About me

Anne-Marie Nichols You can contact me here. You can see my ad rates here.

About Anne-Marie Nichols and This Mama Cooks!

So why a health food and lifestyle blog?

In 2004, I started This Mama Cooks! to document and share my Thanksgiving plans since it’s my favorite cooking and eating holiday of the year. Soon I was posting about the cakes and recipes I made for my family.

Along the way, I got rather busy starting a charter school and writing at other blogs (see below) and by 2007, This Mama Cooks! was rather neglected. So much so that Alanna Kellogg of Kitchen Parade and A Veggie Venture called me to task about being a lazy food blogger. (My words, not hers.) I reasoned that I didn’t have time to keep up my blog since I was focused on losing weight and eating more healthfully. After all, who wanted to read about diet recipes and my weight loss plans?

Um, hello? The light bulb finally went off and This Mama Cooks! On a Diet was born.

My mission is help people – especially busy moms and their families - get on the road to living a more healthy lifestyle by sharing good-for-you recipes and lifestyle tips. Maybe that means following Weight Watchers or eliminating gluten and milk products from your diet. Or, if you’re a busy parent, finding easy and delicious ways to get your kids to eat more vegetables or even fish!

Beside healthy recipes, I also cover health topics like dental health and braces, vitamins and nutrition, skin products, exercise and weight loss here at This Mama Cooks! On a Diet. I hope it all inspires you and your family to live in a more healthy way with a minimum of fuss.

Social media consulting and professional food blogging

Starting in 2008, I have been working full time as a freelance social media consultant and professional food blogger. Some highlights:

I was one of the original mom bloggers at Club Mom (now CafeMom).
I was a community moderator at CafeMom.
I freelance for Mom Central Consulting as the managing editor of The Mom Central Blog.
I gave two blogging workshops at the Northern Colorado Writers Conference and spoke on panels at BlogHer, SXSW, and BlogWorld Expo (NMX) . I gave the breakfast keynote talk and conducting a social media workshop at the United States Personal Chef Conference in August 2012 in Washington, D.C. I hope to speak at more conferences - just ask me!
Via workshops or one-on-one consulting, I teach aspiring and professional writers and business people how to start their own blogs and use social media to promote themselves and their business.
In 2010, I was named one of Babble.com's Top 50 Mommy Food Bloggers and #8 in the Top 10 Healthiest Eating Mom Blogs.
This Mama Cooks! On a Diet was named one of the Top 10 Diet and Nutrition Blogs by Cision Navigator.
In 2011, I was named one of Babble.com's Top 100 Mommy Food Bloggers and #7 in the Top 10 Healthiest Eating Mom Blogs.
I’ve represented food companies like SOYJOY, Attune Foods, Log Cabin Syrup, and Nasoya at blogging conferences.
I've served on the expert panel of the Global Stevia Institute, been a Sam’s Club Food Ambassador, a Panera Bread blogger, a Frigidaire Test Drive Mom, a Foodily Ambassador, an Attune Foods Ambassador, a Yahoo! Shine Get It Guru, a Ziploc Fresh Over Insider, a Lipton Tastemaker, an Orville Redenbacher Smart Pop Ambassador, a Mountain High Yoghurt Ambassador, a Children’s Claritin Mom Crew member, a member of the Coppertone® Water MOMS group, a U by Kotex Tween Kotex Mom, a VIP member of the Dreamfields Pasta "Dream Team 2012," a California Wine Club Blogger, and a Hunt's Signature Recipes blogger.
I've hosted live events for Feld Entertainment, Glade, Ziploc VersaGlass Containers, and Hunt's Dinner Sauces.
My recipes are regularly featured at DailyBuzz Moms, Babble.com's Food Blogger Bites, Foodie.com, Tend.com and Circle of Moms.
My frugal living tips were featured at All You Magazine in their Money-savings Tips Overheard on the Blogs both online and in their print magazine along with my frugal recipe for Greek yogurt.
I was featured at Fitness Magazine's Fit Stop as a Fit Blogger We Love: This Mama Cooks.
My post, Julia's Mousse Makes Life Better, was featured in PBS.org's Tributes to Julia Child.
I was featured in a Blogger Spotlight at Food Network's Healthy Eats blog.
Here's a list of my writing clips for other blogs and websites such as BlogHer, Rocky Mountain Moms Blog, DotMoms, Mom Central, and CafeMom.

I also do travel writing with a focus on food, health and family:

I traveled to Hawaii on behalf of Sea Cuisine to report on seafood and local cuisine. You can read about it here.
I wrote about barbecue restaurants on a trip from Colorado to Georgia for HotelCoupons.com at A BBQ Tour Through The South!
I wrote about the Grand Canyon Railway, Planning your Grand Canyon Railways trip, and How to make your Grand Canyon motorcoach reservation at the Mom Central Travels blog.
I wrote about my Brandcation Bloggers trip Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and my visits to Dollywood and the Titanic Museum Attraction.
You can find my travel posts here.

Currently, I'm working as:

a Mizkan Blogger Advocate working to promote their Holland House and NAKANO brands
a member of the Invisalign Teen Mom Advisory Board
an Udi's Gluten Free Living Community Leader
a Glam Media Featured Creator
a Windows Champion (at MomCentral.com)
a member of The Republic of Tea Enlightenment TEAm
an Applegate Farms blogger
a Nature's Sleep blogger

You can learn more about my social media consulting services or find samples of my work, press clips, client lists, video, and writing clips at Write Spot Media. Or you can catch me at LinkedIn, Twitter or on Facebook. You can also contact me here.

You can find me at

In real life

Finally and most importantly, I’m mom to a teenager, Nathan, and a tweenager, Lucie, and wife to Paul, a chemist, avid outdoorsman, and motorcycle enthusiast. We live in the Athens, Georgia area.