For heart-healthy meals at home, add color and flavor -- not butter

Organic brown rice prepared in an electric cooker -- fragrant with chopped fresh garlic, organic chicken stock and extra-virgin olive oil -- gets a bit of color from a can of organic diced tomatoes. The ingredients, from Costco Wholesale and other stores, go into the cooker at the same time along with a little sea salt.

An egg-white omelet fried in olive oil is stuffed with fresh spinach and Mateo's Gourmet Salsa from Costco (32 ounces for $6.39) , which also adds flavor to a square of fresh sesame-seed tofu, left.

Salted Alaskan pollock goes into this colorful breakfast of cabbage and salt fish sauteed in olive oil, made with red, orange and green sweet peppers from Costco and ShopRite.

Leftover seafood frittata and mustard greens make a hearty breakfast when served over organic brown rice and Mateo's salsa.

Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal takes 10 minutes to prepare on the stove top with added dried figs and dates, hemp hearts and chia seeds, pignoli nuts and organic agave sweetener. I added a little 2% lactose-free milk at the table.

At home last Wednesday, I plated and reheated a restaurant-quality Meals To Go from Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St. in Englewood, including tender Calamari and Shrimp Fra Diavolo, Stuffed Portobello Mushroom with Vegetable and Cheese Ravioli Al Pomodoro. I gave a third component, Roasted Potatoes and Sausage, to a meat eater in the family ($5.99 after 4 p.m.)

Pomegranate seeds, Bob's Red Mill, Palestinian EVOO

Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal topped with non-fat Greek yogurt, pomegranate seeds and Organic Blue Agave syrup.

I added pine nuts, hemp hearts and dried dates to my whole-grain cereal, which cooked in less than 10 minutes in a covered pot.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss a great hot cereal to warm you in chilly weather, pomegranate seeds, a visit to Fatal's in Paterson, "room for milk" at Starbucks and the annoying habit of Greek diners to charge more for extra spinach.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With the return of cold weather, I sometimes take a break from eggs at breakfast and reach for Bob's Red Mill, a hot cereal. 

This morning, I added pine nuts, hemp hearts and dried dates to the 10 Grain Hot Cereal as it was cooking and once it was in the bowl, topped it with pomegranate seeds, non-fat Greek yogurt and Organic Blue Agave nectar.

Everything but the cereal came from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

I ate the cereal from a blue Miya of Japan bowl ($6.99), which I found at New King Fung Supermarket, 625 Kinderkamack Road, in River Edge.

My wife bought the large Pom-brand pomegranates, weighing a total of 8 pounds, for $14.99 on Nov. 4; removed the seeds from one of them and refrigerated them in a container.

I had three-quarters of a bag of Bob's Red Mill in my cupboard from last winter.

In reading the label, I saw refrigeration is recommended once the bag is opened.

Three cups of water, a little salt and 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill yield 2.5 cups of hot cereal.

Bob's Red Mill has other cereals besides 10 Grain, as well as an organic line. I bought mine at ShopRite.

Pomegranate seeds, Campari Tomatoes and two kinds of Italian cheese with an Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix salad, dressed in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Za'atar and EVOO at Fatal's

On Wednesday, I drove to Fattal's in Paterson to replenish our supply of Al Shark Sardines in Tomato Sauce from Morocco (99 cents for a 4.38-ounce can).

I bought more than two dozen cans of the wild-caught fish, which is low in mercury.

We use the sardines, along with anchovies, in pasta sauce.

We also use canned sardines, with canned tuna and salmon, to make a salad with chopped onions, celery and apple, dressing them in Dijon mustard, lime juice and ground cumin.

Fattal's sells crushed red pepper by weight, but I could get only about a third of a pound before the store ran out ($6.99 a pound).

I use the mildly spicy pepper, which I refer to as Aleppo pepper, to accent eggs, fish and other dishes.

I bought packaged crushed red pepper from Turkey, but it contains salt. 

A package of za'atar thyme mixture from Jordan contains wheat, an ingredient I don't believe is found in the mixture Fattal's sells by weight.

Za'atar is good with bread dipped in olive oil, and sprinkled liberally over fresh tomato slices or omelets and other egg dishes.

The predominate taste is not thyme but sour sumac, as well as the crunch of sesame seeds.

I also picked up another 3-liter bottle of Al Defah Extra Virgin Olive Oil for a low $13.99 or only $4.66 a liter.

On the label, there is nothing in English on the origin of the oil, but one of the employees pointed out a Palestinian flag and said the oil is from Palestine.

Six store-made Spinach & Cheese Pies were $8.99.

On Saturday at Starbucks on 1st Avenue and 69th Street in Manhattan, I asked for a Tall cup of Veranda Blend with "a little room for milk." The young woman behind the counter said she would put my coffee in a larger, Grande cup, and leave room for milk, and she did, giving me a full cup of coffee.

On Thursday, I ordered a Greek omelet with feta cheese, spinach, onions and mushrooms at the River Edge Diner (516 Kinderkamack Road), and asked for extra spinach. I was charged more for what looked like frozen spinach ($8.75 or $9.60 with extra spinach). But at the suggestion of the waitress, I asked for the home fries well-done, and they were the best I've ever had.