NationalBarbecueMonth Archives

May 22, 2023

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Summer Road Trips and Picnics

Thank God Its Monday again! I love Mondays. They’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#RoadTripDay

#NationalCoolerDay

You can almost feel summer in the air now. Even though it doesn’t really start until June 21^st, Memorial Day has become the unofficial start of summer. And this Friday is the unofficial start of the Memorial Day weekend. Among other things, Friday is also National Road Trip Day and National Cooler Day!

#PureMichigan

When my parents were empty-nesters and needed a break from their long work week, they’d often go on a road trip somewhere – for the day or the weekend. It didn’t matter if it was a planned trip or a “new scenic route” (when Dad got lost), because they were together, exploring, and enjoying Michigan’s beautiful scenery.

Did you know that Michigan has 3,288 miles of coastline that borders four of the five Great Lakes? It’s the longest freshwater coastline in the U.S. In fact, regardless of water type (sea or fresh), Michigan is only in second place, to Alaska, in total length of coastline.

Sometimes, however, “work” would manage to creep back in, because whenever they stopped for a bite to eat, Mom always managed to find someone’s [restaurant] “house special” that she wanted to analyze and duplicate when she got home.

Whenever possible, my husband and I LOVE to go on road trips to different areas in our scenic state of Michigan, just like my parents used to do. We really enjoy exploring the sparkling, blue water shorelines of the Great Lakes, surrounding most of our state; as well as the in-land lakes, small towns, rivers, forests, farmlands, and parks.

Additionally, Sunday is celebrating National Beef Burger Day and National Hamburger Day, all of which adds up to more great reasons for a road trip and picnic (or a backyard barbecue) this weekend to celebrate the unofficial start of summer!

May is coming to a close soon so, this weekend, celebrate that it’s still National Barbecue Month, National Hamburger Month, National Salad Month, American Cheese Month, National Egg Month, and National Salsa Month!

What are your favorite go-to picnic or backyard barbecue foods? Among classic picnic treats, the finger foods that travel well and won’t spoil on a warm day include sandwiches/wraps, fried chicken, fresh vegetables and fruit. Remember – if anything has mayo in it, keep it chilled!

Aside from the “main dish”, popular picnic foods include appetizers like deviled eggs, pigs-in-a-blanket, and stuffed mushrooms; sides like mac-n-cheese or baked beans; coleslaw and salads like pasta, potato, veggie, and fruit; desserts like pies, brownies, bars, and cookies; plus, snacks like string cheese, meat sticks, chips, pretzels, and trail mix.

Just as in any celebration, throughout the year, a very important part of picnic activities, besides socializing, getting fresh air, and making memories, is eating the food! Therefore, I’m including, here, a list (based on a Google search consensus) for 10 popular food choices to take on a picnic.

10 Popular Picnic Food Picks:

- Fried Chicken
- Hot Dogs
- Sandwiches/Wraps
- Pasta Salad
- Potato salad
- Baked beans
- Deviled Eggs
- Watermelon
- Brownies
- Pie

Things to do on a picnic outing (besides eating) include playing music, singing/dancing, walking, playing table/yard games, bird watching, people watching, sun bathing; plus, if you’re at a beach, you can add in searching for skipping stones or sea shells, swimming, fishing, and building sand castles.

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)]

You don’t need to go on an expensive, fancy vacation or plan an extravagant party to reconnect with family and friends over the Memorial Day weekend. A simple picnic is a fun and relaxing way to gather and make memories. But if you want to have MORE than a “simple” picnic…

Have you ever heard of a mystery picnic? I recently discovered this fun twist on our iconic, seasonal tradition at CuriousCampers.com, out of Australia. I can’t wait to create and host my own scavenger hunt style picnic for a special summer gathering with friends and family!

According to the website, “mystery picnics” combine travel, food, and fun; while solving a series of clues that take you to various places, where you collect things to add to the “picnic basket” at the final destination. It’s a fun idea to explore the area, as you collect “picnic basket items”, and then gather with the other guests to share your collection and adventures.

The difference between a treasure hunt and scavenger hunt is slight. A treasure hunt has only one thing for which to hunt (aka: the treasure) – the first one to find it wins. Once “the treasure” is found the hunt is done for everyone. A scavenger hunt offers each guest a list or variety of things to find/collect.

Both hunts use riddles and clues to send participants from one place to another. Usually, participants can work in pairs or in teams or individually. A scavenger hunt is typically played in an extensive outdoor area but it can also be scaled down to play at home, like a treasure hunt.

The host typically creates a “trail”, so that the answer to one clue reveals the next one. You can either write them on pieces of paper hidden at the chosen locations or put them in an “online” forum (like an “event” or “group” page on Facebook) that gives clues to the answers, as well.

The first riddle should be included in the initial invitation. Guests have to figure it out before they start, so they know where to go first and collect something for the picnic, along with a clue to the next destination. Repeat as often as necessary, before getting to the final destination – the “mystery picnic” spot.

LAST THOUGHTS…

A checklist comes in handy, when packing for anything. I use part of my camping checklist for my picnic “basket”, which is actually a plastic tote. It’s always on the ready so I can easily throw it in the trunk of our car, along with a food bag and cooler, whenever my husband and I want to go on a spontaneous, all-day Road Trip.

It may seem like a lot of stuff but it actually packs up fairly small and compact. As a Mom of three, I learned from my own mom, over the years, (as she used to have to pack for a family of seven) how to pack 10 pounds of stuff in a 5-pound bag. I found organization is key. As the old adage says: “It’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it!”

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

IN CLOSING…

In honor of May, also being National Salad Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for Macaroni (or Potato) Salad, Like the Colonel’s; as seen in her last book, Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – Best Of The Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 29). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3^rd Edition).]

I also gave this recipe out a couple of years ago, on Kathy Keene’s ‘Good Neighbor’ radio show, on WHBY (Appleton, WI). Kathy has since retired. The show was discontinued and, unfortunately, my link to the recorded audio doesn’t work anymore.

#NationalSaladMonth

#GetCaughtReadingMonth

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

May also celebrates… National Asparagus Month, National Inventor’s Month, National Photography Month, National Strawberry Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

Today is… National Craft Distillery Day, World Paloma Day, National Maritime Day, National Solitaire Day, and National Vanilla Pudding Day!

Tomorrow is… National Lucky Penny Day and National Taffy Day!

Wednesday, May 24^th, is… National Yucatan Shrimp Day, Brother’s Day, National Escargot Day, and National Wyoming Day!

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

May 26^th, is… National Blueberry Cheesecake Day! Plus, as the Friday before Memorial Day (for 2023), it’s also… National Don’t Fry Day!

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

Sunday, May 28^th, is… National Brisket Day!

#TGIM

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

…21 down and 31 to go!

March 7, 2023

BARBECUE SAUCE, SUGAR-FREE

BARBECUE SAUCE, SUGAR-FREE

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Sugar-Free Recipes (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; Nov. 1987; p. 54)

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup sugar-free apple butter

½ cup sugar-free Catalina dressing

½ cup sugar-free ketchup

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine all 3 ingredients, as listed, stirring well. Refrigerate to use within 2 months.

[NOTE: Each of the above ingredients are included in recipes (on this website), for making them without sugar…]

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – The Dawn of Summer

Hello and happy Monday to all! I personally look forward to Mondays, each and every week! They’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with all of you!

#TheRecipeDetective

The year is almost half-way through and the dawn of summer (aka: Memorial Day, which is considered the un-official start of summer) is only a week away! Memorial Day was originally established as a day of remembrance, set aside to honor our veterans who died, serving in the U.S. military.

Our hearts go out to their surviving families, as those veterans gave their lives, protecting our country and our freedoms. Therefore, while we enjoy celebrating our freedoms this coming weekend, keep in mind at what cost we have them, in the first place! Likewise, let us also commemorate those veterans for the ultimate sacrifice they all made for us.

Traditionally, many towns honor their local veterans with floral wreaths and small American flags on their graves, as well as with community parades and special memorial services. Afterward, many of us will celebrate the extended weekend with pot-lucks or family picnics or backyard barbecues [as it is National Barbecue Month, too]!

#NationalBarbecueMonth

For some reason, Americans always like to find ways to “celebrate”, even the most somber of days, with optimism, happiness, and hope – and, of course, food! As I mentioned a few weeks ago, this is one of those holidays that didn’t make Wikipedia’s top 10 celebrated Public Holidays in the United States. But it’s still noteworthy as being celebrated with a lot of food!

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. 4)

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS…

WE ALL EXPECT life to be good to us – most of the time. That isn’t too much to ask, now, is it? But when things don’t work out the way we had planned or [as we had] hoped… the tendency is there to feel [that] life gave us lemons. The best experiences often come out of the biggest disappointments. So, when life gives you lemons, you have to make lemonade – turning a ‘let-down’ into a ‘set-up’…

Norman Vincent Peale once said that God never closes a door that he hasn’t opened a window. But the opportunities that are available to us aren’t always the most obvious when we’re in the throes of self-pity or weary from overwork… You certainly won’t hear opportunity knocking at the front door if you’re in the backyard, looking for four-leaf clovers.

To seize every opportunity to express your very best effort is the kind of motivation with which I grew up and have passed on to our five, now-adult, children. When they all lined up for this Memorial Day snapshot [in 1969 (below)], before we left to march in the big parade in beautiful, downtown Algonac; little did we know how beautifully our [lives] would turn out. How little did we know what big challenges would tempt us to give up [and] to succumb to defeat.

#RoadTripDay

#NationalCoolerDay

Additionally, this coming Friday will also be National Road Trip Day and National Cooler Day! It’s one of those times, with the extended weekend, when hundreds of thousands of people (me and my husband included) will hit the road for a long weekend getaway – or maybe just a one day journey with a picnic somewhere.

After my parents became empty-nesters and needed a break from their long work week, they often chose to go on a road trip somewhere. It didn’t matter if it was a planned route or the “other scenic route” (that’s what Dad called it when he got lost). They were together and away from “it all”, just enjoying each other and the beautiful Michigan scenery!

#PureMichigan

Sometimes, however, work would always manage to creep back in whenever they stopped for a bite to eat, as Mom usually managed to find something good that she wanted to analyze and duplicate when she got back home. My husband and I can relate to the road trip getaway. We love taking road trips like my parents did. Michigan, and the whole Great Lakes area, is a wonderful place to explore and unwind from a hectic work week.

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, from Gloria Pitzer’s Secret Recipes^TM Newsletter (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; May-June 1987, 126^th issue, p. 3)]

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Celebrate Your Neighbors

Happy Monday! I always look forward to Mondays! They’re my 52 Chances, each year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with all of you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#DoSomethingGoodForYourNeighborDay

Today is National Do Something Good for Your Neighbor Day! A neighbor was once defined as being near or next door to another. That has since expanded broadly to include any fellow human being.

Key traits of good neighbors include being friendly, available, and approachable. Other good traits are being respectful, mature, helpful, and trustworthy. Friendly neighbors always welcome new residents, introducing themselves, as well as other neighbors; always maintaining relationships and being sociable.

Generations ago, it was commonplace to know most, if not all, of your neighbors! However, according to a great article by John Anderer (Dec. 27, 2019), Sign Of The Times: 75% Of Adults Aren’t Friends With Any Of Their Neighbors, “1 in 4 people are living somewhere with ‘no sense of community spirit’ in their neighborhood.”

Over the decades, people have withdrawn from socializing with their neighbors. Furthermore, John wrote that “56% say they have no interest in getting to know those who live next door any better than they already do. But the survey did find that people living in rural areas (18%) are more likely to have friends in their neighborhood than city dwellers (15%).”

Mom celebrated “neighbors” (in the broader meaning) over the radio airwaves for many decades, 1974 to 2014, starting with Bob Allison and his Detroit area ‘Ask Your Neighbor’ show’s audience, who were the first to call her “The Secret Recipe Detective”.

Bob and Mom formed a fast friendship, and she soon became a regular guest on his show every Monday for decades, sharing her secrets for imitating famous foods.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

The Secret Restaurant Recipes Book (National Homemaker’s Newsletter, Pearl Beach, MI; Jan. 1977)

“ASK YOUR NEIGHBOR”

FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS, we had only a hundred readers or so. Then, because some good folks in the media took a liking to the newsletter and mentioned it, subscriptions picked up. Bob Allison of Detroit’s WWJ-Radio [show], ‘Ask Your Neighbor’, probably gave us the most enthusiastic reception, which led to our becoming a sponsor of the show and caught the attention of the ‘Detroit Free Press’ ‘Newsweek’, ‘National Enquirer’ and many others until we found our circulation had jumped…to nearly 4,000 in a little more than a year.

The duplications of the famous name recipes stirred the [public’s] interest. It was a service that apparently had not been offered to the public yet, and one we were most happy to supply. The humorous columns I had [been syndicating] to newspapers just a few years before became a popular attraction in the monthly newsletter…

The operation grew so quickly that it had the whole family working seven days a week, just to keep up with the orders. All of our five children helped to assemble, staple, address, and mail out the copies under my husband’s supervision, until we reached about 3,000 readers and then we found it [to be] such a full-time activity that my husband resigned from his position of 20-some years as an account t executive for a sign company… just to devote all of his attention to running my ‘office’.

It was such a joy to be doing something for people that brought them so much happiness and our own family such a sense of unity. When our oldest son, Bill, went off to college… and our [other] son, Mike… we had to replace them. It was pure luck [or Divine intervention] that one of my friends, and the wife of one of the Little League coaches that Paul had worked with in baseball, here, in town, was anxious to help us out.

Sherry Ellis joined us, and I can only describe her as ‘bubbling like a happy brook’ – the best thing that this office could have hoped for. Debbie, our oldest daughter, continued to help us after school and our two younger daughters, Laurie and Cheryl… It even included my mother’s assistance and, you’ll note, I have used some of her recipes. Without her, I never would have learned to boil water properly. She’s a superb cook!

[As of] January 1977, we will publish our 37^th monthly issue of the ‘National Homemaker’s Newsletter’ and we [now] have close to 5,000 readers. We say that getting the newsletter is just like getting together once a month for coffee with friends!

It was a bittersweet day when Mom published her last newsletter (Issue #219) in December 2000 – after 27 years of “getting together” with her thousands of readers, who she always thought of as her neighbors and friends. But she reveled in keeping in touch with them through her radio “appearances”.

By the way, Mom also celebrated neighbors for almost 13 years (June 1992 through December 2005), as did I for 13 months (April 2020 through May 2021), with radio talk show host, Kathy Keene, and her “Good Neighbor” show’s audience, on WHBY in Appleton, WI. I’m honored to have been able to share that with her.

According to a consensus of online advice, a few great ways to make friends with your neighbors, new or otherwise, include taking the initial step (if they haven’t come to you) and knocking on their doors, with a greeting and introduction.

Sometimes organizing a housewarming party or backyard barbecue can create a great ice-breaker event between neighbors, in which they can get to know each other. Such gatherings help neighbors and neighborhoods find common ground on which to connect.

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

…21 down and 31 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)!

Wednesday is… National Cartoonists Day, National Totally Chipotle Day, National Hoagie Day, and Cinco de Mayo!

Thursday is… National Beverage Day, and National Crepe Suzette Day!

Friday is… National Packaging Design Day, National Paste-Up Day, and National Roast Leg of Lamb Day!

Saturday is… National Coconut Cream Pie Day and National Have A Coke Day. As the 2^nd Saturday of May, this is also National Miniature Golf Day & Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Day!

Sunday is… National Moscato Day, National Butterscotch Brownie Day, and best of all Mother’s Day! Being the start of the 2^nd full week of May, it’s also, among other things… American Craft Beer Week!

#TGIM

…18 down and 34 to go!