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Relieving Stress Through Mindful Cooking

I find myself in a stressful place as we begin the new year. To manage it, I’m incorporating yoga, quiet meditative time, exercise, massage, enjoying some of my favorite activities, and something that might not be familiar to you—mindful cooking.

As a chef, I’m often cooking multiple meals simultaneously for my clients. My years of experience have made me very efficient in the kitchen. But I’m so focused on the outcome, multi-tasking, and time management, that it’s rare for me to just slow down and enjoy the cooking process.

I’ve started the new year with a commitment to enjoy creative, mindful cooking more often when I’m cooking for my family and friends. Sometimes that means starting with a family recipe or digging out an old cookbook and tweaking the ingredients based on how I’m feeling at the time. And sometimes it means creating a meal using whatever ingredients I have on hand. I set aside my professional chef hat and put on my creative hat, with the understanding that the meal might not turn out exactly how I envisioned it. And that’s okay!

A woman in an apron cooks on an electric stove in a modern kitchen setting.

Mindful Cooking Tips

Mindful cooking should be slow, focused and relaxed. Here are some tips for creating this cooking experience:

Set the tone for a relaxed cooking space. Turn on your favorite music and tell yourself that you can take all the time you need to prepare the meal.
Prep using mise en place, which means gathering all your ingredients so they are ready to use when you need them. Focus on each ingredient that needs to be prepped one at a time. For example, chop the onions and set them aside, and then chop the next vegetable and set that aside, etc. Don’t multi-task.
Taste your creation often and take time to savor it each time you taste. It’s okay to tweak ingredients as you go along. Remember, this is your creation!
If the meal doesn’t turn out exactly how you imagined it, accept the outcome anyway. Mindful cooking is not about perfection, it’s about the process and the creativity. As a professional chef, this is a biggie for me, so if I can do it, you can too!
Express gratitude for the food, the opportunity to cook mindfully, and for the people with whom you share the meal.

Mindful cooking is a great mental health exercise because it can provide a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction and pleasure. Remember, it’s not about the outcome, it’s about the process, so approach it with a non-judgmental attitude and just go with the flow.

The recipe I’m including with this article started with a stuffed pepper recipe with a completely different flavor profile. I made it Cajun and vegan, but you could tweak it by adding meat or cheese, or changing the seasonings based on what’s in your pantry. How ever you create it, just focus on the mindfulness of the process and enjoy!

Read more of my food related articles Here. Interested in more of my recipes? Check them out Here!

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Cajun Lentil & Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

3 servings cooked brown rice
4 large red peppers
1 cup cooked lentils
1 can diced tomatoes 14.5 oz, drained
1 cup carrots shaved
¾ cup celery chopped
1 cup onion chopped
½ cup mushrooms chopped
blackened seasoning to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon juiced
2 T olive oil extra virgin

Instructions

Cut tops off peppers, remove core and seeds, and place in a baking dish. If the peppers don’t stand up in the dish, slice a little off the bottom, without cutting through the pepper, to stabilize. Chop the pepper tops into pieces.
Cook and cool rice and lentils according to package directions. Sauté celery, chopped pepper tops, onions and mushrooms with salt, pepper and blackened seasoning in a little olive oil.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake unfilled peppers for 10 minutes and remove from oven.
Combine cooled rice, lentils and cooked vegetables in a bowl and add shredded carrots and tomatoes. Add extra blackened seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in lemon juice, to taste, for a little acidity. Stuff each pepper. (Depending on the size of the peppers, you may have extra filling, and it is delicious by itself.)
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 10-20 minutes, until the peppers are softened.

Keyword cajun, stuffed peppers, vegetarian,

Lisa Woodie

About the Author:

Chef Lisa Woodie, owner of Homemade Fresh, LLC, provides tips and recipes to nourish your body with whole food fuel. She relocated her business to the Hendersonville area in 2022 after serving clients in Charlotte for 11 years. Homemade Fresh is a meal preparation business that personalizes meal plans based on each client’s tastes, preferences, and dietary requirements. She plans your meals, shops for the ingredients, prepares and packages the meals, and leaves them in your refrigerator with easy heat-and-eat instructions. She also provides service for dinner parties, paired food and wine tastings, events with hors d’oeuvres, and other types of catered events. For more information, visit www.homemadefresh.net.