December temperatures in Southeast Louisiana can equate to 78 degrees in the afternoon and chilly 54 degrees that same evening. Since our weather doesn't know what it wants, I have to prepare my meals for the possibility of cold weather. I love one pot meals and chili is on my list of top comfort foods. Today we have taken traditional comfort food and turned up the heat AND flavor! The idea of a Chipotle Pumpkin Chili Recipe infuses several flavors and allows us to use our left over pumpkin we Continue Reading
Quick and Easy Chipotle Pasta Sauce
In my house cooking is always an infusion of various flavors. When I was a child my Guatemalan mother made everything with a kick! Tortillas were always on hand yet regular white bread was scarce. Once my mother married my New Orleans born father, other flavors were introduced to our family. Good ole' Mississippi Southern style dishes, Creole and Cajun cuisine (there is a difference in the two) and everything in the middle. I started cooking for my family at the age of 11 years old. My father Continue Reading
Los Isleño of Louisiana
Growing up in Los Angeles then moving to Southeast Louisiana at the age of 12 was an unusual experience. I was very fortunate that I was young enough to adapt and create a kinship with living outside of the New Orleans area. I discuss culture in Louisiana, my Latina heritage and my struggle to find the Latina connection with my own children fairly often on my site. What many don't know is that there is a rich Isleño community & culture that resides right here in Louisiana. Some have traced Continue Reading
State Farm & Safety plus a Giveaway #CelebrateMyDrive
This is part of a sponsored collaboration with Latina Mom Bloggers and State Farm. However, all opinions expressed are my own. In my last State Farm Celebrate My Drive post I mentioned that my teen daughter will be entering a new phase of her life shortly by becoming a teen driver. I am so nervous about this stage but with the help of so many organizations doing their best to promote safe teen drivers, it makes the transition a little easier to manage as a parent. Celebrate My Drive® is a Continue Reading
Pass The Purse #PurplePurse #Sponsored
This sponsored campaign in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and The Allstate Foundation. What affects one in four women in their lifetime? Domestic violence- that is four times more than breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer combined. 1 in 3 Americans open discuss Domestic Violence with their friends and family. So in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, The Allstate Foundation created the Purple Purse campaign to urge people to openly talk about domestic Continue Reading
Tortilla de Huevo y Papas & Twitter Party #HerenciaDelBigote
This is a sponsored post. I was compensated for the creation of this recipe as well as cohosting the Twitter Party. All thoughts & opinions are my own. My work week is a disaster! Between homework, sports practices and household responsibilities I am exhausted. One way I save time is my meal planning properly. When all else fails I make a dinner that is quick and affordable with items I already have at home. What's one thing I have plenty of? Eggs! Finding a egg dish is super easy. Continue Reading
Learning To Let Go: The Color Pink
My daughter's 13th birthday is approaching and my thoughts keep going back to her younger days. The days where we would spend hours in her room play with Barbies, baby dolls and miniature doll houses. I go back to the days when she would have me and her daddy play dress up with her. The days when she loved the color pink. That little girl had hat boxes full of big frilly hair bows and matching bracelets. Ebay was fairly new back then and I would order custom made dress to go with a specific Continue Reading
Teens and Cellphones- How much would you pay?
Disclosure: I was sent a phone & complimentary service in order to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own. Teenagers!! I have to remind myself that having a teen means choosing which battles I need to fight. My 13 year old needs a cell phone but more importantly I need her to have a reliable mobile phone that havs good coverage, at an affordable price. With her active in sports, music and school we need to be able to get in touch with her asap. My husband & I both work so a Continue Reading
My Favorite Childhood Game – Loteria
Once upon a time there was a world free of Candy Crush, Gala Bingo Mobile Slots & Bejeweled. There were no hot apps to download (or even personal computers) to keep us entertained after school or on the weekends. I grew up playing games like Yahtzee, domino, and bingo. Bingo was a family favorite but instead of playing traditional bingo we played Loteria. Although my mother is Guatemalan, she was very familiar with Mexican loteria. For my Latino family Loteria was how we played "Bingo." Continue Reading
Being Loved and Fresh n Sexy #shop #FreshNSexy
Growing up I was never a very physically confident person. But I always had a positive attitude & to this day try to focus on my positive assets versus my pitfalls. Being married for over 16 years, I know my husband is totally in love with me. I'll be the first to admit that I am spoiled by him. He not only is in love with me, but he adores me, worships me and seriously, I have some sort of spell on him which allows him not to see exactly how crazy I really am! Because of this I am always Continue Reading
Roasted Tomato Stand ’N Stuff Tacos #Spon
I received food items in order to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own. Like many of you, my workweek is hectic. I don't know one mother who has "all the time in the world" to get things done. As our to do list gets longer, our free time gets cut even shorter so I am always on a mission to find ways to cut corners. Dinnertime is a perfect example on how I cut corners. I try to use ingredients that can help save me time in the kitchen so I can spend more quality time where it maters Continue Reading
2013 PEOPLE EN ESPANOL FESTIVAL #FestivalPeople
This is part of a compensated campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and Festival People En Español however, all opinions expressed are my own. I remember growing up in Los Angeles Saturday morning meant watching few carton eating a bowl of cereal & relaxing until my mother woke up. Once she was awake we would start our weekend routine cleaning house with my mother. Listening to Latin music while cleaning was her way to keep us moving and working hard to clean our small duplex. I still hear the Continue Reading