These truffles are healthy, full of nutrition and oh so good!

If you’re facing a slump in your day, the citrusy orange provides a nice little zesty, zingy uplift to carry you through.

These truffles have been so handy to just grab out of the freezer when we need a little pick me up, and my son has loved having them in his school lunch box too and they make a great nutrient-dense, filling healthy snack for kids.

Enjoy this Vitamin C-packed party in a bliss ball! We’ve always got a batch of bliss balls stashed away in the fridge or freezer like these nut and date-free Raw Cacao Balls,  the Apricot, Orange, and Coconut Bliss balls from my Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes ebook, and these Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss Balls.

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:

Cacao Powder
Walnuts
Pepitas
Chia Seeds
Medjool Dates
Desiccated Coconut
Cinnamon Powder
Salt 
Maple Syrup 

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Chocolate Orange Truffles

Total Time 10 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 2 cups desiccated coconut
• 6 medjool dates seeds removed
• 6 prunes seeds removed (provides a fudge-ier consistency and has less sugar than dates)
• 1/2 cup walnuts you can leave these out to make lunch box friendly
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 2 tablespoon pepitas
• zest of 1 medium orange
• juice of half an orange
• 2 - 3 tablespoons cacao
• 1/2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• pinch sea salt
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup optional

Instructions

• Place the ingredients into your processor and blend at high speed until the mixture is all blended and comes together. Roll the mixture into balls, roll through desiccated coconut and place in the freezer to set

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. 

If you’re looking for more recipe 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!

Bren x

Add fish, sardines or your favourite protein if you like, or keep it as vegetarian.

If you’re still trying convince your kids that cauliflower is as delicious as rice, a great tip is to mix through some cooked basmati rice to get them over the line.

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:

Olive oil
Salt and pepper

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

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.

Everybody needs a Naturopath like Naomi Judge, especially if she’s gonna be creating desserts like this! Naomi guest blogs on the site today…over to you Naomi….

I love experimenting with making tasty desserts and snacks but without adding too much sugar. Sometimes it works really well, such as my pumpkin pie recipe, and other times it is a complete fail! This time I nailed it. The creaminess of the coconut, mixed with the strong flavor of cacao balanced up with vanilla works a treat. This dessert isn’t for the faint hearted though, you also need to love raw cocoa and coconut, which isn’t hard to do in my books.

I love using vanilla, not only because it creates a beautiful warm sweet flavor, but because it has so many medicinal qualities. Vanilla is particularly good for the brain; it contains vanilloids, which are the constituents, and which give vanilla its brain and mood boosting abilities. Vanilla has been used for centuries as a calmative and nervous system soother.

You can’t use your bog standard vanilla drops in glycerin though, you’ll need to invest in vanilla beans, powder or pure essential oil to get the real benefits, and trust me, you’ll taste the difference too! If these types of vanilla are hard to find, go for a good quality vanilla extract.

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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:

Raw cacao powder
Raw honey or maple syrup
Chia seeds
Coconut milk
Vanilla powder
Coconut oil 
Salt

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Rich Chocolate Chia Dessert

Although this recipe is simple with not too many ingredients, it does take a bit of prep time, as you need to let it sit over night.

Servings 4

Author Naomi Judge Naturopath

Ingredients

• 1 ripe avocado
• 2 tablespoons raw cacoa powder
• 2-3 teaspoons raw honey or maple syrup
• ¼ cup chia seeds
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or powder, bean or oil
• 40 gm cacao butter or coconut oil
• pinch sea salt

Instructions

• Blend the avocado with a tablespoon of cacao powder, ½ teaspoon vanilla and a teaspoon of honey or maple syrup. Blend until creamy.
• Next, divide the mix into 4 and pop in the bottom of 4 glasses.
• For the chia layer, place chia seeds in a bowl; mix in 1 ½ cups of coconut milk, 2 cups water and ½ teaspoon vanilla . Leave for 15 minutes to allow the chia seeds to expand and absorb the liquid.
• Split the chia mix equally into 4 serves and place on top of the avocado layer.
• Next make the chocolate topping. Heat the remaining coconut milk in a pan (1 cup), when steam begins to rise add in cacao butter or coconut oil, a tablespoon of cacao powder, teaspoon of vanilla and 1-2 teaspoons of honey or maple plus a pinch of salt. On the lowest heat setting, keep stirring so that the cacao butter or coconut oil melts down. The longer you stir, the thicker and creamier the mix gets.
• Remove the chocolate mix from the heat, allow to cool down for a few minutes, spoon chocolate mix onto the chia layer. The mix should just reach the top of the glass.
• Finally add coconut flakes as the final layer. Place desserts in the fridge; leave them to sit over night to set.
• Other toppings could include cacao nibs, frozen berries or a fruit puree. You may also experiment with other flavours, cinnamon, chilli, salt and caramel.

Notes

When you are ready to serve, remove them from the fridge and enjoy

A big thank you to Naomi for sharing her beautiful recipe. And check out her Facebook page which is full of lots of great information on women’s health and general wellbeing.

This quinoa porridge is choc-a-block full of goodness with just about all the ingredients containing powerhouse immune-boosting properties such as protein and zinc, iron and fibre, Vitamin C, lauric acid and so much more. And it’s gluten-free!!

The recipe makes enough for breakfast for two days. I just stash leftovers in the fridge and add more water to heat it up the next day. It’s so grounding and filling I can often skip lunch and just settle for an early dinner instead!

Just a little note to please try to buy your quinoa from Australia if you can, as there’s a sustainability problem in Peru, they can no longer afford to buy their own quinoa : (

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:

White quinoa
Coconut Oil
Salt
Coconut Milk 
Dried Figs
Medjool dates
Cinnamon Powder
Cardamom Powder
Nuts & Seeds
Coconut flakes

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Spiced Quinoa Porridge

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 2

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• pinch sea salt
• 1 tablespoon yoghurt or whey
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed spices like cardamom nutmeg, cloves
• 1.5 cups water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 - 2.5 cups coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons orange blossom water optional
• 1 teaspoon vanilla powder or extract
• 1/4 cup chopped Turkish figs and Medjool dates
• Sprinkle of cinnamon and cardamom
• 1/2 cup mix of nuts and coconut flakes raw or roasted (I love pistachios with this dish)

Instructions

• Soak the quinoa overnight in warm filtered water, a pinch of sea salt and a tablespoon of yogurt. Rinse very well in the morning. This is to release all the bitter saponins and make the quinoa more nutritious and digestible.
• Warm the coconut oil in the saucepan, add the quinoa and mixed spices and toss for a couple of minutes.
• Add in the water and cinnamon sticks.
• Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer, with lid on for approx 10 minutes.
• Add the coconut milk and orange blossom water, vanilla, dates and figs. Stir through and simmer on a very low heat for 5 minutes.
• Serve with a sprinkling of cinnamon powder and the nut and coconut flake mix.
• Enjoy!

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!

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.

Other  recipes you might like are Pimped Up Oat Porridge and Breakfast Rice Porridge.

Bursting with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, the Zucchini noodle makes a super nutritious alternative to high-carb pasta.

This recipe is one of many I have developed for my Break Through! Signature Cleanse Program, which focuses on delicious, satiating meals that encourage optimum health and weight.

The aim is to create meals that not only taste good and are healthy, but leave you satisfied.

This is the way to creating sustainable results with your health and weight goals, transcending the start-stop yo-yo of ‘dieting’.

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
Salt and pepper
Chilli flakes

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Fresh and Raw Zucchini Noodle Salad

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 1

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 large zucchini
• 6 cherry tomatoes halved
• 6-8 Kalamata olives pitted and quartered
• Handful of fresh basil leaves
• Handful of rocket
• Drizzle Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• Zest of half a lime
• 1 garlic minced
• Salt and pepper
• Crumbled goats cheese optional
• Thinly sliced fresh red chilli or chilli flakes optional

Instructions

• Make zucchini noodles - if you don’t have a spiraliser, use a potato peeler to make thick strips then cut them into thinner strips
• Pop into a bowl with cherry tomatoes, olives, basil and rocket
• Make dressing out of olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, garlic, salt and pepper
• Pour on top of ingredients and gently mix together and if you have time allow to sit for 10 minutes, then it’s good to go with an extra crack of salt and pepper.
• Add crumbled goats cheese and/or chilli if using

Guess what happened as I was making zucchini noodles………

Putting this in perspective, Miss then 8 pictured here is what I call a zucchini-sceptic.

However, having made the zucchini noodles with me and noting how colourful and vibrant they looked, she took the plunge and ended up hooking in!

Perhaps it’s more the presentation of the zucchinis that won her over, or perhaps it was the mixture of tastes. Either way, we have a convert on our hands.

Just goes to show that anything can happen when you get kids into the kitchen.

Enjoy!