In the Storm

Cooking through the Magnolia Table | Apple Cider Salad

We made a couple of minor changes to this Apple Cider Salad with an Apple Cider Vinaigrette that we tried one evening as a side dish to another Magnolia Table main dish that we feasted. As the men in my family can take - or leave - a side salad I wanted to keep this as simple as possible without making too many changes that would negate it being a recipe we were trying to replicate. Simply, we changed up the lettuce, preferring instead to use the crispness and tastiness of good 'ole Iceberg, and leaving out Radicchio I replaced it with radishes, bringing to the salad a ton of peppery flavor.

Short on time we almost left out the buttery walnuts but opted to make them anyways and, man, that was a good decision to leave them in. They added such a sweet nutty flavor that compliments the tang of the dressing very well. 

While I am certain I want to re-create this recipe again, I am also aware that my family just doesn't eat salad often. It, the recipe, is still going into our family recipe book because if I want a simple, yet tasty salad, with a bit more flare than teared lettuce and tomatoes, I will jump on this recipe, again.

Cook through the Magnolia Table | Baked Chicken with Bacon Bottom & Wild Rice

I was hesitant. Wild rice doesn't flip my skirt up. Bacon that isn't crispy has a texture that sometimes makes me gag. Thus, I wasn't sure I would like this baked chicken with a bacon bottom and wild rice casserole, the next recipe in our long line-up of the Magnolia Table cook through. Plus, the recipe calls for canned cream of onion soup - again - not a fan of canned soups, and we weren't going to have time to make homemade cream of onion soup, although next time we will.

And, there will be a next time!

This baked chicken was flavorful and maglicious! Magnificent and delicious all wrapped up in many delightful, mouthwatering bites.

Our big change-up was to use chicken breast cut into tender-size pieces. However, the next time we make this we will, most definitely, make our own cream of onion soup for a more healthier dish. Although with bacon and butter in the recipe...still, a fabulous dish. Yes, still not a huge lover of wild rice but even that didn't hamper each and every memorable bite.

Cooking through the Magnolia Table | Jo Jo's Biscuits & Gravy

I knew going in to Cooking through the Magnolia Table cookbook that Jo Jo's Biscuits would be high on the list to re-create. Biscuits and gravy are pure comfort food. Jarrod baked the biscuits and cooked up the sausage gravy - although we highly adapted the gravy to pretty much our own recipe - and loved it enough that I doubt we'll return to the Magnolia Table's. The biscuits, however, will most definitely be revisited. They were buttery, fluffy, perfection.

As you can see those biscuits were golden...delicious!

Cooking through the Magnolia Table | Aunt Opal's Banana Pudding

Here's the truth: I've never been a fan of banana pudding. 

Until now.

Because this pudding - Aunt Opal's Banana Pudding was life changing.

Life-changing may sound a bit dramatic but this pudding made me go from not a fan to a F A N!!!

Then, Jarrod made this beautiful presentation of the pudding. And, it was devoured by small group, family, and when I went back for second's it was gone. I was so sad it was gone and I couldn't have second's.

Although, I made zero changes to this recipe (other than we don't have a trifle bowl and had to use a clear round bowl, which serves the same purpose but just isn't as pretty), we are putting this recipe into our family recipe book - and I made a recipe card. Because I could, and I am loving my new template for recipe cards.

 

Cooking through the Magnolia Table | Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Today I am sharing another Magnolia Table recipe we created as we cook our way through The Magnolia Table cookbook. I gotta' say - the changes we made turned out fantastic!

I'm not adverse to having multiple recipes for enchiladas - because - enchiladas. This is one of three recipes and I must say I, personally, appreciated it more than our original chicken enchilada recipe, however it sports an entirely different flavor combination. We have a delicious steak enchilada recipe, reminiscent of our beloved Jalapeno's Restaurant, Guadalajara Cheesesteak. 

I'm not a lover of 'mushy' tortillas - it's a texture issue, and these are not mushy, but have a nice crunch but not hard.

And, because we made recipe changes and LOVED this recipe we're adding it to our family recipe book, too.

Cooking Through The Magnolia Table | Bow Tie Pasta

Jarrod and I began this journey, cooking through the Magnolia Table cookbook at the beginning of 2021 and we have had a blast trying many new recipes. Thus far there has not been one recipe we haven't liked or for that matter - loved! Today, I am sharing one of those divine recipes that our family loved, the changes we made to the recipe to suit our family...and I created a brand new 4 x 6 recipe card template for our family 6 x 8 size album recipe books (we have two that are not yet full).

I am documenting our adventures through The Magnolia Table cookbook with a photo (if I remember to take one) and some highlights (both are 4 x 4 pages that will be included in a 4 x 4 album that I have yet to purchase) and thoughts about the recipe, and if our family likes, loves, or disliked the recipe. I include the date we prepared it - for posterity sakes. If we are planning on making the recipe again, with our personal changes, I am creating a recipe card that will go into our family recipe books.

This Bow Tie Pasta with Baby Spinach and Sun-dried Tomatoes was mouth-watering good! We did make a few changes to suit our family's tastes and I highly doubt we negatively impacted the dish, overall. Super delicious!

The highlights - for me - of this project is capturing our thoughts about the recipe dish we've created.

I am pleased with how the template has turned out. I love the clean and simple look and the added white space for ease of reading the text (recipe). Within the template the colors are changeable - which I will change to match the smaller photo that I am including on the new style recipe card. The 'additional' title next to the photo (on the left of) can be removed for additional ingredients if needed. I am thinking I will have much more room for those 'longer' recipe instructions, too.


 

Cooking through the Magnolia Table | Aunt Opal's Banana Pudding

Finally posting another Magnolia Table recipe that we made for our project: Cooking through the Magnolia Table cookbook. This recipe was prepared without any changes.

No wonder Joanna Gaines used their Aunt Opal's recipe for the cookbook - it is phenomenal! 

We will most definitely be adding this yummy dessert to our own family recipes

Cooking through the Magnolia Table | BLT Sandwiches

I mentioned previously that Jarrod, my son and chef-in-training, and I, are cooking our way through the first Magnolia Table cookbook by Joanna Gaines. We, primarily, chose this cookbook because the recipes are highly geared for our family's tastes and I'm pretty sure we can at least try all of the recipes. But, secondly, they aren't difficult recipes to prepare. We are a busy family. Between work, school, and pool we just don't have an unexhaustive amount of time to prepare lengthy recipes. Yet, after the year of 2020, hard in so many ways, we wanted something to get excited about.

Food always does that. We get excited about new recipes, too. Especially if we can add them to our master family cookbook as keepers.

We made the BLT Sandwiches (p.75) in early January and they were a big hit! Granted, a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich is not hard but the added spiced mayonnaise spread and the peppery bacon moved the traditional BLT over the top!

I even more recently decided that I wanted to record our year of cooking through the Magnolia Table cookbook. I will be using a small 4 x 4 album by WE R Memory Keepers. They will be getting in all new 4 x 4 albums and I have my eye on several of them for small projects like this one.

We haven't taken pictures of everything we've created but those that we do I want to include in the album. And, we may just re-create the recipe just so I can include a finished photo. Another way we are 'documenting' is writing directly in the cookbook the changes we make, giving it a rating or thumbs up, and annotating whether it will be a keeper Bowers' family recipe.

P.S. I love my Bowers' Table digital stamp that I plan on using on all of the pages if the recipe is going into our family recipe book.


 

Cook through the Magnolia Table.

Happy New Year!!!

New year. New project. 

Jarrod (my culinary arts student) and I are collaborating on a big annual project cooking our way through the Magnolia Table cookbook by Joanna Gaines. It might seem like an unconventional cookbook but we chose it for two reasons, 1) we own it. That might seem intuitive, but I had considered purchasing another cookbook and Jarrod suggested let's use one we already own. And, 2) We chose the Magnolia Table because she shares recipes that are 'tastes like home', recipes that speak to our family's heart and stomach without any, dare I say, foo foo recipes. Sure, we are up for trying new things and testing our palettes but we just aren't in to way out there recipes.

While I hope to be able to cook through the cookbook within a year, I'm pretty sure our train will be derailed a time or two, but I am hoping to make quite the dent in re-creating as many recipes from the Magnolia Table, as possible.

Today, I am sharing our January 2021 menu that, if executed, will give us a giant headstart. Here is our approach to cooking our way through the Magnolia Table cookbook:

Plan a monthly menu. I had gotten out of the habit of creating a monthly meal plan, rather I had been making a weekly plan on the fly. Planning monthly, I can see much easier places on a calendar that I might be able to try a new recipe. It will also help me keep track of the recipes that we complete. Planning is key to execution.

Feel free to replace ingredients, make simple changes to the recipes, to suit our tastes. There are a handful of recipes that have ingredients I doubt my whole family will eat.  Therefore, rather than skip that recipe I am giving ourselves permission to make them our own. Joanna even suggests in her introduction, "I want you to feel inspired to personalize these recipes and adjust them as you need for your family's tastes. If you don't like onions, take them out!..." Here's a for instance: For her Quick Orange-Walnut Sweet Rolls it calls for crescent rolls. Jarrod and I are going to replace that with bread dough and adding heavy cream before baking. Rolling out bread dough is almost just as quick as opening a couple cans of crescent rolls and I know will taste way better.

Taking notes. My goal is to make this cookbook Magnolia Table's and ours, as well. We'll make notes directly in the cookbook of changes we make/made to the recipes, possible changes for next time (maybe with a post it),  write what worked with recipe - and what didn't, and include our personal reviews: is the recipe a keeper, just so-so, make again soon!

Take photos of our creations and blog about it. I, of course, am hoping to keep up with photo-taking (and maybe improve on my foodie photos this year) and blogging about our experience with the recipe and this project.

 

I am super excited about our year-long project and can't wait to try some new scrumptious recipes.