Heart of the Matter (HotM) 30: Seeds and Things

This month for Heart of the Matter, my co-host Ilva and I are going with the theme of Nuts, Seeds and Nut-Like Things. "Things" being other nut- and seed-like ingredients such as peanuts, which are considered nuts by most people (hence, the name) but are actually a type of legume. We got only a few entries last month (all of them fabulous!), but we're hoping to see more of you this month! Nuts make perfect Fall snacks and appetizers and are great in salads and breads...and seeds are perfect in things like granolas, muffins, breads and all sorts of things. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

So this month, send in your entry for the most creative thing you can think of to do with Nuts, seeds or other nut-like things. And of course it has to be heart-healthy too: your entry should be low in saturated fats (lean meats and fish), be low in salt (sodium), and if you'd like, 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 centred on heart-healthy recipes and please link to the event as well. Send your entries to me at phillipslayden AT gmail DOT com before (your) midnight Saturday the 31st of October, and please put "HotM" in your subject line so I can keep track of all the entries! ;)

See you then!
Michelle

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.

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!

Celebrating Two Years of Heart Healthy Cooking!

Heart of the Matter is turning two years old!

Nearly three years ago, Ilva from Lucullian Delights and I started thinking about beginning a monthly blog event dedicated to heart-healthy eating. In February of 2007, Ilva, along with Joanna from Joanna's Food, made those thoughts a reality when they launched the website for Heart of the Matter - Eating for Life and called out to the food blog community to send in their recipes for heart-healthy foods. I finally joined them in October as a host and for nearly two years, your recipes have been rounded up and archived every month so that we all have a go-to resource for diverse, heart-healthy recipes and information about heart disease.

Last month, we were concerned that we were going to have to end Heart of the Matter (HotM) because we were getting fewer and fewer entries every month. We sent out a plea for recipes and you came to our rescue - we had a whopping 20 entries! This month, we'd like to have even more! To celebrate that HotM has survived, and in honor of this very special anniversary, we've revamped the website and we're going back to our very first theme: Finger Foods. Entries will be due at midnight on Sunday, March 15. Please send your entries to my email: phillipslayden AT gmail DOT com with the subject "HotM" and link back to this announcement in your post or to the HotM blog. I'll post the round-up by March 18th.

(Here we see the Italian prize: black rice from Veneto, a small bottle with White Truffle Scented Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar Jelly and Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans from Slitti)

But what would a birthday be without presents, right? Even though it is the birthday of HotM, we feel that it wouldn't exist today without YOU. So we want to give YOU a gift for being a vital part of the HotM community and participating! After the round-up is posted on the 18th, you will have one week (until March 25th) to vote for your Favorite Recipe and the recipe with the Best Presentation. The winner of the favorite recipe category will win a special box coming all the way from Ilva's home country, Italy, packed with goodies (see the photo above)! The winner of the presentation category will be sent a box from my state, Hawaii, full of delicious tropical treats, including Planted by the River exotic curds, Waialua Estate Single Origin Hawaiian dark chocolate, Red Alaea Salt, and Hawaiian grown macadamia nuts (picture to come soon)! Stay tuned after the round-up for more details on this.

Keep in mind that your entry should be low in saturated fats (lean meats and fish), be low in salt (sodium), and have loads of vegetables or fruit (nuts, wine and chocolate are also considered to be healthy for your heart in smaller quantities!). See the HotM blog, especially here and the links to various heart disease related organizations on the side bar. This list of Joanna's is also helpful as are this, this, this, this, this and this and even this post! Please only use your entry for this event so that we can keep things centered on heart-healthy recipes.

So no matter if you're new to HotM, you've been waiting for that perfect time to join in (this is it!) or if you've been participating with us since the beginning (a special thank you to you!), send in your healthiest, heartiest finger foods! See you at the party!

A December Full of Heart-Healthy Decadence (HotM 22)

December is a month full of festivities: holiday parties to attend and coordinate, visitors to entertain, baked goods to create, presents to make or buy, occasions to celebrate with friends and family, cards to write and good cheer to spread. For many of us, it's the busiest time of the year, but also a time of year when we get to let our kitchen prowess shine - or at least get in there and try a few new things!

For me, December means breaking out the Alabama Christmas CD for a few renditions of "Thistlehair the Christmas Bear," scouring books and magazines for new cookie recipes to share with friends, family and cookie swaps; finding new side dishes to accompany the dusty and required recipes for artichoke dip, prime rib and chicken noodle soup that make up Christmas eve and Christmas day fare; and choosing to attempt one of those "traditional" holiday treats that simply are aren't around the other 11 months of the year: yule logs with chocolate bark and marzipan mushrooms, soft and sweet panettone, fruitcake studded with jewel-like candied fruits, elaborate gingerbread houses, rum-spiked eggnog...you know the stuff. Every year, I dream of making such decadent treats, but December comes and goes too quickly, and I find myself left with only the vision of sugarplums dancing in my head and no yule log to speak of.
This year, I'm determined to make those sugarplums materialize and sink my teeth in to them.

For over a year, participants of the monthly Heart of the Matter (HotM) event been helping Ilva, Joanna and I show that food that's good for you doesn't have to be boring or bland. We've already done baked goods and holiday food as themes before, so now we're stepping it up a notch. The holiday season is a time of celebration, abundance, and culinary wanderlust - so for HotM this month, we're asking you to share your recipes for the most decadent, delicious treats you can think of - with a heart-healthy twist. What sort of mouth-watering, scrumptious recipes do you dust off from your kitchen repertoire this time of year? Do you have a something you've always wanted to try, that always seemed too over-the-top to make any other time of the year? Will you take the challenge to make those indulgent foods saved for once-a-year into heart-healthy holiday treats?

The usual rules: If you’ve participated before, you already know the basics. If you haven’t, check here, here and here for ideas on what “heart-healthy” means, and we hope that you’ll join us! Again, we ask that this please be a single event entry(please don’t use your post for other events – that way we can keep things centred on healthy heart awareness). Just send your entry to phillipslayden AT gmail DOT com (please use the title HotM, so they don't get lost) by midnight on Thursday, December 25, linking to my site, The Accidental Scientist (and to the HotM blog if you’d like). Please note that this is only a few short weeks away! Since it's so soon, and I want people to be able to gain inspiration and be able to enjoy the recipes all month long but have them before the holiday actually arrives, I'll be doing the round-up differently this month and posting the recipes that have come in at the end of each week. If you've never participated before, please join us! We'd love to have some new "faces" and recipes to share!

Announcement: grains for November

This is an announcement for November's Heart of the Matter - we're looking for recipes using GRAINS ... all sorts of grains -wheat, farro, spelt , kamut, amaranth, buckwheat, barley, corn/maize, wild rice, millet, sorghum oats, rice, rye, triticale, quinoa. And if anyone can tell me where in Britain I can buy teff I will be eternally grateful.

That list: it's not exhaustive, and it contains grains I've never eaten, never mind cooked. But it also holds promise - of delicious, healthy, cheap meals. For these grains have been the staple food of mankind over centuries, ever since we stopped roaming, settled down and began to farm.

I have a tendency to think of grains as part of that worthy wholefood 70s thing, brown food that tasted like sawdust. Daft really, because looking through my blog, I find dozens of delicious family favourites made with grains (and I'm not just talking about bread). In the next few days, I'm going to posts lists in groups to make them easier to find - I don't know about you, but I have a lot of half-used packets in my larder, from when I've enthusiastically cooked something new just once.

I'm also going to recommend a really good book, one I found by accident about a year ago, and which is full of useful information about grains, as well as some excellent recipes. It's A Cook's Guide to Grains, by Jenni Muir. Here's an oat recipe adapted from it - too brown to photograph well, but utterly delicious, and cheap as chips (although much much healthier).

Skirlie
for 4

Finely chop an onion and fry very gently in a solid saucepan using plenty of oil. When they're soft and golden mix in a cup (100g) of medium oatmeal and fry for a further 10 minutes or so. Stir frequently. When the mixture is nicely toasted, serve.

This is good instead of potatoes; it's also great with mashed potato. You can use it as a stuffing, either for a joint of lamb, or for a squash. It's a lovely savoury dish that would take well to being modernised with plenty of chopped herbs; it's filling, it's cheap, it's nourishing, it's heart-healthy. It just isn't particularly photogenic.




We'd love to read your heart-healthy grain recipes ... the Heart of the Matter website is a great place for ideas for heart-healthy recipes (something I wish had existed when we were changing our diet on doctor's orders after my husband's heart attack), and it only exists because so many bloggers have taken the time to share their recipes - and also because of the time given to it by my co-hosts Ilva at Lucullian Delights, and Michelle, The Accidental Scientist

The usual rules: If you’ve participated before, you already know the basics. If you haven’t, check here, here and here for ideas on what “heart-healthy” means, and we hope that you’ll join us! Again, we ask that this please be a single event entry (please don’t use your post for other events – that way we can keep things centred on healthy heart awareness). Just send your entry to joannacary AT ukonline DOT co DOT uk (could you use the title HotM, so they don't get lost) by midnight Thursday 27th November , linking to my site, Joanna's Food (and to the HotM blog if you’d like) and I’ll post the round-up during the last weekend of November.


PS I'll let you know soon why I'm so keen to track down the teff

Announcement: grains for November

This is an announcement for November's Heart of the Matter - we're looking for recipes using GRAINS ... all sorts of grains -wheat, farro, spelt , kamut, amaranth, buckwheat, barley, corn/maize, wild rice, millet, sorghum oats, rice, rye, triticale, quinoa. And if anyone can tell me where in Britain I can buy teff I will be eternally grateful.

That list: it's not exhaustive, and it contains grains I've never eaten, never mind cooked. But it also holds promise - of delicious, healthy, cheap meals. For these grains have been the staple food of mankind over centuries, ever since we stopped roaming, settled down and began to farm.

I have a tendency to think of grains as part of that worthy wholefood 70s thing, brown food that tasted like sawdust. Daft really, because looking through my blog, I find dozens of delicious family favourites made with grains (and I'm not just talking about bread). In the next few days, I'm going to posts lists in groups to make them easier to find - I don't know about you, but I have a lot of half-used packets in my larder, from when I've enthusiastically cooked something new just once.

I'm also going to recommend a really good book, one I found by accident about a year ago, and which is full of useful information about grains, as well as some excellent recipes. It's A Cook's Guide to Grains, by Jenni Muir. Here's an oat recipe adapted from it - too brown to photograph well, but utterly delicious, and cheap as chips (although much much healthier).

Skirlie
for 4

Finely chop an onion and fry very gently in a solid saucepan using plenty of oil. When they're soft and golden mix in a cup (100g) of medium oatmeal and fry for a further 10 minutes or so. Stir frequently. When the mixture is nicely toasted, serve.

This is good instead of potatoes; it's also great with mashed potato. You can use it as a stuffing, either for a joint of lamb, or for a squash. It's a lovely savoury dish that would take well to being modernised with plenty of chopped herbs; it's filling, it's cheap, it's nourishing, it's heart-healthy. It just isn't particularly photogenic.




We'd love to read your heart-healthy grain recipes ... the Heart of the Matter website is a great place for ideas for heart-healthy recipes (something I wish had existed when we were changing our diet on doctor's orders after my husband's heart attack), and it only exists because so many bloggers have taken the time to share their recipes - and also because of the time given to it by my co-hosts Ilva at Lucullian Delights, and Michelle, The Accidental Scientist

The usual rules: If you’ve participated before, you already know the basics. If you haven’t, check here, here and here for ideas on what “heart-healthy” means, and we hope that you’ll join us! Again, we ask that this please be a single event entry (please don’t use your post for other events – that way we can keep things centred on healthy heart awareness). Just send your entry to joannacary AT ukonline DOT co DOT uk (could you use the title HotM, so they don't get lost) by midnight Thursday 27th November , linking to my site, Joanna's Food (and to the HotM blog if you’d like) and I’ll post the round-up during the last weekend of November.


PS I'll let you know soon why I'm so keen to track down the teff

Protecting Your Heart While Preserving the Harvest (HotM 18)

After worrying for years about a family history that involves prevalent heart disease, I finally bit the bullet recently and got a total work up of all of my important "numbers" - HDL, LDL, triglycerides (TC), TC/HDL, blood pressure, etc. - that would help me assess my "actual" cardiac risk. For those of you here in Hawaii on Oahu, The Windward Heart Center is offering a free cardiac risk assessment that I highly recommend taking advantage of. No matter where you live, and even if you don't have a major concern for heart disease right now, it's good to have a baseline for all those numbers so that if they do change over the years, you know by how much.

For instance, the last (and only) time I had my total cholesterol checked was three years ago, and it was considered "borderline." It's dropped a whopping 40 points!! Not only that, but my ratio of triglycerides to HDL (the *good* cholesterol) is below "average." According to the cardiologist there, all this together means that I've got less than a 1% chance of having a heart attack in the next 10 years. Yay! That made my day (and prompted me to go immediately and buy myself a snickers ice cream bar to celebrate - one of my biggest weaknesses from the shop at work - everything in moderation, no?)! Keep in mind that this was a huge surprise - I have lost all but one grandparent to heart attacks when my parents were young; the last one has had a quadruple bypass and my father has a stint; and that's not including uncles and great aunts and uncles, many with major bypass surgeries or heart attacks themselves.

Now, I'm not convinced that doctors have figured out how to accurately diagnose the risk for heart disease (check out this book if you want to be intrigued, as it has a lot of interesting food for thought), but I can't deny that for whatever reason, my cholesterol has certainly dropped significantly. And since I don't exercise on any normal basis (still a constant struggle and goal for me), I can only attribute it to what I've been eating - and a lot of that has to do with all of you and the recipes that you've been creating and submitting on a monthly basis to our little brainchild and pet project, The Heart of the Matter (HotM).

So let's keep it going! The theme for September is Preserving the Harvest. We want your heart healthy recipes that stretch out the foods of the season to last you for the days to come. Do you dry apple slices, rub them with your special spice mix and keep them for afternoon snacks all winter long? Do you make low-sugar jams and jellies? Or do you prefer pickling and brining the goods from your garden? Do you make your mother's spaghetti sauce and keep it in the freezer for those cold winter days or make batches of uniquely flavored vinegars? How about turning extra chilies into chili pepper water?

However you do it, whatever your favorite way to do it is, help the rest of us come up with new and unique ways to make the bounty last by sharing your recipes. Remember the special challenge of HotM recipes - each recipe should follow hearty-healthy eating guidelines - you can find more information here, here and here. If you've never joined us, this is a great time to start! Post your recipe on your blog and send me the permalink at phillipslayden AT gmail DOT com (or if you would like to participate and you do not have a blog, email me your picture and your recipe and I'll post it for you with the round-up). All entries will be due Sunday, September 28, by midnight (Hawaii time), and I'll post the round-up a few days later on this blog, and on the HotM blog. Thanks ahead of time for participating and I hope we'll all continue on our way to a heart healthy future together!

Resources:
The Windward Heart Center
641 Kailua Road
Kailua, HI 96734
by appointment only - Tues. or Thurs.
808.261.2441

July/August announcement: PICNICS

The theme for Heart of the Matter for July and August is PICNICS ... whether you're travelling, on the beach, in the garden, going for a walk, rambling up a mountain, going for a bicycle ride - you'll need something to eat, and we'd like to know what it is. Every kind of picnic, from the elaborately pleasurable to the purely functional: what heart-healthy foods do you take with you?

Here it's been raining, so not really picnic weather. But I did make a lovely yoghurt cake soaked in rosewater syrup, and we did manage to eat it outside in between the showers. Not quite a picnic, but the next best thing.

This yoghurt cake is simplicity itself, pretty robust, and infinitely adaptable: you could flavour the syrup with all kinds of other tastes - orange springs easily to mind. And if you're not taking it out and about, you could serve it as a pud with some lovely bright berries simmered in a little water or wine.




Yoghurt cake

200g self-raising flour
110g ground almonds
150g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
250g yoghurt
150ml sunflower oil
zest of a lemon

Measure the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add everything else and stir with a wooden spoon. You really do not need to use a mixer for this. Pour into an oiled 20xm springform tin. Bake at 180C for 30-40 minutes. Leave for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Pierce all over and pour in rosewater syrup. Allow the cake to cool and the flavours to mingle before serving.

Rosewater syrup

275 ml water
175 sugar
juice of a lemon
2 tbsp rosewater

Measure everything except the rosewater into a small saucepan. Dissolve the sugar, then bring to the boil. Simmer for seven minutes, leave to cool, then add the rosewater.

As usual, I've been inspired by Diana Henry's piece in the Sunday Telegraph magazine. Her cake looked lovely, covered in rose petals.


We'd love to hear your heart-healthy picnic ideas ... the Heart of the Matter website is a great place for ideas for heart-healthy recipes (something I wish had existed when we were changing our diet on doctor's orders after my husband's heart attack), and it only exists because so many bloggers have taken the time to share their recipes.

The usual rules: If you’ve participated before, you already know the basics. If you haven’t, check here, here and here for ideas on what “heart-healthy” means, and we hope that you’ll join us! Again, we ask that this please be a single event entry (please don’t use your post for other events – that way we can keep things centred on healthy heart awareness). Just send your entry to joannacary AT ukonline DOT co DOT uk (could you use the title HotM, so they don't get lost) by midnight Monday 25th August (a Bank Holiday in the UK) , linking to my site, Joanna's Food (and to the HotM blog if you’d like) and I’ll post the round-up on the Thursday or Friday on both sites.

Related links

A fabulous spot for a picnic in the south of England
A travelling beef sandwich (mark two coming up later this month)
A place in our garden for a picnic

Herbs are quite possibly some of the most versatile ingredients out there when it comes to cooking. They can deepen and enrich the flavor of whatever you might be cooking, turn a bland dish into one that *pops,* and even serve as a main ingredient in many recipes (traditional pesto made from basil, for instance). Herbs transcend borders and show up in all types of ethnic dishes, many of which are essential for regional cuisines and even drinks - think Insalata Caprese with bountiful leaves of freshly torn basil, Greek salads sprinkled with lemony oregano, chanterelles tossed in butter with tiny leaves of earthy thyme, and mojitos with fresh mint. And there is no season like Spring to capitalize on these little bundles of flavor, when fresh herbs start shooting up out of the ground and are ready to grace our tables for the next several months. Even better, they're one of the easiest things to grow and can be grown anywhere from tiny pots in the kitchen windowsill or massive fragrant herb gardens.

For healthy cooking, herbs are a cook's best friend. The scent and fresh taste of herbs can transform any dish from boring to spectacular without the use of lots of oil, heavy creams, cheeses or other flavorings that are typically not a (large) part of a healthy diet. This month for Heart of the Matter, we want to see the kinds of dishes you love to make with herbs. Choose a heart-healthy recipe where your favorite dried or fresh herb is an prominent ingredient and share it with the community of bloggers devoted to caring for your heart who participate in and read about this event. If you've participated in the popular Weekend Herb Blogging event over at Kalyn's Kitchen, then you've got the gist of this theme already - if you haven't, feel free to browse over there to get some ideas for how bloggers have incorporated herbs into healthy dishes - just make sure that your dish for the HotM event is heart-healthy. As always we ask that this please be a single event entry (please don’t use your post for other events, like Weekend Herb Blogging, that way we can keep things centered on healthy heart awareness - although please don't hesitate to submit different recipes to both)!

The rules: If you’ve participated before, you already know the basics. If you haven’t, check here, here and here for ideas on what “heart-healthy” means, and we hope that you’ll join us! Just send your entry to me via email (phillipslayden AT gmail DOT com) by midnight on Friday, May 30th and link to my site, The Accidental Scientist (and to the HotM blog if you’d like) and I’ll post the round-up on the following Monday or Tuesday on both sites. Thanks ahead of time for your participation - I'm already looking forward to using many of your recipes this spring and summer!

Brunch

Posted by Joanna at Joanna's Food
























In this house, as you see, the most enthusiasm is reserved for a full English breakfast (although only the children eat sausages). We don't really do brunch, if that means a collision between breakfast and lunch - no matter how late we eat breakfast, they all always want some lunch. On the other hand, we do often have a leisurely weekend breakfast. No-one eats muffins here - and, anyway, over the years they've been amongst my worst culinary disasters.

Lucius and I often eat kippers, and another favourite is porridge. I've made this in a variety of ways over the years, and this is the nicest, although not instant. You need medium and/or coarse oatmeal, not the rolled oats that are easy to buy in a supermarket, nor pinhead oats, which are too coarse to cook in real time (overnight in an Aga is the usual method for pinhead oats, but I have never been a fan, they often taste overdone, reminiscent of school food). I have to go to the health food shop for oatmeal, which is about £1 for 500g.

The porridge you make with rolled oats is fine, it's just that this is better. Perfect for weekends, perfect for brunch, perhaps with a little blueberry compote for extra heart health.

Porridge

for each person:

50g medium oatmeal (or a mixture of medium and coarse)
300ml water

Use a sturdy pan with a thick bottom. You can start by toasting the oatmeal gently for two or three minutes, I'm not sure if it really makes a difference, and it's by no means essential.

Add the water to the meal, heat until it comes to the boil, then turn right down to simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, giving it an occasional stir. I use a wooden spoon, which is what my grandmother in Scotland used, and I have never met a Scot who uses a spirtle, I think they are just for tourists.

I don't put salt in my porridge, it can be added to the bowl - my Scots grandfather, a farmer who grew oats in Fife, used to eat his porridge with salt and not much else. I use skimmed milk and a dollop of lovely brown muscovado sugar.










If there's any left over, you can fry it up like polenta, and eat it with fruit compote. That's what I had for breakfast this morning - reheated slices of porridge and a little stewed apple. My grandmother used to give her leftover porridge to the dogs - in fact, I rather think she made extra specially.

What do YOU do for a heart-healthy breakfast or brunch? The Heart of the Matter website is a resource I often consult, so I'd love it if you'd take part this month.

The usual rules: If you’ve participated before, you already know the basics. If you haven’t, check here, here and here for ideas on what “heart-healthy” means, and we hope that you’ll join us! Again, we ask that this please be a single event entry (please don’t use your post for other events – that way we can keep things centred on healthy heart awareness). Just send your entry to joannacary AT ukonline DOT co DOT uk (could you use the title HotM, so they don't get lost) by midnight Sunday 27 April , linking to my site, Joanna's Food (and to the HotM blog if you’d like) and I’ll post the round-up on the Monday or Tuesday on both sites.


Related posts

Kippers - without stinking out the house
Smoked haddock
More things for breakfast
Kedgeree (my very first blog post)
Frying pan bread - a quick fix for the disorganised
Baked pears with pinenuts

HotM: brunch

yes there is a theme for April too

Just to let you know that there is a theme for this month too, see Joanna's announcement over here!

HotM 12: Stews and Casseroles

It’s that time of the month again! No, not when PMS hormones are raging and I feel like throwing books or other trinkets at LB when he asks me how my day is. It’s time for Heart of the Matter – the much-nurtured blogchild of the lovely ladies, Ilva and Joanna – whereby bloggers all over the world come up with heart-healthy dishes to share. Last month, my co-host Joanna had a great round up you can find here or here, and thanks to all of you, I now have plenty of fabulous soup recipes to get me through the rest of the gray Oregon winter.

Even more importantly, this is February, and if you’re in the USA, this is the month the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute has dedicated as American Heart Month. February 1st, coming up fast (ahem, tomorrow!), is also National Wear Red Day – to promote awareness that heart disease is the leading killer of women in the United States. Regardless of where you are though, this disease kills and it’s a disease that is mostly preventable!! Which is the whole reason why we started this monthly event. This post that I did last year was what first started our conversations about starting the HotM, and next month, we’ll be celebrating the ONE YEAR anniversary of the HotM blog. Can you believe it? It’s very exciting what bloggers can do when they get together, and now we’ve all created a great archive of recipes from all over the world that are heart healthy and delicious!

This brings me to our current theme - for this month, we decided on a theme of Stews and Casseroles. Now, if you’re like me, you grew up where there wasn’t much distinction between a “soup” and a “stew.” Wikipedia, in fact, had a similar idea...

The distinctions between stew, soup, and casserole are fine ones. The ingredients of a stew may be cut into larger pieces than a those of a soup and retain more of their individual flavours; a stew may have thicker liquid than a soup, and more liquid than a casserole; a stew is more likely to be eaten as a main course than as a starter, unlike soup; and a stew can be cooked on either the stove top (or range) or in the oven, while casseroles are almost always cooked in the oven, and soups are almost always cooked on the stovetop. There are exceptions; for example, an oyster stew is thin bodied, more like a soup.

A casserole in our house, however, was an entirely different matter. Casseroles were eaten with a fork and sometimes even a knife, and almost always cooked or at least finished in the oven. But some stews are heavy and hearty and cooked in the oven too - and sometimes served over mashed potatoes or couscous or some other goodness that will sop up all that yummy, thick sauce. So, however you might personally distinguish between a soup and a stew or a casserole, make it, bake it, or interpret it with all the creativity (and health-minded ingenuity) you can muster and send us your recipes for a heart-healthy stew or casserole. You could even surprise your Love for Valentine’s Day on February 14th with this heart healthy dish (if you do, send us the story!) – for what better a gift than protecting their heart?

If you’ve participated before, you already know the basics. If you haven’t, check here, here and here for ideas on what “heart-healthy” means, and we hope that you’ll join us! Again, we ask that this please be a single event entry (please don’t use your post for other events – that way we can keep things centered on healthy heart awareness). Just send me your entry at mphilli4 AT uoregon DOT edu by February 24, linking to my site, The Accidental Scientist (and to the HotM blog if you’d like) and I’ll post the round-up a few days later on both sites. Happy Cooking!!

HotM 9: Holiday Food (Round-Up)

Nearly everyone knows someone who has been affected by heart disease, including me. It is a product of both genetics and diet, and while it’s impossible (at this point in history anyhow) to control the genes we may or may not inherit from our parents or grandparents, one area where we can make a stand against this deadly disease is by watching what we eat. Losing someone you love (or almost losing them) to heart disease is scary enough, but consider the fact that it’s one of the leading causes of death among both men and women, and we’ve all got our work cut out for us.

The holiday season, that most formidable antagonist of healthy eating ambitions, is almost upon us. There’s a reason why one of the most common New Year’s Eve resolutions is to lose wait or diet after the first of the year and that it all begins after the holidays are over – most holiday foods are rich in saturated fat, cholesterol and sugar. Now, that’s not to say that we shouldn’t enjoy ourselves during the holidays, eat Christmas cookies or have that glass of eggnog spiked with rum when ‘tis the season, but our arteries (and waistlines) would be appreciative if we didn’t completely throw healthy eating to the wayside for the next two months. And some people don’t have the luxury of throwing it to the wayside, especially if they or someone they love has been affected by heart disease. So, when I asked for you for heart-healthy holiday recipes, many of you let your creativity go wild and sent me a suite of heart-healthy recipes that we can all use this holiday season - whether it’s to grace a Thanksgiving or Christmas table, to use as in-between meals before indulging in a holiday feast, give as healthy holiday gifts, or even to ring in and celebrate the New Year.

All of the recipes in this round-up would be fabulous served to family and friends this holiday season – for that’s really what the holidays are all about: spending time with the people we love. We can show them just how much we care by making this holiday season a healthier one for everyone. Thanks to all who particpated and stay tuned next month too, when Ilva hosts HotM 10 (how wonderful that you’ve been submitting recipes for 10 months now and this has translated to a database of delicious heart-healthy recipes we can use all year long!).

Since this was my first time hosting, I was thrilled to find so many new blogs just by the entries you sent in, and will definitely be visiting them again soon. I've organized the entries by course, so no matter what holiday you're celebrating, or what type of dish you need, you can find a heart healthy dish that fits the bill. Without further adieu, here’s the round-up of all the recipes for HotM 9: Holiday Food...

First Course: Soup

Abby, from North Carolina, has a blog called Confabulation in the Kitchen. She sent me a lovely entry for Creamy Sweet Potato Soup, and shared her own personal ambitions for eating healthy with us. She also reminded us that low calorie, low fat, good-for-you food should taste good too! With this soup, and her outlook on life, it looks like she's already off to a great start for the holidays. Stop by her blog and wish her luck to keep her going as she and her husband Brad embark on this adventure.

Main Dishes and Sides

Labelga, from Brussels, Belgium, shared her taste trials with four ways to cook scallops on her blog, Leafy Cooking, taking advantage of the open season (as she said: 'tis the season!) for this gorgeous little shellfish. This would be a great first course or light main dish for a special, elegant meal - just perfect for the holiday season. With scallops 1) steamed in an infusion of lemon grass and served with salad, 2) fried in sesame oil, with onion and leek, 3) à la nage in carrot juice with coriander, and 4) marinated and raw, with a crunch of red pepper corns and pistachio.

Ann, at Redacted Recipes, shares with us a stunning centerpiece that she created for her daughter, Sophie, who is a vegetarian: Sophie's Thanksgiving Pumpkin. This dish would wow any guest, vegetarian or otherwise, and I'm sure that Sophie will be both amazed and grateful for all the thought, love and preparation that went into making it both healthy and special. It would also add some serious pizzaz to a Thanksgiving turkey feast as a side dish for the omnivores out there.

Karyn is the author of Hot Potato, and shares with us a recipe for a heart-healthy lasagna, a Give-Thanks-for-My-Pie-Too Lasagna to be exact. Not only does she "pimp up the vegetables" but she reduces the fat significantly by limiting the cheese (and using mostly goat cheese, an already low fat cheese) since she is lactose intolerant. Not only is this a great recipe for vegetarians, but would also be great for those in-between holidays days or for Autumn entertaining.

If you're looking for a dish to ring in the New Year, Marta has the perfect dish for you: Lentil and Pasta with a Touch of Lime. Marta is An Italian in the US, and shares her take on an Italian tradition for bringing good luck to you the upcoming year, as well as a funny story about why some ingredients aren't exactly on the heart-healthy list! This is her first entry for HotM (and we hope there will be more, Marta!).

Carrie, from Ginger Lemon Girl (and also from North Carolina!), used the opportunity to work with a fellow blogger, Natalie, and posted a delcious sounding Sweet Potato-Apple Casserole. I love the idea of combining sweet potatoes and apple, all with a crispy, crunchy topping! Her entry does double duty as a gluten-free holiday dish too (as are many of the other recipes that people shared).

Joanna, of Joanna's Food, is used to creating delicious heart-healthy food and has been hosting HotM since it's inception. She's created the base for a myriad of festive dishes, by making Braised Red Cabbage that she can keep in her freezer and make several different dishes with over the holiday season. What a fabulous idea! Even better, she offers several ideas for seasonal additions to the cabbage, so you're sure to find something that works for you! With all the entertaining and things-to-do lists getting longer and longer, I only wish I was this prepared!

Smita, from Rochester, New York, and the blog Smita Serves You Right, shared her recipe for this elegant dish: Acorn Squash with Wild Rice and Quinoa. She first takes us on a beautifully written tour of Rochester that evokes a sense of actually being there, and ends with a warming, perfect dish for any vegetarian or health-conscious guests you may be having over the holiday season.

Tara is a nutrition student from Australia that has Type 1 Diabetes and is out to prove to the world that even with this disease, she can still make and eat delicious food just like everyone else. She's got a great outlook on dealing with diabetes (that it should fit into her life, and not the other way around) and didn't let it stop the foodie she was before her diagnosis. Plus, she's got lots of great tips and recipes for healthy eating. Check out her recipe for Ratatouille on her blog, Should You Eat That? This would be another great vegetarian main or side dish during the holidays.

Elizabeth hails from Canada, and we're lucky she happened upon the HotM challenge this month, because she offers us a savory and delicious sounding take on Roasted Sweet Potatoes on her blog, blog from OUR kitchen. As an added bonus, she even provides links to six of her other recipes that would be great additions to any holiday table, from appetizers to dessert!

Ilva, author of Lucullian Delights, is one of my long-time blog friends, as we started our blogs at nearly the same time. She and Joanna started HotM and have kept it going by posting both their own recipes and the round-up of your recipes for the last 10 months. She makes simple, beautiful food and shows us a bit of Italy through her camera lens nearly every day. She had two entries this month: the first is Quickly Sauteed Savoy Cabbage and Carrots with Ginger and Pine Nuts, the other, Gluten Free Rice Tarts with Christmassy Apple Filling is listed under Breads and Desserts.

Simona writes the informative blog, Briciole, where you can learn about and even hear her speak Italian words pertaining to food (how cool is that!?)! She shared with us her recipe for Pure di broccoli (my apologies, Simona, that I have yet to figure out how to put accents in my blog posts!), or pureed broccoli. After an unfortunate happenstance with her camera, which she details in her post, I'm glad to see that it's still taking beautiful pictures, such as this lovely green puree, which would even be a healthy and delcious alternative to mashed potatoes on any holiday table!

There's no food that says "holidays" to me like stuffing - often coated in butter, but oh so delcious. Catherine, at Wheatless Bay, introduces us to a unique and worldy take on stuffing, with Belarusian Buckwheat Mushroom Pilaf (or Stuffing) that is both healthy and gluten free. Even more touching, she has dedicated her dish to Dianne, another blogger who is near and dear to my heart, who is learning to live with heart disease after her husband recently experienced a heart attack. This is her first entry for HotM and we hope she (and all of you other first-timers) will continue to share recipes with us.

Katie, from Thyme for Cooking, took on a difficult challenge by taking a gratin recipe and making it healthier so that it can be enjoyed by all! Her recipe for Pumpkin Gratin would be a great, seasonal swap for cream-laden scalloped potatoes. While you're enjoying her post, you can also see the amazing thing that happened to her garden! On a side note, she's hosting a great event that should keep us all laughing through the holiday season - which is also, coincidently, great for the heart!

You may have already heard the plea on my site, The Accidental Scientist, to try Brussels sprouts with my entry for Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Pecans and Mustard Seeds. These poor little green gems have been sorely misjudged in my opinon - they're delcious in so many ways. So, please, give sprouts a chance!

Breads and Desserts
A South African living in London, Jeanne is the author of Cook Sister! She presents us with a solid argument for giving bran muffins another try with her Cranberry Apple Bran Muffins...maybe you can tell she's had a career as a legal defender?! I hate to admit it, but she's got me convinced! These would be a lovely and healthy breakfast for holiday guests.

Another wonderful breakfast idea (or a light dessert after that heavy holiday meal) is the AppleSauce Spice Cake from Melody at FruitTart. This mom doesn't want anyone to have to miss out on great sweet treats and her site includes recipes that boast flavorful treats, some without eggs, without dairy or gluten-free - so you can find something for everyone!

Ilva's second entry for HotM is her cute little Rice Tarts with Christmassy Apple Filling. The great thing about these little beauties is that they are the perfect size for after a big, heavy meal, and that this crust would be wonderful for treats that are either sweet or savory.
Bee and Jai at Jugalbandi created an incredible looking Cranberry-Pecan Upside Down Cake for their entry and even give us a very informative history lesson about the ingredients they used. These two have dedicated their blog to the memory of their friend, whom they lost to Leukemia, another deadly disease. As vegetarians who "seek to foster a more conscious approach to the food we consume, the thoughts we harbour, and the environment that sustains us," they're already making huge strides towards the goal of healthy eating, and have a spirit that stands out in their writing and is truly inspiring.

Special Extras
Michelle is a woman after my own heart! Not only is her name the same as my own, she posted a recipe for Roasted Chesnuts as her entry, something I have always associated with the holidays and as we can see when she shares with us a memory from her childhood, she has too. Author of the blog Greedy Gourmet, she made me laugh when I was reading through her "About" section - her notes on microwave and brand-name cooking, and her questions about fridge raiding, had me both giggling and nodding in agreement!

Jill loves cranberries and shares this passion with us by sharing her recipe for Cranberry Orange Relish - a dish I can imagine would be perfect dolloped on top of turkey, with cream cheese on crackers as an appetizer or even on sandwhiches with leftovers! Jill's site, Hey, That Tastes Good! is full of gluten-free recipes and she is showing the world that "gluten-free doesn't mean taste free" through her take on delicious, gluten-free food. She's also got a great set of links to other gluten-free bloggers on her site, making her site another great resource for finding gluten-free recipes.

Dianne is the author of A Gluten Free Journey, a blog I've been enjoying for a long time, and she's also a woman near and dear to my heart because not only is she a total sweetheart, but we got married about the same time. Her entry is a sure-to-be-delectable Fruit Compote to enjoy with fat free greek yogurt (but oh, I bet it's good on lots of things too!). Dianne's husband recently had a heart attack and they're learning how to deal with heart disease - keep an eye on her blog for more heart-healthy (and gluten free to boot!) recipes, and if you feel so inclined, drop by and offer a note of support for their journey.

Laurie, the author of Tastes Like Home: Mediterranean Cooking Alaska (both the blog and the cookbook!) may be living in Alaska, but is gracing her table and cooking recipes from her second home, Greece. Her recipe for Beet-Yogurt Spread is a beautifully festive dish that would brighten up any holiday table. In her post, she takes us on a journey through Athens, Greece and the food she had there, before bringing us back home where she has recreated this dip to enjoy with her Thanksgiving meal.

Last, but certainly not least is the Sweet Potato Spread devised by Chris from Mele Cote. She gives us a savory, interesting take on this Thanksgiving standard, and offers up a few giggles about why this holiday beats out Christmas for her favorite, going all the way back to her childhood. It seems a love of food has turned this public education guru and previous journaling blogger into one of us - a food blogger for almost a year now! We're glad she's participating in events like ours!

Thanks to all who participated and for putting up with me peeping on your sites to see what else you write about and reading some of the stories you share...I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! I'm looking forward to getting to know you better and seeing your entries for future HotM events!