Setting the Magnolia Table

Where did 2019 go??  I demand a recount… it can’t possibly be 2020 already!  Writing this blog started out as a 2018 New Year’s Resolution.  Funny thing about resolutions; they are made with the best of intentions, but then life has a habit of getting in the way and sabotaging you.  Most people decide they never actually wanted to lose those extra 10 pounds anyway…  And who really needs to read Oprah’s book list or see all the Academy Award nominated films?  Ain’t nobody got time for that.  But my COOKING resolutions were serious!  I refused to give up on the unnecessary, self-imposed time limit I gave myself to complete the Joanna Gaines cookbook, Magnolia Table, so 2019 saw a whole lot more calories coming out of my kitchen.  Granted, I failed miserably at actually meeting my deadline, but I darn well made (delicious) progress!

Seeing as it has been well over a year since I sat down to write, I just had to re-read my last few posts (not to mention THREE false-start blog intros) so I would know from where to pick up, and it turns out… at the beginning!  I can’t believe it, but I haven’t shared a single one of Joanna Gaines’ masterpiece recipes!  To date, I have made 30 of these gems, but I am ashamed to say I didn’t always get good pictures and just ate the food.  I guess I’ll just have to make some of them over again…  Tragic!  Without further ado, here are some of the first few dishes.

I debated how to approach this new project, since this is now officially my third “rodeo”; should I pick my favorite thing that I’m most excited to cook?  Start on page one and complete the recipes in order?  Or do what I did: tackle the thing I was LEAST interested in, because then it would be out of the way!  My love/hate relationship with peppers (I love to hate them) is still going strong, despite having met a couple applications I could grudgingly appreciate.  I wish I could say this Sweet Pepper Frittata made a believer out of me, but not so much. Basically I liked everything EXCEPT the peppers.  Okay, also not a huge fan of feta…  But on the plus-side, there’s pancetta!!  The best thing I can say about this frittata is that all the ingredients were fresh and simple, and therefore easily malleable to become a recipe I like better.  Eggs, cream, herbs, cheese and vegetables; make your own winning combo!

Now we’re talking!!  I adore potatoes.  Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, hash browns, you name it.  I never met a potato I didn’t like.  The thing is I like them so much sometimes I buy way too many, and I end up with shriveled up brown rocks or a small bamboo forest growing in the bag!  This was a great way to use up the gnarliest looking potatoes that would not have produced a beautiful side dish to a ribeye, and again, used fridge staples like cheese, bacon, and cream.  I would wager that 80% recipes in this book use at least two out of those three ingredients!  Can’t go wrong there.

Last but not least (for this post anyway), I wanted to pay homage to one of her amazing desserts.  Lemon. Pie.  Just look at how the slices hold up!!  It was a revelation.  Best part?  I didn’t have to go out and buy a thing at the store, because these recipes so often are created from foods lying around nearly everyone’s kitchen.  It didn’t turn out technicolor-yellow due to the fact that lemon juice is in fact the only colored ingredient in here, and no Jell-o pudding nor gelatin was required to get this gorgeous lemon curd to stand firm.  That’s what I’m aiming for, folks.  No frills recipes that nonetheless look like they cost $8.99 at a restaurant, but you order them anyway even when you’re full because they taste AMAZING!  This pie fit the bill.  

I could go on and on (and on and on) with all the other great dishes this book has introduced to me so far, but this post would be 12,000 words!  Instead of covering everything I cooked in 2019, I am going to rededicate myself to process of working my way through weekly recipes, and sharing my successes and failures with the WordPress community.  So here I am, kicking off 2020 with a handful of new resolutions (limit food waste! The ever-popular “lose 10 pounds”…) and the Magnolia Table cookbook under my arm.  This week will bring King Ranch Chicken, Mexican Rice, and Dedication Casserole.  I don’t know what that is, but I can hardly wait to find out and share the results!  I have a new deadline too: April 7th.  Why so specific?  Because that’s when Magnolia Table: Volume 2 come out!