Saturday, September 08, 2012

Fantastical Feature: Sweet Magnolias Cookbook

The Sweet Magnolias Cookbook: More Than 100 Favorite Southern Recipes
Image via Amazon

Whilest I was born in Minnesota and lived half my life there, I have lived a better half of my life in Tennessee. It's kind of a culture shock with food. I was used to very Plain Jane foods. The South has this extraordinary cuisine. Flavorful and hearty and rich - it's comfort food. Food that makes you want to just sit around on a porch and sip sweet tea (and gossip!).

The Sweet Magnolias Cookbook is a beautifully designed cookbook. It is brightly colored and easy to read. It is broken up into different sections with different themes. So here is what we made:

Fire & Ice Pickles
These keep for up to a month in the refrigerator. They are a simple recipe and very good. I honestly wasn't sure my husband would like them because he's not a fan of sweet pickles, but he is addicted! They are sweet when you first taste them and then the heat creeps up on you and it's the perfect balance of the two! 


Honey Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Peach Salsa
 The grilled tenderloin was out of this world delicious! It was like steak, but in pork form. The peach salsa was actually my first real experience with eating fresh peaches and it was sweet and provided the best combination of flavor to go with the honey marinade on the tenderloin.

Mixed Green Salad with Strawberry-Basil Vinaigrette
The vinaigrette was incredibly easy to make. The strawberry and basil offset the bite of the vinegar. It leaves a pleasant aftertaste in your mouth - which really surprised me. We added almonds on top of our salad as well to add another texture to the salad.

4 Utensils from me! This has lots of options for different tastes. 
The colors are gorgeous, as are the pictures.


Thank you to both NetGalley & Harlequin for letting me preview this cookbook!  

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