Wanna know the best bit? My kids HATE pumpkin, and I can only get it past them by making this soup or this dip, but up until now, they have refused it any other way. But they absolutely loved it roasted in this dish! I can only gather it was because the pumpkin was in total harmony with everything else on the plate. On a side note, never, ever stop offering your kids foods they hate because how will they ever get a chance to try it if they don’t see it and trust me, miracles do happen!

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:

Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Sesame seeds
Ground coriander
Ground cumin
Sea salt
Black pepper
Spelt flour
Tahini

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Dukkah Chicken with Pumpkin, Haloumi and Tahini Yoghurt Sauce

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 4

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

You can totally skip making your own dukkah and buy some good dukkah from the grocer instead. To make the dukkah I used the nuts below because that's what was in my cupboard, but you can use almonds, hazelnuts or brazil nuts if that's what you have

• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/3 cup hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• lots cracked black pepper
• Half a pumpkin
• 600 grams chicken tenderloins
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1-2 eggs
• 1/2 cup yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cake of haloumi sliced
• 1 cup couscous cooked per packet instructions

Instructions

Dukkah

• Toast the walnuts and hazelnuts in a skillet for around 3 minutes or until they are fragrant.
• Add the sesame seeds, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper and toast make sure you stir often so they don't burn, a couple more minutes should be enough.
• Remove the mix from the heat and transfer them to a food processor.
• Process the mixture until the nuts are broken down to the point that they resemble coarse sand (but not a fine powder)

Roast Pumpkin

• Preheat oven to 180 C
• Cut into 3 cm wedges, leave skin on
• Pop wedges onto baking tray and brush olive oil over the pumpkin, including the skin. Place wedges skin side down on the tray, season and roast 45-60 until tender or when skin starts to slightly blacken

Dukkah Chicken

• Line 1-2 baking trays with parchment paper
• Place spelt flour on a dinner plate
• Whisk egg in a bowl (use one egg at a time)
• Place some dukkah on a dinner plate (top up as you go)
• Set up an assembly line of chicken, flour, egg, dukkah and proceed to dip the chicken into the flour (shake off excess), egg (allow excess to drip off) and finally the dukkah and place on baking tray
• Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and bake until the chicken is cooked through, approx. 15 – 20 minutes, flipping half way through the cooking time (I pop in the oven around half way through cooking the pumpkin)

Tahini Yogurt Sauce

• Whisk together yoghurt, tahini and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper in a small bowl

Haloumi

• While the pumpkin and chicken are in the oven, heat a large frying pan, drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil or ghee, once pan is hot, fry the haloumi slices until golden brown on both sides
• Once everything is cooked, serve all components onto plate with fresh, side salad and drizzle the sauce over the chicken and pumpkin

Notes

Store dukkah in airtight container

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

If you make this recipe and share 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.

Some other of our fave family dinner recipes you might like are Oven-fried Chicken and Garlic Prawn and Pea Spaghetti

And sharing the successful ones here on the blog with you guys ?

Here are the pre-requisites for all my dinner recipe creations …

✓ Can be made quickly on busy weeknights
✓ Simple
✓ Flavourful
✓ Healthy
✓ The whole family will enjoy
✓ Can double up for lunchboxes – you can reheat this one up and pop in a thermos for school. For more lunch ideas you may like to check out my Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes ebook.

Despite the humble list of ingredients, the Easy Chicken Casserole sure does pack a punch of flavour, but feel free to experiment with more herbs and spices if you like.

If you have a flameproof casserole dish, you can cook the entire recipe up in it. I don’t have one, so I cooked everything up in a frying pan first (I had two going to cook the chicken), then transferred into a casserole dish before popping into the oven for another half an hour.

The result was a hearty and comforting bowl of deliciousness which hit the spot for the whole fam bam and could be heated up and taken to school in thermoses the next day.

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
Spelt flour
Sea salt
Black pepper
Thyme or oregano
Parsley

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Easy Chicken Casserole

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 4

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 500 grams chicken thighs
• 1 brown onion chopped
• 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 2 carrots halved lengthways and cut into discs
• 2 potatoes peeled and diced
• 2 tomatoes diced
• 2 tablespoons spelt flour
• 400 ml (2 cups) boiling chicken stock
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 1 tablespoon thyme or oregano or mixed Italian herbs
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 zucchini diced
• ¼ broccoli cut into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons parsley chopped

Instructions

• Heat oil in a large, flameproof casserole dish or large frying pan to medium heat (I used 2 frying pans for this step). Season chicken thighs and brown and seal on both sides for few minutes each. Remove and set aside (I just put them in the casserole dish I was going to cook them in) Preheat oven to 200ºC fan oven.
• Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and potatoes to the pan, and cook, stirring, for around 10 minutes. Add the tomato and dried herbs and cook for further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. While the vegetables are cooking, chop the chicken into bite sized pieces and put back into casserole dish.
• Stir in the flour, cook for 2min, then pour in the stock and simmer for a few minutes (I heated up the chicken stock in one of the frying pans I had used to cook the chicken to save having to wash another dish). Season to taste, then pour over the vegetable/broth mixture. Add peas, zucchini and broccoli.
• Cover and cook in the oven 1 hr until the chicken and vegetables are cooked through and the sauce is piping hot and thickened. Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

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 my Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes recipe book here. 

It contains 40 scrumptious sweet and savoury recipes which are nut and refined-sugar free and perfect for any time of day.

Other recipes you might like to try for dinner are Chicken Noodle Soup and Crispy Chicken with Garlicky Potato Cream Sauce.

Bren x

This week I threw together this tasty Potato and Zucchini Slice for lunch and it was massive tasty hit for the whole family! Make a double batch and voila, you have lunchboxes set for the next day!

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my popular 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 and take the guess work out of what delicious, healthy food to pack your kids for lunch! 

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 or gluten-free flour
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Dried rosemary

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Potato and Zucchini Slice

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 10

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 2 large zucchini grated and moisture squeezed out
• 6 cooked chat potatoes skin removed and cubed (slice some for the top) OR 2 medium raw potatoes, peeled, grated and moisture squeezed out
• 1 cup parmesan grated
• 1 cup cheddar cheese grated
• 6 eggs lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup spelt flour or gluten-free flour
• ½ cup butter melted
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180C
• Grease and line a 20 cm x 20 cm baking tin
• Mix all the ingredients together until well combined.
• Pour into the baking tin, pop slices of potato on the top, brush with olive oil and sprinkle over rosemary.
• Bake for 30 – 35 mins until golden or when eggs are firm.
• Serve with your favourite salad or cut up vegetables

Notes

This slice would be dee-lish with some chopped ham or chopped cooked bacon!

I love seeing you create my recipes, so please send me your photos.  And if you share on social please tag me on instagram @brendajanschek or facebook.

Other recipes you might also like are my Mini Quiches and Healthy Lasagna.

Bren x