Growing up in Spain, drinking coffee was an integral part of every breakfast meal and often part of an after-dinner ritual. Flan and coffee speak to me about my childhood. Since my sons are being raised here in the United States, it is important to my husband and I to be able to instill values and traditions from our culture to them. Cooking and baking together has always been an important way for us to give them insight into past experiences during my childhood abroad. This weekend, I decided to create a coffee flavored caramel flan with them because, what better way to pair two staples from my childhood in the form of a delicious dessert?! The best part is that we are now creating new memories together and we can include the coffee that we love in our home, which is Folgers. It is the perfect combination of the past and the present to create experiences that our boys … [Read more...]
Celebrate Latino Culture – Rice Pudding Recipe #HerenciaLeche @SiempreLeche #Ad
*This is part of a sponsored collaboration with MilkPEP and DiMe Media. However, all opinions expressed are my own. Enjoying delicious food is an integral part of Latino culture. There are so many recipes that immediately catapult me back to my childhood and remind me of my rich heritage. One particular dessert always comforts me and overwhelms me with happy memories about joyful family gatherings and being surrounded by those who truly have mattered in my life. For these reasons, I love to prepare and enjoy rice pudding with my own family in the hopes that they will also be reminded of these good times we spend together whenever they enjoy this decadent treat. The best part about making rice pudding for my family is that it contains milk and its 8 grams of high quality protein with every serving. I'm trying to raise strong boys and I know that the human body needs protein, which is found in milk, to build muscles and … [Read more...]
Do You Know What Ingredients Are In Your Favorite Sauce? @Victoria_BKLYN #Ad
My great grandfather was from Naples, Italy on my mother's side. As a result, many of the dishes that my mother prepared for us when we were growing up were Italian recipes. I can still remember how delicious everything smelled when she had pots boiling on the stove and us kids would walk in and out of the kitchen hoping that dinner was finally ready for us to devour. Back then, most foods were made from scratch, including sauces. As a Working Mom, I want to recreate all of the delicious recipes that I enjoyed when I was a kid but I just don't have the time to spend hours cooking in the kitchen. Recently, in my quest to prepare those traditional Italian dishes that my mother used to make, I found Victoria Premium Pasta Sauces which is the first major pasta sauce brand to put their all natural ingredients on the front of their label. This makes a big difference to me because, although I don't have a lot of time to cook, I still want to give my family healthy foods without … [Read more...]
Enjoy Kid-Friendly Recipes This School Year! #ChickenOfTheSea @COSMermaid #BackToSchool #Ad
*I wrote this post as part of my participation in a blog tour on behalf of Chicken of the Sea® and received compensation to thank me for taking the time to participate. However, all opinions expressed are my own. Back to school time always comes with the usual hustle and bustle in our home. Besides worrying about making sure that our boys have all of the materials that their teachers requested this year, I also go back to my job teaching middle school in September. Not only do we all have to adjust to a hectic weekday schedule, but I have to plan ahead for our meals during the week and other chores around the house. The name of the game in our house when it comes to back to school recipes is kid-friendly and easy to prepare. Unfortunately, I simply don't have the time as a Working Mom to cook elaborate meals during the week. I want my family to eat healthy dishes that I can prepare for them in a snap. One of the things that inspires my boys to eat healthier is … [Read more...]
Tips For Preparing Lobster And Hosting A Lobster Party! #FDLobsterParty @FreshDirect #Ad
*I wrote this post as part of my participation in a blog tour on behalf of FreshDirect and received compensation to thank me for taking the time to participate. However, all opinions expressed are my own. Many of you are aware that I grew up in a small fishing town in Spain called Mera. My grandparents had a condominium directly across the street from the beach and I would often go fishing with my grandfather for fresh fish in his boat. Those are my earliest memories of the taste of fresh seafood because it doesn't get any fresher than fishing it out of the ocean yourself. We would bring our catch back to my grandmother and she would season and prepare it for cooking. I can't even begin to describe how delicious the scents were that filled the entire house while she was cooking. One of my favorite dishes that my grandmother prepared was lobster. Fresh lobster that is properly prepared can be tantalizing to your taste buds. Unfortunately, many people like to eat … [Read more...]
Holiday Leftover Ideas! #HormelFamily #Ad
*I participated in a campaign on behalf of Hormel. As a Hormel Family Blogger, I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating. This Christmas, my family all congregated at our home and everyone contributed one dish to the evening meal. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was that I didn't have to do all the cooking because it was all I could bear to have to get the house in order for so many guests. The dish that I was most excited about was my father's Paella which is a traditional Spanish dish that we enjoy together every year as a family. My sister's contribution to the dinner was homemade potato salad and my sister in law brought pernil or roast pork. I made stuffing because it is my mother's favorite and reminds her of my grandmother since it was her recipe for years. It was great to enjoy these delicious dishes with my loved ones but, after everyone left, I was inundated with a barrage of leftovers that I did not know what to do … [Read more...]
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month With Your Favorite Recipe! @IMUSAUSA #HHM #Giveaway #Ad
*This post was written by me on behalf of McCormick Spices and IMUSA Cookware. I received complimentary product samples to facilitate this review. All opinions are 100% mine. You all know that we have been very busy celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month around these parts for the past few weeks. What Hispanic Heritage celebration would be complete without sharing some of our favorite Latin dishes? After all, a huge part of the Latin culture revolves around food and families getting together to enjoy meals and spend some quality time together. Growing up in Spain, I can still remember sitting in the kitchen and watching my grandmother preparing all of our family's meals. She would pour her heart and soul into those recipes and the best ingredient in all of them was the love that she infused into preparing each and every single one. It was almost as if that was the secret ingredient. As an adult, I now know that that spices that she used played a big part in creating … [Read more...]
Kick Off The Football Season With A Tailgate! #HormelFamily #Ad
*This is post was written by me on behalf of Hormel Foods. I am part of the Hormel Family Bloggers. All opinions are 100% mine. Anyone who has known me for a long time understands that I have never been, nor will I ever be, a major sports fan. It's not that there is anything wrong with sports or that I don't recognize the important impact that sports have on young peoples' self-esteem and independence. However, I have noticed that as the years go on, I'm a lot more tolerant of watching them and I'm sure this has a lot to do with the fact that my son is an avid sportsman and I really enjoy watching him play. Now that the weather is getting cool, there is definitely something in the air in my home and that thing is football. Much to my chagrin, is it always on the television and my husband and son attend games at the local stadium. For them, this is the best time of the year. Me, not so much. Luckily, my younger son couldn't care about sports either so I end up having … [Read more...]
Show Your Kids How Much Fun Eating Their Veggies Can Be! @BirdsEye #PlayWithVeggies #Giveaway
*This post was written by me on behalf of Birds Eye. I received promotional items for the purpose of writing this post. All opinions are 100% mine. I'm sure many of you struggle with getting your kids to eat their vegetables as much as we do. As parents, however, we know how important it is to make sure they get their daily allowances of fruits and vegetables in order to remain healthy and strong. The question then becomes, how can we encourage our children to eat all of their veggies every single day? Birds Eye has the answer! This summer, Birds Eye has introduced 4 House Rules to demonstrate to kids that eating their veggies can be fun and healthy! They have enlisted the help of Jennette McCurdy, star of the new hit show Sam & Cat on Nickelodeon help show kids how fun veggies can be! They know that getting kids actively involved in the meal planning process can go a long way in instilling healthy eating habits. Here are the 4 House Rules for making … [Read more...]
Veggies Can Be Fun Too! #PlayWithVeggies @BirdsEye @JennetteMcCurdy #Ad
*This post was written by me on behalf of Birds Eye. All opinions are 100% mine. As a Working Mom, planning healthy meals and getting my boys to eat more vegetables can sometimes be a challenge because we are always on-the-go. I was very excited when Birds Eye introduced their 4 House Rules this summer to demonstrate to all kids that eating vegetables can not only be good for them, but it can be fun too! This week, my boys and I had the opportunity to attend our first event for Birds Eye vegetables. I was very hopeful that attending this event would arm me with a few tricks to get my sons more excited about eating their veggies on a daily basis. When we arrived, I immediately noticed the different stations outlining all of the ways that eating vegetables can be fun. The first station that we visited consisted of allowing the kids to blindfold the parents and feed them various foods containing vegetables. The parents then had to guess which veggies were … [Read more...]
