Copycat Recipes

Pretty close.

We don’t eat out much, maybe for lunch on Sunday, but we discovered that most things you buy in a restaurant can be duplicated without much effort.

Some spices, flavorings, sauces common in commercial pantries are missing in homes, but there are substitutes.

I was amazed at how easy it was to duplicate the Shoney’s strawberry pie.

There aren’t as many Shoney’s as before, but folks of a certain age fondly remember them. According to the latest numbers, the state with the most Shoney’s restaurants is Tennessee with twenty-four. Shoney’s are rare west of the Mississippi.

The pie recipe is easy to find in one of the “copycat” recipes collection. I had to be pried away from that page.

The basics are a baked pie shell, fresh strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, strawberry gelatin and a “honkin” big dollop of whipped cream on top.

Most expensive of all ingredients is the strawberry gelatin. Boxes of gelatin were three for a dollar not long ago.

Diners rave over the Red Lobster biscuits, but they are not difficult to recreate at home. The next time you order them, make a list of everything you taste. We were faithful Sunday “after church” customers of the local taco place for their Mexican Pizza that disappeared in 2020.

We responded by visiting every Taco Bell we knew of and ordering the pizza, knowing it wasn’t available.

It was a surprise to learn that we were not the only customers who missed the pizza and wanted what we wanted or nothing at all.

The Mexican Pizza returned in 2022 at a higher price and we think a smaller serving.

We observed that if teenagers are able to make a Mexican Pizza, we should also.

The pizza ingredients list is short: Two corn tortillas, refried beans, taco meat (hamburger), shredded Mexican cheese, chopped tomatoes, vegetable oil.

McDonald’s took a standard American brunch recipe for Eggs Benedict and morphed it into something that could be eaten with one hand.

The original Eggs Benedict was made with a runny soft boiled egg with Hollandaise sauce and ham on an English Muffin.

We have a copycat Egg McMuffin on Monday mornings with a fried egg and mayonnaise replacing the Hollandaise.

I recommend some time with one of the internet copycat recipe sites. It is a still a time waster, but you’ll come away with an “I can do that” attitude.

joenphillips@yahoo.com