How is this for the perfect summer party dessert?  Take advantage of the peak of strawberry season and serve this classic at your next birthday party, baby shower or family barbecue.  The preparation is so simple — it can be turned into a cooking activity among your guests and have them assemble their own.

“Breakfast party,” you say?  Replace the angel food cake loaf with homemade mini-pancakes and serve with maple syrup!

These charming shortcake sticks are popular with the kids and are great conversation starters. A beautiful and distinctive way to serve dessert and sweeten up your summer with just a few ingredients.

Ingredients

1 angel food cake loaf, sliced into 1” cubes (use a serrated knife for easy cutting)

3 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled and cut in halves.

Cool Whip Whipped Topping

8-10 wooden skewers, with pointy sides cut off

To assemble skewers:

Alternate shortcake cubes and strawberry halves by piercing on each skewer.

To serve:

Place assembled skewers on a platter and let guests dollop the whipped topping over skewers.  Whipped topping can also be served on the side for dipping.

Serves 8-10

Parents can all relate to the picky-eaters stages we confront with our kids. One day they love this, the next day they can´t stand the sight of it. You stock up on a particular snack just to see it come back untouched in the lunchbox. You keep trying and getting creative but nothing seems to stick. At least that´s how it rolls in my house with my girl.

However, there´s a few fruits we can pretty much always count on our girl loving and one of them is strawberries. We eat them in smoothies, in shakes, on top of waffles or just plain and sliced. When we really want to make a bowl of strawberries a special and fun-to-eat treat, we add a dollop of COOL WHIP Whipped Topping as a dip. Kids love, love, love to dip and the taste of a juicy and fresh strawberry dipped in some sweet Cool Whip is simple, yet special. Plus, it’s a snack your kids can help you prepare because strawberries are easy to slice with a dull knife (under supervision) and they can have a blast spooning out the Cool Whip into a small bowl. Such a treat all around!

Disclosure: We are working in partnership with the COOL WHIP brand and are receiving compensation for our participation in this campaign. All thoughts/opinions, stories and recipes are 100% our own.

About a month ago my daughter and I met up with my mom – la abuelita – who flew from El Salvador to meet up with us to travel around Florida for some work and leisure. I really needed a helping hand since I had two conferences to attend in Florida within 10 days of each other and figured it would ease the craziness of my travel schedule is I just brought my daughter with me and we made it a trip for her to bond with abuelita.

Part of the trip was to visit my aunt (my mother´s sister) who lives in Tampa with her boys and husband. During our short stay there, we wanted to celebrate my cousin´s 16th birthday, but it had to be simple, yet very special. I mentioned that I´ve always wanted to learn how to make the decadent Cardenal (also known as Pavlova) cake my mom used to make or buy for  most holidays and celebrations. I thought it was a Salvadoran tradition, but I found out it´s just my mom´s favorite pastel and she loves finding any excuse to have one!

Well, this was a perfect excuse, but we just didn´t have the time to make one before the birthday dinner. So, inspired by the conversations we´d been having about my Cool Whip ad (they´re so proud and had gone out to buy copies of every magazine it was in!), we realized we could make our own, super easy, no-bake, 3-ingredients only Cardenal and all it would take would be a quick trip to the supermarket!

A regular Cardenal is a bit complicated to make because of the consistency required for the meringue which should be crunchy outside, but chewy inside. We decided ours would be super crunchy, creamy, delicious and oh-such-a-treat!

Ingredients for a No Bake Cardenal Recipe

1- Store-bought meringue cookies, enough to cover three layers of your cake dish

2. One 16 oz bucket of COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

3. One pint of sliced strawberries

Directions:

Select a round cake dish and start out by spooning the Cool Whip all over the dish to create a smooth base to start layering.

Place the meringue cookies one after the other so they completely cover the dish´s surface.

Add a layer of Cool Whip over the meringue cookies.

Follow with a layer of sliced strawberries.

Repeat the steps above one more time and end with a layer of strawberries and a dollop of Cool Whip.

Place in the refrigerator for about an hour just to let the layers set in.

What you´ll end up with is a delicious, sweet and unique treat you can put together in no time to make any occasion extra special!

Disclosure: I am working in partnership with the COOL WHIP brand and I am receiving compensation for my participation in this campaign. All thoughts/opinions, stories and this recipe are 100% my own.

As a busy and time-crunched mom, it’s easy to get lost in the craziness of our endless to-do lists and just getting through the everyday routines. To top it off, we have to be our kids playmates, teachers, mentors, captain, event coordinator and guide. And that’s not even counting what it takes to be a wife and just stay sane and healthy!

Amidst it all, everyday I make an effort to spend quality time with my girl and give her my full attention. Since she’s an only child-and a very fiery and passionate girl-she basically demands this attention all the time. So I have to make sure she knows I’m there for her, but also that mami has to take care of many things around the house.

Since she does spend a huge chunk of the day at preschool and aftercare so that I can work, I’ve come up with a special way of letting her know I’m always thinking of her, even when we’re not together. This is my way of adding a special touch to her day: lunch notes in Spanish with stickers.

She can’t read yet, but she recognizes letters and can read and write her own name, plus she just loves stickers. This has become a ritual of sorts and something for her to look forward to everyday. Her lunchbox has a small zippered pocket in the front and that’s where she can find her little notita every day.

Busy moms have to work a little extra harder to find the moments where we can add a little something extra to make it special and memorable for our family. Wouldn´t you agree?

To raise a bilingual child is already a huge and special feat in and of itself. How do you add special touches to your daily routine to show your family how much you care for them?

I invite you to visit the Cool Whip page on Facebook to share the many special ways you have show your familia how much you care, plus you’ll get to download a coupon (while supplies last).

Disclosure: I am working in partnership with the COOL WHIP brand and I am receiving compensation for my participation in this campaign. All thoughts/opinions are 100% my own.

While it’s still a bit odd to see myself on an ad, I do love the text: “Ana is passionate about making sure her daughter not only speaks two languages but also eats from both sides of her cultural heritage: Latino and American.” 

Check it out!

Those cones I’m holding up were inspired by me and are actually made with pudding and Cool Whip!

The Cool Whip cones actually brought back memories of one of my childhood birthdays when my mom made clown ice cream cones which I loved. Of course, I can’t remember what they tasted like, just how very special I felt about this fun treat and how cool they looked! For some reason, it’s one of my earliest childhood memories. Don’t even know if my mom remembers making them (I need to ask her!), but I can now tell her that her adding that special touch did make me feel special.

I can’t even begin to tell you how crazy, busy my life is lately and having fun, easy and tasty treats to make with my girl can turn an ordinary moment into an extraordinary one. Any little special and unexpected treat in my girl’s day, like these Cool Whip cones, is what I’m always looking out for.

Want to learn how easy it is to make them?

COOL WHIP Sweet Cream Cones Recipe

Prep Time: 20 min. plus freezing | Makes: 10 servings, 1 cone each

What You Need

2 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Instant Pudding, any flavor
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
5 pirouette cookies, cut in half
10 flat-bottom ice cream cones

Make It

Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in 2 cups of the whipped topping.

Spoon evenly into ice cream cones; spread tops with remaining whipped topping and sprinkle with multi-colored sprinkles (if desired) before freezing. Insert a piece of pirouette cookie.

Freeze 3 hours or until firm. Store in freezer.

Check out the Cool Whip Facebook page for more recipes such as Strawberry Pie, Chocolate Lasagna, Fresh Fruit Sundae and more. And this YouTube video for a behind-the-scenes of the Cool Whip Moms photo shoot!

Disclosure: I am working in partnership with the COOL WHIP brand and I am receiving compensation for my participation in this campaign. All thoughts/opinions are 100% my own.

Cool Whip whipped topping was looking for busy moms who, somehow, still find the time to make every day special for their families and that was something I could definitely identify with. And, well…they found me! And by “found” I mean they invited me to be one of four bloggers to be part of a their new national print advertising campaign. Yes, national…as in our pictures will appear inside the pages of magazines I actually buy.

The invitation was a bit overwhelming for me because I didn’t see an opportunity like this to spread the word about SpanglishBaby coming to us so fast and furiously.

The Cool Whip ad will feature yours truly with a top secret dessert of our creation and a paragraph telling the world about my joint-custody cyber baby: SpanglishBaby.com!

The shoot took place in NYC the first week in January. As you might remember, I was in El Salvador spending the holidays with the familia during those days. So, this busy mamá had to fly out to freezing New York City for two days while my girl and husband were well-fed and well-loved in El Salvador.

In NYC, I got to meet the fabulous three bloggers who were also chosen for this campaign. We instantly bonded as we saw each other get transformed for the shoot at a beautiful studio loft overlooking the Chelsea Piers and the Empire State building.

At first I was nervous about what to expect because even though I´ve been in these scenarios plenty of times behind the scenes, this was my first time in the actual spotlight with people primping and staring at me. The photographer was adorable and funny and totally made us at ease as we posed with our imaginary Cool Whip creations.

The campaign launches in March and I can´t wait to see the ad and share it with the SpanglishBaby familia!!

Disclosure:  I am working in partnership with the Cool Whip brand and I am receiving compensation for my participation in this campaign. All thoughts/opinions are 100% my own.