cookery concept for imitating junk foods, convenience foods, fast foods, and other restaurant dishes at home!

During the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about Mom’s 40+ years (1973-2014) as the Secret Recipes^TM Detective – from the inception of her copycat cookery business and the 1973 release of her very first, self-published cookbook, to her and Dad’s forced retirements, for different health reasons, in 2014.

#NationalStrokeAwarenessMonth

#NationalMentalHealthAwarenessMonth

#OlderAmericansMonth

That’s why, this week, I correspondingly want to mention that May is also National Stroke Awareness Month, National Mental Health Awareness Month, and National Older Americans Month. I additionally want to share with you a more difficult subject (at least, it is for me) – Mom’s last four years (2014-2018), as the retired “Recipe Detective”.

Mother’s Day came and went last weekend. Like the last few years, it was bittersweet for me, again, as I cherished the loving bonds I have with my three children (and my grandson), while missing the physicality of that bond with my own mom; especially since it had grown exponentially during her last few years on Earth!

Moreover, Father’s Day is just around the corner. Accordingly, I’m really missing BOTH of my parents – especially these days more than most others. Dad passed away rather suddenly, in October 2014. Apparently, he had been sick, but he never said anything to anyone because he just wasn’t one to ever complain about his own ailments.

Furthermore, Mom had been suffering through a few grand mal seizures that summer, requiring some hospitalizations and doctor visits; so Dad was even more focused on her than himself. That’s just a small example of one reason why there are so many different national “health awareness” days, weeks, and month-long observations now – the key word being AWARENESS!

Amid everything going on in 2014, Mom and Dad had to completely retire their business. That relieved Dad, because he was six years older than Mom and had been wanting to fully retire for years. However, completely retiring the whole business left Mom feeling kind of empty, like she had lost her child.

No more stories to write… No more recipe investigations… No more radio shows… Even traveling had become too taxing for them, both. Then, as I mentioned above, Dad passed away, unexpectedly, that fall; following Mom’s several hospitalizations throughout that spring and summer.

Over the next eight months, with Dad gone, my sister, Cheryl, and I took turns taking care of Mom everyday, watching her for seizures, helping her with the daily housework, and taking her to her appointments and shopping. One morning, in the summer of 2015, we found Mom on her bedroom floor and had to call 9-1-1. The doctor at the hospital said she had suffered from another grand mal seizure AND a double-stroke, at some point during the early morning hours.

Gloria and Paul Pitzer – at the Big Boy Restaurant in Marysville, MI

Mom was in the hospital for quite a while and even in the ICU for a brief time, followed by months of various therapies at a health care facility, before having to move into a “retirement place” that had 24-hour, on-site nursing care and other special amenities, as she had acquired dementia from the strokes. What Mom needed then was a lot more than what Cheryl and I could offer her, since we both had jobs to work as well.

Mom went through a lot changes and losses from 2014 until she passed away in January 2018. She never got to return to the condo she had shared with Dad, after her strokes. I had to become her legal guardian and medical advocate that summer. Cheryl and I also had to pack up her condo, paint and carpet it, then sell it to pay for her new living conditions.

Throughout her last 39 months of living without Dad, Mom never lost faith that they’d be together again, someday. She believed that it wasn’t for her to know when, why, or how – only that IT WILL BE! Giving up what we LOVE (no matter who or what it is) is probably one of the most difficult tasks we’ll face in our lifetimes. It definitely takes a toll on us mentally (admittedly or not) and that, in turn, affects us physically, especially as we get older!

Mom rolled rather resiliently with every punch Life dealt her, during her last four years. Her faith in God’s love and ultimate plan never waivered. She told me once that she drew her strength from memories of her own mom and all the adversity that she had faced throughout her lifetime. Mom felt that her own hardships paled, by far, in comparison.

Having journaled almost every day since she was about 10 years old, Mom’s love of writing was especially therapeutic for her dementia in helping her remember things, particularly in her last couple of years. In as much as it was a form of therapy for her memories, it was also a natural reflex for her to relax, reflect and meditate. She was amazed to be able to remember her youth more clearly than the previous day’s events, and bewildered by the “old face” she saw in the mirror.

Mom liked to write about finding the blessings in any given day or moment; good and bad, alike. That’s just how she was raised, being grateful for something everyday – not just for Life’s gifts, but also for Life’s challenges; which she willingly confronted and overcame, empowering herself to do more rather than discouraging herself to fail.

MOM BELIEVED THAT THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR FAILURE – ONLY LESSONS AND FAITH!

‘There’s a powerful wisdom we don’t understand. It comes down to believing… To having faith.’ – Gloria Pitzer; as seen in… This Is Not A Cook Book! It’s Gloria Pitzer’s Food For Thought (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; Oct. 1986, p. 60)

Even though Mom enjoyed being “Nana”, “Grandma”, and “Mom” a little while longer; it was still, in part, a heart-wrenching time for her, being without Dad. She told me that it’s not something you get over, you just learn to live with it. He was not only her husband, life partner, and co-parent of five kids; but he was also her best friend and business partner.

They were together for almost 60 years, especially after Mom’s copycat recipes business really took off, in 1976. That’s when Dad left his job at the sign company to manage the business end of things for Mom, while she handled the creative and promotional sides – at which point it literally became a day-in-and-day-out, 24/7 relationship!

While I was growing up, surrounded by and involved in the “dining-room-table, cottage operation”, I didn’t truly understand Mom’s deep-rooted love for all of it (like a mother has for her child). Until late in 2015, when I started collaborating with her to rewrite her self-published cookbook, Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; May 1982), using my 3^rd edition copy of her book from May 1983.

The original goal was to republish one of Mom’s cookbooks for a new multi-media generation, while creating another source of revenue for Mom, as she started a new phase of her life without Dad. Mom chose that cookbook because it was, basically, one of her most popular and also her personal favorite, coming off of the tidal wave of fame she had received from her FIRST appearance on the Phil Donahue Show, in 1981.

In as much as I have always loved to write, since I was a young girl, like Mom; I hadn’t done much creative writing for a couple decades. Consequently, when I started helping Mom rewrite her cookbook, it rekindled an old flame in me; because, as I’ve mentioned before, Mom’s cookbooks weren’t just full of recipes. They also contained a lot of her own creative writing, in food-for-thought articles and stories of inspiration.

For decades, Mom never wanted to let any of her books be published by an outside company because they always wanted to change her creations. But, as times changed, so did situations and attitudes. We couldn’t take the self-publishing route this time around. So we researched many companies and finally chose Balboa Press.

To our surprise, Balboa Press didn’t want to change very much of anything except a few of Mom’s original illustrations (containing the likeness of KFC’s “colonel”) and the book’s title! They said it too closely resembled The Betty Crocker Cookbook’s title. As I told them, it was supposed to, since the whole book was a parody of imitations! But they wouldn’t budge. There was a time, years ago, that Mom would’ve said, “Never! Not any of it!” to the changes.

When Balboa suggested calling the “new” book simply Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook, that just wasn’t good enough for us! Together, Mom and I came up with a shuffled version of the original, eliminating the words “Better Cookery”, altogether.

Thus, Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook, having a secondary title of “Famous Foods from Famous Places – the Best of the Recipe Detective”, became Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – the Best of the Recipe Detective, with the secondary title, simply, “Famous Foods from Famous Places”.

The layout needed to be changed slightly because of the digital revolution and the printed format we chose for the final product. Plus, I had to scan all of Mom’s pictures and illustrations from the original book, of which she and I could only choose a dozen or so to go into the new revision. Additionally, we chose some parts of the original book to omit due to changes in information, lack of current relatability, or other such reasons. There was a lot of work involved!

One of Mom’s most favorite things in life, next to Dad (and us kids), was ALAWAYS to write. She also loved to mentor those who shared that love! Helping Mom rewrite the “revised rewrite” of her original book, put me in touch with her in a whole new way from what I had, while growing up! Even from what I had, after having children of my own.

Somewhere within that project, Mom’s “child” became like my own child, as I dedicated about two years of my life to its completion (when I wasn’t doing all the other work I needed to do). The cookbook went to print in early January 2018. When Mom heard the news, she said that one of the highlights of her life was that she was “kind of famous for a while!”

Mom passed away later that month, two weeks after her 82^nd birthday, leaving behind a beautiful legacy of faith, love, generosity, humor and a wide range of artistic talents. I feel so lucky to have all of these memories of her and how she contributed toward the woman I am today.

LAST THOUGHTS…

#GoodNeighbor

REMINDER: NEXT MONDAY – May 24^th – will be my LAST visit with Kathy Keene on her “Good Neighbor” show, at WHBY, as she will be retiring soon! I wish Kathy nothing but joy in her coming endeavors!

IN CLOSING…

In honor of today, being National Cherry Cobbler Day, here are Mom’s “secret recipes” for Cake Mix Cobbler and Thin Vanilla Icing that I shared on the “Good Neighbor” show, with Kathy Keene last month! [As seen in… The Joy Of NOT Cooking – Any More Than You Have To (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; Nov. 1983, p. 182).]

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

May is still celebrating, among other things… American Cheese Month, National Asparagus Month, National Egg Month, National Hamburger Month, National Salad Month, National Salsa Month, National Strawberry Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

Other celebrations for the week:

Sunday, May 16^th, was, among other things, the start of Bike to Work Week [16^th-22^nd of 2021], which is always the week of National Bike to Work Day (the 3^rd Friday in May)!

Additionally…

Today is also… National Pack Rat Day, National Walnut Day, and National Idaho Day!

Tuesday, May 18^th, is… National Visit Your Relatives Day, National No Dirty Dishes Day, and National Cheese Soufflé Day!

Wednesday, May 19^th, is… National Devil’s Food Cake Day and National Juice Slush Day, which is always the 3^rd Wednesday in May!

Thursday, May 20^th, is… National Pick Strawberries Day and National Quiche Lorraine Day!

Friday, May 21^st, is… National Waitstaff Day, National Strawberries and Cream Day, and National Memo Day!

Plus, as the 3^rd Friday in May, it is also National Pizza Party Day, National Bike to Work Day, and National NASCAR Day!

Saturday, May 22^nd, is… National Craft Distillery Day, World Paloma Day, and National Vanilla Pudding Day!

Sunday, May 23^rd, is… National Lucky Penny Day and National Taffy Day!

#TGIM

…20 down and 32 to go!

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

May 10, 2021

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – The Copycat Cookery Inventor

Happy Monday to everyone! I always look forward to Mondays because they are my 52 Chances each year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with all of you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#NationalInventorsMonth

It’s still National Inventor’s Month! So, this week, I want to tell you more about Mom being the ORIGINAL Secret Recipes^TM Detective, INVENTOR of the copycat cookery concept for imitating junk foods, convenience foods, fast foods, and other restaurant dishes at home!

Last week, I wrote about Mom’s first 20+ years (1973-1993) as the Secret Recipes^TM Detective – from the inception of her copycat cookery business and the 1973 release of her first self-published cookbook, to her SECOND appearance on the “Phil Donahue Show”, in 1993.

This week, as I did in my blog post from the week before last, I want to write more about Mom’s last 20+ years (1994-2014) as the Secret Recipes^TM Detective…

THE LAST 20 YEARS

AFTER DONAHUE – THE SECOND TIME…

Mom wrote the quote above about her first appearance on Phil’s show in 1981, as it was written before she ever agreed to do it all over again, in 1993! Mom and Dad thought that if the show left out their contact information the second time around, it wouldn’t be as overwhelming as the first time. However, people found a way to find them! That show even shattered the record for most requested transcripts ever!

As I’ve mentioned the past couple weeks, following the second Donahue appearance, in 1993, Mom and Dad were persuaded to take a new route, in marketing their books, by doing an infomercial with Guthie-Renker Corporation. It was produced and directed by Positive Response Television and Mom was sent her own VHS copies, but in the end the project was “canned” and never aired.

The infomercial’s presentation was to appear as a talk show called “Ask Mike”, looking very similar to Mom’s last appearance on the Phil Donahue Show, including cooking demonstrations of some of her popular imitations. The “commercial breaks” were to promote several of Mom’s books, of which the production team totally changed the looks.

Furthermore, “Mike” acted like a dramatic caricature of Phil, always saying “Yep! That’s the flavor!” whenever he sampled Mom’s imitations. In fact, Mom titled her 1988 book, Yup! That’s The Flavor!, because that was Phil’s repeated reaction to all of her imitations on his show!

Additionally, Wally Amos (whom Mom met during her 1988 appearance on ABC’s Home show) cameoed as a street interviewer, offering “blind”, taste-test challenges to “random people on the street” with samples of Mom’s imitations versus the originals!

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Eating Out at Home (National Home News, St. Clair, MI; September 1978, p. 2)

ON DUPLICATING FAMOUS RECIPES…

YOU DON’T HAVE TO know exactly how the original dish was prepared by the commercial food chains. All you need is a basic recipe to which you will add that ‘special seasoning’ or that ‘secret method of preparation’ that sets one famous secret recipe apart from those similar to it…

When I work to duplicate a recipe so that the finished product is as good as (if not better than) a famous restaurant dish, I begin by asking myself a series of questions: I want to know what color the finished dish has…[and] was it achieved by baking, frying or refrigeration?…What specific flavors can I identify?… and about how much of each may have been used…

Similar tests are used in chemistry…[to]…break down the components of an unknown substance and try to rebuild it. So the cook must work like a chemist (and not like a gourmet; who, most of the time, never uses a recipe – but, rather, creates one.) The most remarkable part of the duplication of famous recipes is that you can accept the challenge to ‘try’ to match their [dish or product].

Sometimes, you will be successful. Sometimes you will fail in the attempt. But, at least, it can be done [as practice makes perfect], and it certainly takes the monotony out of mealtime when, for reasons of financial inadequacy, we cannot always eat out…even if we could afford to eat all or most of our meals away from home, wouldn’t that become monotonous in time?

Mom found out later, when she and Dad didn’t have five kids in tow (plus, being able to afford it better, from the success of their Secret Recipes^TM business) that eating out all the time really did not get as monotonous as she thought it might! For MANY decades, she and Dad enjoyed eating breakfast out almost every day!

Mom and Dad had their favorite spots, but they also enjoyed exploring new places, too. They always made friends with the staff and other patrons everywhere they went! Breakfast can be the most important meal of the day in more ways than one!

Not wanting to ever be on television again, Mom went back to her roots – being a regular guest on many of her beloved, radio talk shows, all around the country, and coaching people on how to be copycat cooks with her new short-cut methods! In 1994, she wrote and published a “Best of…” cookbook, covering her favorite, copycat cookery highlights from the first 20 years of her newsletter!

During the next two years, Mom and Dad resurrected three of her popular, out-of-print cookbooks: Mostly 4-Ingredient Recipes, The Best of The Better Cookery Cookbook, and The Copycat Cookbook; basically changing each from a 5½ x 8½-inch format to an 8½ x 11-inch format.

In 1997, Mom released four more new books. One focused on low fat and sugar recipes, plus breads, and was so named. Two others featured more short-cut recipes for on-the-go cooks like herself, which she called Restaurant Recipe Secrets and Secret Knock-Off Recipes.

The fourth publication was The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes, a collection of Mom’s first 200+ recipes that she sold in the early and mid-1970s, printed on index cards ready for filing. And because that wasn’t quite enough for the year, Mom also put together a simple, 4-page folder with a small collection of recipes for “Chicken Soup And Other Comfort Foods”.

In 1998, Mom revised and reprinted a few more of her cookbooks – Yup! That’s The Flavor! (1988), re-naming it as Secret That’s The Flavor Recipes; as well as Secret Fast Food Recipes (1985) and Secret Make Alike Recipes (1991), changing both of the latter from 5½ x 8½-inch formats to 8½ x 11-inch formats.

From 1998 through 2004, Mom also put together seven, two-page recipe bulletins, focusing on different restaurants or subjects, covering imitations for Old Country Buffet, Boston Market, Bob Evans, Mrs. Field’s Cookies, Fred Sanders Company, Bill Knapp, and J.L. Hudson.

Over the next three years after that, Mom wrote three more new copycat cookbooks that she and Dad published. The Great Imitator’s Cookbook came out in 1999, followed by Mom’s “go-to” collection, My Personal Favorites, in 2000; as she was preparing to permanently retire her newsletter in December of that year. Plus, in 2001, she wrote Gloriously Simple! Recipes, another collection for her ever popular short-cut cooking concept.

AGAIN, MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Eating Out at Home Cookbook (Nat’l Home News, St. Clair, MI; Sep. 1978, p. 1)

A PHILOSOPHY

A whole approach to life, can be expressed in… cooking… an art we all can learn. As with the other arts, practicing it competently requires care, patience and the skill that comes with experience. But, above all else, to be a good cook, you must WANT to [cook].

At one time or another, most of us have had the experience of cooking when we really didn’t feel like doing it, Then, even our tried-and-true recipes are apt to be disappointing [and] lifeless. Something just isn’t there.

What’s missing is the spirit of the cook. For food is more than a physical substance. It has an intangible quality that nourishes our spirits. A good dish, lovingly prepared, at some point in the process of tasting and blending, becomes more than the sum of its ingredients. Its flavor [and] its uniqueness are created by the cook.

YOU WILL FIND PLEASURE AND EXCITEMENT IN COOKING, IF YOU PUT THEM INTO IT.

There’s no limit to the satisfaction you can gain. Taste as you go. Experiment a little with seasonings. Try new foods and new combinations [of food]. The results will have ‘you’ in them. You will face the job with a feeling of freedom, with a feeling of creativeness; and both, you and your family, will be constantly increasing the enjoyment of living.

When you cook this way, with warmth and active pleasure, your meals will be more than just food. Your zest and your spirit will be in them – and some of the radiance of Life, itself.

Mom always made my experiences with food (and in learning to cook) exciting and gratifying! I rarely ever cook the same dish exactly the same way, twice. I love to experiment with different seasoning combinations; and have yet to hear a complaint from my family that something hasn’t tasted good. I’m so proud to have learned from the best! I love you, Mom!

In 2002, as short-cut cooking continued to be the popular thing for busy homemakers, Mom and Dad decided to reprint her 1986 hit, Mostly 4-Ingredient Recipes. That was the last book that they published themselves. They continued to promote that cookbook and Mom’s seven bulletins into 2014, until they both started having some significant health issues and Dad suddenly passed away that fall.

LAST THOUGHTS…

Life is short and fragile. All it takes is a simple moment to change everything you take for granted. So focus on the simple things that surround you and be grateful for each moment you have to leave an imprint on someone or enjoy the one left for you!

#GoodNeighbor

[Our next visit is scheduled in TWO weeks – Monday, May 24^th!]

#NationalEggMonth

In honor of this also being National Egg Month, here is Mom’s “secret recipe” for Gypsy 48-Egg Torte, like that from the Dodge Estate; as seen in… The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes_© Book (Secret Recipes^TM, Marysville, MI; June 1997, p. 13)!

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

May is still celebrating, among other things… National American Cheese Month, National Better Speech and Language Month, National Asparagus Month, National Barbecue Month, National Get Caught Reading Month, National Hamburger Month, National Photography Month, National Preservation Month, National Recommitment Month, National Salad Month, National Salsa Month, National Strawberry Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

This second full week in May (9^th-15^th of 2021) celebrates, among other things… National Salvation Army Week and American Craft Beer Week, as well as National Etiquette Week, which runs Monday through Friday of the 2^nd full week in May (10^th-14^th of 2021)!

Other celebrations for this week include:

Monday, May 10^th, is… National Clean Up Your Room Day, National Shrimp Day, and National Washington Day!

#CleanUpYourRoomDay

Tuesday, May 11^th, is… National Eat What You Want Day and National Foam Rolling Day!

Wednesday, May 12^th, is… National Limerick Day and National Nutty Fudge Day!

Thursday, May 13^th, is… National Crouton Day, National Apple Pie Day, and National Fruit Cocktail Day!

Friday, May 14^th, is… National Decency Day and National Buttermilk Biscuit Day! In honor of the latter, here’s a re-share of Mom’s “Beautiful Biscuits” that she claimed are better than KFC’s!

#NationalButtermilkBiscuitDay

Saturday, May 15^th, is… National Chocolate Chip Day and National Nylon Stocking Day! Plus, because this is the 3^rd Saturday in May, it’s also National Armed Forces Day and National Learn to Swim Day!

Sunday, May 16^th, is… National Barbecue Day, National Do Something Good for Your Neighbor Day, National Love a Tree Day, National Mimosa Day, and National Biographer’s Day! Sunday is also the start of Bike to Work Week [16^th-22^nd of 2021], which is always the week of National Bike to Work Day (the 3^rd Friday in May)!

#TGIM

…19 down and 33 to go!

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

May 3, 2021May 3, 2021

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Inventor Of Copycat Cookery…

Happy Monday and happy National Inventor’s Month! Instead of dreading Mondays, make them memorable! I always look forward to Mondays, because they’re my 52 Chances each year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with all of you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#NationalInventorsMonth

May is, among other things, National Inventor’s Month! So, this whole month presents awesome chances for me to tell Mom’s story again! My mom is the ORIGINAL Secret Recipes Detective^TM, INVENTOR of the copycat cookery concept for imitating junk foods, convenience foods, fast foods, and other restaurant dishes at home!

…The First 20 Years

Over 45 years ago Mom became the FIRST person to INVENT homemade, copycat versions of goodies such as Hostess Twinkies_©, among many other things! Do you remember when Hostess Brands announced it was going out of business, in 2012, and there was a big run on Twinkies? Mom’s brainchild came in handy for making our own cream-filled, golden, mini-loaf cakes! Likewise, it’s been especially useful over the past year, during the restaurant shut-downs and quarantines for Covid-19!

Mom’s copycat cookery concept began building its legacy in the early 1970s with her syndicated recipe column, Cookbook Corner. Back then, one of Mom’s readers had requested a recipe for imitating the special sauce that McDonalds put on their Big Macs.

That’s when Mom discovered that McDonald’s Big Mac was actually an imitation of the Big Boy franchise’s original invention of the double-decker burger (self-titled “The Big Boy”), which she grew up enjoying when she was young. That’s when the seed for copycat cookery was planted!

Mom saw a niche in the food industry that no one else had ever explored before, thus, she enthusiastically began investigating how to imitate all kinds of junk foods and fast foods, even grocery products, at home. Mom felt that if her homemade, duplications could save her own family money then she’d share those secrets to help others too!

After printing a few “secret recipes” in her column, Mom’s readers LOVED it and sent her more requests! However, the editors found that their food industry advertisers hated it. Mom was told to go back to “normal” recipes, or they’d have to let her go. Instead, she quit her job and went home to develop her own paper where she could promote this new and unique collection of copycat recipes, for which she knew the public was starving.

Initially, Mom printed and sold her ever-growing recipe collection on index cards, ready for filing (at 25-cents each or five for a dollar)! Her copycat recipes collection grew exponentially and snowballed into dozens-upon-dozens of cookbooks, hundreds of newsletter issues, and other work she published, along with Dad, over a span of more than four decades (1973-2013).

Early, in 1973, Mom published her very first cookbook, The Better Cooker’s Cookbook. It was a parody of Betty Crocker’s famous red and white checkered cookbook. Mom comically described her own creation as a collection of “reluctant-cook”, “budget-tested” recipes, many of which she first published in her Cookbook Corner column.

Later, in 1973, inspired by a wonderful “craft-letter” she had been receiving, from Carol Duvall, Mom decided to devise and publish her own monthly newsletter, as a platform for her fast-growing catalog of secret recipes. It also featured Mom’s food-for-thought editorials and food-for-the-soul inspirations, plus gardening and household tips and tricks – anything of interest for busy homemakers like herself.

The newsletter started as Gloria Pitzer’s Homemaker’s Newsletter, in January 1974. Mom designed it so that each issue could be “collected” in a small-sized 3-ring binder, as an on-going book. Over the decades, as the newsletter evolved, its name and size changed from time to time; also, going from monthly to bi-monthly to quarterly and back to monthly.

Mom had a unique style in all of her works. She was following the “live-laugh-love” mantra long before it was a thing! Her books and newsletters were put together like homemade quilts; combining different bits of this and that, wanting her creations to belong as much on the coffee and bedside tables as they did on the kitchen counter.

If you like to laugh while cooking or cook while laughing, any of Mom’s books are for you! While all but one of Mom’s books are out of print now, used copies of many of them can still be found on Amazon and eBay! You can find a more complete listing of Mom’s work within the Cookbooks and Other Publications tabs on this website.

‘Food is more than a physical substance. It has an intangible quality that nourishes our spirits. A good dish, lovingly prepared, at some point in the process of tasting and blending, becomes more than the sum of its ingredients.’ – Gloria Pitzer, Eating Out at Home Cookbook (Nat’l Home News, St. Clair, MI; Sep. 1978, p. 1)

Mom’s copycat recipe collection continually grew. In 1977, she began her first series of “secret recipes” cookbooks. The first in the series was The Secret Restaurant Recipes Book (aka: “Book 1”)! Later that year, having so much material with which to work, Mom was quick to follow up with “Book 2” in her series, thereby calling it The Second Helping of Secret Recipes.

The hunger from her fans for more “secret recipes” continued to grow. Over the next three years, Mom published three more hits – each one unique and fresh: Eating Out At Home (aka: “Book 3”), in 1978; Top Secret Recipes Al’a Carte (aka: “Book 4”), in 1979; and The Secrets Of Homemade Groceries (aka: “Book 5”), in 1980.

Between the five books, in this series alone, Mom had developed over 1,400 imitations covering 59 diverse restaurants (from Arby’s to Yummyland), 83 brands of grocery products (from A&P to Wonder), 22 famous hotel chains and inns, 15 favorite candies and carnival eats, 12 different department stores and cafeterias, and renowned goodies from 7 various tourist hot spots!

The growing success of Mom’s copycat cookery concept led to enormous opportunities, doing radio and TV talk shows all over North America, which opened up even more doors of opportunity. Mom didn’t release anything new in 1981, as the project she was working on had to be put on hold while the family business was inundated by over a MILLION requests for what she was already offering, following her FIRST appearance on the Phil Donahue Show in July of that year!

After recovering from “Hurricane Donahue 1981”, Mom found time in 1982 to finish that postponed project from the previous year. She revised the title of her very first (1973) cookbook and came up with a whole new book that was one of her most famous (and personal favorites) copycat cookbooks ever, Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook.

[NOTE: That’s the book (1983, 3^rd edition version) that I rewrote for Mom so that it could be republished for a new generation of copycat cooks. Unfortunately, Mom passed away shortly after it went to print (2018).]

From 1982 through 1988, Mom wrote and published nine new books. Mom’s 1985 release of Mostly 4-Ingredient Recipes focused on the “short-cut” recipes she had begun developing by revamping many of her past imitations with no more than 5 ingredients. They became her most requested recipes whenever she was a guest on hundreds of radio talk show programs throughout North America! It was another new niche Mom was first to carve out in the recipe world!

In 1986, Mom and Dad published a unique collection of Mom’s trademark humor, called “Food for Thought”, which features, feel-good stories, inspirational quotes and other things to smile about (except for recipes)! Thus, Mom called it This Is Not A Cook Book – It’s Gloria Pitzer’s Food-For-Thought!

In 1988, Mom developed The Copycat Cookbook, named for her original concept, which included another unique collection of make-alike recipes for more famous favorites not in her previous cookbooks. Additionally, in 1988, Mom made her FIRST memorable appearance on ABC’s Home show, where she met Wally Amos (a second appearance followed in 1991)…

In 1989, feeling very blessed by the previous 15 years of growing success in her copycat cookery business, Mom wrote a culmination of our family’s story and how we were all involved in the merry – and sometimes mad – world of Secret Recipes^TM, with close to a few dozen special recipes thrown in.

My Cup Runneth Over – And I Can’t Find My Mop is mostly full of food-for-thought and witty stories about the trials and tribulations of a family of seven, running a kitchen table, cottage enterprise. I quote from it often in my “Mom’s Memories” sections of my blog posts.

Afterwards, Mom rewrote her favorite 1982 cookbook into a “Best of…” condensed version. She also took the greatest parts of her first series of five books and put them together into another “Best of…” cookbook, which she called Gloria Pitzer’s Secret Recipes Of Famous Favorites.

In the spring of 1991, Mom wrote and published her next cookbook, Make Alike Recipes, having only the product or a description as a guide in developing a new line of food industry imitations. She never knew, nor did she want to know, what the famous food companies actually put in their recipes.

However, Mom did know that by combining certain compatible ingredients in her recipes, she could come up with “make alike” imitations that are reminiscent of the original product or dish. Mom always liked to look for ingredients that were available most everywhere, economical and, if possible, wholesome.

But, whenever conceivable, Mom also liked to reduce the number of ingredients in her recipes, by using prepared products – one product replacing two or more ingredients for the same result – like mayonnaise for oil and eggs or cake mix for flour, sugar and baking powder.

As I mentioned earlier, also in 1991, Mom appeared for a SECOND time on ABC’s Home show – however, feeling a bit dismayed, she didn’t think it went as well as the first time. On the other hand, her SECOND appearance on the Phil Donahue Show in April of 1993 shattered the record for the most requested transcripts ever!

LAST THOUGHTS…

#WHBY

If you missed my visit last week on WHBY’s “Good Neighbor” show, with Kathy Keene, you can listen to the podcast recording here: https://www.spreaker.com/user/woodwardradio/laura-pitzer-emerich_6

IN CLOSING…

#NationalBarbecueMonth

In honor of this also being National Barbecue Month, here are TWO of Mom’s “secret recipes” for imitating Open Pit’s and Hunt’s barbeque sauces… As seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3^rd Edition).]

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

May is celebrating, among other things… American Cheese Month, Better Speech and Language Month, National Asparagus Month, National Egg Month, Older Americans Month, National Get Caught Reading Month, National Hamburger Month, National Photography Month, National Preservation Month, National Recommitment Month, National Salad Month, National Salsa Month, National Strawberry Month, and National Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

Some other celebrations for this week include the following:

Yesterday was the start of the first full week of May, which is celebrating, among other things … Small Business Week, National Wildflower Week, and National Pet Week (which is the 1^st Sunday through the 2^nd Monday of May)!

Today is… National Garden Meditation Day, National Chocolate Custard Day, National Raspberry Pop Over Day, and National Montana Day! This is also Teacher Appreciation Week – which runs the first Monday through Friday in May!

Tomorrow is… National Star Wars Day, National Weather Observers Day, National Orange Juice Day, National Candied Orange Peel Day, National Bird Day, and National Teacher Appreciation Day (which is always on Tuesday of Teacher Appreciation Week)!