ArcaMax

9 Things You Never Knew About Hearts!

I know, I know, Valentine’s Day was last Friday, but I’m not finished feeling the love yet. Let’s talk about the heart.

We know that the heart is a big deal. That is one vital organ!

The heart is played up throughout our culture.

Songs have been written about hearts and poetry too. We even encourage each other to "think with our heart." Taking care of your heart starts with a good diet like Plan Z but here are some other facts that you might not have known. When you're done reading these, check out our delicious Plan Z dessert White Chocolate Creme Brulee with Strawberry Coulis (sauce) that you can make for your sweetie (or yourself!) without guilt. Big Yum!!!

Heart Trivia: Here’s goes…

1) In under a minute, your heart can pump blood to every cell in your body.

2) Most people think their hearts are on the left sides. The truth is, your heart is dead center in the middle of your chest, though it feels like it's tilted to the left because the largest part of your heart is on the left.

3) I Left My Heart In San Francisco was the 19th most-performed song of the 20th century.

4) We heart coffee, and so does the heart. Scientists found a link between coffee drinkers and good heart health.

5) Your heart is nowhere near a heart shape, it looks more like a fist. The cow's heart looks much more like a heart.

6) Awww. This one is sad...according to the two billion-word Oxford English Corpus, the adjective most often used to qualify the noun 'heart' is 'broken'.

7) The King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache in a standard pack of playing cards.

8) A blue whale heart is the size of a Mini Cooper.

9) Chocolate cake is the most popular dessert served on Valentine's Day.

So don’t do number nine. My suggestion is you go home for dessert. Make a healthy dessert like the White Chocolate Crème Brulee with Strawberry Coulis before you leave for dinner. Then come home, curl up together in a romantic place in your house and share dessert with each other.

My husband and I do this most times we go out for dinner. We skip the restaurant dessert and have something heart healthy when we get home. That doesn’t have to mean plain fruit either. This white chocolate crème brulee is easy to make and truly decadent.

And for those weeknights you want to curl up and have some comfort food, how about Balsamic Chicken. I have given you two versions of this a stove top version and a slow cooker version.

Balsamic Chicken (Braised or Slow Cooker) EASY

This is a super easy meal to make; made even easier by doing it in your slow cooker. Simple Italian.

Serves 4

4 skinless chicken breasts
Sea salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp of minced garlic (jar garlic will do)
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup of chicken broth
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 tsp of Italian seasoning

This is super easy. Just take out a medium sauté pan and spray with olive oil. Spray the top of the chicken breasts and grate salt and pepper over them. Put top down in the pan and sauté on medium high for three minutes just to brown the one side.

Turn them over and add everything else. Stir to mix it all up. Cover and cook on medium low (just so you see a little bit of bubbling) for 15 to 20 minutes until the chicken breasts are cooked through (no pink remaining). And Serve.

If you have a cup of onions and tomatoes that will be your veggie too or if you don’t you can have the balance using another vegetable. Green beans would be good.

Slow Cooker Version

I would likely follow the directions above and brown the one side of my chicken breasts before I put all of the ingredients in the slow cooker. If you don’t mind your chicken breasts looking on the pale white side you can literally put all of the ingredients in the slow cooker right out of the refrigerator and cupboard and just turn it on. Cook for seven hours on low or 4 hours on high and it should be ready to eat.

In the slow cooker version you might need more chicken broth. You’ll want to fill it to about one inch from the top. Depends on the size of your breast pieces and your cooker. Just make sure your chicken is covered.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola