Yes, I’m a bit behind on my themed-meal posts, but that’s ok, right? For the seventh week of the year (ending on Friday, Feb. 14) we opted for heart healthy. Get it? Hearts and Valentine’s Day. They go hand-in-hand.

Our heart-healthy week started off with my favorite vegetarian faro Greek salad with tempeh, which is great warm or cold. I’m looking forward to making many more big batches of this once it gets nicer out, to enjoy on the patio with friends. If I close my eyes long enough to block out the sounds of the rain pounding on the roof right now, I can almost picture it!

Faro Greek salad with tempeh

Lean meats, like chicken, are also heart-healthy. We opted for two chicken recipes this week: simple grilled chicken (with quinoa and asparagus) and our favorite hominy chili (remember this from cilantro week?).

Grilled chicken, quinoa, asparagus

Another heart-healthy ingredient we added to the meal plan? Salmon. And spinach. Together they make a delicious dinner, as pictured below. In an effort to make this salad special, I sought out a new dressing recipe to try. And… I found one! The best part about this dressing recipe? It’s a dead ringer for the house salad dressing from Voila!, one of my favorite Seattle restaurants.

Salmon with spinach

Here is the dressing recipe, so you can make it for yourself: (reprinted from FitSugar)

We finished the week with a not-so-heart-healthy food: pizza. We used the fresh Trader Joe’s whole wheat dough and made two individual heart-shaped pizzas, complete with heart-shaped pepperonis! A most romantic Valentine’s Day, indeed.

His and hers homemade pizzas

Romantic Valentine’s Day pizza

Next up? Week 8 and Russian foods in honor of the Olympics that were happening that week.