Mediterranean Diet Recipes
What’s the Mediterranean diet? The Mediterranean diet focuses on eating lots of plants, like fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts. Mediterranean diet recipes use healthy fats like olive oil, and feature seafood and fish (but not red meat). Of any eating philosophy, this is the closest to ours!
Baked gnocchi that will knock your socks off
A fresh, plant based couscous bowl with tahini drizzle
A simple standby: our creamy vegan pasta marinara
All Mediterranean Diet Recipes
Of anywhere in the world, we’ve been lucky enough to travel often in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean coast of Italy, Greece and Spain are some of our favorite places in the world. So it’s only fitting that we’re also enamored with the Mediterranean diet. Of any eating philosophy, the Mediterranean diet is the closest to what we eat (though we eat more vegetables than fish).
What’s the Mediterranean diet? The Mediterranean diet prioritizes fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and mainly uses olive oil for cooking. Fish and seafood is a part of the Mediterranean diet, while red meat is extremely limited. And guess what: a moderate consumption of red wine is allowed (and encouraged)!
Though not all of the recipes on this website are marked as Mediterranean, almost all of them are created with that philosophy in mind. We almost exclusively cook with olive oil. Beans, lentils, bulgur wheat, quinoa, and rice are all featured in our recipes. (Beans and grains have gotten a bad rap with the latest interest in the keto diet and Whole 30, but we align with the Mediterranean diet and agree they are a part of a nutritious lifestyle.). And though we eat mainly vegetarian and vegan recipes, we occasionally eat a some sustainable seafood, which you’ll also see represented here.
One of the best things about the Mediterranean diet is not just the food: it’s the lifestyle. This eating philosophy originated based on the longevity of people in the Mediterranean, and researchers observed more than just eating habits. Adhering to the Mediterranean diet is not just eating right: it’s staying active and exercising regularly. It’s not smoking. It’s reducing the amount of stress in your lifestyle (we could all probably use a bit of that, right?). And it’s actively participating in community: being invested and engaged in the people around you.
If you’ve read our cookbook, Pretty Simple Cooking, you’ll know that these tenets sound a lot like our 10 lessons to a sustainable practice of healthy cooking. And that’s no accident. Many of the principles we learned about how to cook healthy on an everyday basis are less about food and more about lifestyle—the same principles that contribute to longevity in the Mediterranean diet!