I love filling my kids lunchboxes with fresh recipes and giving them something to look forward to at school at midday.

And it makes it all worthwhile when I hear my children say “I’m always excited to see what you’ve packed for my lunch, Mum!”

As a passionate home cook who believes in cooking simple recipes from scratch, I love creating tasty, nutritious recipes for my family and to share them with other parents.

As a mum, I relish the opportunity to nourish my children with home-cooked food, which means avoiding damaging additives like artificial flavours, preservatives, trans fats, and the refined sweeteners that are so common in processed, packaged food.

The 40 recipes in my Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes ebook are designed to be prepared and cooked in advance.

Most of them 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 🙂

It’s also amazing what goodies a Sunday sesh of a couple of hours can produce!

This recipe ebook is an ‘homage’ to kids everywhere who love eating, and who look forward to exciting and diverse lunches.

With over 200 lunchboxes to tackle every year (!), Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes was also created for the parents dreaming up a constant supply of delicious options  to keep their children happy and satisfied, while ensuring they are receiving vital nutrients as they grow physically, emotionally and intellectually.

The Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes eBook is split into 3 sections

1. My recommended lunch boxes, containers, drink bottles; my easy lunchbox system; and preferred ingredients
2. 20 sweet recipes
3. 20 savoury recipes

Plus a gorgeous photography to accompany each recipe.

I hope you’ll be inspired to create the simple, delicious recipes full of wholesome, real-food ingredients in your own home, helping your children to thrive and nourishing the whole family.

Enjoy these Raspberry Coconut Squares which is one of my kids’s favourite recipes included in the ebook.

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:

Rapadura sugar
Vanilla powder
Milk
White spelt flour
Desiccated coconut
Baking powder
Sea salt
Shredded coconut

Print

Raspberry Coconut Squares

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 250 grams butter softened
• ½ cup rapadura sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup milk of your choice
• 1 ½ cups white spelt flour
• 1 ½ cups wholemeal spelt flour
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ cup raspberry jam I use St Dalfours
• 1 – 2 cups frozen raspberries
• ¼ cup shredded coconut

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a square pan 20cm x 20cm pan with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar on high until pale and creamy (around 2 - 3 minutes).
• Beat in egg, one at a time.
• Add vanilla and milk and stir.
• Combine white flour, wholemeal flour, desiccated coconut, baking powder and sea salt in a seperate bowl, add to the creamed mixture and fold in well.
• Place half the batter into the prepared tin and flatten using a wet butter knife.
• Spread the jam evenly over the base, then using wet butter knife carefully spread the remaining batter over the jam layer.
• Press the raspberries into the top of the batter and sprinkle generously with shredded coconut.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely before
• cutting into squares. Store in airtight container for 4 days.

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. I get a total kick out of seeing you bring my recipes to life.

Ok, now back to apples. I really didn’t think we were ready for the change from Summer to Autumn. Surely the kids would mourn the end of summer’s succulent bounty of stonefruits like mangoes, peaches and nectarines, wouldn’t they? Well, no, actually. As much as they love those fruits, they seem to have naturally and instinctively followed the rhythym of the seasons to embrace the sweet flavours provided by Autumn’s apples and pears. Because we try to eat seasonally, the replacement of Summer fruits with Autumn fare follows a natural progression, and we are always ready for the introduction of a new set of tastes. Out with the old, and in with the new. We’ll be naturally craving our mangoes soon enough, but for now, it’s all about the delicious, crispy sweetness and juiciness of the pome fruits.

So cue the ritual of cooking with apples and the endless ways they can be used in recipes. And as the air starts to chill, wrap yourself in a blanket and try this homey Autumn fare by some of my favourite real foood bloggers.

Let’s kick off with my Apple Crumble Slice

Apple Cinnamon Upside Down Cake by Wholefood Nutrition and Wellness

Choc Chia Quinoa Crumble by Naughty Naturopath Mum

Easy Gluten-Free Apple and Fig Crumble by Natural New Age Mum

Apple Berry Custard Crumble by Quirky Cooking

Apple Rhubarb Pie by Wholefood Nutrition and Wellness

Upside Down Apple Cake Puddings by Alexx Stuart

Anyone salivating yet!!!!

Carrot and Apple Cake by The Nourished Psychologist

Apple and Lemon Cinnamon Ginger Quinoa by The Wholefood Mama

Apple and Cinnamon Brown Rice Waffles by Wholefood Nutrition and Wellness

Apple Oat Fritters by Quirky Cooking

Sweet Potato Apple Hash by Barefoot Kitchens

Chia Apple Porridge by Healthy Natural Changes

Cheesy Chicken Apple Balls by Barefoot Kitchens

Turkey Leg Confit with Cranberry Vodka Sauce and Baked Apple by The Wholesome Cook

There you go, now you can put those big bags of apples to good use.

I wonder which recipe will be first cab off the rank? I’d love to know in the comments.

Enjoy!

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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