VIDEO: CORN TORTILLAS! Erh. Mah. Gerd.

I still can't believe it. 

CORN TORTILLAS!!!!!

Wishing you love with extra cheese-

Nacho Mama

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Hope you're spending the day together with the people you love!

Wishing you HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY with extra cheese-

Nacho Mama

A Mexcellent Playlist for Your CINCO DE MAYO CELEBRATION!!

Lighting a vela for YOUR Cinco party!

Hola everyone!

As a Mexcellent-American and a native of Southern California, this day is always a little funny for me. Even though Cinco de Mayo is a holiday we NEVER celebrated in my family when I was a kid, I really love that this country takes a day to celebrate Mexican culture, crafts, food and more! HOWEVER...even here in America's Finest City ("I can see Mexico from my house!") Cinco de Mayo celebrations often take a few, um, liberties. 

Yes, I'm talking about the music.

PODCAST Episode 46: We're BACK! And we have a HUGE GIVEAWAY!

Listen to internet radio with NachoMamasPodcast on Blog Talk Radio

Click the player to listen NOW!

Did you miss me? I missed YOU! Today we'll be catching up on all things Weight Watchers, Rupaul's Drag Race and what I've been up to since making goal 6 weeks ago. PLUS: to say THANK YOU for supporting the podcast and me all this time, I've got a VERY SPECIAL GIVEAWAY!

THANK YOU, LATINA MAGAZINE! #Gratitude

Hi everyone! Hope you've been having a great spring-I've been so busy that I'm muy behind on EVERYTHING, especially the blog & podcast. No worries, though, I have big plans in store!

In the meantime, I wanted to be sure and share something really special that happened over a week ago. I woke to find my twitter feed exploding with messages of congratulations! It seems Latina magainze had named me among their Top 10 Mommy Bloggers-COMO??!!!

image via wikipedia

I am so humbled to have been included among such wonderful bloggers, many of whom I have had the pleasure to meet "IRL". It was truly a wonderful surprise and a great honor. Please check out the entire list and the blogs of all the other wonderful mamis HERE.

THANK YOU LATINA! 

Wishing you love with extra cheese-
Nacho Mama

Gettin' Back on the Exercise Train with MILK!

It's that time of year again! Time to tackle those fitness and weightloss goals. I did pretty well last year and am pretty close to my goal weight-but I need to step up my game. Those of you who've been reading the blog lately know that I've even set up a little Dietbet. I've got to lose about 6 pounds by February 10th or I'm gonna lose $15 bucks!

Can these bicep curls help YOU keep those resolutions?

Fortunately for me, the folks over at El Vaso Medio Lleno are sharing a fun series of videos featuring exercises that you can do with (what else?) a gallon jug of MILK! Give them a try-you'll be surprised how challenging they actually are!

Mamacita, Donde Esta the Mayan Apocolypse?

I know that I should be the sleeping...(image via Wikipedia)

So....yeah. We're all still here. But the picture in this video is totally how I imagine the Mayan Apocolypse would have looked if it had happened. So now that we can all relax, let's CHA-CHA with Augie Rios! 

Wishing you love (and Feliz Navidad) with extra cheese-
Nacho Mama

REVIEW: Dear Santa, please can I have a Nissan Pathfinder?

Pretty cool for a "mom car" right?

Hi everyone! I was so lucky to get the chance to check out the LA Auto Show this week (it's still on through tomorrow) and see the new Nissan Pathfinder. My family is planning to buy a new car in 2013, we'll be going from 2 cars to one, so I was very interested to see what the Nissan Pathfinder had to offer!

"The Best Fudge in the World" #Positivisimo #Recipe

Hello everyone!

Can you believe it's almost time for THANKSGIVING? What?!!

the little boy in the foreground is my dad

If you're like me, you don't like to show up to a holiday shindig empty handed. But, if you're also like me? You're a terrible baker. So I'd like to share a quick and easy fudge recipe that's sure to please your holiday hostess!

The Milk Truck Stops By At Bedtime #VIDEO #Positivisimo #CUTE

One of my favorite things about being a "Positivity Ambassador" for Milk (aside from using it to win arguments with my friends, "What do you mean I have a bad attitude? I'm a Positivity Ambassador!") is that my kids and I have had a great time reading the adorable bedtime stories in English and Spanish that are available to download for free at www.otroscuentos.com. I try to teach my kids Spanish but, I must admit, I'm pretty lazy about it. So I'm always tickled when my toddler asks for his bedtime "lechemilk"!

Bedtime Ritual for One Night of the Year #Positivisimo #Spon

As I mentioned last week, bedtime rituals are a pretty big deal in our house. There are baths, stories, a glass of milk-maybe even lullabies. But there is one night of the year where it all goes out the window, HALLOWEEN!

Halloween, 1976

My mom would always make sure we'd had a GOOD, nutritious dinner and a tall glass of milk before we hit the streets. She used to say it was to "coat our stomachs", but I think it was her secret weapon to help us get to sleep after all that candy! She usually made our costumes, like the one in the photo above-I was Witchiepoo from H.R.Puffenstuff. Yes, I am that old-lol!

Even now, Halloween is the one night of the year that we skip our regular routine. There's still a good dinner and a glass of milk to prepare small tummies for the candy onslaught. There's still a story, but it's a spooky one, like "La Llorona" or something involving the Cucuy. It's fun to shake up the routine for just one night out of the year-especially since, we moms know, it's always going to end the same way.

Before seatbelt laws-passed out in the backseat on Mom's Pinto

Do YOU shake up your bedtime routine for Halloween?

Remember, The Master of The Glass Half Full has a bunch of adorable bedtime stories available for you to download for FREE at www.otroscuentos.com.

Wishing you love with extra cheese-
Nacho Mama

 This is part of a sponsored campaign with the California Milk Processor Board and Latina Mom Bloggers. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

 

What's YOUR Bedtime Ritual? #GIVEAWAY #Positivisimo

Hi everyone!

We're talking about sleep again, and I'm happy to report that I've been sleeping MUCH better lately, yay! My kids have always been really good sleepers, and I like to think that's because they have a pretty solid bedtime ritual. Both my kids end the day with a glass of milk and a nice story to settle them down for the night. This ritual helps settle MOM down, too! Plus it helps me get in one of the 2-3 servings of lean dairy I try to get every day.

Yes, I am wearing "Toma Leche" PAJAMAS!

I recently received the cutest bedtime story from Otroscuentos.com! My son especially enjoyed it.

Skip the Snacking and "See What Unfolds" ! #spon

Gotta love a graphic that matches my blog!

Not too long ago I did about podcast about "30 Things to Do Instead of Snacking". I'm happy to say I've tried many of the tips suggested by some of my favorite weightloss bloggers with great success, but I also realized I forgot to share one of my favorite ways to curb a "Snack Attack"-CHEWING GUM!

For me, the danger time is always around 3pm.

A Good Morning Starts With A Good Night #Positivisimo

Good Morning!

How'd you sleep? I don't know about you, but I've never been what you might call a "Good Sleeper". For as long as I can remember, I've had trouble falling and staying asleep. Recently, though, I'm glad to say that's changed. I like to think it's because I've been drinking a glass of nonfat milk every night before bed, since I've been getting 2-3 servings of milk per day as part of my diet regime. Turns out, that might actually be why I'm sleeping better!


Unlike me, my kids have always been good sleepers-and they've always enjoyed a glass of milk before bed. Coincidence?

MEXICAN RICE RECIPE RENOVATION and GIVEAWAY! #Sobrecitos #Spon

Who loves Mexican Rice? I do! And so does my family. In fact, my mom's Mexican rice is probably my son's favorite food ever. And nobody makes it better than my mom does...at least, until now! 

My Mama Lola served Mexican Rice with almost every meal.

"Shape Up For Summer" Block Party! #Positivisimo

Happy Summer everyone! Hope you've been having a beautiful time in this glorious warm weather and getting in lots of fun activity. My Zumba classes are going very well-so well that I decided to invite some of my students to join me and my family for a very special "block party!"

YUMMY!

 I've been sharing with them how I've been selected as a "Positivity Ambassador" for Milk and wanted to serve them some delicious milk-based recipes. It was a great excuse to get my cooking on!
The recipes were such a hit that I wanted to share them with all of you, too.

Let's all Shape Up for Summer with Milk! #Positivisimo

Hello everyone! Hard to believe that summer is already upon us. Many of us have long forgotten those New Years' resolutions to get in shape, right? Wrong! My main New Year's resolution was to reach my goal weight in 2012 and I'm happy to share that it going very well. I've been exercising more and more since the start of the year. As some of you know, I've even recently become a certified Zumba instructor! My diet has been very good but I must admit that I have been seriously slacking in one area-my goal to get at least 2 servings of lean dairy per day. So I was absolutely delighted to be asked, once again, to serve as a Positivity Ambassador for the California Milk Processor Board's Shape Up for Summer campaign!

#GIVEAWAY! Who's excited about saving at Dollar General? #DGLatino

If you heard my podcast about couponing a while back, you know that this mom LOVES to save!

I enjoy a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget!

Back when I lived on the east coast, one of my FAVORITE places to save was DOLLAR GENERAL! As a mom who loves to save and with couponing being all the rage these days, I'm always surprised that more people don't explore their local "dollar store" - there are so many brilliant bargains there!

HISPANICIZE 2012! Friends, Fun and what I wore #Hispz12

Hello everyone! I'm back from Miami and I can't wait to share some of the wonderful people I met and heard there. I arrived a day after the conference had started, so I missed the truly inspirational presentation by Ted Rubin talking about one of my favorite topics: how social media is all about relationships. I flew out early on Wednesday courtesy of Hispanicize sponsor Southwest Airlines. I was SOOOO impressed by their new "Evolve" interiors and all the staff were extremely friendly and helpful-thanks Southwest!

Miami at night-AMAZING!

Eye Didn't Know That! #TransitionsLens

Did you wear glasses as a kid?  I always had perfect vision in elementary school. I passed all the vision exams (administered by the school nurse) with flying colors year after year. When I transferred to a Catholic school, the nurse no longer tested our vision on a regular basis. Then one day when I was a sophomore in high school, I was waking up and realized that I couldn't read the calendar on the wall of my room with my left eye. In fact, I could hardly see anything with my left eye at all-it was a very scary surprise!  Even though I was already a teenager, I had a hard time explaining what I was experiencing to my parents. Finally they decided to take me to an eye doctor to get some answers and we discovered that I had astigmatism and serious vision loss in my left eye. My right eye was also losing some vision from having to compensate for the left one. I've worn glasses ever since. I'll never forget the first time I put on my glasses, it was like I was really seeing the world for the first time. I remember wondering, "How long has this been going on? And what have I been missing all this time?"

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