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, and 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 a community moderator at CafeMom.
Starting in May 2008, I worked for Mom Central Consulting as a social media manager and managing editor of the Mom Central blogs. I currently do freelance social media consulting for them.
I gave two blogging workshops at the Northern Colorado Writers Conference and spoke on panels at BlogHer, SXSW and BlogWorld Expo. I will be speaking at the United States Personal Chef Association conference in August, 2011 in Washington, D.C. I hope to speak at more conferences - just ask me!
I teach aspiring and professional writers and business people how to start their own blogs and use social media via workshops or one-on-one consulting.
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.
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, and a Yahoo! Shine Get It Guru.
I've hosted live events for Feld Entertainment, 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.
In 2011 and 2012, 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. My frugal recipe for Greek yogurt was featured in 2012.
In 2012, I was featured at Fitness Magazine's the Fit Stop as a Fit Blogger We Love: This Mama Cooks.
In May 2012, I traveled to Hawaii on behalf of Sea Cuisine to report on seafood and local cuisine. You can read about it here.
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.

Currently, I'm working as:

a Mizkan Blogger Advocate
a member of the Invisalign Teen Mom Advisory Board
an Udi's Gluten Free Living Community Leader
a VIP member of the Dreamfields Pasta "Dream Team 2012"
a Ziploc Fresh Over Insider
a FitFluential Ambassador
a Lipton Tastemaker
a Zack Designs blogger
a California Wine Club blogger
an Applegate Farms blogger
a Children’s Claritin Mom Crew member
a member of the Coppertone® Water MOMS group
a Orville Redenbacher Smart Pop Ambassador

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 The Write Spot. Or you can catch me at LinkedIn, Twitter or on Facebook. You can also contact me here.

Meet me at

In real life

Finally and most importantly, I’m mom to Nathan, 12 and Lucie, 9, and wife to Paul, a chemist, avid outdoorsman, and motorcycle enthusiast. We live in Colorado and will be moving to Athens, Georgia at the end of May, 2012.