Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Easy As Pie

Thank God Its Monday and, as such, #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

The most common denominators, among all the year’s celebrations, are people and food!

Pies are the most common choice of dessert with which to celebrate, especially during these November and December holidays. Pies can also be a savory main dish. What makes a pie a pie is that it has a (flaky) pastry crust. It is typically baked in a shallow, round pan called a “pie pan” (or “…dish” if you use Pyrex or other similar glass style).

[NOTE: New Yorkers call their pizzas “pies”, however, that doesn’t make them actual pies, since they’re not made with flaky pastry dough – nor are Eskimo Pies, Cottage Pies, and Shepherd’s Pies actual pies for the same reason.]

Did you know that about 186 million pies are sold in grocery stores, yearly. Around 50 million of those are pumpkin (equaling almost 27% of the sales). Those pies are mostly consumed in November and December, for the holidays. However, America’s number one selling pie (all year) is apple, coveting MORE than 27% of the total pie sales.

Apple pie is considered to be a national American symbol – along with baseball and Chevrolet (according to the once famous commercial for the latter). Incidentally, even though Michigan doesn’t produce the most apples – as I wrote, last month, in Michigan Apples

…that honor goes to Washington, as we come in third, behind New York. However, I read somewhere that Michigan slices more apples than any other state – mostly for apple pies, which are an all-American staple.

Incidentally, Michigan’s unofficial “State Dessert Pie” is a toss-up between apple and cherry – depending on where you poll. The Traverse City area (and the northern Michigan region) is famous for its cherry crops (and wine)! However, apples are the more abundant crop throughout the state, over all.

According to Wikipedia.com, the first known dessert pie (as found in an ancient, written recipe) was invented by the Romans around 6000 BC, while the first savory (meat) pie may have originated in Egypt, before 2000 BC.

Apple and pumpkin pies (in that order) may be the top two favorites of American pie connoisseurs, but rounding out the top five preferences, according to the consensus I found in searching for Americans’ “top five pie choices”, were also cherry, pecan, and blueberry.

2018 Cherry Tree, Photo by Laura Emerich

I suppose any one is popular, depending on where you survey, as every state has their own favorite “State Pie”. Thus, I expanded my search to Americans’ top 10 favorite pies. From this, I also found key lime, rhubarb, strawberry, peach, and Mississippi mud pies were included on the favorites’ list – along with the top five I already mentioned above.

[NOTE: According to Marie Callender’s website, their most popular pie is Lemon Meringue. My youngest daughter works for a popular, south-eastern Michigan pie company. Their most popular pie (here) is their Michigan 4-Berry, which includes tart cherries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries.]

Incidentally, here’s a little tidbit of Michigan trivia – this state is considered the “cherry capitol” of the world, as 75% of the tart cherries (commonly used in pies) are produced right here, in Michigan! Utah and Washington come in at a distant second and third place, respectively.

Speaking of pies, here’s Mom’s editorial on “Pies and Pastries” for that chapter in her self-published cookbook, Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1982). That’s the cookbook, using my (1983) 3rd Edition, which I helped her to rewrite for the new digital generation.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 237). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]

PIES AND PASTRIES

IN EARLY AMERICAN TAVERNS, our 1st restaurants in this country, pies were not beautiful nor fancy – but they were good. The custom of baking pies in round, shallow pans (rather than in deep square or oblong pans) originated here for reasons of economy, to stretch scarce food supplies.

Originally comprised of “left-overs”, the colonial American pie was not a dessert, but a side-dish. The colonial cook lined the pan with scraps of bread dough or Hardtack (see Index for my recipe) and filled it with scraps of meats, fruits, nuts, sauce and any other edible “left-overs”.

Fillings, meringue, toppings and garnishes make the easiest recipes look as if it took you all day. Embarrassed by a pie crust that is pale in color with the texture of a biscuit? Simple secrets for copying the restaurant recipes are no longer a mystery to even the beginning cook.

The experienced cook will probably wonder why they hadn’t thought of these tricks sooner. If fast food reminds you only of the franchise restaurants – look again, for these pie and pastry recipes will renew your interest and your enthusiasm in being creative in the kitchen by making pies you thought only a bakery could produce.

Some cooks still insist that “take-off crusts” give apple pies an even better flavor. Sliced apples are arranged in a pastry-lined pie pan, and the top crust is laid on top, but not sealed to the under crust.

When the pie is baked, the top crust is gently lifted off, sugar and spices are sprinkled over the filling and the top crust is carefully put back in place. In experimenting with this colonial technique, I discovered that my Crisco Crust recipe, in this chapter (see Index), works very well.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

Both of my grandmas were expert pie bakers, as were their own moms, it’s no wonder Mom became one, as well. I can’t say I carried on the tradition, though. The idiom “easy as pie” certainly doesn’t refer to the ease of baking one, as that requires some time, effort, and skill (for it to be good). Thus, the consensus is that it must refer to the ease of eating one.

According to Wikipedia.com, the first recorded pie eating contest was supposedly a charity fundraising event, during 1878, in Toronto, Ontario (Canada). Pie baking contests have been going on for many, many decades, as well. Countless years ago, I remember my grandma (mom’s mom), telling me about winning 1st place in a pie-baking contest for her apple pie.

Another tidbit of pie trivia is that a 9-inch pie, with a raw fruit filling, will take about an hour or more to bake; while pre-cooked fillings take less time. Also taking less time to bake are the single-serve, (6-inch) mini pies, which take about half the time of the 9-inch ones.

Mom used to say that she relied on her “kitchen angel”, to help with her pie baking – but I believe she was just as talented, at making pies, as her mom was… and, in my biased opinion, Grandma was VERY talented!

MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Mixed Blessings – Recipes & Remedies (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1984, p. 129)

[Reprinted from Gloria Pitzer’s self-published cookbook, Reliable Recipes For Reluctant Cooks (1983).]

OUR GUARDIAN ANGEL [aka: Kitchen Witch]

THERE IS AN OLD European custom that places an ornamental Dow, dressed like a witch, in the kitchen of every cook who wishes to see her culinary talents protected. I have, in my time, seen many an ugly kitchen witch and just as many cute witches.

But what do I know about a kitchen witch? I claim not to be superstitious. What I really need in MY kitchen is not a witch – but a guardian angel. It’s not that I am unfamiliar with the kitchen witch.

My cousin, Shirley Cohen, in Van Nuys [CA], sent me my first witch several years ago and the benevolent doll dangled comfortably from the ceiling over the sink for a long time, until her strings snapped, and she fell headlong into a pan of Pine-Sol scrub water and drowned!

She was promptly replaced by another that my friend, Flo, gave me. But her string also snapped one day without any warning, and she tumbled head over heels into a sink of soaking supper dishes.

The next witch in my kitchen (and I disregard that visit from my mother-in-law) was for a very brief duration! She fell off the wooden spoon she was riding and into a blueberry pie cooling on the drain board! So my present contentment is now confined to furthering the notion that kitchen witches are out and guardian angels are in!

Mine is special. I call on my guardian angel to keep me company whenever I’m in the kitchen alone, preparing a favorite dish. I talked to her! Well, maybe to somebody else it sounds like I’m talking to myself, but it’s like ‘thinking out loud’ – except that one makes you an idiot and the other a genius!

But sometimes you have to talk to somebody! Why not to somebody who is not apt to interrupt you as a family of teenagers are prone to do! Guardian angels make very good listeners. Sometimes that’s all it takes to make your burdens lighter!

LAST THOUGHTS…

#NationalGratitudeMonth

#InspirationalRoleModelsMonth

Thursday, as you gather around your turkey feast with family and/or friends, try not to let the commercialism of the other up-coming holidays interfere with your heart-felt thoughts of gratitude. As for me, I’m eternally grateful for everything that both of my parents gave me and taught me, throughout my life. They are my most inspirational role models.

IN CLOSING…

In honor of November, being National Peanut Butter Lovers Month, AND today, being National Peanut Butter Fudge Day, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for Peanut Butter Fudge (from her “Seize Chocolate Fudge” imitation); as seen in her self-published cookbook, Gloria Pitzer’s Mostly 4-Ingredient Recipes (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; April 1986, p. 69).

#PeanutButterLoversMonth

#PeanutButterFudgeDay

ADDITIONALLY, from page 7 of the same book, here’s Mom’s EASY-AS-PIE, no-bake, 4-ingredient, “Peanut Butter Pie” recipe!

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

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

November observes, among other things… Banana Pudding Lovers Month, Family Stories Month, Gluten-Free Diet Awareness Month, National Diabetes Month, National Fun with Fondue Month, National Life Writing Month, National Native American Heritage Month, National Novel Writing Month, National Pepper Month, National Pomegranate Month, National Raisin Bread Month, National Roasting Month, Spinach and Squash Month, Sweet Potato Awareness Month (See also February), and National Vegan Month!

This week also observes… National Deal Week, which starts the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (22nd-28th for 2023). Plus, it’s also… National Game & Puzzle Week and Better Conversation Week.

Today is also… National Child’s Day!

Tomorrow is… National Gingerbread Cookie Day and National Stuffing Day!

Wednesday, November 22nd is… National Cranberry Relish Day! Plus, as the day before Thanksgiving (for 2023), it’s also… Tie One On Day and National Jukebox Day!

November 23rd is… National Cashew Day, National Eat a Cranberry Day, and National Espresso Day! Plus, as the fourth Thursday in November (for 2023), it’s also… Thanksgiving Day!

November 24th is… National Sardines Day! Plus, as the day after Thanksgiving (2023), it’s also… National Day of Listening, National Native American Heritage Day, National Black Friday, National Buy Nothing Day, and National Maize Day!

November 25th is… National Play Day with Dad, National Parfait Day, and Shopping Reminder Day! Plus, as the Saturday after Thanksgiving (2023), it’s also… National Small Business Saturday!

Sunday, November 26th is… National Cake Day!

#TGIM

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

…47 down and 5 to go!

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES – Like you’ve never had before!

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIESLike you’ve never had before!

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – Best Of The Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 225). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]

INGREDIENTS:

¼ cup black coffee

1 teaspoon vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2/3 cup oil

1 cup peanut butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs, beaten

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine everything in order listed, one at a time, in a roomy bowl – beating well after each addition. Work in the flour, baking powder, soda and salt in small portions until you have a smooth dough. Make 1-inch balls, placing them 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

Press balls down with the tines of a fork, creating a crisscross design on top of each. If fork sticks to dough, dip the fork in a bit of sugar before pressing each cookie. Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes or until nicely golden, but not over-baked. While cookies are still warm, frost them with my warm Fudge Icing (see Index.) [Also see “Recipes” tab.]

Apply warmed icing to warm cookies and, when the icing sets and the cookies have cooled, you have a no-smear icing that will melt in your mouth. Icing is optional, but it makes them stand out! Yields 5 dozen cookies.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

See also…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – An Ounce Of Gratitude

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… The Second Helping Of Secret Recipes (National Homemakers Newsletter, Pearl Beach, MI; Nov. 1978, 4th Printing; p. 12)

INGREDIENTS:

¾ cup peanut butter

½ cup soft butter or margarine

½ cup light corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp salt

4 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar

¾ cup chopped peanuts or other nuts

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix [first 5 ingredients as listed] well. Gradually stir in confectioners’ sugar. Knead until smooth. Gradually add nuts. Pack into an 8”x8”x2” pan. When firm, cut into squares. Makes about 2 pounds.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

See also…

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – An Ounce Of Gratitude

Mondays & Memories of My Mom – An Ounce Of Gratitude

Happy Monday and happy “Thanksgiving Week” to everyone! As I mentioned last week, I’m always grateful for Mondays because they’re my 52 Chances each year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with all of you!

#TheRecipeDetective

#NationalGratitudeMonth

‘Gratitude turns what we have into enough.’ – Aesop

Just as “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” – an ounce of gratitude is worth a pound of good cheer! Like the ripples from a pebble tossed into the water, a simple “thanks” and a smile can go a long way. It’s well-known that gratitude is associated with positive emotions and good experiences, which are both linked to happiness; and that, in turn, is connected to good health and well-being.

In other words, gratitude improves our physical and psychological health, as well as our self-esteem. Did you know that it can also enhance empathy and reduce aggression? Gratitude helps us deal with adversity and build strong relationships. In connection with all of this feel-good stuff, it can likewise help us sleep better.

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

Unfortunately, just when we start feeling comfortable and happy about how life is going, we find that happiness doesn’t happen without intermissions. These are the times in which we should take stock of our lives and be grateful for the good, as well as the lessons. From time to time, we forget that nothing in life is guaranteed to any of us.

Mom was always grateful for her readers, listeners, and fans who kept her inspired with their requests to find the “secrets” to making this dish or that grocery product at home. She was also very thankful to all the media sources that interviewed, wrote, and talked about her imitations of famous foods (from radio and TV talk shows to newspapers and magazines).

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 57). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]

I’M VERY GRATEFUL TO CHILI!

ONE OF THE NICEST THINGS about making chili is that it goes so far! After I had walked out of the newspaper editor’s office, telling him to ‘mail me my check,’ I didn’t know if he had fired me or if I had quit! But to go home and start my own paper was an impulsive reaction, if not foolish.

It was a nice job for a housewife with 5 kids. The money wasn’t ‘good’, but it did buy the kids a few things we couldn’t otherwise afford. Paul was working as a draftsman for a sign company in Mt. Clemens and that weekly paycheck was spent on house payments, utilities and insurance even before it was cashed. The money I earned from writing helped and I gave it up because of pride and integrity.

The first thing I did with my writing, at that time, was to take all the recipes I had published in my newspaper column and all of the articles on recipes that I had sold to ‘Lady’s Circle’ and ‘Home Life Magazine’, and secured permission to re-print my own material in a small cookbook. With Free Press columnist, Bob Talbert, to ‘plug’ the little book, I sold all 1,000 copies in a month!

Rather than re-print it at the ‘Quickie-While-You-Wait’ printer shop, I decided I would put those recipes into a monthly publication – not exactly my own newspaper, but certainly worth the opportunity to try it and see if it would pay. We lived on a lot of chili in those days…  

It fed our family of seven nicely – night after night – when there was no money for much else but hamburger and beans! And because I only owned 4 cooking pots – small, medium, large, and the no-life-guard-on-duty size, making chili and any of its spin-offs was substantial fare for us for the time being.

It was a good thing that I kept a complete list of names and addresses of those who wrote to me at the newspaper, requesting recipes, and all of those who purchased my first little cookbook, ‘The Better Cooker’s Cookbook’, for I invited each one by post card to subscribe to my monthly newsletter.

The response was sufficiently enthusiastic to cause me to take on the commitment – but, without Paul knowing anything about it, for he surely would have put his foot down and said, ‘NO!’ Until the newsletter could pay for itself, Paul thought what I was earning was coming from the ironing I did each week for other people at $5 a basket.

Since Paul worked late many nights and bowled two nights a week, he couldn’t keep an accurate account of how much ironing I really did. What I scraped together from the ironing money, I used as a down payment on a hand-cranked mimeograph machine so that I could print my own newsletter.

For nine months, I kept this from Paul; and, with our daughter Debbie’s help, put out the publication, paid off the mimeograph and saw my subscriptions reach 100 readers. That is when I was invited to appear on Dennis Wholley’s television program, ‘AM Detroit’, on WXYZ-TV. I had to tell Paul! He took it rather calmly, I thought; but now, in retrospect, I believe he was suffering from a mild case of shock from it all.

Being grateful for anything and everything is as much a part of the preparation for Thursday’s big celebration as the turkey and all the trimmings that will grace our tables as we gather together, with family and friends, to feast and be joyful. Are you ready for these coming days?

Have you paused to consider GIVING thanks – not only in prayer before your Thursday meal but also directly to everyone you come in contact with throughout the week? Thank your cashier at the busy grocery store this week and the stocking clerk who found an item for which you were looking.

Thank the person who delivers your mail, as well as those who collect your weekly trash. Thank the officers and fire fighters that protect your neighborhood. The list can be endless, but it takes only two seconds to say, “thank you”.

Life is short and fragile. All it takes is one unexpected moment or small event to change everything! What do you take for granted? Focus on the simple things that surround you and be grateful for all you have. Send an appreciative ripple to someone or simply enjoy the one someone else gave to you!

MORE 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. 11-12)

WHAT’S VALUABLE – THE FAMILY

THE FAMILY IS IMPORTANT to this troubled world that seems not to know what direction to go in for comfort and relief. So, I cater, in our publications, mostly to this family, with all of the old-fashioned values I can gather and still not sound corny or even ‘preachy’!

That for which I am most grateful, however, as I see how our family has worked together in helping us to build this dining room table enterprise into a substantial and professional operation, is the friendship that has grown over the years between [Paul, me and] the five children…my cup runneth over!

LAST THOUGHTS…

This is the season of hustle and bustle, now! Keep in mind that the stresses it includes can bring out the worst in some people. But always remember that this season of giving also brings out the best in MOST people! An ounce of gratitude is figuratively worth a pound of gold.

And, as Thanksgiving approaches, I can only hope that everyone remembers those people or things for which they are grateful and, whenever possible, tells them! Start by saying “thank you” whenever possible. Everyone appreciates being appreciated!

Additionally, as you gather around the turkey-laden-table with family and/or friends, try not to let the commercialism of the other up-coming holidays interfere with your heart-felt thoughts of gratitude. As for myself, I’m eternally grateful for everything Mom gave me and taught me.

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

IN CLOSING…

Since this is still National Peanut Butter Lovers Month, here are TWO of Mom’s secret recipes for peanut butter treats – Peanut Butter Fudge from Mom’s cookbook, The Second Helping Of Secret Recipes (Nat’l Homemakers Newsletter, Pearl Beach, MI; July 1978, p. 12) and Peanut Butter Cookies Like You’ve Never Had Before! The latter recipe can be seen in Mom’s last book… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 225). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]

#PeanutButterLoversMonth

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

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

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

#LearnSomethingNewEveryDay

Some November month-long observances include… Banana Pudding Lovers Month, National Family Stories Month, National Life Writing Month, National Gratitude Month, Inspirational Role Models Month, and National Novel Writing Month, Diabetic Eye Disease Month, Epilepsy Awareness Month, Gluten-Free Diet Awareness MonthHistoric Bridge Awareness Month, National Diabetes Month, National Fun with Fondue Month, National Pepper Month, National Pomegranate Month, National Raisin Bread Month, National Roasting Month, Spinach and Squash Month, Sweet Potato Awareness Month (See also February), and National Vegan Month!

Additionally, this week is… National Bible Week, National Game & Puzzle Week, and Better Conversation Week (which are always celebrated the week of Thanksgiving)!

Furthermore, today is also… National Cranberry Relish Day; thus, here’s a re-share of Mom’s copycat recipe for Frankenmuth-Style Cranberry Relish!

#NationalCranberryRelishDay

Tomorrow is… National Cashew Day, National Eat a Cranberry Day, and National Espresso Day!

Wednesday is… National Sardines Day! Plus, Tie One On Day and National Jukebox Day (which is always the day before Thanksgiving)!

November 25th is… National Play Day with Dad, National Parfait Day, Shopping Reminder Day, and Thanksgiving Day – which is always the fourth Thursday in November!

Friday is… National Cake Day! Plus, as the day after Thanksgiving, it’s also… National Day of Listening, National Native American Heritage Day (plus, it’s National Native American Heritage Month), National Black Friday, National Buy Nothing Day, and National Maize Day!

November 27th is… National Bavarian Cream Pie Day, National Craft Jerky Day, and National Small Business Saturday – which is always the Saturday after Thanksgiving!

November 28th is… National French Toast Day!

#TGIM

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

…47 down and 5 to go!