In this recipe I manage to skip the step of stewing the apples by simply slicing the apple thinly enough so they cook through in the oven. And adding the berries means you need less apples to peel and slice.

This dish makes another lovely well-balanced #thinkoutsidethecerealbox breakfast or dessert option, providing good carbs from the apples, berries (not to mention all the antioxidants) plus oats, good fats from the cream and butter and protein from the almonds. And it’s perfect fare to eat in the depths of winter in front of the heater with your favourite ugg boots on. Nom nom.

I make some of the topping nut free by either leaving them out or replacing them with sunflower seeds, so I can pack some of this deliciousness into lunchboxes.

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Ground cinnamon
Nutmeg
Spelt flour
Rapadura or coconut sugar
Oats
Desiccated coconut
Vanilla powder

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Apple and Berry Crumble (Cheat's Version)

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 3 medium green apples peeled, cored and thinly sliced or chopped
• 1 cup mixed frozen or fresh berries
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• A pinch of nutmeg
• Cream to serve
• Crumble
• 1 cup spelt flour
• ¼ cup rapadura or coconut sugar
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• ½ teaspoon vanilla bean powder or vanilla extract
• 150 grams butter melted

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan forced
• Combine the apples, berries, spices, lemon juice in a bowl and pop into an ovenproof dish with 1/3 cup of water.
• To make the crumble, place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine.
• Spread the crumble mixture over the fruit, then pop into the oven and bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
• Serve with a big dollop (or two!) of thick, fresh cream and a sprinkling of chopped macadamia nuts.

Notes

This is also delicious served cold.
Make extra crumble topping, pop on a baking tray and bake until golden brown. The topping is handy to throw on top of fresh fruit, served with yoghurt for a quick breakfast, snack or lunchbox idea. Just store in the fridge or freezer.

Enjoy!

Bren x

Real Food for Hungry Teens

Created by certified health coach, Brenda Janschek, and her hungry food son Orlando, this eBook contains a rich variety of over 20 nourishing, real food recipes designed to satisfy the tastebuds and growth requirements of developing teenagers.

When life is busy, smoothies are super-quick to make and are highly nutritious.

The better news is that, as a handy breakfast option for the whole family, they leave unhealthy breakfast cereals packed full of superfluous sugar and other nasties in their wake.

Free radical-fighting Vitamin C plays a leading role in this smoothie, and your immune system and energy levels will thank you almost as much as your taste buds.

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Anti-Oxidant Smoothie

Prep Time 3 minutes

Cook Time 2 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 1

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup raspberries or blueberries, nb: blueberries make it sweeter
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon mint or basil
• 1/2 cup mixed cashews, chia seeds, and linseeds
• 2 tablespoons grass-fed gelatin optional, l but awesome for all it’s incredible benefits to our skin, elasticity, wrinkles, cellulite, great for weight loss, teeth and hair and nails, digestion, arthritis just to name a few
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil optional but adds a good. healthy fat
• 200 mls coconut water or almond milk or filtered water
• Lots of ice

Instructions

• Whizz all the ingredients in a blender and serve

You might also love these delicious recipes:

Ginger, Mint and Green Apple Smoothie

Super Smoothie

8 Nutrient Packed Smoothies for Dinner 

Fresh and Raw Zucchini Noodle Salad

Enjoy!

Last Saturday I had one of those days. I was unstoppable! Which is another way of saying I was in a snowball-like frenzy. Yes, we’ll mash anything in this house, whether it’s food or grammar! Anyway, while Master 10 and his dad were doing the cricket and golf run, Miss 7 and I had the kitchen production line set to 11, churning out a variety of beauties.

While I like to create my own recipes, I adore discovering, trialling and sharing recipes by other wellness mums. As a result, we had lots of nourishing goodies to see us through the week, which dramatically reduced the drama of ‘what should I cook today?’

Here’s what I made:

Nectarine sorbet

Thermie made this delicious icy treat with only 4 ingredients – nectarines, coconut sugar, egg white and ice cubes. We had it as a special after dinner treat over a few nights. Mr 10 is desperate for a mango version so I’ll get onto that this weekend.

Choc-Mint Fudge

This one was made specifically for the lunchboxes, but has been gobbled down by guests on two occasions for afternoon tea. I love the extra boost of nutrition with the addition of pepitas. Pepitas are full of goodness like magnesium, zinc and Omega 3’s.

The recipe is by Cut Out the Crap and you can find it here

Gluten-Free Banana bread

I am mindful of reducing the wheat and gluten load when cooking for my family, and this recipe by Alexx Stuart is a total gem. It’s the second time I’ve made it, but this time I included the ginger. The whole family enjoyed it toasted for breakfast with a side of cinnamon yoghurt and frozen berries.

Mayonnaise

This is the best recipe ever! Another thermomix recipe from the awesome Quirky Cooking. I didn’t add the shallots cause I didn’t have any, and raw shallots don’t really agree with me anyway. Also, I used a mix of Avocado, Macadamia and mild Olive Oil. We dolloped it over fried barramundi one night and chicken schnitzel the next and dipped our vegetables in it both nights. Mr 10 has requested some chicken schnitzel for his lunchbox and demonstrated the (huge) size of the container to be filled with mayonnaise to dip his schnitzel strips into!

Pizza

Thermomix sure got a work out today! Next on the list was pizza dough, which Thermie conjured in a flash. I use Quirky Cooking’s spelt flour pizza dough recipe. We made the dough for pizzas to have the following night and topped them with home-made pesto, lightly fried garlic, red onion and kale, fresh mushroom and goats cheese. And there were leftovers galore for the kids lunchboxes. Yipeee!

 

Huevos Rancheros and Vegetarian Nachos Sauce with Kidney Beans

I was exhausted by the end of the day, but had two hungry men heading home and Miss 7 starting to bug me about dinner. Somewhat ironically, I couldn’t think of a thing to make! A deep breath and a quick search later, and Quirky Cooking saves the day again. This recipe is sure to become a family staple, it took 10 minutes to make and hit the spot after a long, but productive, day in the kitchen.

I also had some brown rice soaking to cook the next day so I could make the kids some sushi rolls for their lunch boxes.

The next day I spent lazing about the beach and swimming in the ocean – it’s all about balance, after all!

Do you ever have the urge to cook all day? What do you like to make? I’d love to hear from you.

If you are keen to learn about how you can create nutritious real food lunchboxes and how to make some of my favourite lunchbox recipes, check out my next workshop here.

Bren x

My kids have different palates, one loving banana muffins, the other preferring anything that has even a passing resemblance to berries in it. But they both love coconut, which not all kids do.

In order to stop myself going completely na-na by making multiple batches, I base my mixture around banana, and create varying flavours from there.

According to your little blighters’ tastes (or your own), try adding dark choc chips to the plain banana, or add raspberry or strawberry to the mixture to make those flavours dominate. You can even increase the amount of cinnamon or coconut to your little heart’s desires!

Because muffins are the 8^th wonder of the world, it’s hard to go wrong. With the mix ‘n match, it’s impossible!

They are great for breakfast, afternoon tea, and make a perfect healthy lunchbox snack.

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration, take a look at my new recipe ebook which is getting rave reviews, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes.

It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Spelt flour
Baking powder
Salt
Coconut sugar
Desiccated coconut
Ground cinnamon
Milk
Vanilla powder

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Mix ‘n Match Muffins

Lunchbox friendly

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups spelt flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1/3 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 125 gms melted butter slightly cooled
• 1 egg
• 1.5 cups milk I ran out of milk so used natural yoghurt this time and it was yum
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 medium ripe bananas mashed
• 1/2 cup berry of your choice we like raspberries and blueberries, add a full cup if adding to the whole mixture

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease and line a 12 hole muffin tin
• In a large bowl sift spelt flour, baking powder and salt. Add coconut sugar, desiccated coconut and cinnamon and mix well
• In another bowl add butter, egg, milk and vanilla essence and stir well
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients then add banana and stir until mixed through but make sure not to over stir (if mixture appears a little dry you can always add another egg or a bit more milk)
• Spoon the banana mixture into half the muffin holes, filling the hole to ¾ full
• Then add your preferred berry to the remaining mixture and gently stir through and spoon the mixture into the remaining holes
• Sprinkle muffins with desiccated coconut
• Bake in oven for 20-25mins or until lightly golden brown

If you make this recipe please do take photos and send them to me.

If you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek. Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook. I get a total kick out of seeing you bring my recipes to life.

And remember, if you haven’t already, grab your copy of Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes here.

If you liked this recipe you may also like these  other delicious muffin recipes –

Date & Cinnamon Muffins

Apple & Carrot Muffins.

Bren x