Cooking With Intention

“Mind, Body, Spirit, Food: Adaptable Recipes and Grounding Meditations for Preparing Meals with Joy and Intention” by Nicki Sizemore with images by Rikki Snyder was published earlier this year by Storey Publishing, an imprint of Workman Publishing and a division of Hachette Book Group (264 pages, $30). (Courtesy of “Mind, Body, Spirit, Food” by Nicki Sizemore, Photo by Rikki Synder)

Hudson Valley’s Nicki Sizemore brings mindfulness to the kitchen in new cookbook

Hudson Valley-based author, chef and recipe developer Nicki Sizemore has built a career at the intersection of mindful living and simple, everyday cooking.

A trained chef with more than two decades in the food industry, Sizemore is known for her accessible, flavor-forward recipes and her popular online platform, “From Scratch Fast,” where she guides home cooks in preparing gluten-free meals with presence and purpose. She also offers virtual cooking classes and one-on-one coaching, publishes a newsletter and hosts a podcast featuring conversations with chefs, food writers, spiritual leaders and scientists exploring how food connects to culture, identity, health and spirituality.

Her newest cookbook, Mind, Body, Spirit, Food: Adaptable Recipes and Grounding Meditations for Preparing Meals with Joy and Intention, was published earlier this year by Storey Publishing, an imprint of Workman Publishing and a division of Hachette Book Group. It expands on Sizemore’s philosophy, blending her gluten-free recipes with simple mindfulness practices designed to transform cooking into an act of self-care, gratefulness and love. It’s less about the stress of grocery shopping, meal planning and food prep and more about embracing the process with intention to “bring your full consciousness to the meal.”

Here, we provide Sizemore’s recipe for Creamy Green Pasta along with an “intention,” or an internal direction to yourself — a reminder of how you want to show up for the task (and for your life).

Intention: I Will Look for Beauty

When we see a sunset splash across the sky or watch the blushed cheeks of a baby in deep sleep, our hearts open, our bodies soften and our minds quiet. Beauty becomes a doorway to the sacred. But beauty isn’t found just in big events or splashy places. It can be experienced anywhere — in the spray of broccoli florets, in the knobby rise of a kale leaf or in watching our own capable hands stirring a pot of pasta with a wooden spoon. For this meal, seek out the beautiful, without expectations of where you’ll find it.
Creamy green pasta can be made with kale or broccoli
Courtesy of “Mind, Body, Spirit, Food” by Nicki Sizemore (Photo by Rikki Synder)

Creamy Green Pasta (with broccoli or kale)

Serves: 4 • Prep time: 20 minutes • Cooking time: 10 minutes

This verdant, creamy pasta, which can be made with either kale or broccoli, is proof that beauty can be found in simplicity.

Ingredients

  • Salt
  • 1 pound broccoli (about 1 bunch) or 8 ounces lacinato kale (about 1 smallish bunch)
  • 1 large garlic clove, smashed and peeled
  • ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
  • ¼ cup toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds, plus more for serving
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 pound rigatoni pasta (or any shape you like; regular or gluten-free)
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes, for serving

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil (you’ll be using this water to boil both the vegetables and the pasta). Season the water well with salt.

CHOOSE YOUR VERSION

BROCCOLI. Cut the crowns into large florets. Peel the stems and slice them into 1-inch pieces. Slide the broccoli into the boiling water. Cook, stirring once or twice, until bright green and tender, 3 to 5 minutes.

KALE. Strip off and discard the stems. Slide the kale leaves into the boiling water. Cook, stirring once or twice, until bright green and tender, 1 to 2 minutes.

MAKE THE SAUCE

Using a spider or large slotted spoon, transfer the cooked broccoli or kale to a colander (to prevent water from dripping all over your stove, put a bowl under the colander). Rinse the vegetables in cold water — this will stop the cooking and help preserve the bright green color. Shake dry.

Transfer the vegetables to a high-speed blender or food processor. Add the garlic, parmesan, pine nuts, oil, water and lemon juice. Season with salt and black pepper and blend until smooth. Give the sauce a taste and add more salt, black pepper and/or lemon juice if needed (I find the broccoli version needs plenty of salt and sometimes another spritz of lemon).

FINISH AND SERVE

Cook the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, ladling out and reserving about ½ cup of the cooking water before draining.

Add the sauce to the pasta. Return the pasta to the pot and add about two-thirds of the creamy green sauce, along with the butter. Season with salt and black pepper and stir to coat. Add a few splashes of the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce if needed (I like to do this for the broccoli sauce to make it creamier). You can serve the pasta as is or add the rest of the sauce (depending on how saucy you like things). Be sure to taste the pasta and add more salt or black pepper if desired.

Serve. Divide the pasta among serving bowls and sprinkle with more parmesan and pine nuts. Dust with Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes. Beautiful!

Cooking Notes

You can make the sauce in either a high-speed blender (such as a Vitamix), which will result in a creamy sauce, or a food processor, which will give the sauce more of a pesto feel. Both are delicious. You can use any pasta shape you like, but I’m partial to rigatoni, as the sauce gets caught in the ridges.

Variations

For a dairy-free option, swap out the parmesan for 2 to 4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, to taste, and swap out the butter for vegan butter or olive oil.

If you’re sensitive to raw garlic, crush the garlic clove and heat it gently in the olive oil until it’s golden. Let the oil cool, then remove the garlic and use only the oil.

Trained Chef Nicki Sizemore, author of "Mind, Body, Spirit, Food"
(Courtesy of “Mind, Body, Spirit, Food” by Nicki Sizemore, Photo by Rikki Synder)

BESTT Practice

Intentional cooking is incredibly simple, Sizemore writes. “It’s an invitation to rewire your patterns in order to find more peace, pleasure and connection in the kitchen.” However, it’s going to ask you to pause for just a few breaths — and the pause isn’t always easy. To help, Sizemore developed a simple practice, or really a ritual, that she calls “BESTT” (oh, for the love of an acronym!). It stands for:

  • Breathe
  • Engage your senses
  • Set an intention
  • Thank your food
  • Thank your body

Top image source: Courtesy of “Mind, Body, Spirit, Food” by Nicki Sizemore (Photos by Rikki Synder)

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