RECIPE: PESTO WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES

This is my invention, combining the Light and Tasty Pesto from the American Heart Association cookbook, with a roasted vegetable preparation from a Real Simple dish I made last week. Serves 6.

Pesto Sauce

4 ounces fresh spinach leaves
1/2 cup firmly packed basil leaves (jam as many in there as you can, you want lots!)
1/2 cup firmly packed fresh parsley
1/4 chicken or vegetable stock (I used chicken stock for its almost-non-flavor. Veggie stock sometimes tastes pretty strong. Experiment and see what you like.)
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted in your oven for a few minutes at 350
1/4 cup grated or shredded good parmesan
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Salt and pepper to taste

Roasted Vegetables

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sprigs thyme
a few grinds black pepper
veggies of your choice: I'm using red bell peppers, artichoke hearts, red onion, and cremini mushrooms
2 tsp. red wine vinegar

To make the sauce:
Put everything but the salt and pepper in your food processor and whirl until smooth. If the pesto is too thick (which would be surprising), add some more stock or water 1 tbsp at a time.

To roast the veggies:

Place the mushrooms on a rimmed baking sheet and everything else on another rimmed sheet. (You don't want these together because the mushrooms release too much liquid.) Toss each with 1/2 tablespoon oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, a sprig of thyme, and a few grinds of black pepper. Roast, rotating the sheets once, until tender and a little bit browned, 13 to 15 minutes. Drizzle with the vinegar and toss gently.

Toss sauce and veggies together with hot cooked linguine.

FABULOUS FUNGI

If you click the image you can see it larger. Thanks, Yale Heart Study.

I love this infographic shared by the Yale Heart Study this week. It makes parsing the heart-healthy diet rules much easier. Avoiding saturated fat is the easy part; remembering all the other rules is harder. (Though I'm pleased to report I'm doing very well in the red wine 1-2 glasses per day category.)

The whole section devoted to "cooked Asian mushrooms" was a new one for me, so I did some research. I always thought mushrooms were a tasty but nutritionally benign food; I didn't know they had health benefits like broccoli, kale, almonds, and salmon. What a fortuitous discovery for my heart-friendly cooking adventure!

RECIPE: YOGURT MARINATED CHICKEN WITH ROASTED SWEET POTATOES AND MUSHROOMS

Real Simple photo. Mine was not this pretty.

This complete meal recipe is a standout. It is easy, took just 45 minutes to have on the table, and features completely whole foods, including many stars on the heart-healthy food pyramid. You have mushrooms, quinoa, walnuts, olive oil, garlic, sweet potatoes, and a very lean protein - the humble and ubiquitous chicken breast.

Serve with a glass of red wine and you hit at least eight heart-diet high notes on one delicious plate (and under 500 calories at that). I love when dinner makes me feel this good.

RECIPE: ASIAN NOODLE SOUP WITH SHIITAKES

Real Simple photo.

This is another Real Simple gem. It is indeed simple, fast, and tasty. My son gave it a 9 (on a 1-10 scale) and so did my husband. An easy crowd-pleaser featuring heart-healthy mushrooms . . . that's a win-win.

The original recipe called for ground pork, which I'm sure would taste sensational, but I substituted ground turkey and we all loved it. So, save yourself some fat and calories and I promise you won't miss a thing.