Author: Tammy Litke

One in four American deaths is caused by cardiovascular disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is an extremely alarming statistic for my family since my husband’s family seems to have a genetic predisposition to heart disease.

We had a lot of questions for our physicians and practitioners for strategies to help us prevent heart disease and here are some of the tips they gave us.

I’m a free agent when it comes to coffee.  I enjoy different flavors and brands, and so single serve cups make the most sense for me when it comes to brewing coffee.

I know I’m not unique in my love for coffee – and if someone, anyone really, gave me a Valentine with some Java attached to it, well let’s just say they’d be counted as pretty special in my book.  

And when I recently received a 40-count variety box of Java Factory Single Serve Cups, I had a momentous break through of the cutest Valentine ever for the coffee loving male squeeze in your life.

When my parents were in their 60s they decided to sell their large home and downsize to apartment living.  With less maintenance and a lock and leave set up this opened up their retirement future to more traveling.

And traveling they have done.  From doing 3-month mission trips to Africa, taking tour excursions in Israel, joining us on a cruise to Alaska, soaking up the sun in Mexico, going back to their birth country of Germany and more, those two have globe trotted to destinations and done some pretty great things in the last 10 years.

In the last few months both my husband and I have a had some awakening moments when it has come to our health.  Since heart disease runs in his family we should have been more deliberate in a lot of our food choices…but haven’t been.  After I went and had a well checkup (which had been about 4 years since my last one, gulp!) and found out my cholesterol levels were creeping up, I KNEW we had to be more conscious of what we are eating.

If you’re planning to show your love in a fun way for Valentine’s Day, here are some adorable ideas from Gemmy!

For anyone with a foodie friend who’s a bacon addict (who isn’t?, right?!), Gemmy has a fun gift — “Bacon and Egg” Plush Pals.

I have one more good slow cooker recipe to share today this one is cuisine fusion.  Korean Beef with Soft Tacos.  The recipe was adapted slightly from a Family Fun magazine feature by Stephanie O’Dea – you may know her better as the lady who blogged about using her slow cooker for a whole year!   A good many of my slow cooker inspirations come from her site.

I was a little apprehensive about serving this recipe to my family, because it has some strong flavors that they aren’t particularly keen on.  However, it went over really well, and the pork was so tender…it was kind of hard to slice!

One of the things I’ve noticed when going through my blog analytics is that you all love Slow Cooker recipes.  I had a few on the back burner that I have been wanting to make and they came out really well.  So, I’m going to share them with you!

Today’s is one with just a bit of peeling & chopping prep.  It makes a huge batch of soup that your family will want seconds of on a cold winter night.

Everyone who knows me well, knows that I can sniff out bargains like they have peromones that call out to me!  While I used to love shopping from morning until supper time, these days I find myself usually only going to the store when I actually need something.  Truth be told, I really prefer shopping in my pjs 🙂  But I don’t want to sacrifice price for the convenience of not leaving my home. 

That’s why I’m glad I found out about Verified Codes.

Just recently I was sent a Rove 7-Piece Laptop Iced Bento Lunch Box and I love it!  It comes with a molded ice pack that attaches to the lid along with a fork & spoon, a removable bento insert and the top of the lid has a handle for easy carrying.  It all closes up nice and secure (which means if kids are using it they may need a little help getting it open) so nothing spills out if you use the inside bento lid.  I thought it would be fun to make a Valentine’s Day themed lunch and share it in the post.  I even took some vinyl and cut out an “I ♥︎ Lunch” phrase to put on the Rove Bento Box, and I love it…and I love lunch!