What's next after the popular HGTV show "Fixer Upper" wrapped up its final season? Co-host Joanna Gaines has had something else in the works for several months. While the show has ended, you can bring Gaines into your kitchen with her first cookbook.
Gaines' first cookbook "Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering (William Morrow Cookbooks $29.99), is available now.
It includes some of her favorite recipes along with several from the Gaines family's new restaurant in their hometown of Waco, Texas.
I've had a glimpse into the cookbook for a few weeks now. And it's a page turner. A lot of cookbooks cross my desk each year. But this one caught my eye. It has a lot of recipes that will appeal to all, especially families.
Like just about everything Gaines touches, you'll see the same style and design in the recipes and throughout the book. The book is beautifully photographed, with nearly every recipe having a full-color photo.
Gaines writes that the book is a collection of family favorites passed down from relatives and several from Chip and Joanna's new restaurant Magnolia Table, which opened in February in their hometown of Waco, Texas.
There are seven recipe chapters, including breakfast, appetizers, dinner and desserts. Gaines also provides a sample of pantry ingredients to have on hand and a list of needed tools, such as whisks, spoons and a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. While she may have a well-stocked pantry and grows a lot of her own vegetables, Gaines is not a stickler with always made-from-scratch ingredients. Like everyone else, she gets busy too. Gaines writes "I consider store-bought refrigerated dough and boxed broth to be gifts from the heavens."
A highlight of the breakfast chapter is JoJo's Biscuits. It's a favorite, which Gaines writes that "it took me a year of Saturdays to get these biscuits just right."
Throughout the pages, you'll also see Gaines' flair for decorating as recipes are perfectly styled. There's also her penchant for gardening and growing her own vegetables. The recipes are very doable, clearly written and most hold to one page. There are classics like scalloped potatoes and green beans almandine along with Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas, Mom's Bulgogi and Becki's Mac & Cheese, ideal for family dinners. It's dinner, that Gaines says "is her favorite way to unwind after a busy day at work."
And at a glance, the dinner chapter has the most recipes.
There's also a chapter on desserts. Gaines admits she has a sweet tooth. And the recipe for chocolate chip cookies (see below) is close to her heart as it reminds of the first time she and her dad baked together. She writes that she developed the recipe over the years looking for a chunky, not flat, cookie. Gaines was surprised that using less butter was the key.
