GOURMET FUDGE CAKE

GOURMET FUDGE CAKE

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Mostly 4-Ingredient Recipes (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; April 1986, p. 66).

DUE TO THE DIRECTION of dialogue from the unfriendly quarters of those who lean toward the gourmet cuisine, I’ve found some changes of thinking, reflected in their critiques. We are suddenly faced with the willful annihilation of long-held beliefs, which, to me, border on the sacred. Word is that the color of the wine no longer has to be compatible to that of the food it accompanies. Now, tell me – what kind of wine does one serve with Fudge Cake and a Big Mac?

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup oil

3 eggs

2 boxes (3¾-oz each) [Cook & Serve] chocolate pudding (NOT instant)

2 cups Bisquick

1 recipe Fudge Icing

INSTRUCTIONS:

Beat all ingredients well, as listed, on high speed of electric mixer about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl often. Spread [batter] evenly over bottom of a greased and floured 9-in-sq baking pan. Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted through center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes. Apply Fudge Icing to slightly warm cake. Refrigerate cake for about 1 hour, before cutting it into nine 3-inch squares. Freezes well.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

See also…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – The Kitchen

FUDGE ICING FOR GOURMET CAKE

FUDGE ICING FOR GOURMET CAKE

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Mostly 4-Ingredient Recipes (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; April 1986, p. 66).

INGREDIENTS:

4 TB (1/2 stick) butter or margarine

1-oz square unsweetened, solid, baking chocolate

¼ cup dark corn syrup

1 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

Melt butter (or margarine) in 1½-qt saucepan, over medium heat, adding chocolate and stirring until completely melted and smooth. Add corn syrup. Stir constantly until it comes to a boil [and continue] only for 1 minute, stirring persistently.

Remove from heat. Beat in powdered sugar until smooth. Apply warm icing to slightly warm cake. Refrigerate iced cake, before cutting.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

See also…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – The Kitchen

APPLE BREAD

APPLE BREAD

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Mostly 4-Ingredient Recipes (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; April 1986, p. 100).

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs

21-oz can apple pie filling

2 tsp apple pie spice

18-oz box Applesauce-Spice cake mix – dry*

[*Or substitute yellow cake mix and 4 tsp apple pie spice (instead of 2).]

Thin Vanilla Icing

INSTRUCTIONS:

Beat eggs and pie filling in large mixing bowl, with mixer on medium speed, breaking up the apples, in the pie filling, into bits. Beat in spice and drop in dry cake mix (right from the box), b eating only until completely dissolved and moistened. Do not overbeat or bread will be heavy.

Divide batter between two  8½” Pyrex loaf dishes, each sprayed with Pam and dusted with flour. Bake them at 350°F for 45-50 minutes, or until [toothpick] inserted in center comes out clean. Cool bread in dishes, on [wire] rack for 10 minutes and then drizzle top of loaves with [my] Thin Vanilla Icing.

Cool 1 hour. Remove from baking dishes. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours, before slicing. Makes 2 loaves.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

See also…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Passion To Profit

CALIFORNIA CHILI

CALIFORNIA CHILI

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Sugar-Free Recipes (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Nov. 1987, P. 93).

INGREDIENTS:

2-lbs ground round

2 TB oil

2 envelopes onion soup mix

4 cups prepared spaghetti sauce

2 cans (14-oz each) sliced, stewed tomatoes

1 TB chili powder

2 tsp cumin powder

½ cup sugar-free strawberry or grape jelly (or jam)

4 cans (1-lb each) undrained chili beans in chili gravy or undrained red kidney beans (OPTIONAL, for “Con Carne”)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Brown beef in oil, on medium-high heat, until all pink disappears; crumbling it with the tines of a fork. Remove from heat to a 4-qt kettle. Add remaining ingredients and cook on low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Adjust the seasoning to taste with additional chili powder or cumin powder if you wish. (Recipe may be cut in half.)

This recipe serves 10-12 nicely. Freeze [leftovers] in small portions to thaw and reheat gently, within 4 months – or refrigerate, covered, to [consume] within a week.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

See also…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Work And Family

Awrey’s-Style Bakery Caramel Frosting for Cakes

Awrey’s-Style Bakery Caramel Frosting for Cakes

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes© Book (Secret RecipesTM, Marysville, MI; June 1997, p. 8)

INGREDIENTS:

1-lb Kraft’s or Brach’s light caramels

1½ cups evaporated milk

1 cup butter or margarine (not “lite/light”)

6-oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

6-oz Nestles Milk Chocolate, melted

1-lb powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS:

Melt caramels in top of double boiler with canned milk, stirring until smooth over gently boiling water. Stir in butter and melted chocolates and blend well. Continue to let it cook over boiling water 15 minutes. Remove from heat. With mixer on medium speed, add powdered sugar a little at a time until you have a spreading consistency. To thin it, if necessary, beat in a little hot, black coffee. Makes 3 cups.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

See also…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Michigan Map Dots

GOURMET APPLE CRISP, LIKE HOLIDAY INN

GOURMET APPLE CRISP, LIKE HOLIDAY INN

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes© Book (Secret RecipesTM, Marysville, MI; June 1997, p. 13)

INGREDIENTS:

6 large Granny Smith green apples – peeled, cored, and sliced quite thin

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

¾ cup flour

½ cup sugar

Dash salt

¼ cup butter

¼ cup chopped walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS:

Place sliced apples in medium bowl and add first half-cup sugar, the lemon juice, cinnamon, and cloves. Transfer, when mixed well, to greased 2-qt baking dish. In another bowl, combine all the rest of the ingredients, except nuts, until mixture is like coarse meal.

Add nuts and sprinkle over apple mixture. Bake uncovered at 350°F for 45 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is nicely browned. Serve warm or cold, with ice cream or whipped cream. Serves 6-8.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

See also…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Gone But Not Forgotten Eateries

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – The Kitchen

Thank God Its Monday, again! #HappyMonday to everyone. I personally look forward to all Mondays because they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

I love October as much as Mondays. It celebrates so many subjects related to Mom, among them are National Book Month, National Cookbook Month, Eat Better & Eat Together Month, National Women’s Small Business Month, National Work and Family Month, Positive Attitude Month, Self-Promotion Month, and even National Kitchen & Bath Month.

#NationalCookbookMonth

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

#NationalKitchenAndBathMonth

The kitchen can often be the ultimate deal maker or deal breaker for most home buyers. It was a very important factor for my parents (particularly Mom, of course). More and more, people with families are looking for homes with large kitchens that have room within for the family dining table – rather than there being a formal, separate dining room.

My family’s favorite gathering place has always been the kitchen. It was the place where we all gathered to eat, laugh, and talk about the day’s events. I have a sign on a wall by my own kitchen table that reads: “There’s a room in every home where the smallest events and biggest occasions become the stories of our lives.” It’s so true!

Since 2020, the importance of the family kitchen increased ten-fold. The dining table became more than just a place where we ate our meals. It became the family’s epicenter, even more so than the old normal. It functions as an office and classroom desk/work area, as well as a wide array of other things.

#WomensSmallBusinessMonth

#WorkAndFamilyMonth

But that’s not new to my family, as we grew up with Mom’s Secret Recipes business growing and taking over the whole dining room of our house in Algonac. Of course, the kitchen was another hub for all of her recipe developments, also. Mom wrote a lot of articles about the kitchen and its importance to the cook as well as to the family unit.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, p. 66)

COME INTO THE KITCHEN

THE KITCHEN – IT’S THE BEST place to be when we’re home! You’ll notice that even current home designers are getting away from the formal dining room area, the same way auto designers are abandoning the limousine, the regal and roomy sedans, with their plush interiors, for more functional models.

Homes are becoming more functional in design, as well. In our continuing efforts to economize, to restrict energy sources and to b ring the family back to the warm, bright openness of a country kitchen, we have rediscovered the personal advantages of the best room in the house.

Oh, there will always be the sleek and satiny modern designs of circles, rectangles, and dimensional art forms in the immaculate whites and the startling blacks and the platinum trim and aluminum coldness of contemporary décor.

But the classic country kitchen is coming back where there is one large working space close to the appliance area and also open to the informal, large eating area.

One kitchen design that I truly enjoyed and wished I had thought of it years ago, was a portion of one wall in the eating area that had a shoe molding frame glued to enclose one area that contained a haphazard arrangement of family snapshots, superimposed, over early school drawings by their children; a few post cards depicting a favorite vacation spot when the kids were little and bold handprints of each child, with their names lettered beneath.

The other walls were tastefully decorated with framed favorite recipes and measuring utensils and baskets that were really used, every day, rather than portray the useless object of décor. It was a warm and workable kitchen that reflected a family as a unit rather than the individuals.

There was no reflection of a magazine layout for a swanky and impersonal organization in that room. Every inch of it said, ‘Welcome!’ If you were a stranger when you entered, you were a friend before you left.

It’s been another year, in which many of us have been dealing with an overload of stress and anxiety. Food tends to be one of the few things that usually comfort us in trying times. That’s probably another top reason why the kitchen is, more often than not, considered to be one the favorite rooms in a house. In fact, it’s often regarded as the HEART of the home.

MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, p. 66)

FAMILY & HOME

FAMILY RESTAURANTS and homestyle meals are returning to popularity. During the war-protesting days of Vietnam, the right to be ‘different’, the right to protest, to be individual made anything even slightly related to ‘family’ and ‘home’ forbidden – or corny. People became impersonal to each other…

Now the pendulum is swinging the other way. The family and home have been reinstated…even in our restaurant industry. Today it is changing back to the personal, the warm, the family. The restaurant industry, in its urgent bid for the public’s loyal attention, is trying to make their dining experiences like your home away from home. Hospitality is becoming their badge of honor!

The kitchen… is the best place to be when we’re home! You’ll notice that current home designers are getting away from the formal dining room area… Homes are becoming more functional in design, as well. In our continuing efforts to economize, to restrict energy sources and to bring the family back to the warm, bright, openness of a country kitchen, we have rediscovered the personal advantages of the best room in the house…

The classic country kitchen is coming back, where there is one large working space close to the appliance area and also open to the informal, large, eating area… It was a warm and workable kitchen that reflected a family as a unit… Every inch of it said: ‘Welcome!’ If you were a stranger when you entered, you were a friend before you left.

‘Things changed, as well they should. Women went out to work. If they weren’t working to supplement the family income, they went to work for their own satisfaction. Whatever the reasons, families changed. Eating at home became less… appealing – and less… convenient. Homes were built with smaller kitchens… Microwave ovens were more affordable and defrost-and-heat became more popular.’ – Gloria Pitzer, Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 295)

It’s been another year, in which many of us have been dealing with an overload of stress and anxiety. Food tends to be one of the few things that usually comfort us in trying times. That’s probably another top reason why the kitchen is, more often than not, considered to be one the favorite rooms in a house. In fact, it’s often regarded as the HEART of the home.

AGAIN, MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, p. 67)

KITCHENS

KITCHENS ARE NO LONGER FOR COOKING! They’re for snacking. Kitchens are not designed today [1982] for families, but for the individual. There are no shelves for keeping favorite cookbooks nearby, to work with the recipes in them.

Kitchens have become hallways from the outside to the rest of the house that is designed to make lasting impressions on the people who have to be impressed! We have neat little places for artificial plants and artifacts of just the right color, to tie it all together.

The way the magazines and showroom floor models of furnishing groupings do! Homes should be, however, a reflection of us! Not an echo of somebody else.

A kitchen designed for a cook, for a family to enjoy belongs to the designers of 50 years ago. I wish homemakers would design kitchens instead of those high educated, sophisticated, degree-holding architects and interior decorators who never have to cook in them.

Never have to untangle a preschooler from the Mixmaster cord, or retrieve G.I. Joe dolls and E.T. puppets from the cake batter bowl. You cannot expect a 5-foot-3-inch tall homemaker to be able to use the top cupboard shelf of a kitchen that was designed by a 6-foot-2-inch man at a drawing board in a high-rise office building, probably thousands of miles from where the home he’s drawing will be built.

People who now design kitchens in homes are not the same ones who will live in them, who will cook at their inadequate stoves; baking in their very small ovens, washing dishes at their misplaced sinks.

In the homes I have seen, in searching for one for our family, I longed so much for the one I had left in St. Clair; that I had to come back to truly appreciate it. And you know what? It was designed by a woman. The builder’s wife designed this house for a big family!

I never met her. She died of cancer about the time we bought the house. But I think of her fondly, often, as I enjoy what she planned for us, without ever having met us. And, while I realize that I will probably offend the liberationists who worked so hard to get the woman out of the kitchen, I must applaud those of us who still, by our own choice, and out of love, wish to enjoy their homes, their families, and especially – their kitchens!

For ages, the kitchen was always the heart and soul of the family unit, until people became busier with activities outside the home – work/school, sports, and other extracurricular activities. That’s partly what contributed to the success of fast food fares – families became more & more on-the-go individuals.

LAST THOUGHTS…

This may sound sexist, however, as for me, my mom, both of my grandmas and probably most of my aunts and great-aunts – cooking was always something we enjoyed doing for others. I find cooking to be one of the best and easiest ways to say, “I love you” or, simply, “welcome” to those with whom I share my table!

IN CLOSING…

In honor of Friday, being National Chocolate Day, and October being National Dessert Month and National Bake and Decorate Month, here’s Mom’s secret recipes for Gourmet Fudge Cake & Fudge Icing; as seen in her self-published cookbook, Gloria Pitzer’s Mostly 4-Ingredient Recipes (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; April 1986, p. 66).

#NationalChocolateDay

#NationalDessertMonth

#BakeAndDecorateMonth

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

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

October’s observances include: German-American Heritage Month, Italian-American Heritage Month, National Apple Month, National Applejack Month, National Bullying Prevention Month, National Caramel Month, National Chili Month, National Cookie Month, National Fire Prevention Month, National Go On A Field Trip Month, National Pasta Month, National Pickled Peppers Month, National Pizza Month, National Popcorn Poppin’ Month, National Pork Month, National Pretzel Month, National Reading Group Month, National Sausage Month, National Seafood Month, Pear and Pineapple Month, Polish American Heritage Month, Rhubarb Month, Spinach Lovers Month, Tackling Hunger Month, Vegetarian Month, and World Menopause Month!

Today is also… National Food Day, National Bologna Day, and United Nations Day!

Tomorrow is… National Greasy Food Day!

Wednesday, October 26th is… National Tennessee Day, National Mule Day, National Pumpkin Day, and National Mincemeat Day!

Thursday, October 27th is… National American Beer Day, Navy Day, and National Black Cat Day!

October 28th is… National First Responders Day! Plus, as the last Friday in October (for 2022), it’s also… National Breadstick Day!

October 29th is… National Cat Day, National Oatmeal Day, National Hermit Day, and World Stroke Day! Plus, as the last Saturday in October (for 2022), it’s also… National Trick or Treat Day!

Sunday, October 30th is… National Publicist Day and National Candy Corn Day! It’s also… Halloween Eve (aka: Devil’s Night), as well as being Halloween Safety Month!

#TGIM

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

…43 down, 9 to go!

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Passion To Profit

Thank God Its Monday and, as such, #HappyMonday, once again, to everyone! I look forward to every Monday because they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with all of you!

#TheRecipeDetective

NOTE: Apparently, I sometimes get my Mondays mixed up – as I just realized this morning that my post from last week was supposed to be the one I had wrote ahead of time for this week, because I was going on a little vacation. So this is the post I meant to put up last week…

Expanding on last week’s blog post, I’d like to continue discussing some of October’s observances in relation to Mom – National Book Month, National Cookbook Month, National Women’s Small Business Month, National Work and Family Month, National Self-Promotion Month, and National Positive Attitude Month.

#PositiveAttitudeMonth

Mom’s passion for writing began when she was about 10½ years old. She was greatly influenced by the 1946 Warner Brothers movie about the Bronte sisters, called Devotion. That’s when she started journaling on a daily basis.

In fact, Mom continued journaling throughout the rest of her life; which amounted to over 71 years of hand-written chronicles full of thoughts, ideas, faith and positive attitude – now that’s DEVOTION! Mom often thought about writing “the great American novel”. However, fate always took her writing in another direction.

It seemed that every writing contest Mom entered and won was usually for something she wrote, in relation to food. She always trusted that God was guiding her to where she needed to be.

#WomensSmallBusinessMonth

After writing a variety of homaker-focused columns for newspapers, directly and syndicated, for about 15 years, Mom discovered a completely new niche in the food industry. She called it copycat cookery – imitating “famous foods from famous places” at home.

Her readers loved it and wanted more, requesting her to imitate their favorites; but the food industry advertisers didn’t like it, requesting her editor stop it. Mom decided to quit, and went home to start her own business, developing and writing recipes to imitate a variety of favorite fast foods, junk foods, restaurant dishes, and grocery store products.

#WorkAndFamilyMonth

She involved all of us kids and eventually Dad, as the small family business, run from our dining room table, grew and grew. Mom started her small family business, selling her recipes individually; printed on 4” x 6” index cards, suitable for easy filing. Her collection quickly grew to hundreds of recipes.

#NationalBookMonth

#NationalCookbookMonth

To better offer her growing catalog of “secret recipes”, Mom started writing, illustrating and (with Dad) self-publishing about 40 cookbooks (+/-), between 1973 and 2002. In that time, she also wrote and self-published a few “Food for Thought”/positive attitude books. Additionally, from January 1974 through December 2000, she penned & illustrated hundreds of newsletter issues.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

My Cup Runneth Over And I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 53)

RISKS – THE HARD ROAD TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY

THERE ARE MANY RISKS involved with going into business for yourself, no matter what product or service you intend to offer. If I had thought more about the risks, than I did about the possibilities, I never would have moved an inch toward doing any of the things about which I now write.

My husband is not a risk-taker. I am. We complement each other well. He still becomes uneasy and anxious about every new idea I have for another book or another project, on the basis that ‘we can’t afford it.’

I have learned, over the years, to keep many of my projects to myself until they are completed, which in the long run, saves Paul from worrying unnecessarily about something that will very likely turn out well, and keeps me from worrying that Paul is worrying.

Some people experience a certain let-down, after reaching what they consider ‘the top’. When they finally reach the Everest of their ambitions [and] make it to the top, they start to wonder why they were in such a hurry to get there anyhow.

Like Lee Iacocca, who was only in his mid-40s when he was president of the Ford Motor Company, writes in his autobiography, [that he had] no idea what he was going to do ‘for an encore’! I have never had to worry about this, fortunately.

When I have been asked about goals or destination, it is been my feeling that every corner I turn has a new goal, a new destination awaiting us. I have never thought of any one point as being the top. Life has so many wonderful opportunities for each of us to take advantage of, that it does not seem reasonable that I should give myself the limitations that would determine just how far I should be able to go.

Because this was never a hobby, never WORK, never a job, I have had no problem with the worry or concern that accompanies a position from which one expects to retire. I would not want to give up what I have been doing since I was a child [writing].

It would be unfair to have to give up doing something that has also brought so much pleasure and good information to so many people. It was, however, only when I realized what I should be writing about and what I should be sharing with the readers – what I knew best – that things really began to happen.

Of course, my husband wisely reminds me, when someone asked about writing their own cookbook, that WRITING it is the easiest part. Knowing how to SELL it is the hard part!

#SelfPromotionMonth

LAST THOUGHTS…

‘Find a job you enjoy doing and you will never have to work a day in your life.’ – Mark Twain

I believe that if you can find something you love to do and turn it into a career, you’re very lucky. I’ve found many interesting reads online, over the past few years, regarding how to find hobbies that make you happy and how to generate income from them. Here are just some of the ones I’ve enjoyed reading.

10 Tips To Turn Your Hobby Into A Business (updated 5/2/22) by Stephanie Vozza at LegalZoom.com

‘It’s Never Too Late To Start A New Hobby (updated 5/27/22) by Elena Peters at MakingMidLifeMatter.com

20 Productive Hobbies That Will Make You Smarter And Happier (no date) by Chris Haigh, at LifeHack.com

‘30 Best Profitable Hobbies That Make Money (updated 9/7/22) by Sara, the dreamer at GatheringDreams.com

Perhaps, you’ve already travelled that road and are looking to retire but don’t want to totally give up what you love doing. Consider the opposite route, as in How To Run A Business As A Hobby (no date) by Christian Fisher at SmallBusiness.Chron.com.

IN CLOSING…

In honor of October, being National Apple Month, here’s Mom’s secret recipe for Apple Bread; as seen in her self-published cookbook, Gloria Pitzer’s Mostly 4-Ingredient Recipes (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; April 1986, p. 100).

#NationalAppleMonth

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

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

October’s observances include: National Eat Better & Eat Together Month, German-American Heritage Month, Halloween Safety Month, Italian-American Heritage Month, National Applejack Month, National Caramel Month, National Chili Month, National Cookie Month, National Fire Prevention Month, National Go On A Field Trip Month, National Kitchen & Bath Month, National Pasta Month, National Pickled Peppers Month, National Popcorn Poppin’ Month, National Pork Month, National Pretzel Month, National Reading Group Month, National Seafood Month, National Pear and Pineapple Month, Polish-American Heritage Month, National Rhubarb Month, National Spinach Lovers Month, National Vegetarian Month, and World Menopause Month! [October is also the anniversary of Mom’s FIRST appearance on the Kelly & Company show, in Detroit (1990).]

#NationalCookbookMonth

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

October 10th is… National Angel Food Cake Day, National Cake Decorating Day (as well as being National Bake and Decorate Month), National Handbag Day, and World Mental Health Day! Plus, as the second Monday in October (for 2022), it’s also… Native American Day and Columbus Day! Additionally, it’s also the start of… National School Lunch Week!

October 11th is… National Sausage Pizza Day, as well as it being National Pizza Month and National Sausage Month!

October 12th is… National Vermont Day, National Freethought Day, National Farmer’s Day, and National Gumbo Day! Plus, as the second Wednesday in October (for 2022), it’s also… National Take Your Parents To Lunch Day, National Curves Day, and National Stop Bullying Day (as well as it being National Bullying Prevention Month)! The Wednesday of the second FULL Week in October is also… National Fossil Day!

Thursday, October 13th is… National Train Your Brain Day, National Yorkshire Pudding Day, and National No Bra Day!

October 14th is… National Dessert Day, as well as it being National Dessert Month!

October 15th is… National Shawarma Day, National Cheese Curd Day, National I Love Lucy Day, and National Grouch Day!

October 16th is… National Sports Day, National Liqueur Day, National Dictionary Day, and Department Store Day! Plus, as the third Saturday in October, it’s also… National Sweetest Day! Additionally, as the week of October 16th, it’s… National Food Bank Week, which goes with it also being… National Tackling Hunger Month!

#TGIM

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

…42 down and 10 to go!

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Work And Family

Happy October and #HappyMonday to all! Thank God Its Monday – every week, I look forward to Monday; as they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you!

#TheRecipeDetective

October is special in so many ways besides being one of the most colorful months in Michigan. In relation to my mom, the Secret Recipe DetectiveTM, it’s also, among other things, National Eat Better & Eat Together Month, a subject of which I discussed in last week’s blog entry, as it relates to family bonding.

In addition and still in relation to Mom, October also observes National Book Month, National Cookbook Month, National Women’s Small Business Month, National Work and Family Month, National Self-Promotion Month, and National Positive Attitude Month!

#WomensSmallBusinessMonth

In a time, similar to these days – with political upheaval, low wages, and rising costs of living – Mom quit her job as a columnist at a local newspaper, after finding a niche in the recipes industry that people wanted and needed and being told by her editor to stop fulfilling it, as it was upsetting their food industry advertisers.

Mom went home to start her own “paper”, combining her humoristic cartoons with tips, tricks, and hints; as well as her “Food for Thought” and “No Laughing Matter” columns, in addition to her copycat cookery concept for “Eating Out At Home” – designed like a classic quilt, with pieces of this and that put together with love to create a functional work of art..

She “went to work” at home, every day, discovering how to recreate our favorite fast food & restaurant dishes from regular pantry items and without any special gadgets or appliances. She often incorporated the help of me and my siblings (and, later, Dad’s help); thereby, creating a small, dining-room-table, cottage-style, family business.

#WorkAndFamilyMonth

Mom’s copycat cookery didn’t stop at fast food and restaurant dishes. She also created imitations for shelf-stable groceries and freezer products purchased at the supermarket, as she discovered more things to make at home and thereby save money.

If something saved our household budget money, she loved to share it with others to help them save money too. She often referred to it as literally and figuratively having your cake and eating it too!

Mom’s trailblazing copycat cookery concept began in the 1970s, developing and writing her own recipes, as well as self-publishing them. Plus, she self-promoted her talents through newspapers and magazines, as well as through local, national, and international TV and radio talk shows.

#NationalCookbookMonth

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 36)

HOW SECRET RECIPESTM BEGAN

IT WAS THE WORST possible time to launch a new business. The unemployment rate was terribly high. There was a newsprint paper shortage. There was a gasoline shortage. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to at least try to have my own publication, however.

My confrontation with the editor at the Times Herald over the cheesecake recipe [like Sarah Lee’s], was probably the best thing that ever happened to me – us, as a family, in fact. I was forced to finally do something that, until then, I had only talked about doing because the advice I had listened to was bent on having somebody else handle my work.

Of course, I could not tell Paul what I was going to do – that I was going to publish a newsletter and I was going to try and sell subscriptions to it all without the help of the [publishing and syndicating] agencies to which I had previously been turning.

I was determined to make this idea work because I knew it was a good idea! It was a service that was needed and one that I could provide without ever having to leave the children again. With the help of the Almighty, I had every confidence that turning out a recipe newsletter was going to be something that would bless everyone concerned: me, the readers, the products mentioned, the reviews of restaurants – every idea was a blessing!

#SelfPromotionMonth

Mom’s favorite way to market her ground-breaking recipes was through radio talk shows. For nearly 40 years, she was a regular weekly or monthly guest on numerous radio talk shows, geared toward working homemakers all over the country and internationally. She promoted herself, her copycat cookery concepts, along with her recipes, books, and newsletter.

Mom liked to describe her newsletters as being like a visit from a friend – as you sit at the kitchen table, having coffee, discussing various topics of the day and sharing household tips and recipes. I would describe it, simply, as Mom’s “happy place” and her “legacy of love”.

In the early years of her home-based business, Mom sold her recipes for a quarter each, printed on 4”x6” index cards, from a mimeograph she kept in our laundry room. It didn’t seem to take long before her recipe library grew to hundreds, through requests from fans of her writing.

Within a few years, she went from recipe cards to monthly newsletters and multiple cookbooks; seemingly in the blink of an eye, as her recipes collection grew from hundreds to thousands. Over the years, it evolved into what finally became known as Secret RecipesTM – her legacy of love!

#NationalCookbookMonth

I find it so ironic that over the decades, since Mom officially launched her Secret RecipesTM enterprise, in 1973, so many people have imitated her, the ORIGINAL copycat cook. However, not all have given Mom the appropriate credit due her for being the first to uncover the supposed secrets of the food industry, imitating “famous foods from famous places” at home! Kudos to those who have, though!

#NationalBookMonth

LAST THOUGHTS…

Friday is (for 2022), among other things, National Body Language Day and World Smile Day; which go hand-in-hand, as a smile is part of body language. It’s welcoming, soothing, friendly – even contagious, as Mom described in her self-published book, This is not a Cook Book! It’s Gloria Pitzer’s Food for Thought (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Oct. 1986, p. 43).

#WorldSmileDay

Gloria Pitzer, 1985

YOU’VE MADE A FRIEND

A SMILE IS the universal, unspoken language between us. Some people smile more easily than others, but a smile is as good as a hug. I just LOVE people who smile a lot! Even when I’m shopping or [when Paul and I are] walking around the campgrounds on one of our abbreviated ‘get-aways’ with our motorhome, I find myself smiling at people I have never seen before, and they smile back. It’s contagious!

People don’t smile as much as they should! I’ve noticed lately how seldom strangers smile at each other in shopping centers and restaurants and other places where average folks mingle or pass. It occurred to me that there was nothing to lose by smiling and nodding at people as I shopped or glanced across a restaurant to other tables.

A surprising thing happened! Grim looking faces spontaneously responded with smiles and nods, as if they were trying to place me or recall where we might have met before. It was just wonderful!

IN CLOSING…

In honor of this being National Chili Week and October being National Chili Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for California Chili; as seen in her self-published cookbook, Sugar-Free Recipes (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Nov. 1987, p. 93).

#NationalChiliWeek

#NationalChiliMonth

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

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

October’s observances include: National Halloween Safety Month, Italian-American Heritage Month, National Applejack Month, National Bake and Decorate Month, National Bullying Prevention Month, National Caramel Month, National Cookie Month, National Dessert Month, National Fire Prevention Month, National Go On A Field Trip Month, National Kitchen & Bath Month, National Pickled Peppers Month, National Pizza Month, National Popcorn Poppin’ Month, National Pork Month, National Reading Group Month, National Sausage Month, National Seafood Month, National Pear and Pineapple Month, Polish-American Heritage Month, National Rhubarb Month, National Spinach Lovers Month, National Tackling Hunger Month, National Vegetarian Month, and World Menopause Month!

#NationalCookbookMonth

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

Today is also… National Techies Day and National Boyfriend Day! Plus, as the first Monday in October (for 2022), it’s… National Consignment Day and National Child Health Day! Additionally, as the start of the first, full, Monday-through-Friday workweek in October, it’s also… Customer Service Week!

Tomorrow is… National Cinnamon Bun Day, National Taco Day, National Golf Lover’s Day, and National Vodka Day! Plus, as the first Tuesday in October (for 2022), it’s also… National Eat Fruit At Work Day! 

October 5th is… National Rhode Island Day, National Do Something Nice Day, and National Apple Betty Day (as well as being National Apple Month)! Plus, as the first Wednesday in October (for 2022), it’s also… National Pumpkin Seed Day and National Walk to School Day, while it’s also… International Walk To School Month!

October 6th is… National Orange Wine Day, National Plus Size Appreciation Day, National German-American Day (as well as being German-American Heritage Month), and National Noodle Day (as well as being National Pasta Month)!

October 7th is… National Chocolate Covered Pretzel Day (as well as being National Pretzel Month), National Frappe Day, and National Inner Beauty Day!

October 8th is… National Fluffernutter Day, National Hero Day, and National Pierogi Day! Plus, as the second Saturday in October (for 2022), it’s also… National Chess Day, National Costume Swap Day, and I Love Yarn Day!

Sunday, October 9th is… National Moldy Cheese Day!

#TGIM

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

…40 down and 12 to go!

Chili Mignon, Like Chasen’s Chili

CHILI MIGNON, Like Chasen’s Chili

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 63)… [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]

This is a favorite of my family! It’s so close to Chasen’s Chili, which Liz Taylor & Richard Burton would always have flown to them, wherever they were in the world! From my “Better Cooker’s Cook Book” (out of print now), this was one of my most-often requested recipes!

INGREDIENTS:

3 pounds ground beef

1 small onion (the size of an egg), chopped

5 ribs celery, sliced paper thin

4 tablespoons corn oil

½ teaspoon season salt

10-ounce can beef broth

4 cups strong, black, hot tea

6-ounce can tomato paste

4 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons cumin powder

½ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon each: garlic salt and oregano powder

3 tablespoons vinegar

16-ounce can stewed-tomatoes

4 cans (1-lb each) red kidney beans, un-drained

2 cans (10-oz each) Campbell’s Chili Beef Soup

INSTRUCTIONS:

Brown the beef with the onions and celery in the oil, crumbling the beef to the consistency of rice. When the onions are transparent and the beef is no longer pink, put it in a Dutch-oven or slow-cooker and add everything else to it. Simmer it, covered, on low heat for about 2 hours – or until all flavors have blended to your taste and it’s piping hot, but never let it boil!

OTHER OPTIONS:

TEXAS STYLE CHILI: Dilute the finished chili [above] with two 12-ounce cans Busch Light beer! Ed McMahon never had it so good! Left-overs freeze well in family- or individual-sized containers. Serves 10 to 12.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

Also see…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – The Original Secret Recipe Detective