Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 3

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For all my joking last week regarding our mild South Carolina winters and the need for soup, it seems I was proved wrong, as we received a large winter storm of sleet and snow that has even stayed around in patches for several days afterwards. While I had planned this week of cooking through Magnolia Table Vol 1. of Tortilla Soup (p.101) and Party Queso (p.135) with Sunday dinner in mind, we unfortunately had to push the gathering off a week due to the road conditions. Therefore, Charlie and I have eaten an enormous amount of Tortilla Soup and Party Queso, which has been delicious and indeed has warmed the soul in this chilly weather.

Tortilla Soup

Perfect for snowy winter days, Joanna’s Tortilla Soup is packed full of fresh flavor and almost makes you feel healthier just by eating it. As the soup is not technically cooking anything (more like warming and melding the flavors together), it is very easy to pull together and would be a wonderful recipe to make for company. Similarly, it would be a great soup to make if you have any leftovers from your Perfect Roast Chicken as it calls for using a rotisserie chicken. We had already made short work of our Perfect Roast Chicken, so I bought a precooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and then made sure to carve the bird into shredded pieces, being careful to remove any bones and skin that we did not want in the soup.

Crowd Average Rating:

As our Sunday dinner had to be postponed, only Charlie and I had the opportunity to rate this dish. Even so, the Tortilla Soup won an admirable average score of 7. As I mentioned with the Country Potato Soup, Charlie and I have a different preference for soup, which leads to our varied scores, however we both did enjoy this meal. In fact, we felt it got even better the second day we ate it as it seemed even more flavorful once it has been able to marinate together.

Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 3 - Tortilla Soup

Party Queso

Regarding the Party Queso, this recipe is very appropriately named and is certain to be a crowd pleaser. Not only is it full of fun ingredients, but it makes a generous portion that would feed a crowd. It would be a wonderful item to make for any party, but especially a Super Bowl party that is full of dip like foods. This dip is beyond just a typical queso, by the addition of beans, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, jalapeno pepper etc. Similarly, I was very skeptical of using a whole jalapeno in the queso and half of one in the Tortilla Soup. I typically do not prefer spicy foods, so I was unsure how spicy both dishes were doing to be. But again, Joanna knew what she was doing and was right in saying that if you take out all the seeds and the internal ribs of the pepper, it is no longer spicy. I was amazed at how much flavor the jalapenos added, but this time, without the spice.

Crowd Average Rating:

One of our highest rated items so far, the Party Queso average rating came in at an 8.5. I am a huge fan of dips, so this recipe hits pretty top of the list for me. Wonderfully balanced with the Tortilla Soup, the Party Queso adds such a dynamic mix to the meal and is definitely going to be included in parties at our house moving forward.

Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 3 - Party Queso

Looking Ahead – Week Four

Week 4 Shopping List Includes:

Chicken broth
Diced fire roasted tomatoes
Olive oil
Garlic
Heavy cream
Basil
Mayonnaise

White bread
Cheese – Havarti & cheddar
Cake flour
Baking powder
Ground black pepper
Kosher salt
Baking soda

Ground nutmeg
Egg
Buttermilk
Sugar – powdered & granulated
Vanilla paste
Butter
Maple syrup

Looking over our 1 Year Guide, this upcoming week 4 will include dinner featuring Tomato Basil Soup with Grilled Cheese Strips (p.107) and Vanilla Cake Donuts with Maple Glaze (p.39). If you haven’t made fresh whipped cream for hot chocolate or used the remainder of your heavy cream from the Party Queso for something else, you should have just enough for the Tomato Basil Soup and won’t have to buy anymore. Likewise, you may still have chicken broth on hand as well for this upcoming week. We have another soup featured again this week, as January just feels to call for soup and the red of the tomatoes can start putting us in the mood for Valentine’s Day which soon will be upon us.

Final Thoughts

I really am amazed that from all 7 recipes tried from these first three weeks, we have not had an average rating below a 7! From our table, if definitely has felt like a success thus far and we have thoroughly enjoyed looking forward to testing each meal. How has your table faired? Have you had all your ratings above a 7? I’d love to know your experiences or suggestions in the comments section below!

Happy cooking!