Potluck Paradise: Favorite Fare from Church and Community Cookbooks

Just your average comfort food cookbook. Nothing to inspire your taste buds.

Reading this book is like going back home to Mom's kitchen. And you won't be disappointed, because your favorites just keep coming: Jello Salad, Coleslaw, German Potato Salad, Spareribs, Tamale Pie, Corn Pudding, Dream Bars, Snickerdoodles, and on and on.Eighmey and Miller have compiled a delightful collection of recipes that originated from midwestern church and community cookbooks--and what fun it is to flip through the pages and spot childhood favorites! Additionally, the authors have included helpful side notes, such as "Putting Food Up," "Single Serving and Heart Healthy-ish Adaptation," and "Getting Goodies Out of Pans Neatly." Anyone who loves to read community cookboks will love this book. I know I do !--Jane E. Garrett, author of "The Market Basket: Cooking and Eating in Lawrence, Kansas, 1921-1949."

This cookbook provides deliciously simple and quick recipes. Want a good dish and easy to make? Then this is the recipe book you are looking for.Also: The book arrived in excellent condition, no dogeared corners, no marked up pages.Looks brand-spanking-new..... Thanks Levi's Products 😝😊

How can there be so many tempting recipes in one collection? Ms Eighmey did a good job of picking the recipes she did from the many books she must have read. It sent me right back to my Maryland church suppers - a long, long time ago!Carol

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I was very satisfied with the product and the service. I just wish I didn't have to pay shipping on the individual items purchased.

Potluck Paradise is part history lesson, part cookbook. Opening the book is like opening a time capsule from the middle of the 20th century.The cover is colorful and inviting, and the pages have old-fashioned designs on the edges with charming pictures, all in a pale olive-toned green. The book is introduced by the authors, Rae Katherine Eighmey and Debbie Miller, with a foreword by David Wood. These are interesting personal reflections, but the real history lesson lies in the recipes themselves. Each recipe has a preface describing its origins or the authors' memories of the dish."It must be a rule, if not a commandment. Lutheran church cookbooks must have at least one recipe for Swedish meatballs. Deb and I expected to find recipes for cream-sauce simmered pork and beef meatballs in the cookbooks from Lutheran churches up and down the state and across the Midwest. But we were astounded to find how far their influence had spread."In order to review a cookbook, it is imperative to test some recipes. I was more than up to the challenge. The first one, "Pizza Pie," was not entirely old-fashioned, but something traditional I could see myself making for parties or for a fun dinner...and I had every ingredient in my kitchen. Propping the book open with a flour container on one side and a bottle of wine on the other I managed quite well. The pizza was simple to make and tasted delicious.I also chose a timeless recipe, "Streusel Coffee Cake," to make for our Easter dinner. The aroma of cinnamon and sugar when it was baking was mouth-watering and the final verdict was praise all around. (One recipe modification: I used peanuts, since I had them on hand, but though the recipe recommends pecans, I feel walnuts would be my choice in the future.)The book's only shortcoming is how clumsy and inappropriate it is to work with. The pages are thin and papery, and you need to prop them open to read the recipe. This is ironic, since Miller raves about how classic cookbooks are put together in her introduction section. She loves the sturdy pages and the spiral bound books that lay flat and are easy to cook with."My very favorites, though, are the `home-made' cookbooks, typed and mimeographed or thermofaxed, cut into pages with a paper cutter, covered with oilcloth or wallpaper samples cut out with a pinking shears, two or three holes punched in each page and cover and finally `bound' with pipecleaners, yarn, or little gold-colored brads."As a coffee table book, Potluck Paradise is not that impressive. As a cookbook, though, it's great! I only hope it will survive long enough for me to try all the recipes.

In addition to varied recipes (international as well as midwestern) the author gives a fascinating look at 1950's church cookbooks. For anyone interested in history, as well as time-tested cooking, this book will be a fun read.