For so many of us, winter has been far too long and cold this year – even for us here in Sardinia. Case in point, we experienced the first major snowfall on the island in over 30 years! Lucky for us the snow lasted only for a day here, and although the weather is unseasonably cool for the island, temperatures are rising and the sun is shining. Spring is on its way!

Farmers’ markets are on the verge of the new season, and soon we’ll be savouring all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables. Considering mother nature is still somewhat confused about temperatures, it still feels a little bit early to be preparing fresher, lighter dishes. This healthy salad is the perfect transition recipe from winter to spring. It’s loaded with versatile chickpeas (a vegan’s stick-to-your-ribs staple for winter), fresh crunchy rocket and has the perfect blend of nuttiness and bitter, fresh-tasting greens. The crumbled feta, dill, tangy olives, and easy to prepare lemon vinaigrette are reminiscent of traditional Greek flavours. If you’re not a fan of chickpeas or arugula they can be substituted with lentils or your favourite legume and kale or other bitter leafy greens. This chickpea salad is great for a quick lunch, a pack n’ go picnic staple, and a simple and unique salad to serve to guests at a dinner party.

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Living on a Mediterranean island means I am no stranger to calamari, let alone every other sea creature that resides in the ocean. I’ve had my fare share of calamari, in fact, I have eaten if for days at a time. It goes without saying that I love calamari! What is usually a fancy ingredient on Italian or Greek restaurant menus,  is actually quite attainable and easily prepared for the average at-home chef. If the sight or the idea of gutting a calamari scares you, but you love the flavour, simply ask your local fishmonger to clean it up and do the dirty work for you!

Quick and risotto really don’t go hand in hand when it comes to preparing an authentic dish. Opting for some quick tricks can help you spare some time in the kitchen, yet still ensure the final dish is just as flavourful and as the original. The easiest trick in the book? Using pre-cooked arborio rice. The second easiest trick? Prepare the calamari in a pan and create a flavourful, soupy broth that will get soaked up by all the rice once combined.

This easy, quick risotto may have few ingredients in it, but if you choose them wisely – fresh and local, the overall flavour is a palate-pleaser – sweet, tender calamari cooked in a light broth of sweet onion, tangy capers, tart cherry tomatoes, and bitter olives, and combined with starchy Italian rice that adds texture and creaminess. This recipe is a winner, and one your entire family will enjoy!

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My mission to get my kids to eat more veggies has taken a turn, for the better. My kids have decided, since literally the first few days of January, that they would eat more veggies. No bribes. No hiding the veggies in their meals or smoothies. Just me, simply stating that I had had enough (throwing in that if they wanted to grow up strong and healthy they needed to eat more veggies). Perhaps, there was a just little pressure put on them on my part. Regardless, whatever I said, whatever I did, they agreed – and just in time for the New Year. A New Year’s Resolution, perhaps?

Lately their veggie of choice has been zucchini; tempura zucchini, zucchini sautéed with tomato sauce, cheesy baked zucchini crisps, zucchini with pasta, zucchini and eggs, and their favourite; zucchini pesto – which happened to be my inspiration for this recipe. Zucchini and pesto are one of my favourite flavour combinations, and this cold weather has me cooking up a ton of soups and stews, so way not combine the two in a healthy, rich and creamy (but not cream-based) soup? Wait, a creamy vegan soup? My secret ingredient? Potatoes! They add a ton of richness to any soup, but when you puree them they another depth of richness and creaminess. To add even more flavour (if you are not vegan), you can add in a big piece of Parmesan rind to the pot. Either way, you are going to love this healthy, green soup! The pesto is the quintessential ingredient in this recipe so I suggest you do not skimp on quality. Homemade basil pesto is best to ensure optimal flavour and freshness, but if you purchase jarred pesto just be sure to get top quality. The pesto can really make or break this recipe!

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Time for a resolution check in. How are yours going? Personally, I’ve never really been much of a resolution maker. In fact, I think they’re over-rated. Resolutions always seem to come with a price – that feeling of failure or defeat for not having accomplished our goals from the year gone by. I prefer viewing January as the perfect time to recharge my system and give my digestive system a do-over. A sort of return to the cleaner eating habits and regular workout schedule that always seems to take a back seat to the consumption of all those sweets, desserts, and alcohol over the holidays.

The cabbage is the star of the recipe, a blank canvas for all the other delicious flavours in this soup that make it so rich and flavourful. As opposed to throwing everything into the pot at once, I prefer cooking the ingredients a few at a time, coaxing out all the natural sugars and seasoning step by step. This soup does not have any grains or noodles and only a small amount of heart-healthy fats from the olive oil. The rest of the soup is loaded with vegetables and spices, like celery, carrots, turmeric, and ginger, that help nourish  and cleanse the body.

This comforting, vegan soup is my homage to the infamous cabbage soup diet craze from the 90’s, but with so much more depth and flavour. And let me clarify, you do not have substitute it for every meal for days on end. Instead, you can make a huge batch and enjoy it through the week, or store some in the freezer and save for a later date – when perhaps you’ve overdone it at the dinner table again!

If you try this recipe (and love it!) be sure to snap a pic and tag me on Instagram with #bitesforfoodies so I can see your creation!

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Eggplant Parmesan is one of those quintessential Italian comfort foods and it often reminds me of nonna’s home-cooking, bringing me back to her basement kitchen where she spent the majority of her time whipping up homemade meals. Eggplant Parmesan is a labour of love, but it’s so worth the effort and time it takes to prepare it. Having said that, as much as one might want to, we don’t always have the time to prepare such labour and time-intensive meals. With this dish you’re essentially making that same comfort food, just a lighter and less time-consuming version of it. You can also feel good about making this recipe because you are reducing the amount of fat and calories by using less mozzarella and by baking the eggplant as opposed to deep-frying it. Although (in my opinion) the fresh tomato sauce is a key ingredient in this recipe, you can cut more corners by preparing this with jarred tomato sauce. This dish might seem less flavourful than the traditional recipe but I can assure that the flavour of the eggplant really shines through and is the perfect canvas for the tangy tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and refreshing basil leaves.

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A few years ago, on a chilly end-of-summer evening, my mother in law prepared this simple chickpea stew for the family. As simple as this dish was, it was far from it in terms of flavour and texture. A few scoops of this hearty vegan stew warmed me up instantly and comforted me the way those more traditional stick-to-your-ribs kind of meals do. I’m talking beef stew, mac n’ cheese, and every other comfort food – that also happen to not be vegan-friendly. This chickpea stew has quickly become one of my favourite vegan dishes to prepare for the family. The simplicity of this dish makes it so delicious – the tangy tomatoes, nutty chickpeas, the addition of healthy greens, and not to mention the earthy spices. This is not a swanky dish by any means, but it’s perfect for the cold weather and so flavourful and satisfying. The best part is it’s relatively cheap to prepare and can feed the family or dinner guests without breaking the bank.

There’s a few ways you can go about preparing this meal – either boiling dried chickpeas beforehand then adding to cooked sauce (homemade or not) heating through for 5-10 minutes before serving. Or you can grab a jar of canned and drained chickpeas and add directly to your sauce. The result is the same – a chunky, hearty stew however, I can vouch for the fact that dried cooked chickpeas are so much more flavourful and have such a better texture than the canned variety. On that note, the flexibility of this dish means that when you are pressed for time you can still whip up this healthy recipe in under 30 minutes on a busy weeknight, or you can prepare a large batch on the weekend and store portions in the freezer for quick evening meals.

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I’m an honest person. Honest enough to admit my failures in the kitchen – this being one of them. I have made numerous attempts at preparing homemade falafels, but they never came to fruition as well as I had anticipated. Years later, and many a chickpea wasted, I finally discovered my one and only error, which can literally make or break this recipe –  the chickpeas! When it comes to preparing falafel from scratch, it is important to use dry, uncooked chickpeas (rather than the canned variety) to ensure your falafels are light and fluffy, as opposed to dense and flattened. The entire process is really quite easy; soak the chickpeas overnight, grind them until fine and crumbly, add the remaining ingredients, form into patties, fry, and voilà!

Garnish this protein-packed vegetarian appetizer with tahini paste or a quick-fix yogurt dip made with cucumbers and fresh dill. Or, serve as a main on top of a fresh salad, like this Quinoa Tabbouleh, or paired with your favourite protein. Although the ingredients listed are ‘exact’ measurements, there’s always room for a bit of interpretation. For example, if you love falafels with a punch of flavour add more garlic, herbs, and spices. Also, depending on how much you’ve soaked the chickpeas and dried them, you might have to add a tablespoon or so of water at a time as you prepare the mixture until you get the perfect consistency. The falafels should be firm enough to hold together but not too wet. Once you get that perfect consistency you are good to go. Just quickly form patties with your hands then set then cook the falafels until golden perfection!

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Potatoes in tomato sauce are made throughout the Mediterranean area, from Spain and Portugal to Italy and Greece. It’s amazing how such a simple dish can be so flavourful and have so many variations. Even better? This dish can be prepared in about 30 minutes and requires little effort to prepare. Case in point, last night’s dinner – which ended up being these potatoes, and only these potatoes. Tonight was a particularly busy night – picked up the kids from school, then off to dance class, ran a few errands, and then got home with only about 30 minutes to spare before dinner time.

I prepared this meal – which literally involved chopping some onions and potatoes then throwing them into a pot with the remaining ingredients, while the kids unpacked their backpacks and settled in. The fridge was borderline empty and the most I could have added as an accompaniment to these mediterranean potatoes in tomato sauce were a few random pieces of mozzarella however, there was no need. A warm bowl of this healthy comfort food was enough to fill mine and the kid’s bellies. A veggie dish that is hearty and filling enough to serve as a main in my kind of meal!

If you try this recipe (and love it!) be sure to snap a pic and tag me on Instagram with #bitesforfoodies so I can see your creation!

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If you’ve been following this Blog for a while the you’ll know about my love affair with quinoa. One taste of this wholesome gluten-free grain was all it took to fall head over heels in love with it. Besides the fact that it is super nutritious, it’s also packed with protein, which makes it an ideal grain to consume for vegetarians who are lacking protein in their diets. The quinoa recipes I’ve prepared are countless, and it never ceases to amaze me how this grain continues to inspire new recipes, for example this quinoa-based rendition of traditional Greek salad. It has all the fixings of an authentic Greek salad; tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, onions, feta cheese, and so on, but with a heartier texture. Quinoa is the perfect grain to use as a blank canvas is so many recipes as it easily absorbs all the flavours it’s combined with. This refreshing and healthy Greek quinoa salad tastes delicious served cooled or at room temperature, and the best part is it tastes even better the longer it sits. What does that mean? Healthy, ready-to-serve lunches or dinners for days, to be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home, packed up in school lunches or a healthy lunch option at work.

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The one and only time I will devour tomatoes is when I’m in Italy, during the summer when they are grown fresh in our garden. If you’ve never grown your own or tasted garden fresh tomatoes, you’re missing out! Produce sold in supermarkets pales in comparison to the flavour of fresh, local, homegrown produce, in this case tomatoes. I crave them when we’re in Italy. Daily. Lucky for me, they’re right at my fingertips. The one con? There are usually too many to consume within the summer months, which leaves so many plump and delicious tomatoes behind in the garden. A great way to use them up is to prepare homemade sauce.

Roasting tomatoes is a great way to preserve the concentrated flavour and freshness of ripe tomatoes, plus the caramelization brings out their natural sweetness. This recipe calls for about 2 pounds of tomatoes but the quantity can easily be increased if you’re planning on storing some for future meals. The important thing to remember is to use a baking dish big enough so that they tomatoes are not overcrowded. Also, roasting time may vary depending on the variety of the tomatoes so be sure to check on them as they’re roasting, tossing them every once in a while to ensure even cooking. The preparation and cooking process for these is a cinch; halve the tomatoes, place them skin side down in a large baking tray or pan, bake until soft and the liquid has almost evaporated, then puree into a super smooth, silky sauce. My suggestion is to prepare a large batch so that you can store portions in the freezer for a quick fresh-tasting sauce during the winter months.

I know what you might be thinking…”You want me to roast tomatoes for an hour and a half on a hot summer’s day?” My answer is yes. And you will understand the reason why once you’ve tasted these tomatoes! I cannot rave any more about how delicious and flavourful this roasted tomato fettuccine recipe is however, feel free to add some of your favourite pasta-friendly ingredients, like crumbled goat cheese, cubed mozzarella, black olives, fresh capers, or a dollop of homemade pesto. These roasted tomatoes can also be added as a garnish, on top of a freshly baked piece of fish or on a crusty piece of Italian bread with a drizzle of oil and fresh oregano.

If you try this recipe (and love it!) be sure to snap a pic and tag me on Instagram with #bitesforfoodies so I can see your creation!

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