Cooking
Smart Mama recipes, food items and more!
Halloween Dessert: Eyeball Cookie Pops Recipe
Receive the Smarty Pants Mama Newsletter for more FREE recipes, travel tips and home experiences! Spooky! This Eyeball Cookie Pops recipe is sure to spook the guests and satisfy the tummy! Although we’re not big into the scary component of Halloween, we do love to dress up! And I LOVE to get crafty in the […]
Cubans Don’t Know Tacos & Other Misconceptions in Hispanic Food
One of the most important components of culture is food. When we think of Italians, we think of pizza and pasta. When we think of Greeks, we think of gyros or hummus. What food comes to mind when you think of Cubans? Please don’t say tacos. There are misconceptions in Hispanic food. Hispanics may all […]
Love Your Cereal and a Healthy Breakfast
It’s 6:30 AM on a Monday and we’re half way done getting ready for school. My almost 7 year old is hungry. Her breakfast of choice is a big bowl of cereal. She loves her cereal. She’s inherited that love from me. She can serve her cereal and sort of pour her milk. When I […]
Moms Benefitting from Soybean Oil Recipes
Open your pantry. Pull out the oil. What do you see? Your bottle of vegetable oil – the best oil for frying and the base to many Hispanic foods – is likely 100% soybean oil! This oil provides a hearty dose of vitamin E and omega-3s, which may help reduce blood pressure and prevent heart disease. […]
Homemade Vegetable Soup Recipe
A good and easy homemade vegetable soup recipe is a must in your kitchen. Throughout the year the sniffles are bound to hit your home. Achoo! A warm bowl of soup is always a soothing treatment to warm up the cold sickies. This homemade vegetable soup recipe can be prepared in less than 1 hour, […]
Bento Box Idea: Ham Roll Ups
My non-sandwich eating 1st grader does like meats, especially ham. She likes bread, but she doesn’t like ham and bread together. When creating her lunch this year, I’m heavily influenced by all the fantastic bento box ideas I come across online, especially on Pinterest. I need to find ways to provide her the protein she needs […]
Iron Fork Review
Thursday, August 1 was a fantastic date night. Tom and I headed to the Adrienne Arsht Center to foodie heaven, better known as Iron Fork Miami! Much thanks to MasterCard for their tremendous discount for cardholders wanting to attend this priceless Miami event. Tom and I arrived with our bellies empty and boy was that I […]
School Lunch Idea: Hormel REV Wrap
The new Hormel REV Wraps make a great school lunch box addition – their tasty, inexpensive and low in calorie. As a Hormel Extended Family Blogger I have been provided with a variety of REV Wraps to try. REV Wraps for the Lunch Box We’ll be packing lunch boxes before long. Time to stock up […]
Easy 4th of July Recipe Collection
4th of July often means picnics, BBQs or meals by the pool or beach. Whichever your location on the 4th, try out any of these easy recipes for friends and family. Each recipe is easy to make and delicious to eat! Chicken Chutney Spread – Perfect with crackers or a vegetable platter! This is a […]
Traveling on Shaklee180
Traveling and eating healthy aren’t always so easy to do. On our most recent family vacation to Key West I was smart. I packed dozens on Shaklee180 meal bars and snack bars to have on hand. I saved calories and money by bring my own meals. I wasn’t perfect, but I most certainly get an […]
Easy BLT Dip Recipe
Tis the time of year for backyard barbecues and vegetable gardens. This Easy BLT Dip recipe is a perfect addition to your next summertime hangout. It’s a simple recipe, that’s delicious! It’s also a great use of the fresh tomatoes from your vegetable garden! Plus, for all you bacon lovers out there, it’s got bacon! […]
How to Make Lentils
Lentils are considered a power food. They are loaded with fiber, folate, iron, protein, and other vitamins and minerals. The fiber in a 1/2 cup serving of lentils gives you 1/3 of your needed daily requirements. Plus 9 grams of protein are in that same 1/2 cup! That’s a smart food! That’s tremendous power! A few […]
What’s in a Shaklee180 Turnaround Kit?
Have you wondered what arrives in that very heavy box each month? As a Shaklee180 Blogger I receive a Turnaround Kit each month. The kit is like my toolbox for weight loss, inches loss, and overall healthy living. Within the walls of the cardboard box are the specific products that I can use to […]
MasterCard Provides Presale Discount to Iron Fork #Miami #Priceless #MC
Miami foodies are getting ready for a Priceless Miami event, the Iron Fork! There is always something going on in Miami. August and September are especially revered for Miami Spice – two months of prix fixe meals at deeply discounted prices at more than 200 well-loved restaurants. Miami Spice is the time of the year to […]
Video Review: Mueller’s Hidden Veggie Pasta
I was provided with several boxes of the new Mueller’s Hidden Veggie Pasta. We like pasta in this house and eat a bowl weekly so it made sense to try it out! We all know it can be carb heavy but now with Mueller’s Hidden Veggie line it can be veggie heavy too! A WHOPPING […]
Vlog: How I Ate Healthy & Handled Stress
I’ve shared how the month of April was the pits. Even throughout the horrific month, I managed to not succumb to every pastry, cookie or fried food that was available. It wasn’t easy but it was certainly smart. Learning to not rely on food as comfort during stress isn’t easy. There is a reason that […]
The Squeezable Healthy Snacks
When traveling, quick and easy snacks, HUGE bonus if they’re healthy snacks too, are a must! My toddler is a fan of all things tasty and Buddy Fruits might be one of her favorites! For our recent road trip to Disney World we packed loads of Buddy Fruits that I was provided to review. What […]
How to Use Leftover Ham to Make Cuban Croquetas
Will you be serving ham this weekend? What will you do with the inevitable leftover ham? Yes, ham sandwiches are always satisfying, but in this house we love to make croquetas de jamón, ham croquettes. Croquetas are a common finger food with latins in South Florida. You find trays of croquetas at every birthday party […]
How to Bake an Egg
How to Bake an Egg Have you been wondering how to bake an egg, rather than boiling one? Did you even know that you could? I most certainly didn’t have any idea. One morning I read a Facebook post about baking eggs so I quickly asked how. I got the directions within minutes and knew that […]
Baked Potato Bar for Dinner
Baked Potato Bar I love easy dinners. Who doesn’t? Add to that that, I love options. I love being able to pick what I want – yes I love salad bars. At home, we have found a Baked Potato Bar to be a crowd-pleaser. We all love potatoes and we all love (most) of the […]
Simple Kale Chips Recipe
We have heard from every magazine article, online infographic, TV show and more that kale is awesomely good for you. I have shared 3 nutritional reasons why you should wash and chop up kale for your next meal. Have you? A simple and tasty way to enjoy kale is to bake it. It reminds me […]
3 Reasons to Eat Kale
We’ve been eating kale for a number of years. We most often sauté it with a little EVOO and garlic, treating it like spinach. There has been a lot of kale buzz recently, as the nutritional benefit of the green vegetable have gotten tremendous publicity. Do you eat it? If not, you should. This week […]
Quick & Easy Soybean Oil Recipes
Finding Soybean Oil You won’t believe where I found soybean oil! In my own kitchen? Yes, I spent a good 30 minutes in two different gourmet/healthy living supermarkets searching in the expensive/speciality oil section in search of soybean oil. I returned home defeated. No soybean oil anywhere. I opened my pantry to pull out the […]
Chef Todd English Teaches Through Macy’s Culinary Council
Chef Todd English is sharing his secrets as part of the Macy’s Culinary Council. Chef recently demonstrated his pizza making techniques with food lovers at his restaurant, Figs in Palm Beach, FL this week. Of Italian ancestry, Chef has always had a passion for all things Italian. In 2008 he embarked on an Italian tour eating […]
How to Make Chicken Taco Tortilla Soup
Make Chicken Taco Tortilla Soup during National Soup Month! It’s delicious and simple! A warm bowl of soup – just the thought of it during chilly January sounds so comforting. Are you a soup person? I am and I love learning new soup recipes! Hormel recently shared their Chicken Taco Tortilla Soup recipe. It’s a pantry […]
A Recipe of Canned Corn & Canned Peaches
One of my favorite dishes to make around the holidays, particularly Thanksgiving, is a Corn Casserole. I received the recipe from my aunt at my bridal shower and have always treasured it because it is THAT GOOD and THAT SIMPLE. Go here to see the recipe. With the continued obsession of my 6 year old with all […]
