Active April Challenge

Hello Lovelies,

It's nearly summer! Or at least it's finally spring, which I thought would be the perfect timing for a little monthly challenge. 

#ActiveAprilChallenge

Challenge yourself to be more active this month!

The way I thought this challenge would work is that individually everyone should come up with three achievable but challenging goals and then CRUSH THEM.

You can share your goals on instagram by using the hashtag #ActiveAprilChallenge or just keep them to yourself. You can be a part of this challenge in any way you would like! (But it will be more fun if you are sharing your goals/experiences with each other)

My goals:

- Workout 5 times a week

- Add HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) to every workout

- Get one OUTDOOR run/jog/power walk in each weekend (Enjoy nature!!)

Tell me YOUR 3 goals that you are ready to crush this month, either on instagram or you can even leave a comment here. I hope this #ActiveAprilChallenge will challenge you and keep you motivated while you work towards a stronger, better you!

Let's keep the motivation high, summer is right around the corner ;)
Wishing you a wonderful day!
Love,

Guilt-Free Chocolate & Banana Ice Cream

Hello lovelies,

As the sun is finally shining more often I thought it was about time for ice cream.

Many of you might already know about banana ice cream, nice cream or whatever else it has been called. But for those of you who don’t know about this ice cream recipe yet, you are welcome.

You can of course make different flavours, but I am a chocoholic and want everything sweet to be chocolate so I naturally went for chocolate.

All you will need:

2 frozen Bananas

3 tbsp of Cacao Powder

Peel your bananas, put them in a Tupperware and place them in the freezer for at least a few hours. (I did it overnight.)

Throw the bananas and cacao powder in your blender and be patient.

Because the bananas are frozen, it will take a while before everything blends properly. You can add a dash of almond milk if you think your blender is struggling.

But as soon as it all comes together you will have created a cold, smooth, creamy, delicious and nutritious ice cream.

Taste test and if you think it should be sweeter add some sweetener of your choice.

As mentioned before you could add other types of fruit, or flavouring if you don’t want chocolate ice cream. This recipe will make one big portion or two smaller ones.

I am hesitant to give you the macros for recipes like this one that is made of only good-for-you-food. Nothing in this recipe is “bad” it’s bananas and natural cacao. So keep that in mind when you read the numbers, but here they are:

The Macros:

Calories: 242

Fat: 2g

Carbs: 54g

Protein: 3g

As you see from the macros, this ice cream has quite a bit of carbs from the bananas, which makes it ideal for breakfast or a pre-workout snack. As these carbs will give you energy!

Try this recipe and show me on Instagram with the hashtag #debbieariella.

Looking forward to see all your delicious creations. And if you dare, why not leave a comment for me here.

Have a wonderful day,

Love,

Healthy Chocolate Brownies

Hello lovelies,

As you may know I have a Healthy Chocolate Mousse recipe that I am slightly obsessed with – if you don’t know it yet check it at out here. Well this recipe includes avocado and banana to create chocolate flavoured heaven so I thought I would try to recreate that in the form of brownies. And here is the result of that! Healthy Chocolate Brownies.

All you will need:

50g Good Quality Dark Chocolate (I used 81%)

50g Coconut Oil

2 Eggs

1 Avocado

1 Ripe Banana

4 Dates

3 tbsp Cacao

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

150g Ground Almonds

1 tsp Baking Powder

Extra Sweetener of Choice (maybe)

Process:

Pre-Heat your oven at 180 degrees C.

In a saucepan at a low heat melt the chocolate and coconut oil.

With the back of a fork/food processor, blend the banana, avocado and dates. Add all the dry ingredients (ground almonds, baking powder and cacao) to the banana, avocado, date mixture. Add the vanilla extract too!

Then you can pour in the chocolate and coconut oil mixture, but you want to make sure that it has cooled a little.

And lastly you can add the eggs, but you need to make sure the mixture is cool so that you don’t scramble the eggs.

At this point you can taste test and add a bit of sweetener if you think it is necessary. I would use agave syrup but you could use honey or any other sweetener you prefer.

Finally, pour the chocolate mixture into a square or rectangle baking tray or muffin holders. I would use grease proof paper so that you don’t have issues with removing the brownies from the tray.

Bake for 20-25min. Let them cool for 15min before cutting them up into pieces.

I made 8 big brownie pieces from this recipe but you can cut them however you would like.

Enjoy your guilt free chocolate treat!

Let me know if you try the recipe and use the hashtag #debsterariella on Instagram so I can find all your delicious creations!

Looking forward to it,

Love,

Quinoa Spring Salad

Hello lovelies,

The sun has been shines and the temperatures are finally become a bit warmer so I thought I would share my first salad recipe with you. I like eating salads but I am definitely not a salad every day kind of girl. But on a sunny day I like having a colourful salad for lunch, like this quino salad.

All you will need:

5-6 tbsp of cook quino (white or black, which every you prefer)

Handful of baby spinach leaves

Some cherry tomatoes

Feta cheese

Cucumber
Red Peppers

Strawberries

Process:

Cut up all your ingredients. I like cutting things really small, but it’s your salad do whatever suits you. And if some of you are thinking why would you put strawberries in a salad? Because it’s delicious! Having said that if you don’t like an ingredient just leave it out or throw in something different.

I like adding a drizzle of balsamic vinegar on my salad or just eating it as it is.

Hope this gave you some salad inspiration! #saladspiration ?

What is your favourite kind of salad? Leave me a comment if you dare ;)

Love,

15 Minute Cardio Blast

Hey there,

If you don’t enjoy doing hours and hours of cardio a week then this might be the perfect cardio workout for you! A 15 Minute HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) Cardio workout, which you can do 2/3 times a week. All you will need is a skipping rope and some space to jump around in. The workout consists of 5 different moves, each of which you will do for 50 seconds followed by a 10 second break. This means one round is 5mins long and you should repeat this round 3 times, or more if you dare.

1.        Skipping (50 seconds)

PS I am aware that you can't see the skipping rope
in the picture but I promise it's actually there

2.       Burpees (50 seconds)

3.       Jumping Jacks (50 seconds)

4.       Squats Jumps (50 seconds)

5.       High Knees (50 seconds)

Repeat 3 Times!!

Happy Sweating!

Love,

Healthy Vanilla Raspberry Cheesecake

Hello lovelies,

Today I have another healthy recipe for you; it’s cheese cake! The recipe is made up of two parts, the crust and the filling. To be honest I feel like I nailed the filling but the crust could be crunchier. I will try to work on that for you ;) but in the meantime here is my first attempt vanilla and raspberry cheesecake recipe.

All you will need

Crust:

200g Cashews (could use a different nut if you would like)

11 dates

Filling:

100g light cream cheese

500g of Non-Fat Quark (Curd cheese)

1 vanilla bean

100g frozen raspberries

3 tbsp agave sweetener (or any sweetener you like to use)

2 page of Agar Agar or Gelatin

Process

In a food processor blend together the nuts and dates. Make sure to remove the pits from the dates. This should create a sticky, sweet dough.

Line the bottom of your cake tin with the dough evenly. I would use grease proof paper in between to make it easier to remove later. Then pop it in the fridge while you make your filling.

For the filling mix together the light cream cheese and the quark with a hand mixer.

Add the vanilla, raspberries and sweetener.

Mix it well and then add in the agar agar/gelatin. Make sure you taste test it and add more sweetener if you would like.

Bring the cake tin with the crust out from the fridge and pop the cream on top. Try to make it even and then put it back in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Then enjoy your guilt free cheese cake!

Here are the macronutrients for the healthy cheese cake compared to the macronutrients of a classic cheese cake. The numbers are for the whole cake, which means a slice would be divided by 12 or more.

Classic Cheese Cake Macros:                                                      Healthy Cheese Cake Macros:

Calories: 3680                                                                                    Calories: 1993

Fat: 232g                                                                                              Fat: 101g

Carbs: 344g                                                                                         Carbs: 174g

Protein: 64g                                                                                        Protein: 95g

Let me know what you think! Looking forward to seeing your creations, make sure to use the #debbieariella hashtag so I can find them.

Love,

How to get back on track

Hey there lovelies,

We all do it. We all fall of track, whether it’s for a few days, a few weeks or even a few months. It happens. But how does one get back on track? I wanted to share three tips with you, that I think are really important if you are trying to get back on track again.

MAKE A PLAN

The first tip is to make a plan. You can write this down on paper, make a note on your phone or just plan it in your mind. (I’m the notes on the phone kinda person). Make a weekly plan, in which you plan when you will workout, what you will do, and for how long. You should also plan what you will eat (roughly, don’t go to crazy!) I also think it’s really important to make a plan you will enjoy. You will be more likely to stick to it if you don’t hate it. If you don’t like broccoli, your plan should not include adding broccoli to ever lunch. Likewise, if you hate cardio don’t plan three sessions a week. Maybe plan one cardio session, but two HIIT circuit routines too.

Basically, make a plan that sounds fun to you! This will hopefully start getting your motivation back to where you would like to have it.

DON’T GET FRUSTRATED

My next tip for you is not to get frustrated. After having fallen off track for a few days or weeks or however long you have been enjoying those pizza and Netflix days in bed, you will be weaker. You will not be able to run as fast, or as long. You won’t be able to lift as heavy as you did before. AND THAT IS OKAY! It is completely normal that you will be weaker/slower/more out of breath after having been off track for a while, but that should not stop you from getting back on it! Do your thing and try to ignore the numbers, whether they are the weights, distances or speeds. You will be back at your normal strength faster than you believe. Don’t give up!

DON’T BE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF

My final tip for you is not to be so hard on yourself. It is not the end of the world if you fall off track for a bit. I actually think it’s really important to do so once in a while and I try to not beat myself up about it. Maybe you just aren’t ready to get back on track again. Your body might just need a few more days of unnecessary carbs and lying in bed, so don’t be so hard on yourself. You will get back on track as soon as your mind and body are ready – and then you should make a plan ;)

I hope these tips are useful for some of you; I personally really try to stick to them every time I fall of track. (Which happens more often than you would think)

Let me know what YOUR best tips are for getting back on track!

Hope you all have a wonderful day,

Love,

Product Review - Gym Tea

Hey there lovelies!

I thought it was about time for another product review. This time the product is Gym Tea.

Gym Tea is an all-natural tea blend made up of nine natural ingredients, which include:

  Green Tea, Oolong Tea, Mate Tea,  Ginger, Lemon Grass, Stinging Nettle, Rooibos,  Cinnamon,  Mint

The tea promises to increase your metabolism and therefore aid in burning fat. The tea also includes natural caffeine and can therefore give you extra energy for your workouts. On the packaging it says that you should drink 3 cups of it a day.

So what is my opinion? I have been drinking Gym Tea for probably nearly 2 months now. I have not been drinking 3 cups a day, only one in the morning and one before my workout (on the days I could remember).

The tea tastes really good. I was worried it would be overpowered by the green tea, which I am not so into. But it actually tastes really good. Like a great herbal mixed tea, not too sweet.

I could also feel the caffeine aka the energy boost. However, I am not used to caffeine at all, as I am not a coffee drinker. I believe that if your body is used to a regular caffeine dose you might not feel the energy boost as much.

In terms of the fat burning, I don't think this tea will miraculously burn away your excess fat, but it tastes good.

If you are looking for a magic tea that will make you skinny this is not the product for you. But if you want an all-natural tasty herbal blend, which might give you bit of an energy boost in the morning or before your workout, then this product is perfect for you!

I have really enjoyed this product.

Let me know what you think!

If you want to order a pack of Gym Tea yourself you can do so here and use the code DEBBIE5 at checkout for 5% off your order.

This product was kindly gifted to me, however this is not a sponsored post. Everything I have said is my own honest opinion.

Love,

Energy Bites

Hey there,

Today I want to share a really easy and yummy recipe with you for a little sweet snack, energy bites!

You only need 4 ingredients and they are perfect sweet snack for after meals, before your workout or whenever you feel like something sweet.

All you will need:

100g pitted dates

50g of almonds

Lemon juice from a fresh lemon

Coconut flakes

Process:

Blend the dates and nuts together; this will make a sticky paste.

Add the juice of half a lemon to the mixture.

Roll the mixture into small balls. 

Roll the balls in coconut flakes to cover them.

Tadaaa that’s it, you can enjoy your energy bits now or store them in the fridge for later.

Macros for 1 ball (I made 8 from this recipe)

Calories: 70cals

Fat: 5g 

Carbs: 11g

Protein: 3g 

Give this healthy and simple recipe a try! And when you do, don’t forget to use the hashtag #debbieariella so I can see all your delicious creations.

Love,