It’s almost Valentine’s Day! and to celebrate, guess what? We’re having a GIVEAWAY! *fainting ensues*

Yes, I know, I know, I told you there probably wasn’t going to be any for a while BUT this was a nice surprise from the nice folks over at Zappos.com . I know you’re thinking Zappos? Don’t they do shoes? Well yes they do! BUT they also have a Housewares department! They were nice enough to send me this little baby & because I’m all about spreading the LOVE, I just couldn’t resist sharing with you! It’s just perfect for Valentine’s Day…More specifically for Valentine’s Breakfast… Perhaps breakfast in bed even ; )

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Caponata is a Southern Italian Eggplant dish, or Aubergine dish. So much sexier to say Aubergine ; ) It’s basically an Italian version of ratatouille. Ka-pone-ah-ta is the perfect appetizer over Crostini (hello everything is better on Crostini, no?) & it’s fantastic served with fish!

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horns blowing* Happy World NUTELLA Day *streamers flying* !!! You know I am supah excited about an entire day dedicated to one of my most favorite things evah! NUTELLA! A big thank you to our hostesses: Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso.

And to celebrate this oh so special day I naturally wanted to come up with a special, over-the-top recipe & what better way to celebrate than with a CAKE? Not just any cake, oh no, it had to be one worthy of my longtime love… Nutella!

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Are you ready for some FOOOOOOOTBALL? Well technically no I’m not! *gasp* I know but I’m just not a football fan y’all! Don’t hate! I am however, a fan of parties! And especially of making food for parties (you liking me better now? LOL) So I decided I’d come up with something new & exciting for your Super Bowl party! I figured you’d be overwhelmed with slider, buffalo wings, chili & dip recipes! Not that there’s anything wrong with those, BUT I wanted to give you a little something something unexpected! Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been snowed in since Friday & this recipe is one of the only good things that has come from it! I have serious cabin fever ppl (plus I’m almost out of wine NOT good!) I love the snow. Okay, not completely true, I love to LOOK at the snow. I’m not a cold weather girl. Now if I was on a mountain in a fabulous lodge, with loads of Ciocolatta Calda, cute snowboots, sitting in front of fireplace with nowhere to go, MAYBE! But alas, not my life.

So on day five of being snowed in, rations are getting low & me not wanting to venture out onto the icy roads, I thought let’s make some fresh pasta! I’ve obviously got the time. And all of the ingredients (surprisingly) ! I even made homemade bread yesterday! I’ve been a baking fool. Well that and the gas oven pretty much keeps the kitchen warm LOL!

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What an amazing month we had! Thank you ALL for helping celebrate our very first blogaversary here at bell’alimento! We were so fortunate to have had some fantastic giveaways and delicious guest posts (thanks again to Doughmesstic & La Fuji Mama to posts for stopping by our kitchen) ! I hope to continue the tradition!

So I bet you’re wondering who won the incredible Wine Secrets book & gawgeous wine rack from VinoLuci! We had lots of eager beavers enter to win! There were some awesome wine favorites listed. So much so, I think I’m going to have to try out a few of those myself ; ) Ah, what I do for the cause tee hee!

Okay Okay, Thanks to the the mathematical skills of the random number generator (& thank goodness because I am NOT a math girl, well that is unless there is a sale on shoes & then I’m suddenly a math genius doing high math in my head like no one’s biz LOL ; ) *drum roll please* the winner is… Read the rest of this entry »

This might possibly be one of the quickest & most simplest dishes you will ever make. It has only 4 ingredients but those four ingredients come together to make an incredible display of fireworks in your mouth! It’s an explosion of flavors that you won’t soon forget. The first time I ever had Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Peperoncino was at a little place in Montereale Italy called the Spaghetti House! They had EVERY kind of spaghetti you could have ever wanted & then some! You would NOT leave hungry. Mamma & her boys made sure of that. They even had mezzo plates so you could indulge yourself with two types of spaghetti! Boy I miss that place! I don’t think I ever got through all of the types of Spaghetti they had, I’d get hung up on a few favorites, but mannaggia they were just so good I couldn’t help myself ; )

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Sadly the close to our blogaversary month is coming to and end…*sigh*You knew it would happen. But not before one last GIVEAWAY! Yes, I hope you’ve been enjoying this (because I can’t keep it up forever tee hee) So to end the month on a high note, I thought you might like this…

So what goes perfectly with pasta you ask? VINO! Yes, wine! & that’s what this giveaway is all about.

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Gnocchi… let me count the ways I love you ; ) tee hee, You make me SO happy! I could seriously eat you every day ; ) Yes every day, I would not tire of you. So chamelonlike. You adapt to almost anything I mix you with. So amicable. Lurve that about you. You play well with others. A quality I wish my bambini had *sigh*

Today I decided to do a basic potato gnocchi! And oh what I love with basic gnocchi is a nice simple sage buddah sauce…*swoon* Read the rest of this entry »

Well I think I’ve decided to keep these afterall ; ) LOL JUST KIDDING… They are totally *swoon* worthy aren’t they! And obviously you all thought so too! You came out in record numbers! *wild applause* I’m so proud of y’all! So I know you don’t want to hear me babble, you just wanna know if you’re the one, so without further ado…Are you sure you want to know (tee hee) sorry couldn’t resist… Okay for real now…

And the winner is… *drumroll please* Read the rest of this entry »