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, August 3, 2012

Relish to remember—Pickled Peppers & Onions

I didn’t have the proverbial peck of pickled peppers, but I did have a nice quart jar full—and they sure livened up dinner last night. 

The green peppers and red onions in the mixture were from our garden; red and yellow peppers, from the grocery produce department. They all combined to make a great topping for an open-faced barbecue chicken sandwich.

The recipe for Pickled Peppers & Onions said to cover and chill the ingredients for 24 hours after the relish is made. I was overly eager and thus used it to accessorize my chicken only a couple of hours after I stirred it up. It already was plenty tangy. (Can’t wait for tonight after these goodies have had lots of hours to talk to each other.)

And talk about colorful! I loved the appearance of these veggies in a clear jar. I shredded some meat off a deli rotisserie chicken from the grocery and draped everything over some toasted whole-grain bread; we were in business for a simple summer supper. 

Pickled Peppers & Onions

1/2 small red onion, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
ice water
1/2 red bell pepper, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-wide strips
1/2 yellow bell pepper, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-wide strips
1/2 green bell pepper, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-wide strips
1 cup white vinegar
6 tablespoons sugar (or sugar substitute)
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 cup water

In a small bowl soak onion slices in ice water to cover; soak for about 10 minutes; drain. Place onion slices and bell pepper strips in a 1-quart canning jar. In a small nonaluminum saucepan bring vinegar, next 3 ingredients, and 1 cup water to a boil. Stir occasionally until sugar is dissolved. Pour hot vinegar mixture over vegetables in jar. Let stand, uncovered, 1 hour. Cover and chill 24 hours. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 1 week. Makes 1 quart. (Source: Southern Living January 2012)

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