Mom Hacks, Tips & Tricks

Each year, almost immediately after Halloween, our calendars become full with holiday commitments, leaving hardly any time to stop and breathe until after the New Year. Around this same time of year, thanks to social media, we fall into the comparison trap and evolve into a wannabe Pinterest perfect Christmas super mom. You know her, and you may even become her when the end of November rolls around. She wants to make meaningful holiday memories with her family in all the ways---baking cookies, crafting ornaments, taking Santa pictures, and hosting holiday parties, all while trying to budget and shop for the perfect gifts for loved ones and juggle her normal non-holiday related responsibilities. AND don’t forget to MOVE. THE. DANG. ELF. We tend...

Maybe you've seen the posable elves? One that can effortlessly climb the refrigerator door? And you wonder, just how those elves got blessed with magic while your elf has sitting magic. I'm here to tell you Elf Surgery is simple and easy! My little sister is an elf surgeon and performed surgery on our first elf. Last year I may or may not have found some on clearance to add to our outrageous elf collection but I needed them to be just as much fun as our original! So I put in a call to the Elf Surgeon and she walked me through, step by step--it was very Grey's Anatomy! And now we have 3 posable, magnetic elves to...

Disclosure :: This post is written by Savanna Latimer, RDN, LDN of Ochsner Eat Fit Baton Rouge. Healthy Gumbo Recipe Are you looking for a healthy twist on a southern favorite? This gumbo uses whole wheat flour in place of traditional roux, Al Fresco chicken sausage, Tabasco, and no-salt stock to keep the sodium low, and it is packed with greens! In place of traditional white rice, serve over brown rice, cauliflower rice, or without rice. Spicy Chicken Sausage & Seafood Green Gumbo Recipe Makes 6 servings 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour 8 cups no-salt-added chicken stock, divided 1 onion, diced 3 stalks celery, diced 1 green bell pepper, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 5 kale leaves, washed, stemmed, julienned 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon file powder 1 teaspoon dried...

My husband is a carnivore, he wants meat with every meal. I, on the other hand, can be completely happy with a week of meatless meals. I don’t particularly like red meat and one can only eat so much chicken before you’ve just had enough. Over the years, we’ve worked in some meatless meals that we can both agree are tasty and filling.  Here are three meatless meals that are on the menu in our house and a couple of bonus soups. I think soups are great meals, but my husband says we have to agree to disagree on soup as a meal. These meals are also toddler approved, despite or maybe because of, ingredients like quinoa, couscous and lentils.  This...

Toys. Toys ending up everywhere and me nagging the kids to clean it up, and me needing to supervise the entire process to ensure they didn’t get distracted and me losing my cool because toys EVERYWHERE. And repeat. Day in, day out. If you have little kids, I know you know what I am talking about. The toy clutter in every nook and cranny possible is enough to make anyone’s chest feel tight. And so day in and day out, my kids would witness a full blown mom tantrum brought on by the sight of toys everywhere. We didn’t need a better organization system because if you know me, you know that organization is my jam, and the playroom has a...