There’s a reason sometimes why things happen, or why we do things, and we have no idea.

Last week I got a sudden impulse and desire in me to go through my teacher stuff in the garage and organize/declutter/purge/donate – whatever you’d like to call it. Being a military spouse and a hoarder teacher is challenging with the moving. I had no idea I had collected so many things in my 7 years of teaching!

Well earlier this week I was given notice for a future teaching interview- and I need student work samples!! It’s really like God put a thought in my soul to do something, because He knew I would need access to those items.

So when you get a sudden urge to do something you’ve been putting off to do, just do it. There’s a reason why that urge is there. 

Yesterday I was really craving some Cuban food (thanks to being raised by yummy food in Miami). Thankfully I found this easy recipe on Pinterest! 

I modified the recipe from food blog Coco and Ash a bit, since I didn’t have white cooking wine on hand nor olives. 

  
It’s usually served with white rice and black beans, but I served it with a brown rice and quinoa mixture, organic corn, and cinnamoned plantains (platanos a la tentación).

  
Here is the recipe I used (except no olives, and 1/2 cup of red wine and 1/2 water to substitute the white cooking wine)

Ropa Vieja – Cuban Shredded Beef

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did! 

Ice cream is probably my favorite food group. Seriously. I had a frequent flyer membership to the ice cream truck as a kid!

This quick easy, healthy recipe is a new staple for me. 

  
Here’s what you need:

1 frozen banana

4 ounces of cold water 

1 scoop of Swiss cacao keto Nat
Instructions:

Put all the ingredients in a blender (I used a Vitamix). Blend on high for 20 seconds. Serve in bowl and top with some dark chocolate chips. 

Children are God’s gifts to us. It really is such a miracle to see and hold a baby. Especially those first days of life. When they fall asleep in your arms and you watch them laugh while dreaming. How they laugh in their early days will forever be a mystery. I like to think that it is family members that have passed entertaining them in their dreams as angels. Maybe a grandfather making silly faces at them. Or just God smiling at them.

The next closest miracle is watching the bond grown between two siblings. How it’s human nature to learn to love those we call family. The other day our 5 year old daughter told me that her little 5 month old brother is her “sunshine” and she sang “you are my sunshine” to him. It really got the best of me in my heart. Her papa used to call her “sunshine.” So it really was something sweet to hear. It also helped that it was a cloudy day here on Whidbey Island, so anything with the word sun in it brings a smile to my heart.

I’m so happy to be able to enjoy these days of them being little and sharing sibling love with one another. 

I am SO excited to announce my first course that I am hosting! A 5 Day Baking Mini Course! This is everything we will be covering. 

One of my favorite memories of growing up in Panama as a toddler was the empanadero. This man would come up the hill on our block with a little cart ringing a cow bell. In his cart he had an array of empanadas. My favorite was always the plain cheese one. At least that’s what it sounded like to me as a child. I would get so excited and tell my parents that he was coming. Usually I ended up asking my grandfather for some change, and he always gave in. 

So here we are today in Pensacola, Florida. Nowhere near anyplace with authentic Hispanic foods. I found the best thing ever at Publix this weekend- frozen empanadas!! You’d think first trimester I would be crazy about frying them, but the smell of frying makes me sick right now. These empanadas are oven friendly! All I had to do was bake them for 25 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit- voila!  Baked is definitely healthier than fried 😉

  
It didn’t compare at all to the one from my childhood, but this will do for now. 

My diet has consisted of a lot of carbs, saltine crackers, and ginger snap cookies. These have been my best friends the last couple of weeks.

Tonight I was craving something cold and sweet. I took a peak into my freezer and found these sweet things I froze a few nights ago- green grapes! 

Super EASY! All you need is some grapes and freeze them a few hours. Enjoy!! 

Ice cream is one of my top comfort foods. The last couple of weeks dairy has not say well with me. I’m not sure if it’s part of the new morning sickness, or if this baby does not like dairy.

This ice cream alternative looks delicious!!

1. Freeze 6 bananas and 1 cup of strawberries
2. Blend 2 bananas with 1 tsp vanilla bean extract until creamy. Pour in glass bowl.
3. Blend 2 bananas with the frozen strawberries until creamy. Pour in the glass bowl.
4. Blend remaining frozen bananas with 1 tsp coconut oil and 2 tbsp Dutch processed cocoa powder until creamy. Pour in the glass bowl.
5. Now you have a Neopolitan “nice cream” 🙂

It’s funny how life works. My last post was about being more consistent with my food recipe sharing. Well, the day after that I felt nauseous for about a week, and I have not been wanting many foods at all. The thought of vegetables made me gag. 

Turns out our family is growing and we will have a real Labor Day this year! 

  
I will probably be actually having crazy cravings over the next couple of months, and I am beyond excited to share this new journey with you!

Xoxo

Cleo

Join me on my journey of overcoming cravings by making healthy choices!