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.

Friday, May 25, 2012

A peach of a beverage, with basil sprigs as the crowning touch

The dream was realized—our front-porch reno was complete. A ho-hum entrance to our vintage home was spiffied up by an expansive area complete with decorative railings and gingerbread trim. And a front-porch swing! Hubby and I had in mind some relaxing evenings of watching the neighborhood go by while we sipped a cool beverage.

The first cool beverage to sip while we test-drove our new swing had to be something special. I had a recipe in reserve: Peach-Basil Iced Tea. Two of the major ingredients were from my garden: 3 cups of peach nectar (made by pureeing peaches from our trees) and 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves. How would this blend work? To my knowledge I’d never had basil in a glass of tea.

All I can say is, Hubby and I, with our chilled glasses in hand and the gentle breezes whistling by us, thought we were in heaven on our new front-porch perch. The knock-your-socks-off beverage was refreshing and delicious. Our place is now staked out to spend the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend!

Peach-Basil Iced Tea

2 family-sized tea bags
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, rinsed
2/3 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)
3 cups peach nectar (this can be purchased on the grocery aisle, but I enjoyed using my own peaches
      that in my blender I purĂ©ed to a fine liquid)
crushed ice
garnish: fresh basil sprigs

In a large saucepan bring 8 cups water to a boil. In a pitcher pour boiling water over tea bags and basil. Cover and steep 6 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags and basil. Add sugar; stir until dissolved. Stir in peach nectar. Serve over crushed ice. Makes about 3 quarts. (Source: Southern Living February 2011)


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