Hello and welcome!
I’m Makos. I was born and raised in the island of Crete, Greece.
Crete is a beautiful island and the fifth-largest in the Mediterranean Sea. From my early years, I learned to appreciate the value of the Mediterranean diet, which is considered to be one of the healthiest diets in the world!
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My Background
In my home, food played a major part in every big event and occasion (just like any typical Mediterranean home I guess!).
I practically grew up in the kitchen, where I learned how to cook by helping my grandma and my mom. They were always in the kitchen with spatulas and spoons on hand, tirelessly chopping vegetables, leafy greens and fresh fruit while cooking traditional Cretan foods (like this easy Spanakopita - Greek spinach pie recipe) with great dexterity.
Other times I watched them knead dough, among bags of flour, making sweet pastries and cookies like these Cretan almond biscotti (Kalorizika) or this Greek Easter bread (Tsoureki).
It’s no wonder, years later, I ended up posting these recipes on the blog.
A photo of my mom making the best stuffed vine leaves (dolmades). The filling can be with or without ground beef (recipe unfortunately not on the blog yet).
The Recipes
I started this blog on 2016 with the goal to document and preserve my family's traditional recipes but also as a means to express my creativity.
That's why here you'll find traditional and modern Mediterranean recipes.
All the recipes are focused on the Mediterranean cuisine, however few of them are influenced by other cuisines while still using classic Mediterranean ingredients (like this healthy Mediterranean-style ground turkey chili).
What you'll find here:
Reliable Recipes. Many recipes have been tested for years (!) by my mom and grandma and have been passed down to me. Other, more modern recipes, have been tested in my home kitchen until perfect (according to my taste).
I test each recipe multiple times while taking notes at the same time, just to be sure that you can have all the information you need to make it perfect.
Healthy Recipes: Mediterranean Cuisine is one of the healthiest in the world. I strongly believe that when you start making your own meals and stay away from processed foods, you have taken the first step to a healthier life style.
Most, if not all of the recipes here are made from scratch, and use whole foods, fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. And of course extra virgin olive oil!
Sweets and desserts. Sweets are my cryptonite. Here you'll find a range of recipes from simple to more advanced.
Some of them are traditional Mediterranean desserts, others are made in a healthier way, and others have a twist. All of them are delicious!
For anyone interested, these tahini+chocolate stuffed crumble muffins are crowd-pleasers!
Media and Brands
In 2017 I had the honor to be one of the six finalists for Saveur's Blog Awards in the Best New Voice category.
I have also been included in the 9 Mediterranean Diet Food Bloggers and Influencers to Follow by VerywellFit.
Some of my recipes have been featured in magazines and sites such as:
- Buzzfeed - chewy chocolate chunk cookies with tahini and olive oil
- EverydayHealth - creamy Greek pasta salad with healthy yogurt dressing
- WellandGood - melt-in-your-mouth olive oil brownies
- Live strong - Okra and chickpea curry in tomato sauce
- Greatist - fresh Fava bean salad and olive oil pumpkin dinner rolls
- Brit+co - Mediterranean vegetable quinoa risotto (quinotto)
- Marie Claire (Hungary) - Greek yogurt and white chocolate "cheesecake"
I have also worked with The Pappas Post, MomJunction, Stella Artois, Portes magazine.
Cooking
I consider cooking to be a form of contemporary art.
You can make great things that look good, smell good, taste good and make you feel good after you eat them.
Other times, cooking acts like a therapeutic treatment for the soul:
It helps me calm, lets me be absorbed in my thoughts and get in touch with my inner self.
So join me for some cooking therapy!
Here's a video of me making 2-ingredient chocolate mousse with dark chocolate and almond milk:
My favorite quote:
"We humans are some strange and weird machines that you feed them with bread, wine, fish, and greens and they produce you a world full of sighs, laughter and dreams" N.Kazantzakis
Social Media
You can connect with me by simply leaving a comment under a post, but I will also be glad if you followed me through my social media:
Personal accounts: Facebook (Makos) and Linkedin
Cooking Tips
- Please read the entire recipe (ingredients + method) before you start cooking! Make sure you have all the ingredients, utensils and time at your disposal.
- In some recipes – like this creamy mushroom risotto with porcini – cooking time and liquids required will depend not only on the type of the ingredients, but also on the type of the pot used (a pot with a large surface will result in liquids to evaporate more quickly) or the amount of heat during cooking (among other factors). This means that you’ll have to judge for yourself when the food is perfectly cooked. It’s OK! You will know.
- In most recipes, the quantities of salt and pepper are based on personal preference. You should always taste your food and adjust salt accordingly. The salt I use is finely ground sea salt which means that if you use coarse salt you may need to increase the quantity a little bit.
- Whenever you can, fry your potatoes in olive oil!
My Most Favorite Recipes
- Oven baked Greek burgers (patties) and potatoes
- Greek traditional baked chickpeas (Revithada)
- Fish soup (Greek islands recipe) - Psarosoupa
- Authentic Pastitsio recipe (traditional Greek lasagna)
- Jumbo chocolate truffles recipe
- Homemade cinnamon rolls recipe with the best icing
- Best white chocolate cake recipe with white ganache
- Easy Italian almond cookies recipe - soft amaretti
FAQ
The Hungry Bites is your go-to resource for delicious Mediterranean recipes. Here you'll find many traditional recipes from countries belonging to the Mediterranean area such Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, Spain, France.
You'll also find modern recipes full of Mediterranean ingredients like olive oil, tahini, chickpeas, olives, oregano, garlic and more.
I remember that when I logged in to buy the domain name, I had a list with 10-12 blog names that I liked.
"Thehungrybites" was 5th or 6th on the list, all the previous ones were already taken!
Many of the recipes, but not all, are suitable for people who follow the Mediterranean Diet.
Other recipes can be adjusted to fit this healthy diet by simply replacing an ingredient (for example replacing regular pasta with whole wheat pasta, or all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour).
For more information, read this post about the Mediterranean Diet (with a food list).
In short, no.
If olive oil is something you have in abundance in your kitchen use it. Otherwise, try to use it in recipes where it is added raw, such as salads and dressings.
In recipes where it's used for sauteing or frying, you can also use another vegetable oil such as corn oil or sunflower oil (or use half olive oil and half another oil).
While growing up in a Cretan village, we had every kind of pet you can imagine. Cats, fish, tortoises, parrots and parakeets, rabbits and doves (yes doves!).
For some reason, we didn't have a dog (however I love dogs!).
Now, living in my small apartment in Athens, I can proudly say that I have an always hungry parrot as a roommate!
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