With a month left of summer vacation, kids -- and padres -- want to spend as much time eating al fresco. Las Fabulosas serves up ideas for grilling up yummy meals and chevre backyard activities for any age.

All-Americano: Micro-burger Sliders

Start by heating up mini challa bread buns, or any other sweetened bread, on the grill until crisp and brown around the edges. Then divide your ground beef into three-ounce patties and cook until medium rare. Next grill finely diced onions and peppers and serve as garnish. Finally, smear a teaspoon of goat cheese on the top bun for your mini-cheeseburger.

Fun Actividad: Speaking of bite-sizes, ever thought of setting up a mini-golf course or a mini-bowling lane in your back yard? Though game sets can be as complex as you want, there are also very simple ways to set them up. Creating a bowling lane is as simple as setting ten water-filled plastic bottles at the end of a grass lane that’s outlined with streamers.

Latin Savor: Grilled Shrimp with Ajo

Add and wisk fresh thyme, fresh garlic, ground red pepper, salt and black pepper into a half-cup of olive oil in a bowl. Next, slide your shrimp onto bamboo skewers and marinate them with a brush. Leave shrimp on the grill for about two minutes on each side. While the shrimp is cooking, fill up a separate pot with a half-cup of olive oil. Add thinly diced garlic, and heat up to 275 degrees F, never reaching a boil. When the garlic chips look crispy, pour a few spoonfuls of the garlic oil over the shrimp and serve. For an extra garnish, top your dish with chopped cilantro.

Fun Actividad: Nothing announces the arrival of summer eating like the clanks of horseshoes in the backyard. But since the metal variety can wreak havoc on your backyard, use a plastic set that comes with pins and horseshoes. Your home will be a popular destination all summer long.

Managing a work-life balance can often leave you with trouble focusing at the office and coming home only to forget what’s for dinner. There are easy ways to boost your memory and concentration, so you can feel more in control of your mind. USA Memory Champion Ron White shared his tips on foods and activities to sharpen your focus and improve your memory.

Dieta

• Fish: Salmon, halibut and tuna are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, an important part of the development and functioning of the brain. Consumption of omega-3 fish oils are linked to lowering the risk of dementia and stroke, and can improve memory as you age.
• Fruits and veggies: Cruciferous and leafy green veggies, such as broccoli, brussel sprouts and spinach, can reduce the decline in memory and even reverse memory deficits. In the fruit department, berries, such as blueberries, contain antioxidants help to protect your brain and improve memory, says White.
• Chocolate and vino tinto: These indulgences contain flavonoids -- antioxidants that have been linked to brain health. Just be sure to limit consumption so not to reverse effects!
• Whole grains: Pass on white. In addition to providing energy and promoting heart health and weight loss, whole grains like brown rice and whole grain cereal may help to slow the rate of cognitive decline as you age.
• Water: “A dehydrated brain is bad for your focus,” says White. Be sure you drink the recommended eight glasses of agua each day.

Actividades

• Physical exercise: Cardio not only gives your heart a boost, it can also boost the brain. “Exercise improves blood flow, and better blood flow means more oxygen to the brain,” says White. Exercise also helps to reduce the risk for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease, both of which can lead to memory loss if serious enough. A recent study from Umea University in Sweden also found that memory skills improve significantly after weight loss. How’s that for motivación?
• Sleep: Getting adequate sleep can actually help enhance your memory. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, found that people remember objects they were shown better after they sleep versus being forced to stay awake. Plus, sleep disruption can lead to performance decline in newly learned skills.
• Laugh: When you laugh, you intake oxygen at higher levels and boost circulation. Both help the brain to function at a better rate.
• Memory games: White recommends trying mental exercises to help your memory. For example, “turn every name you hear for the next month into an image,” suggests White. “Lisa as Mona Lisa, Karen as carrot, Steve as stove. Turning things into pictures helps you later remember names, because it makes things visual.” You can also put your mind to work by challenging yourself with a variety of new and interesting activities and hobbies.
• Brush up on your español: Studies have shown that bilinguals are more adept at solving mental puzzles. People who know or learn a second language have more gray matter, a major component of the central nervous system that helps you to complete all types of tasks. Plus bilingual seniors experience less cognitive decline.

Few are the jobs in today’s economy that are safe from uncertainty or outsourcing. That’s why it’s especially important to diversify your income. Las Fabulosas dug up three ways you can increase your earning potential by next otoño.

Clases de Lenguaje

Speak español already? Take a language class this summer at a nearby institute or even online to brush up on grammar, accents and sentence structures. Once you’ve built confidence and fluency during a summer intensive course, you can increase your earning potential by tutoring children or teaching adults.

Web Design

According to Noble Desktop, a web design school based in New York City, students can earn a certificate anywhere between one and six months depending on how many classes you can fit into your schedule. The goal is to earn a comprehensive set of skills so that you can build websites and trouble shoot. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average pay per hour is about $31.78.

Public Speaking
If you love digesting and sharing information before an audience, why not earn extra cash to speak to crowds? Classes in public speaking will teach you to organize your topic, modulate your voice and boost your confidence among other lessons. Before enrolling yourself in a verano class, pick a topic that stokes your passion, or about which you know a great deal. While speaking fees for beginners vary, you can also earn money as personal coach. Once you’ve had lot of practice before audiences, beginner speakers can expect to earn a few hundred dollars per gig.

One of the best lessons that padres can teach their hijos is how to handle money. In fact, it’s never too early to start. Since figuring out where to begin can be difficult for most parents, Las Fabulosas breaks down how to put kids on the road to financial freedom.

Keep It Simple: There are only four things you can do with money: “Give-Invest-Save-Spend,” says Lori Mackey, creator of Prosperity4Kids.com, a financial literacy website geared toward helping children develop financial plans of their own. Focusing children on a limited range of options makes organizing their money much easier.

New Words: Engage los niños with palabras and who-what-where-when-how questions such as, “Why do you think it's important to save money?” and “What type of charity would you like to donate to?” Teaching them new words and getting them to share their ideas about money will help build their confidence.

Create Stories: “Picture books are so engaging because kids can see themselves in the story,” says Mackey whose book, Money Mama & The Three Little Pigs, takes readers “on a magical journey through the wonderful world of money where they can imagine being part of the characters in the books they read.” Mackey points out that reading to kids about situations they can relate to “builds the scaffolding in their little brains.”

Play Games: Monica Olivera, creator of the Latina home-schooling blog MommyMaestra.com, had her kids make three banks out of coffee cans. “They covered the outside with construction paper, decorated them, and wrote “Savings,” “Spending,” and “Giving” on each one. Next Monica created “forms” to record how much money was in savings, which they check every month or two. The goal is to motivate the kids to keep saving. “If they haven’t taken any money out, I give them an extra dollar,” she explains. “If they have added to their savings, I give them $2.”

You know the pros of starting a small business: being your own boss and seeing a small idea grow into a successful company. The cons? You don’t even know how to get started!

According to a recent Kauffman Firm Survey, Latina-owned businesses are the fastest-growing segment of all women-owned businesses. Maribel Lieberman, founder of MarieBelle Fine Chocolates in New York City, has turned her amor for food into a profitable business. Here, she shares her tips for entrepreneurs.

Be Passionate
Lieberman says she became an entrepreneur at 8 years old, selling caramelos in school. She really became drawn to food and cooking while working at a catering company, which eventually led her to create her empresa de chocolate.

“I did research on chocolate, traveling to Belgium and France, until I discovered chocolate really came from Latin America,” says Lieberman. “When I learned about the culture of the cacao, I was fascinated and knew I needed to do this.” Lieberman’s love for comida combined with chocolate’s cultural history only increased her desire to open a chocolate business.

Set Goals
Instead of setting large, long-term goals, Lieberman recommends a more practical approach. “I make short goals for myself, and I achieve them,” she says. “Then, I set new goals.”

Also, stay realistic with your goals: You can’t expect to make money right away. “Be patient,” says Lieberman. “A business is like having a bebé: You need to feed and nurture it. It doesn’t become successful overnight. But once you earn it, you won’t lose it as easily, because you know how much work it took to get here.”

Know Cuánto Cuesta
It’s crucial to account for all of the costs involved with starting your own business. “Costs aren’t just the items you buy; there are unseen costs too,” says Lieberman. “There are taxes, insurance and overhead: rent, electricity and more.”

If you’re more of a creative type, work with someone from the start to help you manage these costs, suggests Lieberman. This will help make your company more profitable quickly.

Finally, be ready to work hard. “The main thing is to be brave and just do it,” says Lieberman. “There will always be roadblocks, but if this is what’s in your heart, go for it.”