Ciao Bella!

It’s fair to say that cooking is in Giada De Laurentiis’ DNA.

The chef’s great-grandparents owned a pasta factory, and her grandfather, movie producer Dino De Laurentiis, operated DDL Foodshow gourmet food stores in New York and Los Angeles in the 1980s. De Laurentiis learned to cook at a young age and has fond memories of family gatherings featuring bowls brimming with delicious Italian food and lots of laughter.

When she was 7, her family moved from Rome to Los Angeles, and De Laurentiis would visit her grandfather’s gourmet food store after school. In addition to the store itself, DDL featured a kitchen that served fresh entrées, and it was there that De Laurentiis decided to pursue a culinary career.

After studying at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, she returned to the United States to work in several restaurants, including Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Los Angeles. She opened her own catering business, GDL Foods, before being discovered by the Food Network in 2002.

Today, De Laurentiis, who celebrated her 50th birthday in August, has turned her lifelong passion for cooking and entertaining into a multifaceted business empire. In addition to hosting Food Network shows such as “Everyday Italian,” “Giada at Home,” “Giada’s Weekend Getaways” and more, she has served as a judge on “Food Network Star” and “Winner Cake All.”

She also helms several restaurants, including GIADA and Pronto by Giada in Las Vegas and GDL Italian in Baltimore. Next year, she plans to open a restaurant in the new Scottsdale Fashion Square hotel in Arizona.

“My main focus right now is expanding Pronto and franchising it,” De Laurentiis says. “When guests dine at one of my restaurants, I want them to feel like they’re coming over for dinner at my house. I also put a California touch on most of my Italian food, giving it a fresher and lighter feel.”

During the pandemic, De Laurentiis filmed “Giada at Home 2.0,” an offshoot of her popular Food Network show, “Giada at Home,” which first premiered in 2008. 

“Never thought I’d be shooting a Food Network show on my iPhone,” she joked to fans on her Instagram page, where she shared behind-the-scenes footage of her cooking show, filmed entirely in her Los Angeles home. It also featured her daughter, Jade, 12; boyfriend, Shane Farley; and pets, cats Bella and Luna and dog Bruno.

Although Jade assisted her mom on the show, creating a wide array of pasta and pizza dishes, De Laurentiis doesn’t see her daughter following in her culinary footsteps.

“Surprisingly, Jade doesn’t really like to cook,” she says. “She’s an expert at making chocolate chip pancakes – with tons of extra chocolate chips – but, when it comes to cooking dinner or any other meal, it’s all up to me!”

De Laurentiis says her daughter is a natural performer and appears to be following the career path of Giada’s mother, Italian-American actress and author Veronica De Laurentiis. 

“Jade loves the theater and singing, and, lately, she’s gotten into doing makeup and, of course, tons of TikTok videos!” she says. Jade has even persuaded her mom to dance with her in some of these videos.

“One positive thing about sheltering-in-place this year is I’ve been able to spend way more time with Jade, and we’re both loving it,” De Laurentiis says. “The hardest part of the pandemic is my mother living in Rome. I was very worried for her and my other family members that live in Italy. I’m very close to them, so it’s been hard not to be together.”

A consummate traveler, she has compiled personalized travel guides that fans can access on her lifestyle platform, Giadzy.com. From Costa Rica to Florence and beyond, she offers readers tips on where to eat, the best beaches, the least-crowded destinations and more.

“I love to travel to places I’ve never been, especially after this year of not being able to go anywhere!” she says. “One place that’s been at the top of my list for a long time is Japan. I’m hoping to go there at some point next year.”

De Laurentiis also plans to continue growing Giadzy to provide fans with content they can use in their daily lives, she says: “This platform is my baby and has been super fun to work on. It’s really special to be able to personally connect with fans and share recipes, travel tips, fun videos and more. I can’t wait to see how it develops in the coming years.”

She acknowledges that, while many people think Italian food is high-fat and high-carb, she works to put a healthy, fresh spin on her favorite Italian dishes. One of her signature entrées, vegetable bolognese, is a fan favorite at GIADA. By using porcini mushrooms instead of ground beef, she creates a lighter version of the popular dish.

In March, De Laurentiis, the author of nine cookbooks, will release “Eat Better, Feel Better: My Recipes for Wellness and Healing, Inside and Out.”

“I really want to communicate to people that, although feeding yourself well is the most important thing you can do for your mind and body, food is just the beginning – self-care goes deeper,” she says.

“Truly taking care of yourself inside and out is about more than what you eat; it’s about fueling your body on all levels so you can be your most balanced self.”

Her new book will feature a three-day reboot that she follows several times a year as well as recipes that are gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free. In addition, she discusses some of her favorite self-care practices, such as meditation, yoga and acupuncture.

“I’ve been wanting to create a cookbook like this for a long time now, and I’m excited to share lots of delicious recipes and tips for total body wellness,” she says.

Meanwhile, with the days getting shorter and the weather getting cooler, De Laurentiis has been cooking plenty of fall recipes, she says: “Some of my favorites are my butternut squash lasagna, paccheri pasta with marsala mushrooms and Calabrian chili pasta. I also love baked pastas in the fall, including my baked penne with squash and goat cheese.”

She describes her recipes as “super easy and incredibly delicious” and lists them on her site for anyone seeking a new weeknight meal idea or a dish to entertain guests during the holidays.

While she makes entertaining look effortless, she shares some tips to make the process easier for us all.

“Start by creating a mood,” she says. “This can be done with candles, lighting and music. I also love to make a signature cocktail, and I always pick a theme, whether it’s food truck, appetizer party, pasta night, panini night or dessert party.”

As De Laurentiis looks ahead to 2021, she says her greatest hope is for continued health and happiness. 

Indeed, that’s a recipe we’d all love to master.