I took these photos when we were down the south coast of NSW during the summer, adventuring around rockpools and getting sandy and sunburnt. Take me back already! I'm lucky to have such beautiful family members to capture, thanks to my sister Imogen and my cousin Phoebe. Still playing around and getting used to the new camera (Olympus OM-D EM-10) but loving it so far!

Mmm gooey, dense, chocolate-y goodness. It's Father's Day here in Australia, and I wanted to whip up something delicious as a little homely thank-you to my dad, for being a pretty all-round fantastic person. I've been meaning to make brownies for the past few weeks, but uni work has been making its presence known and I haven't had a spare moment for recipe creating or baking, so today seemed the perfect opportunity! (Although I'm still ignoring a large pile of uni work) (let's not talk about it right now.) I wanted to make them as wholesome as possible, without skimping on the brownie texture and taste, and I'm happy to say I think these tick all the boxes. I subbed normal processed flour for spelt, but I'm sure any kind of flour like that would work just as well. I used coconut sugar (aka, the love of my life) instead of regular sugar, but once again, if you don't have any then feel free to get a bit experimental with your sugars. Also, these aren't super sweet - think really dark chocolate - so add a bit more coconut sugar if you please. Happy baking!

What you need:

2 cups of spelt flour

1 tsp of baking powder

1.5 cups of coconut sugar

1/2 cup raw cacao powder (I use Loving Earth)

Pinch of sea salt flakes

2 ripe bananas

1 tablespoon of hulled tahini (surprise!)

1 tablespoon of rice malt syrup (or some other liquid sweetener)

1 cup of non-dairy milk

What you need to do:

Preheat the oven to 180°C, and get your brownie pan ready and lined (I used the Cocolife coconut oil spray from this month's Goodnessme Box to grease my pan)

Sift your flour and baking powder into a bowl, add the coconut sugar, cacao powder and sea salt, and mix it all together.

In a separate bowl, mash your banana, add the tahini and the rice malt syrup and mix together well. Add the cup of water slowly, mixing until combined.

Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix until well combined (it may seem a bit dry at first, but just keep mixing!)

Transfer to your brownie pan, and bake for 20 minutes (until your kitchen smells amazing and a knife comes out clean).

Devour!

The full range includes: a butter cleanser, made from organic coconut oil, grape seed oil, macadamia nut wax, vanilla and essential oils (it smells like peppermint) (so beyond delicious), which is perfect for removing your makeup at the end of the day, moisturising your skin, and also works as an anti-bacterial! There is a supple silk serum, made from organic rose hip oil, organic argan oil, and essential oils, which is the ultimate moisturising facial oil, filled with wonderful antioxidants.

Next up is the most amazing moisturising cream, made from organic shea butter and organic cocoa butter, avocado oil, sweet almond oil and vanilla, and it's actually almost good enough to eat (I haven't tried eating it but you know… When your face smells like cocoa and vanilla, it is tempting). I've been using those three products in conjunction with each other for the past week, and my skin is absolutely loving it. As someone who normally suffers from rather dry skin, especially during the winter months, my skin is currently soft, dewy and smooth!

The exfoliating mask is magnificent, made from betonite clay, organic oats, organic almonds and vanilla powder; the ultimate clay mask. Get your cucumber slices out. So necessary. And finally, there is a delicious cocoa and vanilla lip balm. Lip-lickin' good!

Nicola Marie has clearly put an astounding amount of dedication and love into her skincare range, and there's not a single questionable ingredient in her products. They're affordable, effective, cruelty-free, and delicious! I often find that there is a major gap in the market for all natural skincare, and I honestly believe that Delicious Skin is the best skin care range I've ever come across. Thank you so much Nicola Marie, can't wait to watch your gorgeous company take off!

I wanted to create a vegan banana bread recipe which was super uncomplicated, because often a lot of the recipes I see for it have a million and one ingredients and I don't know about you guys, but my head explodes. I made this loaf a week ago and a friend and I demolished almost all of it over afternoon tea, so I knew it was a winner and I'd have to make it again. And now I'm currently nibbling on my third slice of this freshly baked loaf. I'd call it a success. The bread uses only a handful of ingredients, and you could very easily play around with that basic recipe; I've used a lovely organic wholemeal spelt flour in this recipe, but I'm sure you could pretty much use any flour you have on hand. Also if you don't have coconut sugar on hand (you should buy some…) you could sub it with any other type of sugar. You could add in walnuts (which I plan to next time, yum), cacao nibs, coconut, berries, pepitas, sunflower seeds, chia seeds - the world is pretty much your oyster here.
What you need:

1.5 cups of spelt flour (or buckwheat flour for a gf version)
1/2 cup of coconut sugar or raw sugar
4-5 overripe bananas (should be around 2 cups worth)
1/4 cup of mylk of choice (I used oat)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract or powder
2 tsp baking powder

What you need to do:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and grease a loaf tin. Mash up your bananas until they're super creamy (I use a potato masher) and add in the vanilla and mylk. Sift your flour and baking powder into the banana mixture, add the sugar and cinnamon, and mix until just combined. Transfer into your loaf tin, and pop into the oven for 45 minutes (and enjoy the smell of baking banana bread permeating the air, uh huh honey).

What you'll need:

2 cups of brown rice

3.5 cups of water

2 teaspoons of sea salt

Juice of half a lemon

2 tablespoons of brown rice vinegar

2 teaspoons of honey/liquid sweetener of choice

1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger

2 sheets of nori seaweed, cut into strips using scissors

1 avocado, thinly sliced

1 cucumber, thinly sliced

Shallots (as much as you want! We like plenty)

Sprouted mung beans (or any kind of sprouts really)

1 head of broccoli

Mixed greens

Black sesame seeds

What you'll need to do:

Soak the rice for a few hours (not necessary, but it speeds up the cooking process), rinse, then drain. Combine the rice, water and salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil, cover, then simmer gently until all the water is absorbed (this takes around 30 minutes) (keep an eye on it towards the end and stir it regularly so that rice doesn't stick to the bottom and burn).

While the rice is cooking, combine the lemon juice, vinegar, honey and ginger in a saucepan, bring it to the boil and cook for a minute or two, stirring regularly. Set aside.

Chop your broccoli into pieces, and steam lightly. Slice up your avocado, cucumber and shallots.

Once the rice is finished cooking, stir in your lemon juice/vinegar sauce.

Serve the rice into individual bowls, on top of a handful of mixed greens. Top with the broccoli, avocado, cucumber, shallots, mung beans, nori seaweed, and finally sprinkle with some black sesame seeds. Voila!

Serves 4-5 people