The amateur cook and counselor at Salem’s Woodbury Middle School will head to Dallas with her husband from April 13 to 15 as one of 100 finalists in the Pillsbury Bake-Off. If the judges enjoy her chutney pizza with turkey, gorgonzola and spinach, she could win the grand prize of $1 million. Her odds of winning?

“It’s one in 100. That’s better than the lottery,” she said.

Brnger has been cooking for as long as she can remember. Although she has no professional cooking experience, she has entered about 10 contests in her life, and even once took home a prize. “I won a ravioli cutter once,” she said. Not as good as $1 million, perhaps, but certainly useful.

In Dallas, Brnger will settle into a kitchen workstation and prepare her dish for a group of judges who will choose the tastiest meal. Submissions are divided into five categories: breakfast & brunches, pizza creations, entertaining appetizers, Old El Paso Mexican favorites and sweet treats.

Brnger was one of 19 finalists who offered a pizza recipe. Her chutney pie will have to compete with a number of other unique creations, including a raspberry-chipotle barbecue chicken pizza, an orange marmalade-chorizo pizza, a chicken alfredo gorgonzola-walnut pizza and a southwest sloppy Joe pizza.

If she takes home the grand prize, she will spend most of the loot on college tuition for her nine-year-old daughter, she said. But she would also like to take a trip to Japan, where she once lived, or save up for yoga classes.

Even if Brnger does not come home a rich woman, she is excited to participate in the famous bake-off.

“I’m delighted. It’ll be really fun to just go,” she said.

For more information on the 43rd annual Pillsbury Bake-Off, go to www.pillsbury.com/BakeOff/Default.aspx.