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, December 20, 2012

A delight of a sandwich filling—Red-Pepper Chicken Salad

The magazine featured it as an appetizer, but for a chicken-salad fan as I am, it looked like a bona-fide sandwich filling. I quickly made a batch of this Red-Pepper Chicken Salad mixture and served it for a meal.

Another December dining solution taken care of! The recipe called for chopped cooked chicken, toasted pecans, green onions, and cilantro. Red-pepper jelly gave it a delightful kick.

The recipe was called “Chicken Salad Pitas”, but I served it on some wheat sandwich slims and sliced an avocado as garnish. Best to follow what the recipe says and let it chill for 4 hours, but in my haste I skipped the “chill” step and spread it on the sandwich buns immediately. Excellent!

Red-Pepper Chicken Salad

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup red-pepper jelly
1/4 cup minced green onions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon lime zest
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 cups finely chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped toasted pecans
salt (or salt substitute) and freshly ground black pepper to taste
24 mini pita pockets, halved (I used sandwich slims bread)
1 bunch fresh watercress

In a large bowl whisk together the first 6 ingredients; stir in chicken and next 2 ingredients until blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill 4 hours. Fill pitas with watercress and chicken salad. Serve immediately. Makes 4 dozen mini pitas. (Source: Southern Living December 2012; featured as Chicken Salad Pitas)




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