Ania Catalano is a natural foods chef, author, and restaurateur. She has also taught wholefoods cooking classes for over 20 years. After attending The Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York, she opened Sprouts – a natural foods market and cafe’ in Trumbull, Connecticut…which grew into two larger locations in Fairfield, CT within five years.
After selling Sprouts, Ania decided to finally write her first cookbook, Baking With Agave Nectar, a compilation of healthy, yet decadent, desserts she developed over the years at Sprouts Café and for cooking classes. Her recipes have been featured in many magazines and newspapers, such as Clean Eating, Eating Well, Better Nutrition, The New York Daily News, Washington and Huffington Posts. The incredible flourless Black Bean Brownie recipe from the book has had much fame with bloggers and various food sites all over the web. She has collaborated in developing recipes for various natural food companies, and has been a guest speaker on numerous food and lifestyle radio shows and conferences.
Recently, she and her husband Joe (also a chef and CIA grad!) joined forces to open Joey C’s Roadhouse, a BBQ and Tex Mex restaurant in their small seaside hometownof Milford, Connecticut.
Raised in a very Eastern European Polish family, traditional foods and family meals were shared with friends and family regularly. Now Ania , a self-declared “healthy foodie”, likes to take traditional recipes and cleans them up by using wholefood ingredients, which makes them more waist and heart friendly.
A fitness enthusiast, when not cooking, writing, or concocting new projects, she can be found at the gym burning off some calories for the next meal! She loves to travel with her husband and 9 year old daughter Sofia, eating their way thru Italy and Mexico…two favorite food destinations. Always intrigued by other unique and interesting cuisines, she loves to gain inspiration through her travels all over the world.
Links:
Joey C’s Roadhouse, www.joeycbbq.com
Baking with Agave Nectar Cookbook, www.aniacooks.com
Ania Catalano
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