Healthy Strawberry Cheese Cake Toasties

Ingredients:

4 slices of whole meal bread

1 cup of strawberries

2 tablespoons of low fat cream cheese

4 tablespoons of coconut oil melted

2 tablespoons of honey or sweetener of choice

I used Sukrin "icing sugar" on top (is an artificial sweetener with exact same texture and taste than normal icing sugar, really low in calorie as well). You can substitute with real icing sugar (only a little bit and not optional really)

 

1. Melt the coconut oil and put in a bowl. you can add cinnamon and vanilla to the oil to give it extra flavour.

2. Blend half the strawberries on food processor. Chop the other half of the strawberries and mix with the blended ones.

3. Cut one slice of bread as pictured and place in your mould. with a brush or a spoon brush the coconut mixture all over the bread in the mould.

4. Add cream cheese and honey to the strawberries and mix well. Refill your moulds.

5. Cut another slice of bread to cover up and brush again with more coconut oil. Place into a preheated oven at 180 C for 10 minutes until they are toasted. Serve warm with a spoon of greek yogurt and a nice cup of coffee.

The beauty of this is that it does look pretty and you can leave on the moods over night and then just toast them in the morning. decorate with more fruis, peanut butter, christmas sprinkles and make the family happy with these yummy breakfast. Or dessert! sure why not?

Healthy Strawberry Cheese Cake Toasties

Ingredients:

4 slices of whole meal bread

1 cup of strawberries

2 tablespoons of low fat cream cheese

4 tablespoons of coconut oil melted

2 tablespoons of honey or sweetener of choice

I used Sukrin "icing sugar" on top (is an artificial sweetener with exact same texture and taste than normal icing sugar, really low in calorie as well). You can substitute with real icing sugar (only a little bit and not optional really)

 

1. Melt the coconut oil and put in a bowl. you can add cinnamon and vanilla to the oil to give it extra flavour.

2. Blend half the strawberries on food processor. Chop the other half of the strawberries and mix with the blended ones.

3. Cut one slice of bread as pictured and place in your mould. with a brush or a spoon brush the coconut mixture all over the bread in the mould.

4. Add cream cheese and honey to the strawberries and mix well. Refill your moulds.

5. Cut another slice of bread to cover up and brush again with more coconut oil. Place into a preheated oven at 180 C for 10 minutes until they are toasted. Serve warm with a spoon of greek yogurt and a nice cup of coffee.

The beauty of this is that it does look pretty and you can leave on the moods over night and then just toast them in the morning. decorate with more fruis, peanut butter, christmas sprinkles and make the family happy with these yummy breakfast. Or dessert! sure why not?

week 3: 21 day challenge FINAL WEEK!

Congratulations to everyone who has make the effort to get to here! well done! we all have bad moments but the important thing is to get up and keep going! so is never late to keep going/start a healthy lifestyle! last 7 days let's give it all!

Option 1:
Strawberry Smotthie:
250ml of almond milk
1 handful of spinach
1 cup of strawberries
1/2 banana
1/2 teaspoon of ginger

Place all ingredient on your nutribullet, extract and enjoy.

Option 2:
Pancakes:
1/2 cup of oats (40 grams)
2 tablespoons of chia seeds
1/2 banana
1 tablespoon of natural sweetener of choice
1/4 cup of almond milk (or rice, coconut, oat, hazelnut milk)
cinnamon

Blend all ingredients and cook on a previously heated frying pan with a tiny bit of coconut or olive oil. The beauty of this is you can cook enough for 5 days and wrap them on tin foil, then just keep in the fridge and heat up before eating. You can top them up with blueberries or peanut butter. Honey is optional.

Option 1:

Vegetarian Sandwich:

2 slices of wholemeal bread

spinach

alfalfa

1 slice of tomato

1/4 of avocado

egg plant (roasted or boiled)

A few drops of apple vinegar, sea salt and pepper.

Cut your egg plan on rounds and roast them in the oven with olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Then place on your slices of bread top with spinach, tomato, avocado, alfalfa and add the apple vinegar sea salt and pepper. toast underneath the grill if desired.

Option 2:

Place your salmon on a tray and cook under the grill with sea salt and pepper (no oil). Choose vegetables of choice except corn, potato os sweet potato. I would suggest broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. (no avocado or oily dressing with this option)

Option 1:

Quinoa and vegetables (recipe is for 2 portions)

2 carrots

1/2 red pepper

1/2 yellow pepper

12 green beans 

place 1 cup of quinoa in a sauce pan with the chopped vegetables add 2 cups of water and let it go to boil. Once boiling add stock cube, bring heat to the lowest setting, cover up and wait about 20 minutes. Once water has evaporated your dish is ready. serve and enjoy.

Option 2:

Sweet potato burgers (Recipe is for 4 burgers. Eat only 2 per serving)

1 large sweet potato

1 can of canelli beans

1/4 of an onion

handful of parsley 

2 garlic cloves

Bake sweet potato. Once done mash with the rest of the ingredients or blend if you wish. Form burgers and place on a tray, add sea salt and pepper and stick them into the oven at 180C for 20 minutes or until crispy. Serve with salad and or any vegetables.

Middle morning snack: Any fuit of choice
Middle evening snack: A raw vegetable (tomato, a carrot, a zucchini, a pepper, a cucumber, etc. add lime and see salt if you wish)
Late night snack: 12 almonds

week 3: 21 day challenge FINAL WEEK!

Congratulations to everyone who has make the effort to get to here! well done! we all have bad moments but the important thing is to get up and keep going! so is never late to keep going/start a healthy lifestyle! last 7 days let's give it all!

Option 1:
Strawberry Smotthie:
250ml of almond milk
1 handful of spinach
1 cup of strawberries
1/2 banana
1/2 teaspoon of ginger

Place all ingredient on your nutribullet, extract and enjoy.

Option 2:
Pancakes:
1/2 cup of oats (40 grams)
2 tablespoons of chia seeds
1/2 banana
1 tablespoon of natural sweetener of choice
1/4 cup of almond milk (or rice, coconut, oat, hazelnut milk)
cinnamon

Blend all ingredients and cook on a previously heated frying pan with a tiny bit of coconut or olive oil. The beauty of this is you can cook enough for 5 days and wrap them on tin foil, then just keep in the fridge and heat up before eating. You can top them up with blueberries or peanut butter. Honey is optional.

Option 1:

Vegetarian Sandwich:

2 slices of wholemeal bread

spinach

alfalfa

1 slice of tomato

1/4 of avocado

egg plant (roasted or boiled)

A few drops of apple vinegar, sea salt and pepper.

Cut your egg plan on rounds and roast them in the oven with olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Then place on your slices of bread top with spinach, tomato, avocado, alfalfa and add the apple vinegar sea salt and pepper. toast underneath the grill if desired.

Option 2:

Place your salmon on a tray and cook under the grill with sea salt and pepper (no oil). Choose vegetables of choice except corn, potato os sweet potato. I would suggest broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. (no avocado or oily dressing with this option)

Option 1:

Quinoa and vegetables (recipe is for 2 portions)

2 carrots

1/2 red pepper

1/2 yellow pepper

12 green beans 

place 1 cup of quinoa in a sauce pan with the chopped vegetables add 2 cups of water and let it go to boil. Once boiling add stock cube, bring heat to the lowest setting, cover up and wait about 20 minutes. Once water has evaporated your dish is ready. serve and enjoy.

Option 2:

Sweet potato burgers (Recipe is for 4 burgers. Eat only 2 per serving)

1 large sweet potato

1 can of canelli beans

1/4 of an onion

handful of parsley 

2 garlic cloves

Bake sweet potato. Once done mash with the rest of the ingredients or blend if you wish. Form burgers and place on a tray, add sea salt and pepper and stick them into the oven at 180C for 20 minutes or until crispy. Serve with salad and or any vegetables.

Middle morning snack: Any fuit of choice
Middle evening snack: A raw vegetable (tomato, a carrot, a zucchini, a pepper, a cucumber, etc. add lime and see salt if you wish)
Late night snack: 12 almonds

Polar Loop Review

The Polar Loop:

Hi guys, here is my review for the Polar Loop.

Ok, first of all, the 2 items on the above picture, the chest band and the loop, are sold separately. You don't have to buy the chest band for the loop to work but I'll talk about this later.

The loop comes with a large wrist strap, so the first thing you'll have to do is to adjust the strap to your own personal wrist size. It is easy to make this adjustment, as your starter kit provides you with the necessary tool, which consists of a small screwdriver.  You will need a pair of scissors to make the adjustment, these are obviously not included. The instructions are pretty straight forward, I got it perfect at the first try. The clip to fasten the bracelet is a little old fashion but it is very secure.

Ok, firstly, I used the loop for about a week on its own (without the heart band) to see how it would work.  You basically wear it all the time even in the shower, as it is waterproof, and it counts the calories according to your daily activity. It is great to know how many calories you spent even when sleeping.  By monitoring the amount of calories you are burning the loop empowers you to control your daily calorie consumption so that you can achieve your goals.

For example, if it is your goal to maintain, you have to eat the same calories you are burning. If you want to lose, obviously you have to intake less calories than you are burning. So it is a great guide to help us achieve our goals. In a day that I don't go to the gym I burn about 1,300 calories and the days I work out I burn more than 2,100. So If wanted to maintain I could eat all those calories, YUMMY!!

Heart Monitor:

When I worked out without the heart band I found that the loop did not count my calories accurately. This is because to count your calories accurately, you need the heart band to get an accurate reading from your heartbeat.  For this reason, if you work out it is a must that you get both the loop and the heart monitor to give you an accurate calorie count.

To show your progress:

To charge the loop you simply connect it to your computer via the USB cable provided. Once connected, it charges pretty quickly and automatically syncs your most recent calorie records to your personal account on the Polar website. Over time this builds to show you progress week by week and month by month. I found this a great motivation to see my weekly readings from the previous week on a Sunday night and monitor my weekly progress.  If I saw that I was falling short of achieving my goals I could reassess my training programme to ensure that I hit my targets for the following week. This is what my last week looked like:

As you can see, the days I didn't work out shows my activity at 30/40%, this is all based on your age, height etc. You save all these details the first time you connect the loop to your computer.

The Application:

If you have a smartphone, there is an app from Polar that you can use, so instead of connecting the loop to your computer, your information is sent automatically to the app by bluetooth.  The downside of the app is that it's quite draining on your phone battery, as you have to have your phone with you while working out.  For this reason I prefer to connect the loop directly to my computer.  That said, the application works really well.

Battery:

The battery lifetime of the loop is excellent, a full charge takes about 30 minutes. It lasts for about 3 to 4 days when used with the chest band and up to 5 days when used on its own.  It's great that you don't have to be charging it all the time, so I pretty much only charge it twice a week.

The chest band comes already with a  battery and that battery can be replaced with one of those small batteries you find in any supermarket. I have been using it continuously for the last 3 weeks and battery is still working.

Conclusion:

If you work out, definitely get the heart monitor with the loop so that your calorie count is accurate! If you are sedentary, the loop is fine on its own, even if you only walk at a slow pace it is very good to use without the heartbeat band. But if you exercise or workout at a higher intensity, definitely get the heartband.

Overall, it is a essential addition to help you achieve your goals,  as it really assists you to be conscious of your calorie consumption and to live a healthy and active lifestyle.  If your life is already active then it is a great complimentary exercise buddy to help you monitor the calories you are consuming and it can allow you to eat more or less, depending on your goals.

My advice to you is to sit down straight away and write your letter to Santa and let him know you want this under the tree on Christmas morning. I guarantee you that it's definitely a present that you will be using for a long, long time and especially coming up January it is a great motivation to help you get back in shape after all the food and drink that it is involved over the festive season.

One final point I think is important to make is that Polars customer service is top class.  Anything I needed they responded to me within 1 working day and were always very polite and helpful. It's always a pleasure deal with a company like Polar, that truly cares about their customers.

Polar Loop Review

The Polar Loop:

Hi guys, here is my review for the Polar Loop.

Ok, first of all, the 2 items on the above picture, the chest band and the loop, are sold separately. You don't have to buy the chest band for the loop to work but I'll talk about this later.

The loop comes with a large wrist strap, so the first thing you'll have to do is to adjust the strap to your own personal wrist size. It is easy to make this adjustment, as your starter kit provides you with the necessary tool, which consists of a small screwdriver.  You will need a pair of scissors to make the adjustment, these are obviously not included. The instructions are pretty straight forward, I got it perfect at the first try. The clip to fasten the bracelet is a little old fashion but it is very secure.

Ok, firstly, I used the loop for about a week on its own (without the heart band) to see how it would work.  You basically wear it all the time even in the shower, as it is waterproof, and it counts the calories according to your daily activity. It is great to know how many calories you spent even when sleeping.  By monitoring the amount of calories you are burning the loop empowers you to control your daily calorie consumption so that you can achieve your goals.

For example, if it is your goal to maintain, you have to eat the same calories you are burning. If you want to lose, obviously you have to intake less calories than you are burning. So it is a great guide to help us achieve our goals. In a day that I don't go to the gym I burn about 1,300 calories and the days I work out I burn more than 2,100. So If wanted to maintain I could eat all those calories, YUMMY!!

Heart Monitor:

When I worked out without the heart band I found that the loop did not count my calories accurately. This is because to count your calories accurately, you need the heart band to get an accurate reading from your heartbeat.  For this reason, if you work out it is a must that you get both the loop and the heart monitor to give you an accurate calorie count.

To show your progress:

To charge the loop you simply connect it to your computer via the USB cable provided. Once connected, it charges pretty quickly and automatically syncs your most recent calorie records to your personal account on the Polar website. Over time this builds to show you progress week by week and month by month. I found this a great motivation to see my weekly readings from the previous week on a Sunday night and monitor my weekly progress.  If I saw that I was falling short of achieving my goals I could reassess my training programme to ensure that I hit my targets for the following week. This is what my last week looked like:

As you can see, the days I didn't work out shows my activity at 30/40%, this is all based on your age, height etc. You save all these details the first time you connect the loop to your computer.

The Application:

If you have a smartphone, there is an app from Polar that you can use, so instead of connecting the loop to your computer, your information is sent automatically to the app by bluetooth.  The downside of the app is that it's quite draining on your phone battery, as you have to have your phone with you while working out.  For this reason I prefer to connect the loop directly to my computer.  That said, the application works really well.

Battery:

The battery lifetime of the loop is excellent, a full charge takes about 30 minutes. It lasts for about 3 to 4 days when used with the chest band and up to 5 days when used on its own.  It's great that you don't have to be charging it all the time, so I pretty much only charge it twice a week.

The chest band comes already with a  battery and that battery can be replaced with one of those small batteries you find in any supermarket. I have been using it continuously for the last 3 weeks and battery is still working.

Conclusion:

If you work out, definitely get the heart monitor with the loop so that your calorie count is accurate! If you are sedentary, the loop is fine on its own, even if you only walk at a slow pace it is very good to use without the heartbeat band. But if you exercise or workout at a higher intensity, definitely get the heartband.

Overall, it is a essential addition to help you achieve your goals,  as it really assists you to be conscious of your calorie consumption and to live a healthy and active lifestyle.  If your life is already active then it is a great complimentary exercise buddy to help you monitor the calories you are consuming and it can allow you to eat more or less, depending on your goals.

My advice to you is to sit down straight away and write your letter to Santa and let him know you want this under the tree on Christmas morning. I guarantee you that it's definitely a present that you will be using for a long, long time and especially coming up January it is a great motivation to help you get back in shape after all the food and drink that it is involved over the festive season.

One final point I think is important to make is that Polars customer service is top class.  Anything I needed they responded to me within 1 working day and were always very polite and helpful. It's always a pleasure deal with a company like Polar, that truly cares about their customers.

A Lidl Bit Of Magic

As many of you know from my Instagram I attended the press day for Lidl where they presented their Deluxe line for this Christmas. This collection of food is so affordable and it is very high quality. So as I've say before Christmas is a month to enjoy in moderation so don't sabotage the progress you have made all year. But don't limit yourself neither. Is a month to enjoy, so here you are going to find foods that you know I don't usually eat but this December I like to enjoy and don't feel limited. I will be giving advice on my Instagram and Facebook page as we go along to maintain more or less a healthy lifestyle without feeling deprived of anything. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this post. The problem is you will probably feel hungry at the end of this. SO if you have a Lidl shop near you go and get all this yummy stuff.

This sea food packs are AMAZING! my second favourite product of the night. They come pre packed and the nutritional values are on point. This is one of those foods that will help us maintain a healthy lifestyle all this salmon, prawns, claws and all type of fish are super healthy. That smoked salmon can confidently say is one of the best I've ever try. For having friends over, for during the day served with a nice salad it will be a basic in your kitchen this Christmas. Plus prices are so affordable, the small packets were all around €2.99 or so. So if you are looking for a GOOD QUALITY smoked salmon this deluxe one from Lidl is the one to go for..

Obviously the turkey was the main guest. Look at that piece of protein. How delicious does it look? well it does tastes as good as it looks. Meat is very lean, and as you can see it doesn't shrink when cooked so it is a good piece of meat. And a medium piece of turkey is only €12.99 

This crackers along with the cured meats form next picture where my NUMBER ONE favourites of the night! OMG! those crackers were AMAZING! honestly! If you been reading my blog for a while I posted that we had friends over from Scotland a few weekends ago and I intended to go to Lidl to buy this crackers to put on the table but I was tight with time and I said to myself: "sure Tesco must have something as good" well I Bought 3 different types of crackers in Tesco (expensive ones) and nothing but NOTHING to do with this crackers. It was so hard to stop eating them they were so good! So for a starter or if you have people over don't think it twice!

This meats above were the star of the night in my opinion along with the cheeses and the crackers. This starter in the middle of the table is without a doubt is a winner. The best part of this is that they sell the FULL LEG of ham and is HUGE and so impressive in any table to cut it there and then. Seriously you have to try it, I felt in love with that idea. I have to have a wine night with friends and have that big leg of cured hams, few good wines and of course the crackers and the different irish chesses that are in the below picture:

This 4 different types of wine were offered to taste and once I taste them all I choose my favourite one and the wine expert told me: "oh you must like expensive stuff, because that one is the most expensive one" We had a great laugh about that hahaha. Any way it was the third one in there I can't really see the name of it but surely you can find it with the picture. If you are looking for an affordable wine which is a high quality go for this one they were all around €10. I am an expert in wine (I took a course years ago) so please trust me this wine was amazing.

The presentation of this fruit cake is adorable. To be honest I am not a fan of fruit cake whatsoever so I can't give you an honest opinion about it as I have try home mades ones, expensive ones, all type and I am not a fan so I will let that to yourself to judge.

Mince pies were delicious. Pastry was on point and the mince mixture inside was very good. You can buy those in little boxes of 6 which for me are the best because if you bake them you have to make 12 as a minimum and you end up eating more so I prefer to buy a small box of this, have a little treat and  keep the temptation away. But definitely a very good dessert. They had a homemade taste to it.

I didn't taste this spreads but they look very tempting to me. hahaha

This chocolates were delicious guys. A cheap yet high quality chocolates, perfect gift and stocking fillings. I mean who would like a box of this?

You want to save time in the kitchen? This chocolate garnache cups will sort you out. Perfection in a glass. I will be writing a blog about my 10 favourite healthy products from Lidl which will help us to maintain a healthy life style for the month of December.

A Lidl Bit Of Magic

As many of you know from my Instagram I attended the press day for Lidl where they presented their Deluxe line for this Christmas. This collection of food is so affordable and it is very high quality. So as I've say before Christmas is a month to enjoy in moderation so don't sabotage the progress you have made all year. But don't limit yourself neither. Is a month to enjoy, so here you are going to find foods that you know I don't usually eat but this December I like to enjoy and don't feel limited. I will be giving advice on my Instagram and Facebook page as we go along to maintain more or less a healthy lifestyle without feeling deprived of anything. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this post. The problem is you will probably feel hungry at the end of this. SO if you have a Lidl shop near you go and get all this yummy stuff.

This sea food packs are AMAZING! my second favourite product of the night. They come pre packed and the nutritional values are on point. This is one of those foods that will help us maintain a healthy lifestyle all this salmon, prawns, claws and all type of fish are super healthy. That smoked salmon can confidently say is one of the best I've ever try. For having friends over, for during the day served with a nice salad it will be a basic in your kitchen this Christmas. Plus prices are so affordable, the small packets were all around €2.99 or so. So if you are looking for a GOOD QUALITY smoked salmon this deluxe one from Lidl is the one to go for..

Obviously the turkey was the main guest. Look at that piece of protein. How delicious does it look? well it does tastes as good as it looks. Meat is very lean, and as you can see it doesn't shrink when cooked so it is a good piece of meat. And a medium piece of turkey is only €12.99 

This crackers along with the cured meats form next picture where my NUMBER ONE favourites of the night! OMG! those crackers were AMAZING! honestly! If you been reading my blog for a while I posted that we had friends over from Scotland a few weekends ago and I intended to go to Lidl to buy this crackers to put on the table but I was tight with time and I said to myself: "sure Tesco must have something as good" well I Bought 3 different types of crackers in Tesco (expensive ones) and nothing but NOTHING to do with this crackers. It was so hard to stop eating them they were so good! So for a starter or if you have people over don't think it twice!

This meats above were the star of the night in my opinion along with the cheeses and the crackers. This starter in the middle of the table is without a doubt is a winner. The best part of this is that they sell the FULL LEG of ham and is HUGE and so impressive in any table to cut it there and then. Seriously you have to try it, I felt in love with that idea. I have to have a wine night with friends and have that big leg of cured hams, few good wines and of course the crackers and the different irish chesses that are in the below picture:

This 4 different types of wine were offered to taste and once I taste them all I choose my favourite one and the wine expert told me: "oh you must like expensive stuff, because that one is the most expensive one" We had a great laugh about that hahaha. Any way it was the third one in there I can't really see the name of it but surely you can find it with the picture. If you are looking for an affordable wine which is a high quality go for this one they were all around €10. I am an expert in wine (I took a course years ago) so please trust me this wine was amazing.

The presentation of this fruit cake is adorable. To be honest I am not a fan of fruit cake whatsoever so I can't give you an honest opinion about it as I have try home mades ones, expensive ones, all type and I am not a fan so I will let that to yourself to judge.

Mince pies were delicious. Pastry was on point and the mince mixture inside was very good. You can buy those in little boxes of 6 which for me are the best because if you bake them you have to make 12 as a minimum and you end up eating more so I prefer to buy a small box of this, have a little treat and  keep the temptation away. But definitely a very good dessert. They had a homemade taste to it.

I didn't taste this spreads but they look very tempting to me. hahaha

This chocolates were delicious guys. A cheap yet high quality chocolates, perfect gift and stocking fillings. I mean who would like a box of this?

You want to save time in the kitchen? This chocolate garnache cups will sort you out. Perfection in a glass. I will be writing a blog about my 10 favourite healthy products from Lidl which will help us to maintain a healthy life style for the month of December.