The Art of the Recipe

I often get asked where I find inspiration for cooking and fresh recipes.  The answer is any and everywhere!  Yes, I follow other food blogs; Instagram and Pinterest are both fun and photo-filled; inspiration comes from my travels - often a big part of any adventure for me is discovering the food.  And this can be anything, not necessarily exotic.  Some of the best places are complete hole-in-the-wall dives.  Do you have a favorite crab shack at the coast?  A fave BBQ joint?  Often times I'll experience a food at a place like that and come home to try and replicate it a little bit 'healthier'.  Sometimes it doesn't work (I'm not much for deep frying), but more often times, it does.  

I've found ideas off the back of pasta packages, in foodie mags, in a sample-carton of wine (yes, really).  I don't discriminate and you shouldn't either.  Meals and recipes don't have to contain unfamiliar and strange-to-you ingredients to be great.  Although eventually you may come to be enticed by these things and seek them out.  In this way, you build your pantry to include items like bottles of mirin, a berbere spice blend, or some yummy Thai red curry paste.  But it isn't necessary to have all of that to have a great meal.  During the end of what seemed like an endless winter here in Asheville, I was recipe testing weekly.  Now that the weather has warmed and the sunshine makes the day last longer, I've backed off and am working in some routine favorites or easy/quick-meals to allow for other things in life.  Like spending time with loved ones.

In that spirit, my absolute favorite inspiration for food is swapping ideas and recipes with friends and family!  Haven't your ever been to someone's house or had them over for a potluck to find a divine dish in the mix?  My favorite summer salad (*a 2017 blog post) is from a dear friend who brought this to my 33rd birthday celebration.  I'm STILL making it and folks are STILL loving it every summer.  Likewise my brother-in-law does a ridiculous sticky-toffee pudding that I'm scheming to make sans gluten (a challenge indeed).  And lest forget the ginger sauce that a colleague shared with me last fall that goes blissfully on sauteed greens any time of year.

So where does your inspiration for food come from?  Do you need more of it?  Look everywhere or don't look at all; often times it finds you.  Stay tuned for a select recipe that I tested recently and made my own that has become a constant in the rotation.  xoxo