HotM #7 - the roundup

Sorry for letting you wait but I had to finish writing a review, what is really sad is that I haven't finished it still but I can hardly let you wait more can I? So here we go with the seventh roundup of the Heart of the Matter - eating for life. This month the theme was fruit and berries and we have a surprisingly varied menu here as you will see!


The first entry to arrive and the first I forgot was this Cherry-Orange Compote from Jugalbandi, please forgive me for being so scatterbrained! It is a lovely fruit compote and they provide us with several really appetizing serving suggestions.


When I saw Amanda's Fresh Figs with Fleur de Sel, Aged Balsamic, & Hazelnuts over at Figs Olives Wine I brazenly asked her to submit it as an entry for this month's HotM, such goodness cannot be passed by, can it? Judge for yourselves, I'm sure you will agree with me!


Lakshmi from The 'yum' blog gives us a Plum Banana Spread that sounds really interesting and simple to make! And you can eat with bread and/or ice cream - I love versatile food!


This is a great fruit salad where Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen mix watermelon, pink grapefruit and raspberries to make a very fresh Red Fruit Salad I must say that I find the choice of fruit and berries very attractive!


Simona over at Briccole has made a brilliant salad in which she mixes pears, radicchio, baby spinach, and pecan nuts! I love it! And she gives us linguistic information as well...

My first entry was Grilled Chicken Breast with Fig & Balsamic Salsa

And then it was me again, this time with a Hot but Cold Fruit Soup with Walnuts, Cardamom and Coffee.

Blackberry Jam is the next on the list, Pravs of Simply Spicy gives us the recipe of a lovely jam using apple and lemon as natural pectin. I'm really sad that the blackberry season is over here but next year...


This is surely one of the most delicious recipes for tea that I have seen for a long time, Linda's of Make Life Sweeter entry is Vanilla Roibos Nectarine Ice Tea with basil in it! As soon as I find some Vanilla Roibos I'm making it!


My co-host Joanna from Joanna's Food gives us a recipe of a pastry dough without butter, talk about heart healthy. And then she filled it with plums, I think it looks beautiful! You can find her Butter-less pastry - & a fruit tart here.

This is the first time John from Hungry Again participate in an event and I am very flattered that he choose ours. His Peach and Pumpernickel Panzanella sounds really good, my father would have loved it, he was crazy about pumpernickel bread!


After a lot of sweet entries it's time for a savoury one, Maryanne presents this impressive Stuffed Baked Acorn Squash where she uses rice, orange, walnut and mint. It definitely worth to click over to Finding La Dolce Vita to check out the recipe.


Another beautiful salad, this time it is a Spinach-Strawberry-Almond Salad that Mansi of Food and Fun has made, it's so attractive! I'm getting hungrier and hungrier over here!


Will you be able to resist Mercede's Fish Baked with Pomegranate and Lime? I'm not sure I can especially as the pomegranate season is here but I'm not so sure I will find the loumi needed. You don't know what a loumi is? Check it out over at Desert Candy!


Christine of Christine Cooks always makes the most delicious things for the HotM, this time she has made a Peach Blackberry Crumble and as usual she has included a lot of useful information about what she has used!


Now Franz from Einfachkoestlich.com reminded me of something I haven't eaten for eons, he presents us with Calf's heart with Balsamico and pearl onions, my mother and I used to feast on calf's heart when I still lived at home so I know that this is delicious! Just remember to substitute the butter with heart healthy oil!


Over at Vanielje Kitchen you not only find a lovely breakfast suggestion with Pomegranate seeds, you are also entertained with the story of Persephone, could you ask for more?

Last but not the least we have Aagje's Stewed pears with star anise and cardamom, they are simmered slowly for at least 2 hours and this incredible and simple dish can be eaten as a dessert or why not as a condiment? I just have to tell you to go to Leafy Cooking to check out Aagje's new kitchen, I turn green of envy over here every time I think about the window corner...

Update:

There's no need to throw yourself at my mercy Jeanne, I'm more than happy to include your lovely Gingery Baked Nectarines even if you missed the deadline! Steer over to Cook Sister! to get the recipe, it's worth it.

So this is it, I think we have a wonderful and inspiring collection of heart healthy recipes here and I thank all of you for participating! Next month it's Joanna's turn to host so keep your eyes open for her announcement!

HotM 6: the very late round-up

Next time I'm away for a chunk of August, I'll get someone else to do the round-up - how can I have thought it would work? No, that wasn't it ... I just didn't think at all. And next time it's grilling, perhaps the round-up should be done by someone who can rely on a little summer sunshine, even in these times of weird weather. We haven't used our grill once this summer, and I'm not sure that we will now - my family is all in winter mode (I'm not), pulling on jerseys and muttering about open doors and windows. That's enough breast-beating ... there are some great recipes to try - and I have already promised to cook all of them as a kind of penance. Wrong word, of course, it will be my pleasure.










Katie at Thyme for Cooking has made wonderful Spanish roasted potatoes with allioli, a garlic sauce not unlike French aioli, only without eggs, which makes it perfect for HoTM. Katie also has a grilled chicken salad (and a photo of some very black sausages her husband cooked ...)












Gilli at So So Simple Food has a good trick to keep her Ultimate Chicken BBQ moist - soak it in brine for a couple of hours.










Chris was in the hairdresser flipping through the magazines when she got the inspiration for her wild mushroom linguine with grilled gazpacho sauce. You'll find details for cooking indoors or outdoors at Mele Cotte. She's also sent a recipe for grilled salmon with three vegetables.









Cookie Baker Lyn loves asking couples how they met. So you won't be surprised to hear that she calls her grilled seafood Happily Ever After Shrimp.










Sophie says that her Earthy fig, chicken and mushroom salad can be used as a basic formula for healthy grilling. She's a nutritionist, and often includes useful links in her posts at Mostly Eating.









Kalyn gets out her mortar and pestle to make the rub for her herb encrusted grilled salmon, which she says is one of the best-tasting salmon steaks she's cooked. As usual at Kalyn's Kitchen, there are full South Beach details for dieters, and plenty of links for further information.













Ilva, my co-host for Heart of the Matter, loves to grill, and has posted grilled sweet peppers with onion and thyme or peperoni grigliate con cipolle e timo. As always at Lucullian Delights, lovely clear flavours, and beautiful photographs.











The wet weather in England is no excuse: Swaha used her George Foreman grill indoors (in a heatwave) to make Rosemary-garlic-lime tilapia and Barbeque tofu. I'm not sure that my fishmonger stocks tilapia, but I'll definitely ask him. And Swaha discusses the concerns some people have with soy products.


So, lots of things for me to cook at the first sign of an Indian summer ... thanks for joining in, thanks for being so patient about the delayed round-up. And don't forget, September's HotM is fruit and berries ....

HotM #7: Fruit and Berries

I'm hereby announcing the seventh round of The Heart of the Matter and this months me and Joanna have chosen a theme that at least is fitting for our northern hemisphere: Fruit and Berries! Use it in the way you want, as long as it's heart healthy! You can bake them, grill them or use them fresh; you can make salsas, sweet or savoury ones, you can use your fruit and berries with lean meat, fish, low fat dairy products or whatever you can come up with as long you think heart healthy, avoid using bad fats (like butter and trans fats) and too fat dairy products for example, for more info see Joanna's Basic Rules! This month I'm in charge so you have to send your entries to me at i_beretta AT yahoo DOT it before the 23 september. And as usual you will be able to read the round up here and on the HotM blog were we are building up a recipe base of heart healthy recipes and with we I don't intend me and Joanna but all of us who are contributing with recipes! So by participating you are doing a good deed, doesn't that sound good?
Many of you know how this works but for those of you who are new to this here are some guidlines: send me the link of your blog post to the address above, make a link to Lucullian, or to the HotM blog if you prefer, so that your readers get to know about the event and can see the roundup later! In order to keep this focused on heart health we ask you to consider this as a one entry event, i.e. we prefer that you don't use your entry for other events as well. That's it! Time to get cooking!