Stew on this
Mother Mills seasonings add extra kick
Bourbon pecan buttermilk pie. Cheesy hot queso. Chicken tortilla soup. Baked beans.
These and many other dishes are the sort of comfort food Jamie Mills, shown, grew up eating in her El Paso home, surrounded by grown-ups who loved to cook, where dishes were often Southern and often had the extra kick of spice.
“I grew up around good food,” says Mills. “I love to cook, but more so I love to feed people.”
After her husband moved his cabin-restoring business to Springfield in 2006 and her three home-schooled daughters started college, she began thinking about helping others get the great taste of home cooking to their own tables.
“I’ve heard so many times, ‘I wish I had time to cook like this,’” she says of those of she’s fed over the years. After an empty nest and a longtime tradition of giving flavoring mixes as gifts over the years, she finally decided to become a business woman. Mother Mills Southern Comfort Food Mixes started three years ago. They are starter packages to help you get homemade food on the table. “The kids came up with the name,” Jamie says.
Now she packages more than two dozen mixes—like a combination of seasonings that could help you reproduce the following caldillo, a beef stew with Mexican overtones—for sale through retail outlets in at least three states and online at mothermills.com.
