Maura “Mo” Knowles

We are offering you a special full-article preview of Maura “Mo” Knowles’ feature in the Where Women Cook Autumn 2013 issue. You can read Mo’s recipes featured in our Autumn issue that hit newsstands on September 1st.

In addition to being a professional actor, singer, and writer living in Los Angeles, California, Maura “Mo” Knowles is also the founder and C.E.O. of Mac-n-Mo’s, Inc. As a health-food pioneer, Mo is carving a difficult path; however, her passion and dedication to changing the way we eat snacks and treats allows her to face the many obstacles head on. Mo’s mission of offering a healthy, guilt-free alternative to cookies makes her more determined to succeed. She has taken her bite-sized morsels from her parents’ kitchen in Sacramento, California, to over 30 retail locations in California, Delaware, and New Jersey, and she recently attained national distribution. Mo would like to send a special thanks to Larry Bressler at the Chef’s Center in Pasadena, California, which was her first commercial kitchen. Larry’s support and guidance helped get Mac-n-Mo’s off the ground!

I’ve been a professional actor and singer in Los Angeles and New York for the past 14 years, and I most recently added writer to my resume. As a Board Certified Health Coach (AADP), I am an active member of the healthy-food community. I am co-founder of NUTSO-SWEET with Lauren O’Connor, R.D., a member of The H.C.C. (Holistic Chamber of Commerce), and part of the expert panel on Fooduciary.com. I am passionate about teaching people how to live healthy lives by eating nutritious foods. I have had the pleasure of holding speaking engagements for the Around the Plate Virtual Conference and Green Festival Los Angeles. I have written for Natural Awakenings magazine, Isla, an organic lifestyle magazine, Nutrisavvy.com, and TheConsciousChef.com, among others. I am a recipe developer and blogger for Vitacost.com and a contributing editor to Our USA Magazine. I also spread the word through teaching cooking classes and nutrition workshops to adults and children. Food and cooking have always been important parts of my life, ever since childhood. My mom is an excellent cook, and I loved being with her in the kitchen, learning and tasting how certain ingredients would transform into a delectable meal. While I did not have an E-Z Bake Oven, I did have mini cake pans and accessories, and I loved to concoct my own recipes. If I was lucky, Mom would let me bake in the real oven. I even won a blue ribbon in my 4-H Food Group! 

As an adult, I went through a life-and-death experience resulting from a botched-up surgery. Afterward, I was put on a very restricted diet and had to learn how to alter my favorite recipes to meet those guidelines, which my mom not only helped me do, she also created a “Low Fat Bible Cookbook” for me to take to grad school. In 2010 my dad, Mac, underwent a quadruple bypass surgery. My dad is also diabetic, so he begged me to make him a sweet baked treat that complied with his new diet. Because of my experience with my own diet restrictions, I had the tools to think outside of the “cookie cutter” box. With help from my sister, and after some experimentation in my parents’ kitchen, I created Mac-n-Mo’s Morselicious Treats and Mix. Mac-n-Mo’s morsels have only 1 gram of sugar and no sodium, are gluten-free, vegan, Kosher, and Non-GMO Project Verified, have no preservatives or sweeteners, and are made with oodles of MORSELICIOUS love. I am committed to producing the healthiest treats possible for kids and adults alike, and I am on a mission to change the way we eat snacks and treats.

Each customer, or “morselite” as I like to call them, has a favorite — some love the chocolate chip morsels, while others love the pumpkin cranberry, and the Morselicious Mix has some die-hard fans. To reach out to more potential “morselites,” I have written two e-cookbooks titled, “12 days of MORSELICIOUSness” and “The Ultimate 21-Day MORSELICIOUS Detox.”

No one else in the industry has created a no-sodium, low-sugar (without the use of sweeteners), no-preservative treat, so there has been no path for me to follow — I’ve had to carve my own, which has been both my biggest challenge and my biggest accomplishment. I’m actually doing it … utilizing my passion, dedication, creativity, and humor to inspire others to live a MORSELICIOUS lifestyle!

Learn more about Maura “Mo” Knowles and the MORSELICIOUS lifestyle in the Autumn 2013 (Sept/Oct/Nov) issue of Where Women Cook Magazine. Click here to subscribe or purchase Where Women Cook Magazine. You can also visit Mo online at www.macnmos.com.