tips

Fun, Easy and Delicious Mango Snacks (and Mango Tips!)

April 23, 2015 by Sandra 7 Comments

This is a sponsored collaboration with The Motherhood and the National Mango Board. #MakeItMango

I love mango.

It’s the one fruit that brings up fond childhood memories almost every time I eat it. Growing up, I remember eating it often during the summers I spent in Mexico. There, mangos were about a two-minute walk to the nearest neighborhood store.

Or, my family and I would buy pre-sliced and (literally) ready-to-eat mangos from someone selling them at the market, and we’d eat them as we walked, talked, and shopped.

I treasure those memories.

Making Mango Memories with My Kids

My children have never been to Mexico, but I share my stories with them. I’ve told them about how mangos are sold right on the street, and how people buy them to eat right then and there. It’s all very wonderful. 😉

And I recently had a chance to make lasting ‘mango memories’ with my kids at a Kids in the Kitchen cooking class at The Chopping Block in Chicago.

Mango Class at The Chopping Block

The class was awesome!

I took Breanna, Isaac, David, and Elisabeth with me (I’m pretty sure I was the only mom there with four kids. 😉 ), and we had a great time even though Isaac and David didn’t end up liking all of the mango recipes.

The kids learned about different varieties of mangos, how to properly cut a mango, when a mango is ready to eat, and, of course, a few easy snack recipes.

DID YOU KNOW?

Mangos are the world’s most popular fruit and are available year-round, so you can always get your hands on a perfect mango.

Six varieties of mango make up most of what is available in the U.S. Because each variety comes into season at a different time of year, you’ll always find a mango in your produce aisle.

Isaac’s favorite part of any meal is dessert, so he loved the frozen yogurt dipped mango pops.

Elisabeth is like me and loves mango, so she was more than willing to give the different mango snacks a try. 🙂

Mango and Banana Smoothie

We left the class at The Chopping Block happy and excited about eating more mango! The first recipe that we learned in class and tried at home was the mango and banana smoothie.

This smoothie is so delicious and healthy. We used a recipe we brought home from the mango class and only changed one ingredient. Instead of using low-fat milk like the original recipe called for, we used rice milk with fantastic results.

I’ll definitely be making this smoothie again, and I’m looking forward to exploring even more smoothie combinations using mangos!

Vlog of Our Kids in the Kitchen Mango Class Experience

Since I’ve started vlogging twice a week, I decided to vlog about our trip to Chicago for the mango class. It’s a fun family vlog, and if you start watching it here, you can find out exactly how to properly cut a mango! 🙂

Visit mango.org for additional information on mango varieties, availability and recipes.

What’s your favorite way to enjoy mangos?

How I’m Using the InStyler Max 2-Way Rotating Iron to Straighten My Hair (Before and After Pictures)

December 5, 2014 by Sandra 2 Comments

Thanks to Vocalpoint for the InStyler tools and for partnering with me on this review.

When it comes to my hair, I keep it simple.

If you’ve watched any of my YouTube videos, you know this is true. 😉

It’s not that I don’t want to spent a lot of time fixing my hair every day – it’s just that as a mom of five, ~~kids start banging on the door~~ I don’t have the time to spare. But I don’t use that as an excuse to walk around looking frumpy day-in and day-out. (And I KNOW my husband appreciates this!) Nope. After I wake up, I get ball rolling, put on some makeup, and fix my hair.

InStyler Hair Tools

Most recently, I’ve started using the InStyler MAX 2-Way Rotating Iron to straighten my hair. Someday, I’ll learn how to curl my hair like a pro. For now, I love the ease of straightening my hair and having a put together look in a short amount of time.

InStyler actually offers three different hair tools: the TULIP Auto Curler, the Ionic Styler Pro, and (my favorite) the MAX 2-Way Rotating Iron.

Back to the MAX 2-Way Rotating Iron, you can see that it has a built-in brush, and the barrel easily rotates in two directions depending on which side of your hair you happen to be working on. You can even curl your hair with the MAX, but I’m sticking to its straightening features for now. Of them, I like that the InStyler MAX straightens my hair while giving it body and volume.

It doesn’t leave my hair super flat like some flat irons do.

Extra Features on the InStyler MAX

While you can certainly use the MAX 2-Way Rotating Iron out-of-the-box, it comes with two additional pieces that I definitely recommend using. First, there’s the removable cool tip, which allows you more control as you use the InStyler MAX.

Then there’s the thermal guard. It protects your scalp and fingers from the hot barrel. At one point, I decided to use the MAX without the thermal guard. Bad idea! Lesson learned, and I won’t be doing that again! 😉

The Part Where I Step Out of My Comfort Zone

So… I don’t normally post pictures of myself like this here on the blog, but I want to show what the InStyler MAX can do. However, I wish I would’ve taken these BEFORE Thanksgiving and the five extra pounds that have decided to stick around. That’s what I get for procrastinating!

Even so, I think they turned out okay. 😉

Here’s what my hair looked like BEFORE I used the InStyler MAX 2-Way Rotating Iron:

And here’s what it looked like AFTER:

I liked the ‘after’ so much so that I decided to switch out the profile picture on all of my social media accounts to that image.

And now I’ve crossed one more thing off my to-do list. 🙂

Which one of the InStyler hair tools would you be most likely to try? Or, straight or curly, which do you prefer for your everyday look?

P.S. You can visit the InStyler website and enter the code SAVE30 for a 30% discount on the line of InStyler tools. This code is good for the purchase of two tools through 1/31/15.

How I Use My Intel Tablet to Stay Organized

November 16, 2014 by Sandra 6 Comments

#sponsored: I’m required to disclose a relationship between our site and Intel. This could include the Intel Corporation providing us w/content, product, access or other forms of payment.

If it’s not on the calendar, it’s not REAL.

This is a saying I heard earlier this year, and it made a huge impact on my thinking. How so? Well, now I schedule as much as I can on my Google Calendar. Getting ready for the day, homeschooling, cleaning, blog posts, reminders to schedule blog posts, recipe testing, photo shoots, social media reminders, emails, exercise and on and on.

I schedule it.

I’ve stopped using a paper planner and instead plan out the important and even mundane tasks on my Google Calendar. It’s made a world of difference, and I don’t see myself ever going back to writing out my schedule again. One huge reason is because Google Calendar allows me to block out time for each task, and that makes it easy to see when I’ll have time for something and when I’m over scheduling myself and need to make a change.

How I Stay Organized

I’m not able to sit down at my computer as often as I’d like to (kids, you know 😉 ), so I’ve been relying mostly on my smartphone for Google Calendar reminders throughout the day. I’ve also loved using my smartphone to quickly create short notes or lists that I can come back to when I need them.

Honestly, this way of getting things done works for me.

But… when there’s an opportunity to make staying organized even easier, well, I say try it! And that’s exactly what I did when Intel sent me an Asus MeMO Pad 7 Intel Tablet to review.

As you can see, the Intel tablet is larger than my smartphone, but it’s still small enough to carry around the house and not feel like it’s a burden. It has a 7-inch screen and is quite thin and lightweight which makes it easy to slip into your purse.

The display is AMAZING! Whoa. I wasn’t expecting such a high-quality display from such a budget-friendly tablet! I’m so impressed. 😉

By the way, electronic devices are difficult to photograph well, but trust me, the screen display is crisp and clear.

Asus MeMO Pad Apps and Organization Tools

Besides the great outward features, the Asus Intel tablet is equipped with its own apps. One of my favorites is the “Quick Memo” app. In a flash, this app allows me to create a note or list like the one I made in the picture below.

I can then pin that list to the home screen of the tablet, so that I can see it and tackle whatever it is that needs to be done.

There are a lot more Asus apps on this tablet. I’m personally looking forward to understanding the Asus “Do It Later” app very soon! 🙂

Google Calendar on the Asus Intel Tablet

I still use Google Calendar every single day. I would be a mess without it. But it’s bigger and better on the tablet than it is on my smartphone. It’s so much easier to see my schedule and move things around. And calendar reminders go straight to my tablet as well.

So, for staying on top of everyday life and so much more, I love this Asus Intel tablet! 🙂

What are some of your favorite ways to stay organized?

5 More Potty Training Tips and an Update from the Trenches

May 16, 2014 by Sandra Leave a Comment

This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with Pull-Ups® Training Pants and Latina Bloggers Connect.

Potty training my baby girl is going to take longer than I thought.

I mentioned in my last potty training tips post that I pretty much have all the time in the world when it comes to teaching her to use the potty, and she can take all the time she needs.

You know, because she’s baby number five, and we aren’t planning on having anymore children. I’ll never get to experience the joys of teaching a little one to use the bathroom again, so I’m totally fine with drawing this thing out. 😉

However, at the moment, Elisabeth is clearly demonstrating all the signs that she’s ready to use the big kid potty. She doesn’t want to wear diapers, and she doesn’t like the feeling of “going” in her diaper anymore. She loves her Pull-Ups Training Pants and talks about “going” in the potty.

But then she avoids it like crazy.

That’s okay, though.

Just like with nursing her longer than I did my other kids, I’m in no rush when it comes to potty training her. I actually have a feeling that one day she’s simply going to get the hang of it, and that’ll be it. Elisabeth will be potty trained.

In the meantime…

Here are 5 more potty training tips and things you can do to help your toddler achieve potty training success. 🙂

Tip #1: Set up a reward system to encourage your child to use the potty. I probably don’t have to tell you this, but rewards are incredibly motivating for little ones. Use stickers or a special treat to persuade your child to go to the bathroom on their own.

Tip #2: Even if a child is able to fairly quickly learn how to use the potty during the day, it may take a while for them to be fully trained at night. With boys, it could take a LONG while (just my experience), so it’s a great idea to continue to put Pull-Ups Training Pants on them before bedtime. Otherwise, you may be doing extra laundry in the morning.

Tip #3: Try to help your child overcome their potty fears with books. Stories are powerful. Find one or two books at your local library and see if they can help your toddler overcome any fears they might have.

Tip #4: Parents have been using Pull-Ups Training Pants to help with potty training little ones for a very long time. Visit the Pull-Ups website for encouragement, tools, and resources.

Tip #5: Speak to other moms and find out what worked for them. There are so many different ways to potty train. If your current method isn’t working, it’s always a great idea to talk to another mom. You’ll probably laugh as you swap stories, and it’s possible that what worked for her son or daughter may work for your little one, too.

Do you have any potty training tips to share? I’d love to hear them!