"Brand New You" Pasta Salad
The perfect recipe to celebrate transformation
This “Brand New You” Pasta Salad recipe is handed down from generations of women who are resourceful and resilient. It’s ideal for a gathering that celebrates how ingredients can transform when blended together under heat and pressure. A slight shake of turmeric and a squeeze of ginger paste offer subtle hints of resilience. The bitterness of the pulled-from-the-earth kale is balanced with a tangy mayo infused with freshly squeezed lime, chopped basil, cilantro and tomatoes that are marinated in truth and dried in the light of a bright sunlit day. This recipe starts off with salt and finishes with the perfect mix of flavor and substance, transformed and ready.
Ingredients:
The Stronger Girl Playlist on Spotify
Pasta (the shape of your choosing)
Mushrooms – 2 cups
Kale – 2 cups
Spinach – 1 cup
Sun-Dried Tomatoes – ½ cup
Chicken Broth – 4 cups
Turmeric- a little shake
Ginger Paste – a little squeeze
Salt – as needed
Pepper – just enough
Stronger Girl Coffee – one cup
Mayo – ½ cup
Knorr’s Vegetable Soup Mix
M&M’S – as many handfuls as you need
Fresh Basil + Cilantro – 2 tablespoons each
Stronger Girl ‘s Forest Hike Candle
Directions:
1. Grab a large, heavy pot and fill it ¾ full of water. With two hands and strength you never knew you had, place it on the stove and turn the heat on high. Add a dash of salt and assemble all your ingredients as the water heats. Wet the tip of your ring finger and dip it into a sample of salt so you can prepare your palate for what’s ahead. The granules will remind you what you are made of. Repeat this as often as is necessary.
2. Light the Stronger Girl candle, noticing how the wick ignites and the scent of windswept pines and wild ferns transport you to a hike in the forest.
3. Wash the kale and spinach, making sure there’s nothing hidden in the leaves. Then grab the biggest knife you can find. Dry the greens and imagine how strong they will make you. Chop them up into tiny pieces and add them to a pot of chicken broth. Boil for 10 minutes. Drain. Set them aside. You will need them later.
4. If you haven’t already, cue up the Stronger Girl playlist on Spotify and skip ahead to Alicia Key’s Brand New Me. Don’t be surprised if you chop a little stronger.
5. Do not be tempted to add the pasta to the large pot until you are ready. When steam fills the kitchen and the boiling water audibly sounds that it’s time, dump in all the uncooked pasta. Go all in on this. Stir until you’re sure that all the pasta is covered. Do not try to retrieve any. Once it’s boiling, the transformation process begins. Stand back and let the boiling do its job.
6. Brew a large pot of Stronger Girl Coffee and ready your favorite mug.
7. On the third burner, place a skillet with olive oil and turn the heat on medium. Grab your knife and the mushrooms. Slice each one methodically, with intention and care, and add them them to the skillet. Allow the sizzle to be a reminder of how heat can turn something raw into something delicious. Stir the pasta with one hand and maintain an even sauté of the mushrooms with the other. This is where you’ll be required to balance doing multiple things at one time. Don’t get flustered. Just maintain your focus. Allow the pasta to boil until firm, but not any longer. This part is very important. Don’t let it boil over.
8. When it’s time, turn the burners off and drain the pasta. Close your eyes and place your face above the strainer. Let the steam open your pores. Breathe in three long breaths. Allow the pasta to settle while you mix the rest of the ingredients.
9. Take a handful of M&M’S and let them cascade into your open mouth like a steady summer rain. Repeat. (Repeat again if necessary.)
10. Spoon the mayo into a large bowl. If you do not have turmeric or ginger on hand, ask a friend. Both ingredients help reduce inflammation. The simple act of asking someone for help has the same effect. Stir the anti-inflammatories into the mayo.
11. Grip a pepper grinder with all the strength you can muster and twist it over the mixture until your elbows won’t allow you to turn any longer.
12. Inhale the scent of the Forest Hike candle. It will remind you that you are journeying toward the light of your true strengths.
13. Slice the lime and squeeze as much as possible into the mayo mixture. If you have any cuts, this will likely sting. That’s okay. You can take the stings. It won’t hurt as long as you think it will.
14. Dry your hands and grab the knife again. (Yes, again.) Pull a few leaves of basil from your herb garden and chop them along with a handful of fresh cilantro you’ve purchased at the grocery. Don’t worry that every time you try to grow cilantro it shrivels up and dies. That’s okay. You can’t do everything. Mix them together with your knife on the cutting board and inhale the combined scent. It’s different. You’re not used to it. Neither is anyone else. That’s okay. Go with it.
15. Add the herbs to the mayo mixture, along with a package of Knorr’s vegetable soup mix. Do not be afraid to admit you’re adding this. Sometimes we just need a little tried-and-true ingredients to get us where we are going.
16. Dump the pasta into the mayo mixture. Blend until each piece of pasta is covered.
17. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and acknowledge how the redness adds a touch of brilliance and texture.
18. Take a wooden spatula and scrape the mushrooms and remaining olive oil residue into the salad. Fold them gently, welcoming how different the mushrooms are from where they started.
19. Transfer the mixed pasta salad into a glass bowl so you can see the fullness of the dish and all the ingredients that it took to collectively shape it together. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top and cover. Place in fridge to chill.
20. Taste another pinch of salt to remember how far you’ve come.
21. Don’t worry about the mess that it took to create this dish. Leave it on the counter for a while if you need to. Or get out the Thieves spray cleaner and restore order if that makes you feel better. Allow yourself enough time to enjoy the hard work that it took to assemble everything you needed and some of the things you had to ask for.
22. Settle on the couch with a cup of Stronger Girl coffee (best with a splash of heavy whipping cream) and a journal. Take a few sips and a couple more deep breaths. Replay “Brand New Me” before everyone arrives and use remaining M&M’S as needed.
The dish featured in the photo above was shared at a recent gathering for a gal who invited friends who supported her through the decade-long unraveling of her marriage and subsequent divorce. The recipe can be adapted to serve groups of women who are in the midst of transformation. Please reach out and share this Brand New You Pasta Salad recipe with the stronger girls in your life.
Enjoy “Brand New Me” and other inspiring songs on the Stronger Girl playlist on Spotify.