Many people know Liz Uy as a sought-after fashion stylist and muse with an elaborate wardrobe consisting of both timeless and trendy items. Yet even if that’s the case, there’s one piece of clothing that suits her like a glove and gives her the most satisfaction—an apron.

Before being enamored with fashion, young Liz’s interest in baking was piqued by watching their household help churn out desserts such as leche flan and palitaw. “As a kid I would bake cookies, brownies and cupcakes,” she says.

This affinity for baking led her to take up Hotel, Restaurant and Institution Management at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, and later on, a pastry class at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies to refresh her skills.

In late 2016, still appearing in fashion magazines and making it to best-dressed lists as well as dressing up celebrity clients, she opened Mood Bake, her very own cookie brand, with stores in shopping malls. It now has three branches in Metro Manila.

Just last week, she released another snack line, the much-anticipated follow-up to her successful chewy and gooey cookies—the Mood Food Bar.

“My husband Raymond Racaza and I couldn’t find a granola snack bar that was delicious, accessible and affordable, so we made our own,” she says. “We would always buy granola bars, but most of them didn’t fit the flavor profile that we wanted, and so we decided to create our own.”

Home kitchen-tested

It all began in their home kitchen, where they tried some recipes they found online. However, none of them were to their liking. Eventually, they decided to just develop their own, one that they were both very happy with. And though it took months, the payoff was well worth it as it grew into what it is now, a 12-variant line that they carry in their Mood Bake shops and their website. There are seven kinds of Mood Food Bar and five for Mood Food Kids, a line made with probiotics.

The adult range has functional ingredients: Active (mango with chia seeds), Detox (cranberry with açai), Focus (chocolate with sea salt), Energy (peanut butter), Recover (chocolate peanut butter), Shine (mango coconut with maca) and Chill (oatmeal raisin with ashwagandha).

Each bar uses no artificial flavors and coloring or high fructose corn syrup. They’re zero cholesterol and have low sodium, too.

For kids, there’s Cranberry Cat, Mango Flamingo, Chocolate Chimp, Brownie Bear and Oat Raisin Racoon. All variants were approved by Liz’s strictest quality control managers—her sons Xavi, 6, and Mati, 2.

“Our two little kulit boys are the inspiration for Mood Food Kids,” she says. “They would always request for granola snack bars, and every time we made a batch, they were the taste testers. We didn’t stop until we got a two-thumbs up.”

There are seven natural ingredients that make up each bar: whole grain rolled oats, honey, cocoa, peanut butter, dates, puffed rice and pea protein. Everything is made and packed in their commissary in Taguig.

Liz’s food business is stable and doing better than she expected. And though busy with her food ventures, she won’t be hanging up her styling kit anytime soon. Besides, she has proven time and again that she can juggle roles very well—that of a stylist, an influencer, a business owner and a mom.

Mood Food Bar is P350 for a box of four bars, and Mood Food Kids is P250 for a box of four bars. You can order online at moodfood.co and buy from their Mood Bake stores in SM Mall of Asia, SM North Edsa and SM Megamall.

Follow the author at @fooddudeph on Instagram.