How to Turn Everyday Meals Into a Grounding Family Ritual | Nicki Sizemore (EP429)
Minimalist Moms Podcast | Purposeful Life & Parenting Tips
Diane Boden
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 January 2026
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What if cooking could feel less like a chore and more like an act of care? In this episode, culinary educator and cookbook author Nicki Sizemore shares how mindfulness transformed her relationship with food, cooking, and herself. We talk about slowing down in the kitchen, using simple rituals to bring presence to everyday meals, and why perfection isn’t the goal - connection is. If feeding your family often feels rushed or stressful, this conversation offers a gentler, more intentional way forward.
Links Discussed in This Episode |
- Diane's Resource: App - Gratitude Plus Journal
- Checkout the podcast storefront for recommendations from Diane.
- Nicki's Resource: The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
- Connect with Nickl:
- Website
- Substack
- Podcast
- Book: Mind, Body, Spirit, Food: Adaptable Recipes and Grounding Meditations for Preparing Meals with Joy and Intention
About Nicki |
Nicki Sizemore combines over two decades of experience as a recipe developer, culinary educator and cookbook author with a passion for inner connection and personal growth to help her readers nourish their bodies, minds, and spirits. She’s the author of Build-a-Bowl, Fresh Flavors for the Slow Cooker, and, most recently, Mind, Body, Spirit, Food. She also publishes the Mind, Body, Spirit, FOOD newsletter and podcast, along with the From Scratch Fast blog. Find her at nickisizemore.com and on Instagram at @nickisizemore.
Episode Sponsors |
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's not the what we do that changes our life. It's how we do the things. You don't need to add more. |
| 0:08.8 | You don't need to change, you know, add more practices, change this changes, but we can change how we go |
| 0:14.8 | about doing the things that we're already doing. And I think that's where the magic happens |
| 0:20.0 | because it doesn't even have to look like |
| 0:23.3 | big changes from the outside. It might not even look like anything. It might be you taking a few |
| 0:29.7 | moments while making that peanut butter sandwich and creating a space for yourself and giving |
| 0:35.6 | yourself a little bit more care in the process of making and eating |
| 0:40.5 | that sandwich. I feel like we need to back up and before we worry about what's on the plate, |
| 0:45.0 | we need to think about what the practice is of how we get there. And that's where I bring |
| 0:51.6 | intention and this kind of best practice that I talk |
| 0:55.4 | about in the book. That's kind of where that comes in. This is Diane Bowden and you're listening |
| 1:00.3 | to the minimalist moms podcast. What if cooking could feel less like a chore and more like an |
| 1:05.9 | act of care? In today's episode, culinary educator and cookbook author Nikki Seismore shares how mindfulness |
| 1:12.3 | transformed her relationship with food, cooking, and herself. We talk about slowing down in the |
| 1:17.4 | kitchen, using simple rituals to bring presents to everyday meals, and why perfection isn't the |
| 1:22.7 | goal. Connection is. If feeding your family often feels rushed or stressful, this conversation offers a |
| 1:28.7 | gentler, more intentional way forward. But before we get there, I want to share a minimalist |
| 1:32.9 | resource with all of you. I recently discovered the gratitude plus journal. It's a social |
| 1:38.6 | gratitude journal app in the iTunes store. I will say I only subscribed to the free seven-day trial and don't necessarily think I'll be renewing. However, if there were an app that I were going to purchase this year, it would be this one. It's really straightforward. Every single day, it prompts you, what are you grateful for today? And you offer three ideas and you can post a picture as well. I'm on my fourth day, and I will say it has shifted the way that I view |
| 2:01.3 | the small things, which is something I really wanted to be intentional about noticing this year. |
| 2:06.0 | The other really cool thing about this app is that you can opt in with other friends that have |
| 2:10.1 | the app and or hear from people around the world and see what they're grateful for. |
... |
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