Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 33

If your family members have recently gone back to school and enjoy afternoon treats, I HIGHLY recommend trying this banana bread out. Fluffy and perfectly sweet with hints of brown sugar, Joanna’s After School Banana Bread is fabulous. As I have been trying to make the recipes as close to her instructions as possible, I kept in the pecans instead of substituting them for chocolate chips as she mentions in the note. The pecans added a wonderful subtle crunch that paired amazingly with the banana flavoring, so I definitely recommend keeping in this addition! 

Crowd Average Rating: 

While I do not have kids yet to test this recipe as an afternoon snack, both Charlie, myself and our neighbor thought it was so wonderful that it deserved an average rating of a 9! Truly, I cannot think of many ways to improve upon this recipe, except that in the future, I believe I will add in both the pecans AND a handful of chocolate chips. That combination sounds divine. Similarly, I will note that I did have to add about 10 to 15 minutes to my cooking time, but that was largely due to how my oven cooks, so just be aware it might take a few added minutes of cooking time depending on your appliance. 

While I typically do not gravitate to red meat as quickly as I do to chicken, this Beef Tenderloin with Jalapeno Sour Cream is delicious. Bursting with flavor, the beef has the most wonderful marinade that perfectly compliments the Jalapeno Sour Cream. I was concerned that the Jalapeno Sour Cream was going to be too overpowering or spicy, but the sour cream mellows out the spice of the jalapenos while allowing them to add delicious flavor. If you are looking for simple ways to spice up your traditional beef recipes, I most definitely recommend this recipe!

Crowd Average Rating:

As only Charlie and I had the opportunity to try this dish, this recipe gained an average rating of 7.5! I do have to be honest though that I had to make a couple of changes that I believe affected the rating. First, I was not able to come by a 3.5lb beef tenderloin and therefore had to substitute it with another cut of beef. That being said, the cooking instructions then led our meat to be slightly more on the medium well to well done side. I typically prefer beef around medium, but this change was no fault of Joanna Gaines’ recipe.

As I mentioned in the introduction, this week was full of surprises. One of the biggest surprises though was how much I enjoyed these Pickled Jalapenos as I do not typically enjoy spicy foods. Even now, as an adult, I normally order mild salsa at Mexican restaurants, so when I saw this recipe for this week, I immediately was thinking of who I could gift these jars of pickled jalapenos to. While I still am planning to give several jars away, to my happy surprise, these jalapenos have amazing flavor! They definitely are spicy, but in small doses, they provide a wonderfully flavorful punch. 

Crowd Average Rating: 

Considering that neither Charlie or I are huge on spicy foods, I am amazed that these Pickled Jalapenos gained an average rating of 7! They are simple to come together and have tremendous flavor, so I certainly recommend this recipe, especially if you have a plethora of jalapenos from your garden as Joanna did. I did wear gloves as she mentioned to help protect my skin during the cutting of all of the jalapenos, however I would also suggest wearing a mask and turning on your vent fan when simmering the jalapenos in the pickling juice. I did not wear a mask and unfortunately, between the vinegar and spicy jalapeno fumes, my nose was NOT comfortable. This symptom did go away after about an hour, but would have been easily preventable, so I definitely recommend taking a few added precautions. 

• Black pepper
• Kosher salt
• Butter
• Brown sugar
• Pecans
• Brie cheese
• Parsley flakes

• Apples
• Lemon
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Onion
• Olive oil

• Ground beef
• Frozen shredded hash browns
• Cheddar cheese
• Refrigerated Pillsbury Grands
• All-purpose flour