Compensation was provided by Bertolli Frozen Meals. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Bertolli Frozen Meals. 

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Did you know that, among a slew of other things,  I’m part Italian?  My great-grandmother came over from Milan when she was just a toddler. My great-great-great grandmother was even a Countess in the region (she kind of went a little off the deep end when her sons moved to America and she lost the family fortune, but hey, still, a Countess in the family!). My mom’s mom, my Granny, was a fabulous combination of Italian, French and German, but her cooking styles definitely leaned towards her Italian heritage.

I was lucky to have 30 years with my grandparents, plenty of time to store away a lifetime of memories. I always loved watching her cook. No one took command of a kitchen the way my Granny did. Like most Italian families, pasta played a large role in our family-style dinners. We ate it at least a couple of times a week. Sometimes alone, sometimes as a side to a meat dish (since I was a vegetarian for 17 years, this meant I always had something hearty to eat, no matter what the main course was).  When we had big family dinners, we always ate in the middle of the afternoon, around 2PM.

How to Mangia Like an Italian

Italians don’t just eat, they Mangia. Want to Mangia like a true Italian? Here are a few ways to do it:

  • Eat at the table with your family (like 84% of Italians do*!). Make sure you set the table first!
  • Make pasta the main part of your meal at least once a week. I could seriously eat it every day (as could 1/4 of Italians)!
  • Use fresh ingredients as often as possible.
  • Parmesan cheese goes on everything! Okay, so maybe that’s just how to eat like this Italian. I put it on pretty much every type of food.
  • Eat earlier in the day.

Check out this infographic for more ways to eat like an Italian.

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*These results are from an online survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of Bertolli of over 2,000 nationally representative individuals in the United States and Italy. The U.S. survey with 1,074 completes was conducted between July 28-29, 2016. The Italy survey of 1,013 individuals was conducted from July 29 – August 4, 2016. The margin of error in each country is +/-3.1%

Bertolli Makes it Even Easier to Mangia Like an Italian

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Look, just because I grew up with an Italian gran doesn’t mean I can cook like her! I’ve never been all that skilled in the kitchen. I can make pasta dishes without messing them up, but after working all day I’m really not in the mood to cook. Bertolli makes it so much easier to Mangia like an Italian without spending hours in front of the stove. In fact, I made TWO Italian dinner options tonight in just under 15 minutes.

 

Bertolli introduced a line of reformulated authentic Italian skillet meals that taste just like a recipe you’d pull out of your grandmother’s cookbook. Their ingredients are so simple, they made their bag see-through so you can take a look before you even open it up. If you’re like me and crave convenient meals with high-quality ingredients for your family, you’ll love these.

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My family enjoyed both the Chicken Florentine & Farfalle and the Chicken Marsala & Roasted Red Potatoes Bertolli frozen meals. The Chicken Florentine was my favorite. I’ll be honest, as an incredibly picky eater, I thought I’d be scraping off the spinach. I usually pick veggies out of my food. I was really surprised at how well the cheese and other flavors mixed with the spinach to make it tasty enough for me to eat.

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I’m not saying I ate all the green in my bowl, but for once I didn’t have to spend an hour scraping veggie particles off my food. Yes, I know, I’m an adult and I eat like a toddler, but I’ve always been weird about food. So for me to say that I actually ate more than half the spinach on my pasta is a huge deal. It’s one of the highest compliments a finicky girl like me can give to Bertolli. My mom really loved the Chicken Marsala!

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Explore More Ways to Mangia Here, then follow Bertolli on Facebook, Twitter and, of course, Pinterest for even more inspiration!