Teams gathered by chapter leaders tested every recipe in Pax Christi: All Are Welcome, producing a kitchen-friendly text with helpful notes and commentary. “We hoped that testing every recipe would allow us to build and strengthen connections within our community of 3,700 households,” says Claudia Waterloo Tornquist, a Pax Christi member who led the project. “We accomplished that and more, resulting in a much better cookbook.”

The first chapter, “Blessings,” includes interviews with 12 priests who have served Pax Christi over its 25-year history as pastor, associate or regular presider. The 12 also offer their favorite recipes and a table blessing, including one sung to the tune of “Edelweiss.”

The book includes a huge variety of recipes. The largest chapter, “Desserts,” offers 145 selections of brownies, bars, cakes, pies and “other sweet treats.” They include “Noah’s Pudding,” which the Turkish Muslim community served at Pax Christi in 2005 during a celebration of diverse cultures and friendship.

Other fun facts about Pax Christi: All Are Welcome –
• A bright red star designates recipes contributed by children. They include Chelsea’s Theater Bars, a bowl of cream of wheat, and Holy Guacamole, complete with instructions on how to grow an avocado plant from seed.

• Two meditations are used to mark the left-hand pages of the recipe chapters: “Peace be with you,” and “Let there be peace.” As noted in the cookbook’s introduction, Pax Christi is Latin for “peace of Christ.”

• Graphic design was led by Judson Koehn, who grew up as a Pax Christi member and attended the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul. He and colleagues Benjamin Jepson and Christian Peters took cues from the flagstone wall that defines the Pax Christi sanctuary to produce a bold, contemporary book design. Especially striking is the red-and-white cover accented with silver foil; also, the colorful, imaginative displays of raw ingredients that introduce each chapter.

Pax Christi’s 320-page cookbook, with a hard cover over a spiral binding that opens flat for ease of use, is priced at $15. It will be available for sale after weekend Masses at Pax Christi until Christmas, and at the church office on weekdays. Pax Christi is located at 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie, MN 55347.