Hi friends, I hope you had a wonderful and restful holiday season. I wish you all health and joy in the new year!
Marilena’s Kitchen Update
This month marks the 6-year anniversary for “Marilena’s Kitchen”. Since I posted my first recipe on January 2015, I have published 342 blog posts with a variety of recipes, most of them with a Mediterranean focus. This past month, “Marilena’s Kitchen” had almost 50,000 page views from visitors across the world! This is an unimaginable number for a small food blog like mine, and I am grateful beyond words to all of you for subscribing to my blog and for welcoming my posts to your inbox. Thank you so much for your support, your encouragement, and all your kind comments you have shared with me!
Over the holidays, I worked on some blog updates, and with the help of my daughter, we made a new banner. I hope that you like it!
The Mediterranean Diet in the news
For the fourth year in the row, the Mediterranean diet is again in first place on the list of the best diet overall! The Mediterranean diet, which is more of an eating plan and not a “structured diet”, focuses on what we should eat instead of what we cannot to eat. Several diets, like the Keto, the Paleo and the Whole 30 have ranked low because of the many prohibited foods which make them so hard to follow. If what we eat is tasty and enjoyable, we are likely to stick with the plan over the long term and be successful with our dietary goals.
As many of you already know, the focus of the Mediterranean diet is on whole grains, produce, legumes, nuts and healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil. I do my best to align many of my recipes on this blog with that philosophy.
Top 10 Mediterranean Salads to try this Winter
If December was a month of indulgence, special meals and non-stop baking, January is a month that finds us all craving lighter fare. Bright, colorful, and big, satisfying salads fit the bill: using combinations of winter greens, hearty grains, bright citrus, toasty nuts and delicious vinaigrettes, these salads require little time to put together (provided you have a reasonably well-stocked refrigerator and pantry). I put together my top 10 Mediterranean salads to try this winter and I hope you find some favorites in this list!
- Healthy Mediterranean Couscous Salad
- Salad with Beets, Goat Cheese and Rosemary Walnuts
- Arugula, Fig and Prosciutto Salad
- Pearl Couscous Salad with Feta and Olives
- Orange Salad with Olives and Pinenuts
- Mediterranean Farro Salad with Pomegranate and Pistachios
- Arugula, Orange and Avocado Salad
- Super Salad and Grain Bowl
10. Mixed Greens, Avocado and Pomegranate Salad 
THANK YOU FOR READING AND FOLLOWING ALONG
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Congratulations Marilena! Here’s to the next five years…
Thank you so much Kathe, I am so glad you are reading my blog updates! Happy New Year to you!
Congratulations, Marilena and thank you so much for your dedication to your site and your readers! The Arugula, Fig Prosciutto is one of our favorite salads (sometimes we swap out a lemon vinaigrette for the mustard one you recommend, but either way it’s delicious), but you’ve inspired me to try some new ones this January. I’m going to start with the Arugula/Orange//Avocado today, but I’m picking up what we need for the Mixed Green Avocado and Pomegranate (if I can find a pomegranate today). They all look wonderful. And kudos to Elizabeth for the update to the website — what would we do without our progeny tech support?!), it looks terrific. Thanks for all you do to inspire us to eat healthier and have fun in the kitchen!
Dear Sandy, thank you so much for your very kind and thoughtful comment, I really appreciate it!
It makes me so happy to know that you are using recipes from my blog and that you find inspiration to try new ones and be adventurous in the kitchen! Yes, Elizabeth is helping me a lot with problems at the “back end” of my blog, making sure that everything runs smoothly. She is my “tech support”!
Congratulations Marilena for the 5 year milestone! ?Your thoughtful and easy to follow recipes are an inspiration to us all! I am looking forward to many more years of delicious and healthy food ideas coming from your blog!
Thank you so much dear friend! It makes me so happy to know that you are reading my blog all the way from Greece, and that you find inspiration in my recipes! ?
Congratulations, Marilena!
Thank you so much Jennifer!
Congratulations for a great 5 years. I look forward to your blog every week. Your recipes are not only delicious but easy to follow due to your excellent directions.
Thank you so much Cynthia for your kind comment. It means so much to me to know that you are reading my blog updates every week! ?
Congratulations on 5 years! it is hard to believe 5 years have passed. This is a great accomplishment! You are doing a wonderful job! I look forward to trying as many recipes as I can! And they are always the best. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much Kathy!
Your constant support and encouragement through the years means so much to me and I miss cooking with you at the cooking school and our private classes!
One more in a long list of Culinary delights.. Now I must confess. I have quickly become addicted. to your. site.. Cannot. wait. for. the. day we can share a. cafe and chat..Yassou!! estelle speros. macdonald
Thank you so much Estelle for your kind words! It makes me so happy to know that you enjoy my posts and my site. I look forward to meeting you sometime too!
Unless I misread it, this is your SIXTH year of the blog, correct? I’m so genuinely thrilled for you to have the extended and vast readership that you have, since I know that having this blog was a long-time dream of yours. Your blog is successful because you approach it each week with excellence – in your recipes, in your instructions, and in your photographs. It is a joy to receive and read it each week; and I feel blessed to call you ‘friend’. Here’s to many more years of your culinary delights!
Yes, it is the sixth year of my blog! I can’t thank you enough, dear Sara, for your very thoughtful comment! It is so wonderful to know that you enjoy reading my posts every week and that you have tried so many of my recipes. Comments like yours, really motivate me to continue developing new recipes and sharing them with my readers here on the blog!
The Greek people definitely know how to embrace seasonal eating. These recipes are delicious and all are worth trying. They embrace the spirit of the Mediterranean!
Thank you so much Nick for your kind comment. Yes, seasonal eating is such a big part of the Greek and the Mediterranean diet, even during the winter months, we have so many delicious options to choose from!