As a passionate home cook I’m all for the two- in- one dish. Life is full so I’m always looking for ways to save time, money and hassle.

Which means I’m all about making meals that can be cooked up one night for dinner, or prepped on the weekend, then packed for lunch boxes the next day, such as this recipe for Spicy Pork and Vegetable Nasi Goreng.

I love recipes like this which are just as delicious served hot or cold. I would suggest replacing the fried egg with a hard boiled egg for the lunchbox. Or you can leave the egg out entirely and still have a nourishing meal on hand. Oh, and remember to pick out the cashews to ensure it’s nut-free.

For more two-in-one dish inspiration take a look at the recipes in my Easy Wholefood Lunchbox eBook. All the savoury recipes can be made for dinner and doubled up, so for days afterwards you’ll have extra portions handy to throw into lunchboxes like a true lunchbox Ninja 🙂

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:

Extra virgin olive  oil
Tamari
Dry roasted cashews

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Spicy Pork & Vegetable Nasi Goreng

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Servings 6

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• Extra Virgin olive oil
• 3 Spring onions chopped
• 500 grams pork mince - or you can use chicken or beef mince
• 3 garlic cloves chopped
• 1 tablespoon peeled and grated ginger root
• 1-2 red chillis deseeded and chopped (optional)
• 3 large kale leaves chopped (around 2 cups)
• 1 small zucchini chopped
• 4 large mushrooms chopped (around 1 1/4 cups)
• 3 tablespoons tamari
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1/2 cup dry roasted cashews or peanuts - I just pop them raw into a hot oven for 5 minutes or until slightly golden.
• 4 tablespoons coriander leaves chopped
• Lemon or lime wedges for serving
• 2 cups basmati rice cooked as per packet instructions
• Butter or ghee
• 4 eggs

Instructions

• Heat a splash of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and saute spring onion for a few minutes.
• Add pork and break apart with a large spoon. Cook until browned, around 10 minutes.
• Add garlic, ginger and chilli. Saute for a couple of minutes.
• Add kale, zucchini and mushrooms, tamari and mirin and continue to saute for a few more minutes.
• Add cashews and stir to heat through.
• While pork and vegetable mix is cooking, remember to cook the rice.
• Towards the end of cooking pop butter or ghee into medium fry pan and fry the eggs, leaving the yolk runny if possible so it can ooze out all over the pork and rice.
• On a plate or in a bowl serve the rice with pork and vegetable mix with the friedegg on top. Sprinkle with lots of fresh coriander and serve with a lemon or lime wedge.

Notes

The beauty of this dish is that it's very forgiving. You can use pork, chicken or beef mince, or any variety of vegetables you like and might have in the fridge,  like carrot, capsicum, peas, bean sprouts ...

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

Bren x

This pie offers perfect healthy comfort food for those cold wintery nights or when teamed with a big, crispy salad is perfect for those warm summer nights too.

If your body does better without too much wheat or gluten, just keep a serving  of the chicken mix just for you before it meets the pastry. Enjoy it with the sides suggested in the recipe below. It’s truly delicious!

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Chicken, Leek & Mushroom Pie

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• Olive oil or ghee
• 1 medium leek chopped
• 1 brown onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 600 grams chicken thigh diced
• 1/4 cup home-made chicken stock
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons thick cream
• 300 grams mushrooms sliced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons spelt flour or rice flour if gluten free
• 2 tablespoons mustard
• 1 teaspoon herbamare optional
• 1 teaspoon dulse flakes optional
• pinch of sea salt and pepper
• 1 sheet of shortcrust or puff pastry - I use the Careme brand or Pampas All-Butter pastry
• 1 small egg lightly beaten

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees C.
• Heat some olive oil or ghee in a large frying over medium heat.
• Gently fry leek and onion for a few minutes until translucent, then add garlic and fry for a couple more minutes.
• Add the chicken and fry for approx 10 minutes or until just cooked, stirring it around intermittently.
• Add the mushrooms and fry for a few more minutes.
• Add spelt flour, stir in and fry for 1 minute.
• Gradually add the liquid, followed by the mustard, herbamare and dulse flakes, and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Put the chicken mix into a baking dish ( I used was 29cm x 9cm) and cover with the pastry.
• Brush on the lightly beaten egg and using a sharp knife puncture a few slits through the pastry
• Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden.
• Serve with steamed vegetables, cauliflower mash or big garden salad

Enjoy!

While you’re here you may like to check out my popular recipe ebook , 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! 

Other chicken dinner recipes you might like are Oven-Fried Chicken and Easy Chicken and Vegetable Casserole.

Bren x

Am I right or am I right?!

You can get the kids home after sport, settled into homework and gets started on dinner.

Once you pop it into the oven you’ve got time to throw together a big salad (make enough for leftovers to take to work the next day) to enjoy on the side.

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Crispy Chicken With Garlicky Potato Cream Sauce

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 4

Author Berleena Eberle for Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1/2 tbsn olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 800 g organic or pastured chicken thighs - skin on
• 6 kiplfer potatoes or 3 medium sweet potatoes roughly chopped into 2cm pieces
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 2 tbsn butter
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tablespoons spelt flour or gluten free flour
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 cup chicken broth or more, as needed
• 1/2 cup of cream
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
• Season skin well with salt and pepper. Preheat a large ovenproof pan to med – high, add oil and pan fry chicken skin side down for 3-4 minutes. Turn the chicken, searing bottom side for a further 2-3 mins. Turn off heat and scatter potatoes and spinach between chicken.
• Prepare the garlic potato sauce by melting butter in medium skillet over med heat. Add garlic, and stir for 1 min. Whisk in flour, stock and thyme. Turn off heat and stir through cream and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Pour garlicky cream sauce over chicken, spinach and potatoes and bake into the oven for 20-25 mins.
• Garnished with parsley or a squeeze of lemon juice.

Notes

Add as many vegetables as you like!

Enjoy!

I love seeing the pictures of when you make my recipes, so please share them on my Facebook page or Instagram.

Other chicken recipes you and your family might like are Baked Chicken Nuggets and Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie.

Berleena has been the wonderful recipe developer helping me create a series of delicious recipes, here’s a bit more about her…

Berleena Eberle — Food Mindset Coach
Berleena specialises in helping her clients develop a healthy relationship with food and their body. Her clients know how to deal with food triggers, let go of guilt, identify cravings and make healthy eating simple again with nutrient-rich, real food. Berleena strips back nutritional confusion to develop an intuitive eating approach.

When my kids devoured this soup served by my sister in a recent visit to the Blue Mountains, I was quick to ask for the recipe.

Last night I made it for the first time, and decided to add some mung dal (for extra protein) that had been in the cupboard debating its purpose in life.

I’m pleased to report it found a happy home in this soup. And despite protests from the kids revolving around the pappadums being the real attraction of the initial dish, they both loved this spice-rich soup packed in their thermos flasks for lunch the next day.

I’m often asked how to keep the food hot until lunchtime.

Well, it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Boil the kettle and then pour the water into the thermoses, be sure to pop the lids on
2. Heat up the food
3. Pour out the hot water  add the warmed up food into the container,  then pop the lid on immediately.

Our fave insulated jars are from Biome which have lasted years:

If you’re looking for more lunch inspiration, take a look at my new recipe ebook,  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!

There’s even a delicious recipe for Kale and Cannelleni Bean Minestrone which my kids love taking to school in their insulated container

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Indian Cauliflower, Potato and Mung Dal Soup

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 large brown onion chopped
• 1 tablespoon ghee or coconut oil
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 1 chilli finely sliced (I took out the seeds and used half a large red chilli)
• 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ground tumeric
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 4-6 cups water or bone broth
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 3 potatoes diced
• 1 cup mung dhal
• 700 gms cauliflower chopped into medium florets
• 1/2 cup plain yoghurt for serving, optional
• Chopped coriander

Instructions

• Fry onion in ghee or coconut oil for a few minutes until soft.
• Add garlic, ginger and chilli and lightly saute until soft.
• Stir in the spices for 1 minute or until fragrance is released.
• Add water and coconut cream and bring to the boil.
• Add potato and mung dhal and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add cauliflower and simmer for 10-15 minutes until cooked.
• Process half the mixture then add to remaining soup and serve.

Notes

Serve with yoghurt and chopped coriander and a nice big salad.

If you make any of these recipes 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.

You might also like to check out my favourite soup round up, 7 Soup Recipes to Soothe the Soul.

Bren x

I haven’t had enough time cooking my warming winter dishes to comfortably move onto lighter spring-like offerings. So, I may be busting out the thongs and singlets on the streets
but in my kitchen I am ignoring the fact that spring is with us to allow me more
time to get my autumnal cooking urges out of my system.

My favourite dinner of this week was a lamb stew/pie creation (Actually called French Baked
Lamb with Crispy Potato Topping, thanks to Delicious Mag, September 2013).

Pros about this dish: It is quick and easy to make, requiring only a
few ingredients and tastes like you have been slaving for hours.
Cons: Zero.

Next time I make this recipe I will make my own sugo
(passata) and chicken stock but if you are looking for a quick and
delicious midweek dinner, this is it. If you want to make it more seasonally
appropriate perhaps whack some zucchini on the side. We can call this
‘trans-seasonal cooking’.

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.

French Baked Lamb with Crispy Potato Topping

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

4 waxy potatoes such as dutch cream
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra to brush ( or you could use coconut oil or ghee)
6 x 200 grams lamb chump chops
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 rosemary sprigs, leaves finely chopped, plus extra sprigs to serve
1/2 cup (125ml) chicken stock
1and 1/2 cups (375ml) passata

Preparation

Place potato in a saucepan of cold, salted water.Bring to the boil then reduce heat to medium and cook for 5-10 minutes until par-cooked. Drain, cook and thinly slice.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Heat oil in a large frypan over high heat. Season the lamb then cook, turning, for 8-10 minutes until browned. Remove from pan and reduce heat to medium.

Add the onion and carrot, then cook, stirring, for 4-5 minutes until softened. Add the rosemary and cook for a further 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the stock and pasta sauce, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Bring to a simmer, then season and cook for 3-4 minutes until slightly reduced.

Place lamb in a baking dish and pour over the tomato sauce . Layer potato over the top and season, then brush with your oil of choice. Bake for one hour or until potato is golden.
Rest for 5 minutes then serve garnished with extra rosemary sprigs.

Thank you to Kim Brill for sharing this recipes – mum of two, wife of one and fellow food lover who adopts a 70/30 rule to good health.

The combination of pumpkin with root vegetables makes this a delicious, comforting soup, easy to digest soup for the whole family.

The picture you see is before the milk was added, it was my serving as I’ve never been a fan of milk. Omitting the milk just means the soup will be thicker and chunkier. Adding the milk makes it silkier and smoother, the way the rest of my family like it.

Easy to make everyone happy at dinner time with this one, but also perfect to pack for work or lunchboxes in an insulated container.

I’m often asked how to keep the food hot until lunchtime.

Well, it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Boil the kettle and then pour the water into the thermoses, be sure to pop the lids on
2. Heat up the food
3. Pour out the hot water  add the warmed up food into the container,  then pop the lid on immediately.

Here are my fave insulated jars which have lasted me years:

Thermos double wall food jar 475ml 16oz
In these containers I pack soups, pastas, any hot meals and also cold salads.

Kleen Kanteen TKCanister with insulated lid 8oz 237ml
I like this smaller size option to keep things cool like yoghurt, granola and fruit, overnight oats or to keep things warm like the chicken nuggets or smaller serves of things like soup, stew, pasta.

And f you’re looking for more lunch inspiration, take a look at my new recipe ebook, 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!

There’s even a delicious recipe for Kale and Cannelleni Bean Minestrone which my kids love taking to school in their insulated container.

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 favourite 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:

Coconut oil
Chicken stock
Nutmeg
Salt and pepper
Milk

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Pumpkin & Root Vegetable Soup

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 large carrot chopped small pieces
• 1 large potato chopped medium pieces
• 1 medium sweet potato chopped larger pieces
• ¼ large pumpkin chopped larger pieces
• 2 cups homemade vegetable or chicken stock
• Good pinch of nutmeg
• Freshly ground salt and pepper
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

• Heat the butter and coconut oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion gently over low heat until soft
• Add the carrot, stir well and sweat over low heat for 5 minutes, add potato, sweet potato and pumpkin and continue to sweat for another 5-10 mins
• Stir occasionally to prevent them from sticking to the pan
• Stir in the stock, nutmeg and salt and pepper and bring to the boil and simmer until vegetables are tender (approx 10-15mins)
• Once slightly cool, pour into food processor and blend well
• Pour back into saucepan heat gently and add milk and lemon juice
• Serve hot
• Top with chopped parsley, natural yoghurt and sunflower seeds

Notes

Serve with buttered sourdough bread or toast
Double the batch for freezer, leftovers or school lunchboxes

If you make this soup 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.

You might also like to check out my favourite soup round up, 7 Soup Recipes to Soothe the Soul.
Bren x