100 healthy, deliciously doable, and Greek-Mediterranean recipes from the creator of Hungry Happens Stella Drivas created her blog Hungry Happens to share her easy, healthy meals that use wholesome ingredients. She was raised in a Greek household where meals were made from scratch and featured extra virgin olive oil, citrus, fresh greens, beans, lean meats and seafood, and of course feta cheese. The classic Greek cooking traditions passed down from her grandmother form the foundation of Hungry Happens: balanced, homemade meals with an emphasis on nourishing food. In Mornings: Veggie Egg Bites with Feta & Olives; Homemade Yogurt Flatbreads with Smoked Salmon, Avocado & Tzatziki; Cocoa Dutch Baby with Fresh Strawberries Sunset Mezze: Sesame-Crusted Baked Feta with Hot Honey; Melitzanosalata Garlic Bread; Balsamic Roasted Strawberries with Whipped Honey-Ricotta Hungry in a Hurry: Chicken Saganaki; Crunchy Baked Beef Souvlaki Tacos; Mediterranean Baked Cod Go Greek: Loaf-Pan Chicken Gyros; Greek Lamb Fricassee; Skillet Moussaka Sweet Spot: Lighter Baklava Cheesecake; Strawberry Tiramisu; Vegan Tahini-Chocolate Chunk Cookies Stella believes that cooking is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and with <Hungry Happens: Mediterranean,< she encourages us to embrace it with vibrant flavors and the freshest ingredients and share it all with the ones we love.

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Stella Drivas

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 100 healthy, deliciously doable, and Greek-Mediterranean recipes from the creator of Hungry Happens

Stella Drivas created her blog Hungry Happens to share her easy, healthy meals that use wholesome ingredients. She was raised in a Greek household where meals were made from scratch and featured extra virgin olive oil, citrus, fresh greens, beans, lean meats and seafood, and of course feta cheese. The classic Greek cooking traditions passed down from her grandmother form the foundation of Hungry Happens: balanced, homemade meals with an emphasis on nourishing food.

In Hungry Happens: Mediterranean, Stella makes it easier than ever to cook healthy meals the whole family will love on repeat. She delivers simple, Mediterranean-inspired recipes bursting with fresh flavors that anyone can recreate. Chapters include:

• Mornings: Veggie Egg Bites with Feta & Olives; Homemade Yogurt Flatbreads with Smoked Salmon, Avocado & Tzatziki; Cocoa Dutch Baby with Fresh Strawberries
• Sunset Mezze: Sesame-Crusted Baked Feta with Hot Honey; Melitzanosalata Garlic Bread; Balsamic Roasted Strawberries with Whipped Honey-Ricotta
• Hungry in a Hurry: Chicken Saganaki; Crunchy Baked Beef Souvlaki Tacos; Mediterranean Baked Cod
• Go Greek: Loaf-Pan Chicken Gyros; Greek Lamb Fricassee; Skillet Moussaka
• Sweet Spot: Lighter Baklava Cheesecake; Strawberry Tiramisu; Vegan Tahini-Chocolate Chunk Cookies
  Stella believes that cooking is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and with Hungry Happens: Mediterranean, she encourages us to embrace it with vibrant flavors and the freshest ingredients and share it all with the ones we love.

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Introduction: Love Your Life

Every day in the kitchen, I’m guided by two convictions. The first is that cooking is one of life’s greatest pleasures. This was true for my parents, my grandparents, and likely all of my Greek ancestors, because for us food and cooking have been practically everything: nourishment, connection, work, heritage—and pleasure, of course.

I enjoy the process in its entirety. I love grocery shopping, surveying all the ingredients to find what speaks to me, and even unloading my purchases at home, because I’m comforted by the knowledge of delicious meals to come. Then there’s the full sensory experience in the kitchen—washing, slicing, chopping, cooking, baking, seasoning—I’m engaged by it all. But the best part comes at the end, because I take great satisfaction in sharing a home-cooked meal with my family and loved ones.

The second conviction is that homemade food is always better. This is something I learned firsthand, growing up in a house where we ate only fromscratch meals, made with fresh, healthy ingredients and lots of love.

My parents arrived in the United States as immigrants with practically nothing, and there were many years when our family didn’t have many material possessions. But we were always well fed at home. This experience gave me a deep and profound appreciation for the power of a healthful, home-cooked meal and how it is one of the deepest expressions of love one person can show for another.

Every day I marvel at my luck that I grew up this way, and for the opportunity I’ve had to continue my family’s legacy of food through Hungry Happens, the website and content platform I created. I consider it such a privilege to cook in my kitchen, to enjoy these meals with my family and community—and now, to share with you this book that’s full of so many treasured recipes.

My Greek Roots

My parents and grandparents all came from Sparta, in the Peloponnesus region of Greece, where a very different pace of life prevailed over what most of us know now. There weren’t supermarkets to shop at, cars to drive, or many of the distractions that dominate so much of our lives today. Their days revolved around their community, with food as the anchor.

Of course, things weren’t perfect. There was a lot of instability in Greece at the time, following a military coup that began in 1967. Between the political situation and the promise of the American dream, my parents separately immigrated to the United States, each with the equivalent of a sixth-grade education, determined to create better, more prosperous lives for themselves and their future children.

My parents met in the United States, and within two months of knowing each other, they married and got started building a family among a small community of other Greek immigrants on Long Island, New York. My dad found work as a baker at a restaurant, making cookies, pies, tarts, and cakes. He may not have realized it at the time, but this job was the beginning of my family’s long-lasting profession in food.

My parents felt a lot of pressure during that period as they worked so hard to create a stable, secure home. As anyone who starts from scratch must do, they made endless sacrifices, taking risks they weren’t sure would pay off, and worked nonstop to save for a better future for us. We lived very modestly, at first because we had so little, and over time, because my parents saved almost every penny they earned. Having grown up poor, they knew how to stretch a dollar as much as possible, and they were experts at finding the best prices. My father always used to say, “It’s not how much you make, but how much you save that counts the most.” Slowly they established financial stability, realizing their American dream by ultimately becoming owners of Greek diners in New York that they operated for thirty-five years. To say that my dad was dedicated to his businesses is a gross understatement.

My maternal grandparents lived with us while I was growing up, and if you’ve ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, it was kind of like that. Everything was a family affair, and my family was a huge presence in my life, in particular my yiayia (what we call our grandmothers in Greek), Dimitra. While my parents were working around the clock, she made it her responsibility to create a warm, safe home that was overflowing with love and kindness. Yiayia always made sure that I felt an abundance of care and attention.

And food was absolutely Yiayia’s love language. She was an incredible cook, who made everything from scratch. Neither she nor my parents conformed to th…