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Mar 12

What to buy and eat on Mediterranean diet from Aldi – Insider

Diet Comments Off on What to buy and eat on Mediterranean diet from Aldi – Insider

I can stock up on Mediterranean-diet staples, like goat cheese and pesto, at Aldi without breaking the bank. Kristina Lopez

I'm a home cook and I like to make Mediterranean-diet-inspired dishes with a twist. Voted the best diet six years in a row, the eating style focuses on fresh produce, healthy fats, and whole grains.

One of my grocery staples are lemons, which is often the star ingredient in Mediterranean meals and drinks.

The versatile fruits are in drinks like limoncello, an Italian liqueur with lemon zest, and entres like avgolemono, a Greek soup with chicken stock and lemon juice. You can also find the fruit in desserts like Spanish lemon olive-oil cake.

I squeeze lemon juice in my water or tea every morning and put the zest in my nondairy yogurt as a midday snack.

I love that grapes give me a sweet fix without also giving me a sugar high.

I put the Specially Selected grapes on charcuterie boards alongside manchego cheese, goat cheese, roasted almonds, toasted baguette slices, pine nuts, cucumber slices, bell peppers, and roasted-garlic hummus.

To infuse a bit of sweetness into my drinks, I slice grapes in half, freeze them, and drop them in my beverages like ice cubes.

Tomatoes are known for being in marinara sauces and Greek salads, but I think the fruits' true magic is their ability to maintain their flavor and texture in pretty much any dish.

Roma tomatoes are always on my grocery list, whether I use them for minestrone soup or bake them into a puff pastry topped with feta cheese.

They also give me a dose of vitamin C, potassium, and lycopene, a plant nutrient in tomatoes that researchers have linked to several health benefits.

I didn't always like eating mushrooms, but incorporating more Mediterranean ingredients into my diet has introduced me to foods I thought I'd never like and now can't wait to make at home.

The South Mill Champs mushrooms from Aldi are stuffed with a spinach-and-artichoke filling, and they're a great way to try new flavors. Because they're premade, I don't have to worry about following a recipe.

The mushrooms are small enough to serve as a side dish or to eat as a healthy snack.

There are so many things you can do with chickpeas, from putting them in salads and stews to making them into hummus and falafel.

Park Street Deli chickpea salad has edamame, cranberries, carrots, and bell peppers. The cranberries' sweetness cuts through the vinegar dressing's acidity, and the crisp bell peppers complement the edamame.

Even if I only add a small dollop of goat cheese to my salads and charcuterie boards, I still get a punch of tangy flavor.

I love Emporium Selection's garlic-and-herb version. Aldi also carries different flavors that have blueberries and cranberries.

Emporium Selection's goat cheese is great to spread on a piece of toasted crostini, and I recommend topping it off with chopped tomatoes and avocado.

Flatbreads are similar to pizzas but different in shape. This Specially Selected one is large and has a lot of flavor.

I love trying different Mediterranean flavors, like grilled chicken with feta, artichoke, spinach, roasted chickpeas, mushrooms, shallots, and goat cheese with pesto.I drizzle balsamic vinegar on top to finish it off.

Pesto makes a great base in so many recipes, and Priano makes different varieties of the sauce.

Its alla Genovese pesto is green, nutty, and garlicky. Its red rosso pesto is lesser-known but equally delicious.

I toss warm linguine in the green, basil-based pesto and spread the red, tomato-based pesto on flatbread. You can mix either one into hummus to add some flavor or use them to season chicken, beef, veal, and seafood.

Artichoke hearts and leaves have so many vitamins and minerals.

Some people eat the Tuscan Garden marinated artichoke hearts straight out of the jar, but I like to experiment with them. They're great for adding zest to simple salads, and I also use them as a pizza topping.

Aldi carries non-marinated ones as well, and I use them in recipes with opposite flavor profiles.

Savoritz Parmesan crisps have 13 grams of protein and 1 gram of carbs per serving, which aligns with my nutrition goals.

I don't focus on limiting or cutting out carbs, but I care about finding delicious alternatives that are better for my health.

I can crunch Savoritz Parmesan crisps over a Caesar salad or use them as crackers on a charcuterie board.

Hummus is such a large part of Mediterranean cuisine that it needs no introduction. However, it can be hard to choose which flavor I want to have in my refrigerator until my next grocery run.

Park Street Deli's four-pack of hummus solves that problem. It has some of my favorite flavors: classic, roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, and cilantro jalapeo.

Though I'm not a huge fan of jalapeo, I've spread it on turkey wraps and avocado toast, and it isn't the worst combination I've ever tried.

I use Priano's balsamic vinegar to make a Mediterranean-inspired salad dressing, combining high-quality olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, garlic, and Italian herbs and spices.

I pour this mixture overromaine lettuce, Roma tomato wedges, thinly sliced red onions, cucumber slices, and a chunk of Greek feta.

You can also roast a marinated lamb leg or chicken breast and add it to the salad for a burst of flavor.

Aldi's delicious Atlantic salmon is a coveted, affordable treat that's been the star of many of my meals.

Though salmon tastes great on its own, the Mediterranean herbs give the fish so much flavor.

I like to pair it with a vegetable medley that includes broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, green beans, and zucchini.

The Mediterranean-herb salmon also goes well with Greek lemon potatoes or pasta in a light sauce with lemon and garlic butter.

As a freelancer running my own business, it can be hard to pull myself away from work.

Luckily, Bremer's gyro kit has everything I need for a quick lunch, including 16 ounces of fully cooked gyro meat, 8 ounces of tzatziki sauce, and five pieces of pita bread.

You can warm up the gyro meat in the microwave or on a skillet for a quick, delicious lunch or dinner.

My go-to pasta sauce is a deliciously rich, slightly sweet rag. I prefer to layer it over a bed of pasta and top it with Parmesan cheese.

It's a major comfort food for me, and I love making it from scratch, though there's no shame in finding a delicious jarred version.

I often use ground turkey for a leaner sauce, but ground beef is a decadent treat I use for a heartier, denser flavor profile. The meat I choose definitely makes a difference.

Spanish paella is made using a saffron-and-seafood broth, which gets absorbed into the rice during the cooking process. Then, seafood like fish, shrimp, clams, squids, and mussels adds the flavors of the Mediterranean Sea.

Specially Selected's frozen Spanish seafood paella is a great meal for busy nights. It has pollock, shrimp, and calamari. If you don't like a wide variety of seafood, it's a solid option since it only has three kinds.

When I visited Spain and Greece in 2022, I liked seeing locals use honey to sweeten their meals and desserts.

It's such a smart, obvious, and natural way to enhance the flavors in Mediterranean cuisine.

Even though I love sugar, I prefer to have flavor in my desserts rather than just a straight sugar rush. So, I drizzle Specially Selected's honey over rich Italian pizza to create a contrast between sweet and savory flavors and dip Greek doughnuts in a honey-and-cinnamon mixture.

No matter how I use it, raw honey is a delicious way to enjoy desserts, and I feel healthy consuming it.

Click to keep reading Aldi diaries like this one.

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What to buy and eat on Mediterranean diet from Aldi - Insider

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