“Strawberry Pretzel Salad” is the stuff of potluck legend. Fruit; Jell-o; creamy whipped filling; and then – surprise! – a crunchy salty bottom-crust. It requires just enough assembly to be special. It’s quirky enough to be memorable. It’s the kind of “Suzie Homemaker” recipe that gets frequently requested from newspapers, and that people love to…
This recipe for an alternate version of Baltimore Peach Cake** comes from “Black-Eyed Susan Country,” another popular Maryland fund-raising cookbook. This particular book, first printed in 1987, raised money for St. Agnes Hospital. Onetime St. Agnes Auxiliary president Mary Parga was a volunteer at the White House, and used her connections to compile the book’s notable “VIP”…
Community cookbooks are a mixed blessing for me. On one hand they’re such a fantastic window into the kitchens of the more middle-class citizens as opposed to the fabulous lifestyles of “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” or “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen.” Flipping through the pages you can see changing trends, adventurous…