Kay Wheeler Moore

Welcome to my blog

Hello. . .

The Newfangled Country Gardener is for anyone who has a garden, would like to have a garden, or who simply enjoys eating the garden-fresh way. I don't claim to be an expert; in this blog I'm simply sharing some of the experiences my husband and I have in preparing food that is home-grown.

About the author

Kay Wheeler Moore is the author of a new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden, that features six generations of recipes that call for ingredients that are fresh from the garden. With home gardening surging in popularity as frugal people become more resourceful, this recipe collection and the stories that accompany it ideally will inspire others to cook the garden-fresh way and to preserve their own family food stories as well. The stories in this book center around the Three Red-Haired Miller Girls (Kay's mother and aunts) who grew up in Delta County, TX, with their own backyard garden so lavish that they felt as though they were royalty after their Mama wielded her kitchen magic on all that was homegrown. Introduced in Kay's previous book, Way Back in the Country, the lively Miller Girls again draw readers into their growing-up world, in which a stringent economic era--not unlike today's tight times--saw people turn to the earth to put food on the table for their loved ones. The rollicking yarns (all with recipes attached) have love, family, and faith as common denominators and show how food evocatively bonds us to our life experiences.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

A profusion of orange on the table makes post-Labor Day seem more fall-like


No denying it; Labor Day officially kicks off fall. Even the temps here in Texas are cooperating a little and (thanks to Tropical Storm Hermine) seeming a little more fall-like. What color is the essence of fall? None other than orange, so this orange-to-the-bone dish was an ideal one for me to try in my post-Labor Day meal prep.

Sweet Potato Casserole, with the addition of brown-sugar to underscore the "Sweet" in Sweet Potatoes, is a fall staple on many tables, but I love this addition of carrots and onion to make Confetti Carrots and Sweet Potatoes an even more healthy and interesting side dish.

The cooked potatoes and carrots are mashed with a hand masher, not a hand mixer as one typically might mash cooked sweet potatoes, so the texture is not buttery smooth but is more "confetti-like", hence the name.

Confetti Carrots and Sweet Potatoes makes a grand side dish for a ham or chicken dinner. But as usual, Hubby and I didn't need anything else but a small fruit salad to turn this dish into a small dinner meal in itself.

Wee definitely got our "orange-fix" for the week to help kick off fall.


Confetti Carrots and Sweet Potatoes

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 pounds carrots, thinly sliced
6 cups water
1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 teaspoons lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup (or to taste) brown-sugar substitute (I used Splenda)

In medium kettle heat oil and onion until onion is soft. Add carrots, sweet potato, and water. Simmer gently 30 minutes. Remove carrot and sweet potatoes and (using a hand masher and not a mixer) mash thoroughly; add onion. Stir in salt, pepper, butter, and brown sugar. Serve. (If necessary heat in microwave to re-warm before you serve.)


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