Tag Archives: heart healthy diet

Chana Masala

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“Quick & Easy Chana Masala”
from Oh She Glows

heart healthy chana masala over rice

I just made Chana Masala for the first time, and I’m so happy to have discovered this recipe because it’s exceedingly heart healthy and delicious!   A dish popular in India and around the world, made with chickpeas, onions and spices, it’s flavorful and satisfying.  Chickpeas are loaded with protein and cholesterol-lowering fiber, and are a great source of folate, manganese, iron and magnesium.

“What you eat can fuel or cool inflammation.” 

~Harvard Health Publications

Plus this dish contains garlic, ginger and turmeric–some of the top anti-inflammatory foods and spices!  We know inflammation plays a role in heart disease, heart attack and Continue reading Chana Masala →

Blueberry Nectarine Crumble

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Tropical Storm Crumble?

Tropical Storm Erika

Tropical Storm Erika threatened to interfere with baking this weekend, but by Saturday morning she had weakened to a tropical wave.  So I fired up the galley oven and baked this yummy fruit crumble!

It’s a hard to beat  combination of blueberries and nectarines, but you could also use plums, blackberries, peaches, apricots, cherries.. you get the idea.

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Nectarines have a good amount of beta-carotene, plus a small though healthy amount of anti-oxidants. They’re also a healthy source of Continue reading Blueberry Nectarine Crumble →

Potato-Leek & Broccoli Soup

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Creamy, Delicious Soup ~ Gluten-free and Dairy-free Too!

Have you figured out by now  I love soups and other one-pot meals?  Plus, these types of meals always mean leftovers… and yep, we love leftovers!

This was originally.. simply.. Potato-Leek Soup.  Bill is not super fond of pureed soups but being an agreeable sort he ate it and said he enjoyed it.   Later that same week on a cool, rainy night I was re-heating some for dinner and remembered I also had steamed broccoli leftover from the night before.  It just seemed brilliant to throw it in the soup, and voila! … Potato-Leek & Broccoli Soup was born.  I love this comforting soup and so does Bill.

Since his heart event I had put aside recipes that call for dairy milk or cream to avoid the saturated fat, preferring the fat in our diet come from healthier sources such as nuts, seeds and olive oil.   This is especially true since I’ve learned dairy fat is also inflammatory, which is known to cause plaque buildup in our arteries.   But recently I’ve discovered the magic of cashew cream!  Oh the possibilities!  Now those creamy, rich and delicious recipes we used to love are back on the table. Continue reading Potato-Leek & Broccoli Soup →

SATURATED FAT AND YOUR HEART

Diet, Heart Health, , , , ,

 Is butter back on the table?

NCI_butter

Earlier this year the headlines and TV news reports were hard to miss when a new study concluded saturated fat did not cause heart disease.  It was a huge story and the media ate it up (no pun intended).  Creamy sticks of  butter and juicy steaks flashed across the screen as reporters gleefully shared this news.

This can’t be right … right? 

Here’s what I’ve learned and what we’re doing as food for thought for your own plate.

First,  you should know the study was not an actual study but instead a meta-analysis.  A meta what? Continue reading SATURATED FAT AND YOUR HEART →