About Recipe

How in sam hill do you keep coming up with food and recipe ideas, Ally? This question I get asked quite often. There's a couple of answers to it. First of all, I like to change up things all the time. Yes, I like tradition and not messing up a good thing. But, it's very much in my personality and DNA to always be looking for new ways to do things. Maybe that's the creative right side of my brain. I mean, whether it's what I wear, how my furniture is arranged, a tablesetting and where I put the eating utensils or repurposing leftovers, my mind works in overdrive thinking of new ways to do regular things. You know what that does? It makes life interesting. Sometimes Ben will come home to an entirely newly laid out living room. Furniture all moved. Different throw pillows on the sofa. Maybe a table that was in a bedroom and it's now in the living room. Would that drive you crazy? For me, it's a way of keeping my life invigorated and happier. Another way I come up with food and recipe ideas is to travel. You have to get out of your comfortable landing pad of life and venture out. Even if it's a few miles down the road to a new restaurant, store, park, whatever. This recipe is inspired by a recent trip to Central Mississippi to explore the 'culinary innovations' there. You might be thinking, 'Central Missississippi and culinary cutting edge done seem to jive.' But, au contraire, there's more than meets the eye. I explain it all here. When I was there visiting 'Up in Farms' described as 'a movement in food' I was impressed by the passion and dedication to the small and mid-sized farmer. We well know that farming isn't something one does to get rich. It's usually done, particularly at that small to mid range level, because of family tradition, a reason/purpose, and pureTEE love and passion. Started in 2014, what they do is aggregate food from about a 40 county area surrounding Jackson, MS into this cen