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.

Monday, October 1, 2012

A day of being “walled about with apples” produced these apple-bran muffin beauties

I’ve always loved the expression “walled about with rain”, a line from one of my favorite historical novels, The Child from the Sea. On Saturday we were  “walled about with rain” from sunup to sundown. My planned day of gardening tasks had to be set aside, but who’s complaining? Our sun-parched land was so grateful for the soaking moisture.

Instead, I became “walled about with apples”. The drop in temps and the sure sign that fall was at hand got me grabbing up every apple I could find and stirring up apple goodies. How fall-ified the house smelled with apple things baking.

We loved these Apple Bran Cereal Muffins, the recipe having been procured from the Chickasaw Nutrition Services a few days before. Finely chopped apples and bran flakes were the key elements in these tasty gems. Interesting: the recipe called for 1/2 cup applesauce, which I didn’t have on hand. I merely inserted a diced, peeled apple into the blender and pureed it until the apple was a nice mush. I poured in a tablespoon of water, a sprinkle of sugar substitute, and dash of nutmeg. Instant applesauce to use as an ingredient! No emergency trips to the store; no opening a can. This helped make the muffins plenty moist; they turned out beautifully golden.

Pulling weeds could wait while we luxuriated in the smells and tastes of welcomed fall.

Apple Bran Cereal Muffins

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)
2 cups bran flakes
1 cup skim milk
1 egg white (I used 1/4 cup egg substitute)
1 cup apple, cored, finely chopped
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 12 muffin pan cups with cooking spray. In a large bowl mix flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl mix cereal and milk; let stand 3 minutes. To the cereal mixture add egg white, apple, applesauce, brown sugar, and margarine. Mix well. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir until moistened. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup; bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins. (Source: Chickasaw Nation Nutrition Services)




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