Friday 1 June 2007

HotM 4 - vegetables

Time to announce the fourth round of Heart of the Matter, and this month's theme is vegetables. They are the basis of the healthy eating pyramid. So just about the easiest thing you can do to help your heart's health is to eat more vegetables ... five a day, seven a day ... you know the drill! The trouble is, once you start to eat more veg, you can quickly get bored of them plain steamed / boiled - and, of course, for many people in the northern hemisphere, vegetables are often served smothered in butter, which is a definite no-no if you're at all concerned about your cholesterol.

So, we're looking for fresh ideas, new ways with vegetables - either as a side dish, or a main course. Lots of the so-called superfoods are vegetables. Quick and easy, or elaborate and sophisticated - you decide ... just so long as the result is heart-healthy. This is how my fellow HotM eventer Ilva at Lucullian Delights explained HotM last month:

If you feel uncertain about ingredients, check out Joanna's list here or the links here on the Heart of the Matter blog. Remember that you are doing yourself a great favour when you eat heart healthy food and if you participate in the HotM you do the whole community a favour because all the roundups are collected here at the HotM blog so that it in the end becomes a permanent recipe base to go when you need inspiration for your heart healthy cooking.



This time the roundup will be at Joanna's Food (as well as at Heart of the Matter of course) so please send the link to your entry to me joannacary AT ukonline DOT co DOT uk, the last day is 22nd June, please remember to link here and that we want only one-event entries.

Any thoughts?

8 comments:

leslie @ definitely not martha said...

I love veggies. Looking forward to this theme. :) So...are you looking for main dishes incorporating a lot of veggies (like a meat and veggie stir fry)? Veggie side dishes? Veggie main dishes? Salads? Soups made with veggies?

:) This should be fun!

Rob said...

Can I do a menu based on veggies? Or is only one dish required?

Ilva said...

mrbunsrock- We want dishes with vegetables that are heart healthy so you can make lean meat and veggie stir fries, side dishes, salads and/ or soups. Just be careful with too much animal fats and the wrong oils!

rob-you can submit as many entries you want, single or menus, the more the better actually as it benefits the recipe base!

mrsnesbitt said...

New here, but this sounds good!
I am growing veg for the first time, so will have a think about this one!

D

lorenzothellama said...

Mmm..veggies. I love them. Tonight it's roasted mixed peppers with baby plum tomatoes, grated carrots with dates and walnuts.

Have I mentioned before that in Japan they don't go in for five a day, but try to have 30 different foods each day (and I don't mean E numbers). They say it doesn't matter about the quantity as long as you get the variety.

My beautiful Japanese daughter-in-law is staying with us at the moemnt, and made some delicious miso soup and vegetables with noodles the other day. For a piccy of her, please visit my blog site.

Thanks for all your tips.

Jeanne said...

Hey - great event (clearly I've been out of touch as I only stumbled across it now...!!). I will make a note and do my best to submit a recipe by the deadline.

Anonymous said...

Hi Joanna. I've sent in 2 recipes, just want to make sure you got them! Myself and modern technology don't get on sometimes!

Richa said...

hi Joanna, i'm glad to take part in this event, hope you received my contribution.
http://asdearassalt.blogspot.com/2007/06/for-love-of-your-heart-butternut-squash.html
Thanks!