Chefs Go ‘Ladle to Ladle’ Against Heart Disease

As part of the Campbell Soup Co.’s AdDress Your Heart Cooking Challenge, celebrity chef Richard Blais and Campbell’s own master chef, Thomas Griffiths, engaged in a friendly competition to create delicious dishes incorporating two of iconic brand’s almost 100 heart-healthy products, in support of the American Heart Association’s “Go Red For Women” movement. February is also American Heart Month.

The competition can be viewed on the Campbell’s Kitchen Facebook page as a three-part webisode. Viewers are encouraged to vote for their favorite recipe, thereby triggering a donation by Campbell to Go Red For Women to help fund research and eliminate heart disease. For every vote cast through March 1, the company will give $1 to the cause, up to $625,000. Online visitors to the page can also get additional recipes and coupons for Campbell's heart-healthy items.

“My goal was to show people that heart-healthy cooking and eating can be tasty and fun by stimulating the senses with bright colors, different textures and bold flavors to create a truly crave-worthy and soulful dish,” said Blais, the winner of Bravo’s “Top Chef All-Stars,” as well as a restaurateur and television personality, whose challenge creation, Spicy BouilliaBlais, features Spicy Hot Low Sodium V8 100% Vegetable juice. Blais’s concern for heart health is personal: He has lost 60 pounds since 2002 and completed his first marathon in 2011.

Griffiths’ Mediterranean-inspired recipe, Spiced Chicken with Balsamic-Blueberry Green Bean Salad, contains Campbell’s Select Harvest Healthy Request Harvest Tomato with Basil soup, while a side dish of brown rice is infused with Pomegranate Blueberry V8 V-Fusion 100% juice.

Now in its sixth year, Campbell’s "AdDress Your Heart" campaign has pledged to contribute more than $3.6 million to the AHA through 2012.

“At Campbell, we have a tradition of culinary excellence, and this year’s campaign builds on that legacy to support our commitment to heart health,” said Eric Christianson, VP at Camden, N.J.-based Campbell Soup Co. “We hope these delicious and easy recipes will inspire people to feel like a top chef in their own kitchen.”

Campbell now offers almost 100 foods that are certified heart-healthy by the AHA, including all 33 Campbell’s Healthy Request soups, Low Sodium V8 100% Vegetable juices and Prego Heart Smart Italian sauces, all of which display the AHA’s Heart Check mark.