I first made these tasty little muffins for a nutrition & wellness event with some mums and their kids - they were gobbled up by all and I was very impressed I got the little ones approval too. The original ones were just a basic berry buckwheat and millet muffin...I refrained from nuts and oats for those with food intolerance. These are the ones with lots more things in them! How can you go wrong with raspberries, coconut, almonds, oats & 85% dark chocolate?

I made this granola for a very special girl who I was lucky enough to meet this year through my work...she loves muesli and granola so I thought for Christmas this was the perfect gift for her. Unfortunately, I wrote the recipe down on a scrap of paper and...well I have to admit I lost it somewhere. I do have a list of the ingredients, but not the quantities. However, to make up for it I have found some other delicious looking granola recipes for you to try!

 For Christmas this year we moved into a beautiful new apartment 5 minutes from the beach. Apart from the amazing holiday lifestyle and finally feeling settled with my man in a home (rather than the old bonsai sized Kings Cross apartment); it also meant that I got a brand new kitchen for me to play in! So how could I possibly resist baking everyone's Christmas presents this year?!

Whilst the kitchen is not huge by any means, it has ample storage, a gas cooktop and good oven, space for a large fridge (heaven) and a microwave - something I forgot about the convenience of. It is also just generally much more pleasant to be in and I am feeling inspired to bake and cook again...well once my body sculpting meal plan becomes a bit more flexible anyway! Nothing like eating exactly the same six meals every day made from only chicken, red meat, fish, rice vermicelli, green beans, eggs and mountains of salad, to put a stop to any creative kitchen thoughts! Still it's been fantastic for getting results and my overall health as well. BUT...I can still bake for everyone else luckily, because the holiday season seems to bring out my baking urges!

Today was the first day I have stopped for long enough in the last two months to bake something delicious. I am in the final 5 weeks of a 12 week challenge at my gym, so I also have been eating very clean and trying not to have jars of delicious tempting cookies around! However, these are not too bad in moderation, and I have a whole week of holidays and people to share them with too.

We are heading up to the Hunter Valley for a 4 day refresh and relax. I am looking forward to doing nothing and spending some time cooking in a big kitchen and just exercising and eating and sleeping and doing nothing...and also sitting on the porch sipping tea, reading a book and perhaps munching on one of these delicious but healthy little cookies.

I use a fantastic all natural protein isolate powder called Vital Protein. It's made from golden peas and has the most balance amino acid profile of any plant based protein and is highly bio-available. It is 88% protein and vegetarian, vegan, certified kosher, lactose and gluten free. It also has a high alkalinity level (Ph 7.5) which is quite unusual for any protein powder. My favourite things about this protein powder is that it has no artificial sweeteners or flavours or anything and still tastes delicious.

I use it daily in my green smoothie and also after training. I have also recently started experimenting with some baking recipes as it is not altered at all by heat or cooking, again another plus. So for our recent road trip I wanted to take some muesli bars as they are easy, healthy snacks when made right. Adding in the protein powder just helps to boost the protein content so you are getting a more balanced nutritional profile as well as feeling fuller for longer, without too much of a carbohydrate spike.

Now don't be put off by the long list of ingredients - I just like to cram in as many different nuts, seeds and dried fruit for fun. It is so simple to make that once you measure everything out it is super quick. You can always just keep the ratios of nuts, seeds and dried fruit the same and use less types too.

Since my mum is in Melbourne and I'm stuck up in Sydney...I made John's mum some of her favourite cookies for Mothers' day. (Actually I don't even like white chocolate and these could quite easily be on my favourite list too...not my top favourite, but pretty damn good. Certainly useful for carbo loading and getting some good 'guilt drive' to get through my first 8km run in a while!)

My own mum is amazing. Purely amazing. I love her, admire her, confide in her, cry with her, laugh with her and share everything with her...she is my best friend and mother at the same time. Happy Mothers' day Mary...I asked Pickles to give you lots of extra kitten love on Sunday :)

So Happy Mothers' day to all the wonderful, amazing and special mums out there! I hope somebody bakes you delicious cookies too!

I came across this recipe on one of my favourite food blogs Anja's Food 4 Thought. I always find delicious and healthy looking recipes on her site and have finally gotten around to trying one.

I substituted a few ingredients with what I had in the pantry and also halved the recipe. These little bars are quite delicious, a lovely banana flavour with the crunchy nuts and bursts of sweet dried apricots. They stay quite soft with a little crunch on the edges and I think next time I would bake them as individual biscuits so that you get just a little more crunch!