About

A Story That Started Long Before Food Blogging

I (Nico) grew up in Italy surrounded by three remarkable women: my Nonna Lidia and two great-grandmothers, Adalgisa and Annina.

All three lived well into their nineties.

At the time, I didn't think much about the way they lived. Looking back, I realize many of their everyday habits are now associated with healthy aging and Mediterranean living.

• They cooked almost every meal from scratch.
• They ate beans several times a week.
• They spent time outdoors every day.
• They walked everywhere they could.
• They rarely ate processed foods.
• And they never thought of any of it as a diet.

It was simply how they lived.

When it rained and my great-grandmother couldn't go outside, she would walk up and down the stairs instead. She called it "fare le scale"—doing the stairs.

The women in my family also believed in moderation. Meat was eaten, but not every day. Vegetables, legumes, fruit, bread, and olive oil appeared on the table constantly.

Many years later, after meeting my wife Louise and returning home to Italy, I found myself reconnecting with many of the values I had learned in my grandmother's kitchen.

Not because they're trendy.

Because they work.

Our Mission

Our mission is simple:

To help you cook more meals from scratch with real ingredients and less stress.

That's why our recipes are designed to be:

• Easy and approachable
• Made with everyday ingredients
• Balanced and satisfying
• Practical for busy weeknights
• Tested in our own kitchen

What You'll Find Here

At Hilltop Recipes you'll find:

• Easy chicken and turkey recipes
• Simple seafood dishes
• Fresh salads and grain bowls
• Mediterranean-inspired meals
• Healthy-ish comfort food
• Practical recipes for everyday cooking

Looking for vegetarian recipes?

We also run The Plant Based School, where we share over 1,000 easy vegetarian recipes made with simple ingredients and plenty of vegetables.

Hilltop Recipes is where we share our favorite chicken, turkey, seafood, and real-food everyday meals.

The Plant Based School is where we share our best vegetarian recipes.

Both are inspired by the same idea: simple food, real ingredients, and a balanced way of eating.

Why trust us?

My connection to food started long before this food blog.

I grew up in Italy and spent countless hours in the kitchen with my nonna Lidia. She cooked for our family every day while caring for me, my cousins, and her own mother—my great-grandmother Adalgisa.

Some of my earliest memories are of standing beside her as she rolled pasta, stirred pots of soup, and prepared simple meals from scratch.

In fact, according to my family, my first word was pasta 🍝. And if that wasn't enough, my surname, Pallotta, means meatball in the Abruzzese dialect. I guess food was always going to be part of my story.

Looking back, I realize I learned to cook almost by osmosis. I watched, tasted, asked questions, and absorbed the rhythms of home cooking long before I understood what a recipe was.

The food wasn't fancy. It was simple, seasonal, and made with care. Beans appeared on the table often. Vegetables were part of almost every meal. Desserts were enjoyed, but in moderation. Nothing was labeled healthy or unhealthy—it was simply how people ate.

Years later, I went on to study professional cooking in Italy and continued my culinary education through courses focused on Italian cooking, bread baking, sourdough, and pizza making.

But Hilltop Recipes isn't restaurant food.

It's home cooking.

Everything on this site is developed, cooked, tested, photographed, filmed, and written by us.

Louise is the creative force behind the camera and brings years of experience in photography, filmmaking, storytelling, marketing, and content creation.

Together, we create every recipe from start to finish, testing it multiple times until we're confident it will work in your kitchen as well as it does in ours.

More Than Recipes

While recipes are at the heart of Hilltop Recipes, they're only part of our story.

We believe healthy living doesn't have to be extreme.

For us, it looks a lot like:

• Walking every day
• Cooking simple meals from scratch
• Spending time outdoors
• Eating plenty of vegetables
• Enjoying food without guilt
• Making time for family and friends

It's a modern take on Mediterranean living—one that's practical, flexible, and enjoyable.