Ad: Black and Bleu Burger

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BPPatties #CollectiveBias

I love burgers. To me, a burger is man food! My favorite burger is a Black and Bleu burger. Believe me, if I see a black and bleu burger on a menu, I am ordering it. I love it so much that I have even learned how to make one at home. Yes, this is coming from a man that only knows how to fry eggs. Black and Bleu burgers are amazing. They are a blackened burger patty, topped with bleu cheese, bacon, mushrooms and caramalized onions. I mean, does it get any better than this?

My honey knows how much I love burgers so the other day when she was grocery shopping, she bought these  Ball Park ® Flame Grilled fully cooked burgers. I'm always on the go and don't always have time to grill a burger so these fully cooked frozen burgers, which are microwavable, were a great solution!

Beef and Cheese or just Beef? How is a man to choose?

As soon as I saw the bags of Ball Park® burgers in the freezer last night, I knew I wanted a Black and Bleu burger for dinner! I mean look at this beauty!

BLACK & BLEU BURGER

Serves one

Ingredients:

1 Ball Park® Beef with Cheese and Bacon patty

2 rounds of sliced red onions

1 tbsp butter

4 baby bella mushrooms

crumbled bleu cheese

2 slices of thick bacon, fully cooked

1 French hamburger bun

 Directions:
In a pan on medium heat, add butter and onions. Cook onions for about 5 minutes or until softened.

While onions are cooking, put one frozen patty on a microwave-safe plate.

Microwave according to package directions.

Once onions are soft, set aside and add mushrooms to the same pan. Cook 2 minutes per side. A black and bleu burger needs a blackened patty, so as soon as the mushrooms are done, set aside and add the patty to the pan. Cook for 1 minute on each side over high heat. Remove from pan.

Now it's time to assemble your burger. First, cut a French hamburger bun (or any good bakery roll) in half and place patty on bottom half.

Top with crumbled bleu cheese. The cheese will slowly melt over the hot patty.

Add mushrooms over cheese.

Then add the bacon.

Finally, top your creation with the caramalized onions!

I don't add ketchup or mustard to this burger but you are welcome to do so to yours. This is burger-perfection right here and in less than 10 and no grill required!

I was very happy with my dinner and so happy that I can now have a burger any time! Next time, I'm adding a fried egg. Gotta make sure to use all my cooking skills!

Ball Park® patties are available in the frozen food section at Publix. They come in 7 different varieties, so I'm sure there will be one you will love for your burger creation! 

HALL OF FLAME SWEEPSTAKES/GIVEAWAY

Make sure to enter the Hall of Flame Sweepstakes/Giveaway today where you can enter to win your chance at $1000 in prizes! 

What's your favorite burger? Ever had a black and bleu?

Our Car: Keeping My Family and I Going Since 2006

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CambioConfiable #CollectiveBias

As a family of five, we are busy and constantly driving from one place to another. On a typical day, we drive to the gym, back home, to school dropoffs, work dropoffs, school pickups, work pickups, extracurriculars, back home and maybe back out one more time for groceries. Our car barely gets a break so I make sure to keep it well-maintained. Car maintenance can be expensive so I try to do some of it on my own, like change the oil, item replacements and car washes.

A little background on our car. I was born in Cuba and came to the United States when I was 8. I remember getting here and seeing so many cars and knowing one day I wanted one of my own. When I turned 16, my mom didn't have the means to buy me a car so I drove a hand me down for a couple years. When I was 19 and in college, my girlfriend at the time found out she was pregnant. I remember being in my car on a hot summer day and knowing that we couldn't bring a baby into the world and drive her around in a car that didn't have a/c. 

I saved some money (which was very hard at 19 and in college), went to the dealership and bought (financed) a brand new 2006 Toyota Corolla. I wanted a new car and I was able to get one. I was now a father and was determined to always give my child everything I didn't have as an immigrant into this country. This car, my car, saw me through all my child's first, a second child, single fatherhood, graduating college, new jobs and now transporting my new family around town. 

This car has been a huge part of my life and will continue to be. I plan on keeping it around as long as possible so I keep up the maintenance schedule. Now keeping up a maintenance schedule can get expensive, so like I mentioned before, there are many things I do on my own, like change the oil. Changing the oil on a car is not easy but it is time-consuming. You need to make sure you purchase the correct oil your car requires.  Quaker State has svereal varieties available for your car like the  Advanced Durability Motor Oil and Defy-High Mileage Motor Oil.

Every day as I get into my car I am filled with pride knowing that hard work pays off. I have a car of my own. I have made a life for myself and my family. I know that I am serving as an example to my children about hard work and empowerment. I love my car and plan on driving her around for many more years to come!

 Quaker State Motor Oil is available at Walmart in the Auto Care aisles!

Have you had your car a long time like I've had mine? Tell me about it!

Active Lifestyle? Easy Smartphone Protection With VOLO

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #activeprotection #CollectiveBias

I lead a very active lifestyle. Thankfully, I live in Miami where the weather is amazing year-round. I have choices when it comes to being active: I can be indoors at a gym, workout outside, swim/paddleboard at the beach or even running around the park chasing my kids. The options are endless. While working out, my only required item, other than a water bottle, is my phone. I use it to tell time, as a stopwatch and to listen to music. I use my phone alot and it needs amazing protection from the elements. I found this protection with a protective case from VOLO! 

My phone is always dirty and has been through a couple shattered screens. I know I am not the only one with these issues and so does VOLO. They have these really cool, manly cases, for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. The cases have a Sanitized® feature which hinders the groth of microbes for maximum protection. This is fantastic for a gym rat like me. My sweaty, dirty, chalk-filled hands will no longer be spreading germs on my phone!

VOLO cases are easy to order. You go online to www.VOLOcases.com, choose your phone type and then choose your color. My favorites for my Galaxy were the orange, grey and black. I like having a couple colors on hand to choose from.

I'm ready to go with protection on my smartphone. I'm ready for more early morning walks to the car adjusting my playlist for the gut-wrenching workouts awaiting me at the gym!!

Another thing: look how slim the cases are. The super slim design fits in pockets, purses and backpacks with ease. Reinforced corners provide added protection from drops and easy access to ports make these cases a perfect choice for protection!

Tell me: How do you keep your smartphone protected? 

5 Tips To Build Muscle

Diclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PowerinProtein #CollectiveBias

I've always been tall and skinny. It's been a struggle to gain weight, much less build muscle. I started working out in college and realized that working out and proper nutrition were the only ways for me to gain weight and muscle. Gaining weight for some is as difficult as losing weight is for others. Muscle weighs more than fat so the more muscle I can build, the more I will weigh. After many years of working out and successfully building muscle, I've learned that there are 5 basic tips to success.

1. Lift heavy weight with less reps. When I work my upper body (chests, arms, back) I lift heavy weight at low reps. I choose weights that I can only lift between 1-3 times. If I were to lift light weight with lots of reps, I would also gain muscle but I would tone. I want to bulk.

2. Sleep is important. Muscles need to rest, especially if you are shredding them with heavy weight. When I am working out to bulk (three months out of the year, the rest is training for competitions) I make sure to rest a full 24 hours between workouts and I sleep a minimum of 8 hours a night. 

3. Change your routine often. I change up my workouts various times a year. Sometimes, I take a couple weeks off the gym and just do simple at-home workouts. I don't let my muscles get used to one specific workout because then I would hit a wall and not see any gains. 

4. Eat! Eat! Eat! If you are skinny and want to bulk, you need to eat. I eat 4-5 full meals throughout the day. I burn alot of calories during my workouts and throughout the day so I eat about 4000 calories daily. I know it seems like alot of calories, but I went to see a nutritionist and we set up a bulking plan. It has worked and I am getting close to my goal weight of 195 lbs.

5. Have carbs after a workout. After a workout, your body needs to refuel quickly. I take a shake after my workouts. Shakes are the easiest way to get the carbs and protein your body needs quickly. I like the EAS Myoplex ready-to-drink shakes in Chocolate Fudge. These shakes are so convenient since they come ready-to-drink, just remove the top and refuel!

EAS Myoplex products:

-are a great source of protein

-deliver the protein and nutrients to help your body rebuild

-can help anyone looking to build muscle or maintain existing muscle tone

-is good, complete nutrition

-contain good for you nutrients 

-can help reach and maintain muscle building goals when combined with an active lifestyle

EAS Myoplex RTD's are available in the Sports Nutrition aisle at your local Walmart. They come in delicious flavors: Chocolate Fudge, French Vanilla, Strawberry Cream, Rich Dark Chocolate, Cookies & Cream.

Do you struggle with building muscle? What are some tips you have picked up along the way?

Help Build A Classroom Library and Make Breakfast a Breeze with Kellogg's #Back2SchoolReady

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.  #Back2SchoolReady #CollectiveBias

Summer break is drawing to a close and pretty soon (2 weeks to be exact) my children will be back in school. Our lives get crazy once school starts so I try to help out with the kids as much as possible which has crowned me "the breakfast man!" I make breakfast for my family every morning and am always looking for easy breakfast choices for my family. We love the basics like cereal, eggs and waffles so I always stock up on these breakfast essentials when shopping!

In our home, breakfast needs to be easy, quick and delicious so we turn to Kellogg's products to stock our pantry. Not only do Kellogg's products come in value sizes but they now offer a free Scholastic book for you to keep for your personal library or donate to your local school on specially marked packages. There are 80 titles of books available for beginning readers to teens. 

Each specially marked package includes a code. With this code, you can redeem your choice of hard copy books or e-books (e-books cannot be donated). 

Redeeming is easy. You go to www.freebookoffer.com, create a Kellogg's Family Rewards account, enter your code and choose a book. I asked each kid to pick a book for their new classrooms and then I picked one. We requested for all the books to be donated to my kids' school. Reading is so important and I believe that as long as classrooms have lots of books, kids will read them!

One box of Kellogg's products = 1 book codes are available on many Kellogg's products like cereals, Eggo® Waffles 24 ct, 16 ct Pop-Tarts®, Special K® Protein shakes and bars, Nutri-Grain® bars, Rice Krispies Treats® 16 ct and many more!

Each person can redeem up to 30 books. Codes for free Scholastic books need to be redeemed within 14 days of purchase. The official timeline for books to arrive is 6-8 weeks (even though most come much sooner). 

Specially marked packages of Kellogg's products are available at Walmart. Make sure to hit up all the breakfast aisles so you can be ready for busy mornings!

This upcoming school year is going to rock. 4th, 3rd and 2nd grade, I hope you are ready for my kids!! 

Be sure to check out all the books available via this Kellogg's offer at http://cbi.as/gfgc. Which books would your kids donate to their classrooms?  #Back2SchoolReady