Italian-American recipes, & more.
Welcome to A Simple Palate!
Here, you’ll find a variety of my favorite Italian and Italian-American recipes, with a little bit of everything else in between.
Every recipe on A Simple Palate is seasonal, flavorful, and best shared with the most important people in your life. We keep things simple around here. That means accessible ingredients, easy-to-follow instructions, and recipes tested to perfection.
I firmly believe that you can succeed in the kitchen no matter your cooking experience, and I’m here to help you do just that.
About Bethany
Nice to meet you. I’m Bethany Kramer, the recipe creator, food stylist, and photographer behind A Simple Palate. I started this blog in 2014 with a vision to share my love of good food with others. Fast-forward 10 years, 200+ recipes, and a cooking show on YouTube that my husband Drew and I created together— I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had on this journey.
How it started
My love for food and cooking stems from my family roots in North Jersey and Long Island, NY. Good food was a pivotal part of my life growing up, as my mom and many of my aunts were incredible cooks and big foodies! Rather than tuning into cartoons, I would watch cooking shows with the women in my family instead. I vividly remember starting to cook alongside my mom when I was eight, reading her handwritten recipes on envelopes and playing Frank Sinatra in the background. Italian cuisine was the first I learned to cook, and you’ll see that reflected here on my blog, with plenty of Italian recipes and then some. As I began to cook more and more, I realized at a young age that food was the central piece in bringing the people I loved most together in one room. Some of my most cherished memories with my family have been around a table with heartwarming recipes at the center. My hope is for these recipes to inspire similar moments for you and your family and friends!
My recipes have been featured in Buzzfeed, Shape, Country Living, Oprah Magazine, CNBC, Reader’s Digest, MSN, and other sites and publications.
Fun Facts
Drew is my husband and best friend. When he's not working as a full time Web Designer, he is A Simple Palate's official taste tester, web developer/designer, film crew for our youtube channel, and tech support. He wears many hats and I couldn't do any of this without him!
Drew and I have an English Springer Spaniel, Hudson (also known as "Huddy") whom we completely adore. If he’s not chasing birds outside, you can find his little snoot sniffing behind each recipe or YouTube video hoping a delicious ingredient falls to the floor (preferably cheese).
I've been cooking for as long as I can remember. From being my mom's helper in the kitchen, to cooking full meals for my family by the time I was 12.
I am a former competitive figure skater so cold ice rinks were where I spent most of my childhood. My dad played ice hockey when he was younger, so he was the one who first taught me how to skate. I skated competitively for most of my childhood then continued skating lessons in my 20's. You can still find me lacing up my skates and hitting the ice a few times a week to skate for fun or coach at my local ice rink. :)
My Most Popular Italian Recipes
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Frequently Asked Questions
Are you Italian?
No 🙂 A lot of people may assume I am, but I’m not. My mom was taught by Italian relatives how to cook, and she taught me those recipes while I was growing up. We also love Italian-American food because it’s a common cuisine in the NY/NJ area, where we are initially from. I never knew any different. Italian-American dishes were what I grew up knowing and loving.
Where can I find you on social media?
Do you take your own photos? What camera do you use?
Yes, that’s me behind the camera. I love photography and food styling, and I have learned so much over the years. You can find all of the info about my current camera setup on our Resources for Food Bloggers and Shop page.
Can I share your recipes on my own website or social media?
All of A Simple Palate content is exclusively mine – all pictures, recipes, texts, unless stated otherwise. You are welcome to share my photography with a link credited to the original post. Kindly, please do not copy or paste my recipes to your blog/site or any other platform. I reserve the right to ask you to remove anything of mine from your site/platform. If you have any questions on sharing my recipes, please ask. Thanks for spreading the word!
Who designed your website?
My husband, Drew – web developer/designer, and official taste tester for A Simple Palate! To find more details, head to our Resources for Food Bloggers page.
hey jess! I would either cook it longer or add 1-2 additional Tablespoons of tomato paste (or as much as you need). Whenever I need to speed up a sauce and cut the acidy, I add more tomato paste. Some tomatoes are just more acidic, so if that doesn’t help 1-2 teaspoons of sugar should help.
I am interested in trying your Moroccan chickpea stew. My wife and I are on low sodium diets. Your table showing nutritional values does not list sodium. Could you please let me know what the sodium is?
Thank you
Hi Bethany, I would love to make the chicken Parmesan for guests and was wondering if I could refrigerate the chicken after sautéing it and then add the mozzarella and gravy later. Can’t wait to make your San Marzano marinara.
Hi Erin! Yes, you can do that no problem. 🙂 Hope you and your guests enjoy it!
Thank you for the Mahi, Mahi recipe. Hands down a really super.delicious fish taco.
All you heard at the table was “mmmmm, now these are a wow, good.”
Thank you so much, Becky! Super glad you all enjoyed it 🙂
Was surfing for a Parm recipe to determine if the mozzarella goes under or over the sauce. Looks like under. (I think I’ve actually done both in the past, but I want to do it correctly) In the process I found those nice deep dish pans. I’m tired of my lasagna overflowing my typical “cake” pan. Ordered a set to check them out and they are MUCH more reasonably priced than almost all the alternatives I’ve looked at. My preference was definitely toward stainless steel as opposed to other materials. Nice dog BTW. Mine is a Labrador Retriever and she loves anything Italian.
We are putting together college cookbook for our grandsons , we would like to use some of your recipes and photos for their cookbook if permitted
Thanks
Fred
of course you can! Thanks for asking 🙂
Hi Bethany! Cant wait to try your San Marzano Tomato Sauce but the recipe calls for 5 28 oz cans of the tomatoes. Is this correct? Seems like a lot. Thank you!
Hi Doreen! I always cut the recipe in half when I don’t need all the servings (3 cans). Or you can make the full serving and freeze half for a later time! 🙂
Oh, and did I say U are soo pretty(just saying):)
you’re so sweet! Thank you!!
You are amazingggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am trying your egg plant rollatina.
Hope you enjoy it!
Me too
I made the eggplant rollatini last night, it was great! Thank you! You should add the word “lengthwise” so people know to cut the eggplant lengthwise instead and they make sure they buy large eggplants.
Just changed it! Thanks you, Liz 🙂 so glad you enjoyed it!
Gm can i use a smaller cast iron pot for the cinnamon raisin bread recipe? Or it must be 6 qt? Ty!
You should have success using a 4 QT cast iron pot!
Bethany congratulations you are the first cook I have come across to use the simplest ingredients that my family has always used except we never never put oregano in a tomato sauce we’re going to use for pasta lasagna excetera because it’ll make it taste like pizza I also cannot eat onions I was glad to see that you used carrots instead, that’s what I do. I also use only cento tomato passata(strained)because it removes the skin and the seeds, which is something else I can’t eat. We stopped using the paste because the meat makes the sauce thick. I eliminate the four hours by using a pressure cooker and in a half an hour or so, it’s done meat and all.
You Aced it!. Congratulations
Yep, I can tell you’re from back East, yup; I can tell YOU’RE part Italiana, yes? Cuz, NJ+NY+Italiana = GORGEOUS! Bellissima! Anyway, WE are mostly Eye-talian (Me = Sicilian mostly) and I am trying YOUR chicken Parma, Bethany, because: 1) The 92 year old madre ORDERED it (LOL!) (SHE is 42% Italiana) 2) I loooooooooooooooove to cook, esp. Italian, it’s how *I* relax and 3) Mom does NOT cook, I am her DAILY chef! And, since I’m retired, I can cook all the dishes and learn alllll the Italian words I can – I got the time! Well, gotta go. Gonna give YOUR CP a whirl, and THANK YOU for this site and all you do. Ya know, some cooks are just BORN, and you obviously were/are…Salut to you and Drew! Ciao!
You’re too kind. Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the chicken parmesan. I just had it the other night while visiting my family back east and it’s truly one of my favorites!