This book is about living a healthy lifestyle and the delicious Mediterranean foods that can help promote that! My Nonno lived to be 101 years old eating the recipes from this book and his cooking was so good you could smell it from the driveway. His philosophy regarding food was to keep it fresh and keep it simple! So, whether you're looking to lose weight, improve your health or simply take your cooking to the next level, I invite you to try these lovine family recipes-born of the Italian countryside, lovingly carried across the Atlantic Ocean and perfected in New York City. - Francesco lovine

Valentina has a wonderful story to tell. Her grandfather, Count Carlo Sforza, who became the Italian Ambassador, was posted to Constantinople, Peking (at the end of Imperialist China), Corfu, Rome and Paris. In 1922 he resigned in order to return to Italy to fight facism. The family suffered brutal harassment, forcing him to flee - going back to Peking and on to the US - and the family to move to Brussels, then on to France, the UK, Canada and the US for most of WW2. Finally the family returned to Italy after the war. This is where Valentina's mother met her English husband - Valentina's father. Having caused a scandal with their marriage, her mother and father were banished to Tuscany, where Valentina spent most of her childhood. Against a backdrop of different cultures and cuisines, Valentina narrates beautiful and powerful stories - along with her discovery of pure, intense happiness from cooking. Gorgeous recipes guide you through Valentina's history. You'll find the Braised Cinnamon Duck with Caremelised Pears that Valentina's mother created in memory of their Russian ancestors and the Belgrade Almond Cake that Valentina used to eat with her cousins from Montenegro, as well as the Seafood Risotto that Beppino, their cook, taught her in Italy and the Nougat Semifreddo that she used to eat with her father on the via Veneto in Rome. Here are 85 recipes that have been handed down through the generations or inspired by family stories and experiences. This is the culmination of Valentina's career and the book of her heart and soul

These memories, handwritten by Elmo Cermaria (Nonno Peppe) for his grandson Checco (Francesco Nicolini), tell of when, as a young man of 20, he found himself hurled into the inferno of the First World War. In those days, you could cry your heart out for a bread roll denied, then miraculously regained thanks to the compassion of a German soldier, “the hated enemy”. These recollections are terse, without a trace of rhetoric and devoid of recriminations. Nonno Peppe tells the facts just as he experienced them first hand, without expressing any condemnation of those responsible for them, even though an awareness of the large-scale massacre he witnessed transpires from his account. When Nonno Peppe delivered the manuscript to his grandson on his wedding day, he asked him to make a promise: “Let the President of the Republic know what we did for Italy.” A hundred years ago, whole generations of young Italian men were stripped of human honor and dignity. Only a few of these young men would live on and become our grandfathers; and only a few of us would be fortunate enough to become “grandchildren of the Great War” and bear witness to their ordeal.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Giada De Laurentiis lavishly explores her food roots and the lifestyle traditions that define la bella vita, with the contemporary California twist that has made her America’s most beloved Italian chef. For Giada, a good meal is more than just delicious food—it’s taking pleasure in cooking for those you love, and slowing down to embrace every moment spent at the table. In Giada’s Italy, she returns to her native Rome to reconnect with the flavors that have inspired the way she cooks and shares what it means to live la dolce vita. Here she shares recipes for authentic Italian dishes as her family has prepared them for years, updated with her signature flavors. Her Bruschetta with Burrata and Kale Salsa Verde is a perfect light dinner or lunch, and Grilled Swordfish with Candied Lemon Salad can be prepared in minutes for a quick weeknight meal. Sartu di Riso is a showstopping entrée best made with help from the family, and because no meal is complete without something sweet, Giada’s Italian-inflected desserts like Pound Cake with Limoncello Zabaglione and Chianti Affogato will keep everyone at the table just a little bit longer. Filled with stunning photography taken in and around Rome, intimate family shots and stories, and more recipes than ever before, Giada’s Italy will make you fall in love with Italian cooking all over again.

“Spectacular cake creations [that] are positively bursting with beauty, color, flavor, and fun . . . this book will ignite the baking passion within you!” —Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, #1 New York Times–bestselling author Grandbaby Cakes is the debut cookbook from sensational food writer, Jocelyn Delk Adams. Since founding her popular recipe blog, Grandbaby Cakes, in 2012, Adams has been putting fresh twists on old favorites. She has earned praise from critics and the adoration of bakers both young and old for her easygoing advice, rich photography, and the heartwarming memories she shares of her grandmother, affectionately nicknamed Big Mama, who baked and developed delicious, melt-in-your-mouth desserts. Grandbaby Cakes pairs charming stories of Big Mama’s kitchen with recipes ranging from classic standbys to exciting adventures—helpfully marked by degree of difficulty—that will inspire your own family for years to come. Adams creates sophisticated flavor combinations based on Big Mama’s gorgeous centerpiece cakes, giving each recipe something familiar mixed with something new. Not only will home bakers be able to make staples like yellow cake and icebox cake exactly how their grandmothers did, but they’ll also be preparing impressive innovations, like the Pineapple Upside-Down Hummingbird Pound Cake and the Fig-Brown Sugar Cake. From pound cakes and layer cakes to sheet cakes and “baby” cakes (cupcakes and cakelettes), Grandbaby Cakes delivers fun, hip recipes perfect for any celebration. “[Adams] offers up her greatest hits alongside sweet stories of her family’s generations-old baking traditions.” —People.com “There is a heritage of love and tradition steeped in her recipes . . . A trip down memory lane that ends with delicious treats on your table.” —Carla Hall, TV chef and author of Carla Hall’s Soul Food

Patrizia Chen's childhood was suffused with the scent of simmering pots of cacciucco -- a local, hearty seafood stew -- and of the pittosporum blooming along the Tuscan coast. Her family's house and sumptuous garden in the Italian seaside town of Livorno are at the center of this captivating book that weaves together simple, delicious recipes with a love of home, family, nature, custom, and, above all, food. The family cook, Emilia, a feisty, temperamental woman from a nearby fishing village, dutifully produces bland white dishes for every family meal, as dictated by Patrizia's grandfather. But behind the kitchen door it's a different story. One day seven-year-old Patrizia is led by a wonderful smell into the kitchen, where Emilia is preparing a spicy red sauce bursting with garlic and onion. With one bite, Patrizia becomes hooked. In the spacious, sun-drenched kitchen and adjoining herb garden, Emilia takes Patrizia under her wing, disclosing the secrets of her favorite Tuscan dishes. Through vivid descriptions and charming anecdotes, Chen brings to life the white Carrara marble terraces, the coal-burning stoves, antique roses, and sacks of chestnut flour that fill the family house, kitchen, and garden. This delightful and evocative narrative will welcome you into the heart of Patrizia's Tuscan home and allow you to bring the robust flavors of Emilia's cooking into your own kitchen.

This definitive Italian cookbook presents more than 250 kitchen-tested recipes, along with five essays and illustrated, step-by-step instructions for the essentials of Italian cooking, such as stuffing an artichoke, making cannelloni, identifying dozens of types of pasta, and more. In addition to the well-known pastas, breads, and meats, the recipes include canapes, sweets, baccal…, chicken galatine, soups, vegetables, porchetta, sausage, salami, and Other cured meats. Indexes and recipe listings in both Italian and English and a complete chapter devoted to the gran fritto misto (the Italian method for frying meats and vegetables) complete this wholesome and hearty celebration of homemade Tuscan cooking.