Heart of the Matter 28: Budget-Friendly Foods

If you’re in the U.S. or many other parts of the world, you’ve no doubt heard about The Recession for months now. Many people are tightening their belts and making changes in their lifestyle to try and conserve funds or prepare for uncertain times. But no matter where you are, it never hurts to be a bit frugal occasionally or to have a few meals in your repertoire that can stretch your pocketbook a bit further if needed. Thus, the theme for this month’s Heart of the Matter is “Budget-Friendly Foods.”

Your challenge this month is to come up with a meal that is budget-friendly AND heart healthy…either using ingredients that don’t cost much (or perhaps you grew yourself?) or even ingredients where a little goes a long way. Be creative and share with us how you save money when you cook! What’s your go-to meal at the end of the month or before payday comes? What do you make when you have a lot of people to feed but not a lot of money?

After the round-up, we’ll all have a suite of meals that we can use to help stretch our budget next month…And who knows, maybe that extra money you’ve saved could go towards a trip later on in the summer or spent on a bushel of extra juicy peaches while they’re in season?

After you’ve made your meal and blogged about it, send me the link before midnight on Friday, July 31 at phillipslayden AT gmail DOT com and stay tuned for the round-up a few days later.

Remember that your entry should be low in saturated fats (lean meats and fish), be low in salt (sodium), and that you can be abundant with vegetables or fruit. If you want to get more information, check out the useful links in the right hand marginal. Please only use your entry for this event so that we can keep things centered on heart-healthy recipes.

Join The Party-June's HotM Roundup!

It's time for the HotM roundup, June's theme was The Best of June's Produce and we have got quite a few great entries as you can see. I will get going straight away, today is going to be one of those busy (and hot) days and people are beginning to trickle in so join the party, there's room for each and every one of you and the buffet table is full of food!

Murasaki Shikibu from Samurai Viking Cuisine who has made a refreshing and light Frozen Melon Smoothie for us to sip while we wait for every one to arrive! Easy to drink and even easier when you know it is good for you!

Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen has made a lovely Aspargus Pesto Rice, elegant and full of flavours. Personally I really like the asparagus-pesto combination so this is going to find its way to my plate!

Fish is so good for your heart and Labelga from Leafy Cooking has brought an incredible little salad-Young Herrin and Fresh Pea Salad that brings you goodness both for your tastebuds and your body!

Spelt berry, asparagus, and strawberry salad, doesn't that sound good? It is Katie of Eat This who has prepared this lovely summery dish and I'm sure there's enough for all of us!

Soma from eCurry has made an incredible Farinata with Grilled Vegetables and how can I resist that? I will try to leave some for you too! Maybe...

Mango Madness, an irresistible name for a mango salsa, Aparna the cook in My Diverse Kitchen has made this fresh dish and also gives us suggestions to what it is good to pair it with.

Why don't you take some of Marla's of Bella Baita View's tasty Italian Style Quinoa Salad, be quick because I have a feeling it will finish soon, I saw a lot of guests queing up for it!

But leave some space for my good friend and co-host Michelle's, The Accidental Scientist, Lemony Summer Pasta Salad, it is packed with hearty goodness!

And there is more to eat, Sandeepa brought Methi Rice or Rice with Fenugreek Greens from Bong Mom's CookBook, healthy and full of interesting flavours!

And now it is time for the sweets and desserts: we have a Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie which ingeniously uses Tapioca pearls in the filling. It is Deborah of Pure Mothers who has baked it for us!

Are you thirsty? Curry Leaf from Experiments, Emotions, Experiences with food has made us a fantastic Mango Pineapple Agua Fresca to refresh us with, after all this food we need that!

And how will you be able to resist to nibble on Yasmeen from Health Nut's incredible Blueberry Almond Butter-Oats Bars? I am sure that I will even though all this food has made full!

I brought Sweet Mint Couscous With Summer Berrie and Basil Sugar for us!

Now we have eaten and eaten well so this is the time to relax, chat and enjoy each others company - Thank You for joying the party. I hope to see you here soon again!

Heart of the Matter #27 - The Best of June's Produce

It's time to announce the new Heart of the Matter theme for this month, I have chosen one that works for both hemispheres so there's no excuse not to participate! The theme is ... The Best of June's Produce. So be it spring summer autumn, take the food/ingredient you like the best and that you can get this month and cook up something heart healthy, you can choose to make it savoury or sweet, solid or liquid, for dinners or lunches or cocktail parties - you choose, you cook, you blog and you send me the link before midnight on Monday the 29 June at luculliandelights AT gmail DOT com.
Remember that your entry should be low in saturated fats (lean meats and fish), be low in salt (sodium), and that you can be abundant with vegetables or fruit. If you want to get more information, check out our useful links in the right hand marginal. Please only use your entry for this event so that we can keep things centered on heart-healthy recipes.

Heart of the Matter 26: The Locavore (Round-Up)

The theme for Heart of the Matter 26 was "The Locavore" or using local foods - using an ingredient, or several ingredients, from near your home. I hope it encouraged at least some people out there to seek out some kind of local food or be inspired to start growing something of your own! I'm sad to say though that only two of you out there were able to join us for this round-up and I hope it's only because May and June, that transition from Spring into Summer is always a busy one. I know I was crazy busy and waited until the last minute to make my dish and try and take pictures, only to find out my camera wouldn't work! So my actual post is in this round-up because I have just now gotten my camera back to working. I know my co-host Ilva also ran into some computer issues and was unable to participate this time as well.

Hopefully we'll see some of our regulars - and maybe a few new bloggers? - back here for June's theme next month!

So without further adieu, here are our three entries - the two ladies who stuck it out and sent in their entry, and myself with my late entry!

Our first entry came from Soma, at eCurry. She used some beautiful little greens that were right outside in her backyard to make her Stir Fried "Pui" with Poppy Seeds - which is, as she describes it "a very simple recipe that my mom & my grandmom would make. It is a stir fry with a lot of flavor of garlic, almost caramelized onions and a sprinkle of poppy seeds." Sounds lovely, doesn't it? And it's so inspiring to me that she grew it herself!

Our second entry came from Zabeena, who writes the blog, A Lot On My Plate. It has a very simple name, Pink Green, but you'll see while its name is simple, there are some incredible and interesting flavor combinations going on in this single dish - consisting of asparagus with three pink dipping sauces (and thus, the name!). She's also got a lot of interesting info about the food, the place she lives and how this dish came about - go check it out!

Lastly, my own dish is super simple, but made with all local ingredients...a Sweet Corn, Mint and Feta Salad. Well, that's not exactly true. It is all local except for one ingredient...which could well have been local too but when I sent my husband to the grocery store for me he came home with the non-local version of the feta. Oh well! Kahuku sweet corn is available for most of the year here and is in full swing right now, so I simply paired it with feta, fresh mint, a bit of lime juice and some olive oil, salt and pepper. It turned out a wonderful, simple dish that I'm sure we'll be eating again this summer with various types of grilled fish and maybe even bring to a potluck or two!

A big thanks to Soma and Zabeena for participating! Hope to see you next month too!

Heart of the Matter 26: The Locavore

Eating locally is big these days - the closer to home your food comes from, the more economical, carbon-friendly and overall good-for-everyone it can be. People who eat mostly local foods have even garnered their own title: locavores. Locavores are people who eat mostly food that has been grown or produced near their home (sometimes a radius of 100 miles - or even their own back yard). Many farmer's markets are beginning this month (or on their way), the first spring lettuces, asparagus and rhubarb are peeking their way out of the ground and ready to grace our plates after a long winter, and the idea of supporting your local economy couldn't be more prudent...what better way to enjoy all of these things than to cook up something at home, made with fresh, spring ingredients that have traveled a minimal distance to your plate?

Since we're as big of supporters of being good to our bodies (especially our hearts) as we are of being good to the Earth, we thought a theme of Local Foods, or "The Locavore" for Heart of the Matter this month would be fitting. So go ahead - forage, grow or shop your way to a heart-healthy dish made mostly with foods from the area where you live, then share it with all of us!

Here's the rules:

Make something that is heart healthy (low in saturated fats - ie. lean meats and fish, low in sodium and abundant in vegetables or fruit), using mostly ingredients that are grown or produced within 150 miles of your home (or heck, at least from your state/region). If you're growing something in your garden and it's ready to use, that's even better! If you can find only a few ingredients locally, then use one of them as the centerpiece for your dish! We're not strict, we just think it will be a great way to start the summer off - thinking about what might be grown in your community, or what you could be growing by the time September rolls around and Fall is here (for instance, tomatoes are best towards the end of summer...there's still time to get seedlings and start growing your own - everybody knows there's nothing as tasty as a home-grown tomato!). Just think of all the participants of HotM from around the world and all the possible climates and different types of things that can be grown in all those different places!

Once you've blogged about your local foods dish, submit to me by email at phillipslayden AT gmail DOT com by midnight on Thursday, May 28 (please put "HotM" in the subject line). Then stay tuned for the round-up and see what everyone else made from ingredients that were local to them. If you're still unsure what "heart-healthy" means, check out the many useful links in the right hand sidebar. Please only use your entry for this event so that we can keep things centered on heart-healthy recipes. We're excited to see the diversity of heart-healthy and local dishes that you produce this month and can't wait to read about them!

The Heart of the Matter-the Flower Roundup

It is time for the Heart of the Matter roundup. This month's theme Flowers was not the easiest but I have a beautiful little bouquet here to present you with. I am so impressed by all the entries, you have taken such care of both of recipes and presentations - Thank You!

First we have Jugalbandi's incredible Sagz-to-Sexy Smoothie, Bee wanted to call it a liquid salad but was afraid it sounded disgusting but I don't agree, I love the idea of drinking my salad especially if it tastes as good as this one does, especially after the addition of rose water!

Then we have Soma's of eCurry whose Saffron Yogurt Mousse with Rose Petal Honey is not only beautiful to look at but she also has taken care of making it healthy too! And it looks so romatic that even I, a hardened soul, just melt when I look at it!

Yasmeen of Health Nut offers us these Wholesome Qatayef (Middle Eastern Stuffed Pancakes) With Orange Blossom Syrup, an incredible treat that really expands our Western notion about filling pancakes- a must to try!

Zabeena from A Lot On My Plate has created the most beautiful edible flower I have ever seen! And it is not only beautiful to look at, it is filled with treasures to discover-I just love this creative idea and I am sure it will find its way onto many tables!

Hibiscus-Ginger Cooler, doesn't that sound perfect now when the days are getting warmer? Not that I need that excuse to drink my co-host's Michelle of The Accidental Scientist lovely entry. I am just a bit (read a lot) envious of her living in Hawaii...


I made a Sweet Saffron Risotto With Strawberry Syrup made with rice milk.

This is it, a small but beautiful gathering of flowers, I hope you feel inspired to try out the recipes!

Winners and Announcement of April's HotM theme

So we finally got two winners, one in each category and I am not going to make it a long wait for the hopefully happy winners! So here we go: there were no problems with getting a winner for the Best Presentation Category who wins the Hawaiian food parcel, Michelle and I are happy announce Bee and Jai from Jugalbandi as winners! Congratulations for a well deserved 1st place for their entry Baked Masala Nuts/Seeds! All you have to do is to send an email to Michelle (phillipslayden AT gmail DOT com) with you address and you will receive your prize in the post! And now we have the Best Recipe Catogory, here we had a tie between three entries but after a second voting we have a clear winner... eCurry and her Savory Layered & Nut Stuffed Chickpea Swirls! Congratulations from me and Michelle! Send me an email (luculliandelights AT gmail DOT com) with your address and I will send you your prize, the Italian food parcel!
Thanks to you all for participating and for voting!



But now it is time for the announcement of April's HotM theme, it was not difficult to choose a theme, it somehow presented itself because right now I see them all over the place! Have you guessed what I'm thinking of? Flowers. Yes, the theme of this month is flowers and you are pretty free to interpret it the way you want. If you need a little help to get started I am thinking dried flowers like lavender, roses or camomile which leads me to all the different herbal/flower teas that you can get or make, hibiscus/karkade is just one example. Saffron is flower related, there are quite a few types of honey that have clear flower connections, not to speak of all the edible flowers we can find. Or if you want you can present your dish as a flower. See there are an infinity of possibilities here and I am looking forward to see what you come up with! Please send me your entries to luculliandelights AT gmail DOT com, the deadline is Saturday, 25th of April! Remember that your entry should be low in saturated fats (lean meats and fish), be low in salt (sodium), and that you can be abundant with vegetables or fruit. Check out our useful links in the right hand marginal. Please only use your entry for this event so that we can keep things centered on heart-healthy recipes.