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Happy Friday everyone! I cannot believe it’s FEBRUARY. What the heck? Ready for more Slice of Life? Okay then…

1. Like I’ve been telling you all week, today is Go Red For Women Day. It’s a day we wear red to bring awareness to heart disease in women. I know you’re probably tired of me talking about it, but heart disease is the number one killer of women. 1 in 3 women will die of heart disease. That’s a freaking scary statistic.

Are you wearing your red today? I will be. Post a pic and tag it #GoRed and #crazyforcrust so I can see!

Skinny Bite Sized Pies (6 of 10)

Anyway, in case you’re not tired of me talking about heart disease, I devoted all of my posts this week to heart healthier recipes. I made mini pies, chocolate chip cake, mug cake, and cinnamon rolls all a little bit better. Simple baking substitutions, like whole wheat flour, applesauce or liquid oil, or using egg beaters, can go a long way to reducing your risk of heart disease (along with an actual healthy diet and exercise – life is about more spinach than chocolate).

My mom (and pretty much her whole family) has been touched by heart disease. It is very important that you know your risk. Take care of yourself. Also, you need to know the signs of heart attack and stroke, especially the sneaky ones. Women often (1) don’t pay attention to the signs because we’re doing everything for everyone else and/or (2) the signs are not normal chest pain that men might have.

Some of the hard to recognize heart attack symptoms in women are: shortness of breath, jaw pain, back pain, nausea, and flu like symptoms. You can read all about all the symptoms of heart disease on the Go Red For Women website. And wear your red today!

Okay, one last thing. If you’re looking for more heart healthier recipes, check out my post of 20 Heart Healthier Baking Recipes on Parade today. {Click here to pin it.}

20 Heart Healthier Baking Recipes

2. By the way – did you know I’m now a contributor at Parade’s Community Table? You can see all of my posts and my profile here. In case you missed them, here are some of my posts so far:

Parade 1

16 Dip Recipes You Must Make {Pin it here.}

11 Ways to Eat Lemon for Breakfast {Pin it here.}

Parade2

18 Single-Serve Desserts {Pin it here}

22 Amazing Red Velvet Desserts {Pin it here}

I’m having a lot of fun sharing round-ups over on Parade. Be sure to check there each week for my newest post!

3. Ginger likes to watch me take photos because she often reaps the benefits.

IMG_7596

4. Here are some things around food land that I just cannot stop thinking about:

5. Okay, serious question, and I’m curious about your answers.

What is the point of 2/3/5 minute timed math fact tests in school? If the kids know their math facts (even if they can’t recall them in .01 seconds), who cares, really? Does it really matter? What if a kid knows every single fact but cannot pass timed tests? What then?

Remember, I’m an ex-math teacher. I taught HS math and I dealt with kids who mostly already knew their facts. However, many of the teens I taught were not up to grade level in basic concepts they should have known. (They were in Algebra but shouldn’t have been because standards dictated pre-algebra shouldn’t be offered in 9th grade. Many of the holes in their knowledge could be attributed to math fact deficiency.) Most of them had math anxiety. I read this article recently (it’s a little old, but the content still applies) and it made me wonder. What is the point of a timed test? My daughter struggles with them greatly even though, when we do flashcards at home, she knows the facts (and pretty fast too). If I’m being totally 100% honest, even though I majored in math and received a 3.8 GPA in college, if I was forced to take a 2 minute 48-problem test right now I probably wouldn’t pass. I have test anxiety and recall issues under pressure in math just like many students do.

Also, a friend pointed out this article to me. It’s long but the gist of it is that timed math fact testing only makes you memorize facts but does not help you understand them. Food for thought.

I see myself going to the principal on this one. I want to get time tests removed from our school.

What do you think?

6. Jordan is sick…again. I swear what is up with this year so far? Has anyone invented the lysol bomb-in-a-can yet? Someone needs to get on that. You know, like a flea bomb. Remember those? You’d buy 3 or 4 cans of flea bomb, bury all the pillows under the covers, and wait outside while your mom put a sweater over her face and ran through the house setting off the poisonous flea-killing pesticides? Then you’d go shopping for a few hours and come home to no more fleas?

Yeah, someone needs to invent that for cold and flu germs. Lysol, get on that. I would personally buy one for every classroom at school.

7. Shabby Apple sent me this dress to try. I really like it, especially the colors. What do you think?

IMG_7586

8. My favorite recipes this month:

Fluffy Potato Rolls.

Potato Rolls (3 of 8)

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars.

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars (13 of 13)w

Single Serve Monkey Bread.

Single Serve Monkey Bread (1 of 9)w

Pretzel Buns.

Easy Pretzel Buns (8 of 8)w

Tagalong Bars.

Tagalong Bars (8 of 5)

Lemon Blueberry Sweet Rolls.

Lemon Blueberry Sweet Rolls (11 of 6)

9. I had a recipe fail this week. I was trying to make white chocolate brownies, which in theory would be easy but in execution is not. I’m still not done trying, but as I tasted the fail I had a flash of memory. I’ve made white chocolate brownies before, or attempted too. I think it was almost the exact same recipe and they failed just like this one did. But, like these, they still tasted good, so I made truffles out of them.

Dude, I can’t even keep track of everything I’ve made for this blog. I think I need a vacation.

10. One recipe that didn’t fail last week? Tomorrow’s post.

cookiebars

Heart healthier week is officially over as of Sunday. I’m such  jerk sometimes.

Have a great weekend!!

xo,
Dorothy

Last Updated on April 1, 2023



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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45 Comments

  1. Great that  you dedicated a whole week to healthy recipes and brought awareness to heart disease. Love the dress and I agree with the Lysol bomb idea. Germs are icky and spread quickly. 

  2. Thank you Dorothy for caring so much about our hearts! ❤️ Yes I love the dress, looks great on you! And ugh … Don’t get me started on the math!

  3. Ugh…I could go on far too long about school and all the issues…that goes for public and private schools…heart healthy desserts are so wonderful, especially when you can’t tell they’ve been lightened up! The dress looks great with your coloring, is figure flattering and looks like it’s made from a poly/spandex knit, so I’m assuming it’s totally comfy too! Win, win, win!

  4. I love that these are all healthier options, always needed! Ginger is adorable and I love that dress on you! Happy weekend to you Dorothy!