About

Welcome To Keeping It Simple Italian!

Hi! I am so glad you are here. My name is Melissa and I am the author of Keeping it Simple Italian. Keeping it Simple Italian is a recipe site that features Italian American recipes, traditional Italian recipes, and modern Italian recipes with a focus on easy and simple meals.

I am an Italian-American and grew up with amazing food and lots of home cooking. My family is from a small town in Catanzaro, Italy called Nocera Terinese. They came here for a better life like many Italian immigrants in Italy's diaspora.

My goal with my site is to have a place to share all my favorite Italian recipes from my upbringing and from my time traveling throughout Italy each year with my husband, which we do lots more of now that our kids are grown up. I want to show you how amazing and simple Italian food can be and to also highlight amazing Italian food whether it is traditional from Italy or adapted over the years by immigrants like my grandparents.

Italian American Recipe Inspiration

I am an Italian American and was raised with the classic Italian Sunday suppers and large Italian family gatherings every week. Italian American food and cooking was central to my upbringing and something that I love to share.

My food inspiration comes from friends, family, restaurants I have worked in (I worked in the restaurant industry for many years!), a previous fresh flour baking company I owned, and lots of my inspiration comes from traveling (more on that below!)

I grew up with my family's Italian American recipes like Italian meat sauce, pizzelle, baked polenta, baked rigatoni and more.

I also cook other Italian American recipes that have been shared or inspired by other Italian- Americans outside my family like braciole. If you grew up in an Italian family then you know that each family has their own set of recipes and they cook those all the time and nothing else.

Traditional Italian Recipe Inspiration

When I travel to Italy, I take along a notebook, talk to the chefs, cooks and owners of the local trattorias, fornos and pasticerrias and document my favorite dishes so that when I get at home, I can make them.

They can be simple side dishes, delicious classic Italian cookies or more modern takes on old Italian dishes that Italians in Italy are cooking.

Fresh grilled grilled branzino with a plate of vegetables next to it.

Fresh Branzino in Venice with a side of grilled veggies was the inspiration for my grilled zucchini and red peppers side dish.

Outside of a pasticerria in Burano Italy.

This pasticerria in Burano, Italy inspired my Italian crumiri (which I tried here first) and taralli dolci cookies. Both buttery and common in Northern areas of Italy.

Bowl of pacherri pasta, tuna and sun dried tomatoes.

This modern Italian tuna pasta was from an amazing restaurant in Florence and inspired my pasta al tonno recipe.

I also love taking Italian cooking classes when I am in Italy to learn how to create traditional Italian recipes- from learning how to make pasta, ragu (Bolognese sauce) or regional specialties. I also love sampling regional Italian cuisine, and enjoying the simple life that Italians are known for. There is no better way to learn traditional Italian recipes than this!

Keeping it simple Italian in bologna — Learning basic pasta making from Italian Sfoglinas during a trip to Bologna, Italy.

Italian Recipes That Have Changed During Emmigration

I love to compare dishes from Italy to those made in the U.S. when possible to show how the food has changed over time based on what was available to new Italian immigrants in the U.S.

One of the most notable changed recipes is Italian meat sauce vs. Italian bolognese! Or our recipe for real fettuccine Alfredo (fettuccine al burro) which is probably very different from what you thought.

Maybe you love making chicken Parmesan like me, but it's traditional counterpart in Italy is actually Eggplant Parmesan. Italian Americans changed that dish and began to use chicken.

There are so many dishes like this!

While I am learning about this, my husband helps me try out and explore different Italian dishes. He also spends lots of time learning all the Italian music and sings Italian songs everywhere we go 🙂

I really enjoy seeing how so many recipes are the same as what I grew up with in the U.S. and how so many recipes have changed.

What to try first

If you are new here, you may want to check out our arborio rice pudding recipe, Classic Italian meat sauce , and our Italian brownies.

If you are looking for a quick meal, our angel hair pasta with herbs and tomatoes or our baked Italian sausage recipe is so good!

Whether you choose an Italian- American recipe or Tradition Italian, you can't go wrong. They are all delicious and make great family meals.

We hope you enjoy the recipes!

Get In Touch

We always love hearing from our readers. If you have any feedback about our site or recipes, you can share it in the recipe comments section or reach out at keepingitsimpleitalian (at) gmail (dot) com