dinner
Mummy Hot Dogs for Halloween
Make Mummy Hot Dogs for Halloween for a spooky meal! It’s a fun cooking with kids activity that will produce a tasty treat at the end! I had so much fun with my girls making those Mummy Hot Dogs! They are great activity for the kids. The ingredients are simple and the flavor is perfect, […]
5 Quick Dinners to Create in 20 Minutes with FREE Menu Planner
Quick Dinner Ideas in Under 20 Minutes We’ve all been there. The days gets away from us. We are jammed with work, with meetings and with endless after school activities. Yet every day, we need to be certain there is food on the table for the family to enjoy for dinner. In this post I […]
Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce Recipe
Are you looking for a healthy dinner recipe for the family? This Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce is a winner! As you prepare your meal plan for the coming week, you’ll want to include this sauce. I make this sauce and serve it over pasta or even spaghetti squash on days where I am am eating less/no […]
Ranch Chicken Sliders Recipe
Delicious Ranch Chicken Sliders are a perfect item to serve to guests watching the big game or anytime you have a hungry crowd! We were invited by Naturally Fresh® to use one of their dressings in a recipe. We instantly thought of one of our favorite ways to make chicken and how the flavor of […]
Sausage, Potatoes and Peppers Recipe
This Sausage, Potatoes and Peppers recipe must be added to your last minute meals list. It is delicious and incredibly simple to make. My future chef, or I should say kid chef, and I were at Whole Foods earlier this week when we spotted a chicken sausage with peppers and asiago cheese. I do not […]
How to Use Leftover Ham or Turkey
You spent hours at the table devouring every last bite of turkey and ham. The meats were delicious and the leftovers must be used. I’ve shared with you our Ham Croquetas recipe that is perfect for the leftover ham like Hormel® Cure 81®. That same recipe can be easily be tweaked to make turkey croquetas. […]
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, […]
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 […]
Make Your Own Sandwich Platter Party Idea
Creating a sandwich platter for an at-home party is easy and versatile. I love to have friends over. I also love to cook. But, in reality, cooking especially for a bigger group can be tiring and expensive. Recently we had family over (Christmas Afternoon) and instead of a making a big dish, we opted to […]
Planning Weekly Family Dinner Menu
Plan a weekly family dinner menu. It’s a smart mama move! Menu planning is a great way to maximize time and keep nutrition inline. I can be very type-A. I love organization. I love to have a plan, for everything! Back to school time gives me an opportunity to reorganize many aspects of my family’s […]
Unexpected Dinner Surprise of Pork Roast with Sweet Potatoes
It was one of those days last week. Tired. Not much in the fridge. An un-seasoned pork roast was in the meat drawer. I had bought at a great price a few days before not once considering how I would cook it. What I did know, is that it was the only defrosted protein available […]
Pasta with Cauliflower – A Meat-Free Dish to Add to Your Lenten Recipes
Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent – the 40 days of reflection leading to Easter Sunday by Christians worldwide. Roman Catholics additionally share their reverence by fasting Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstaining from eating meat on all Fridays during Lent. Time to pull out the seafood and pasta dishes for the next […]
Goodbye 2011! New Year’s Eve – In or Out?
I cannot believe that tomorrow is New Year’s Eve! This year has been filled with all sorts of roller coaster twists, turns and a few loops. In 2011 we were faced with my father being diagnosed with cancer, my daughter Cecilia being born, my father beating cancer (with a heart attack thrown in there!) and […]
Black Beans and Rice, a Yummy Cuban Dish gets Bacon-ized!
Black beans and rice is one of the most served dishes in this house. Whether its canned black beans or made from scratch, our tummies love it! I am a 1st generation Cuban-American. I was raised in a bilingual home with a ton of Cuban influence through food and tradition. Our weeknight dinners were full […]
Ragú® Talks: No More Leftovers, It’s a Brand New Meal Now!
No More Leftovers, It’s a Brand New Meal Now! Meatloaf, roasted chicken, spaghetti & sauce…these are all common dinners in my home. I may serve meatloaf on Monday but will have enough remaining to serve it again. No problem for me, but I’ve been blessed with both a husband and 5 year old who might […]
Interview with Celebrity Chef G. Garvin – Shares ways to make dinner prep easier!
Interview with Celebrity Chef G. Garvin – Shares ways to make dinner prep easier! Chef G. Garvin’s experience as a great chef and a single father make him a true expert of dinner preparation with kids in tow. Last week I shared some of Chef’s great suggestions of using ground turkey as the base to many different meals. […]
Balancing the Dinner Budget – Ragu Mom’s the Word on Dinner Asks
Balancing the Dinner Budget – Ragu Mom’s the Word on Dinner Asks Moms An on-the-budget dinner isn’t always so easy. We’ve all done those last minute recipes where we spend an arm and a leg buying the ingredients at full price because our pantry was empty. I’ve learned, the hard way I might add, the […]
Smart Food: Slow-Cooked Chicken Wine and Tomato
Another great slow-cooker YUMMY recipe for back to school days! I adapted this recipe from EatingWell.com. It tastes great with a serving of brown rice and salad. My daughter, the picky eater, LOVED it. The chicken comes out moist, which is a challenge for many of us when making chicken. Leftovers taste great, too. I […]
Smart Home: Dinnertime Dilemmas, You’re Not Alone with Ragú’s Mom’s the Word on Dinner
Dinnertime…. Perfect and peaceful….right? Ha! I know your home resembles mine. At least I hope it does. We have mini battles here, not every night. Just often enough to drive this Smart Mama over the edge at times! When my 4 year old is eating solo because daddy isn’t home yet, the 1st battle is […]
Smart Food: Weekly Menu, May 23 – 27, Postpartum Healthy Living!
[ad#Google in Content] Well I’m a Smart Mama of 2 now! This week we start our postpartum healthy eating routine! Gone are the days of endless bowls of ice cream, chips and dip and spoonfuls of peanut butter! Tom has been a great pregnant spouse…he put on weight as I did throughout the last 9 […]
The Easiest, Yummiest London Broil Recipe
Finding a London Broil recipe that I could easily make for my family was a must as I first enter the days of being a mommy of two. Tired Mom Finding Recipes I’m exhausted. Yes, as a mommy of a newborn (just 9 days old) and a 4 1/2 year old my energy and time […]
Smart Home: Adjusting to being a mom of 2 – a sports bra and steak at once!
[ad#Google in Content] This Smart Mama household is now plus one more! We’re now officially Smarty Pants Mama & Dada plus 2! Last week we welcomed the latest addition to our family, Baby Cecilia! Cabin fever set in right away, as I found myself going from a few days in the hospital for the birth […]
Smart Food: Weekly Menu, April 11 – 15
It’s been some time! Here’s our yummy menu for the week! Please understand that I’m nearly 35 weeks pregnant so my cravings are in full force! Monday: Pollo Tete I’ve shared this recipe a few years ago. It was given to me by 2 cousins at my bridal shower. They each wrote up the recipe […]
Smart Food: Hormel EZ Cook Making Recipe Finding Easier!
[ad#Google in Content] I love trying new recipes. Most of you have learned that about me. I especially like recipes that are not only yummy, but fairly easy to follow. On a recent trip to Publix, my local supermarket, I used my SmartPhone, to find a recipe for pork that I found on sale. (You […]
Smart Food: Weekly Menu, Jan. 31 – Feb. 4
[ad#Google in Content] Below is this week’s dinner menu at this Smart Mama home. This week is a little crazy in the here, we’re moving! Not far, just 4 miles away…but honestly the distance isn’t the challenge; it’s the packing, moving and unpacking. Add to the situation that I’m 5 months pregnant making it a […]
Smart Food: Weekly Menu, Jan. 24 – 28
[ad#Google in Content] Below is the dinner menu at this Smart Mama home this week. I typically do this each Sunday night, but last night I was a bit distracted with the football games. I have found pre planning each week’s dinner menu saves me time throughout the week. I hit the grocery on Mondays […]