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

It explains why some of the more cumbersome foods in their lunch boxes keeps coming back.

So much for teaching them to sit down when they eat and engage in mindful eating!

So I’ve started to focus on filling their lunchbox with bite sized bits and pieces that they can eat with one hand whilst slamming a hand ball with the other : )

These mini-quiches work well and boy do my kids love them! There was a lot of begging for a quiche from other kids too. So they seem to be a popular option for kids.

They are easy to make too, especially if you get your kids involved.

With over 200 lunchboxes to tackle every year per child (!), my Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes recipe ebook was  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. Check it out here. 

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:

Milk
Salt and pepper

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Mini Quiche

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 3 sheets butter puff pastry
• 6 eggs
• 180 grams feta cheese
• 100 grams cream cheese
• 1/2 cup milk or cream
• Sea salt and pepper
• 300 grams spinach chopped
• 1 big handful mint finely chopped
• Red onion thinly sliced
• Cherry tomato halved

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius
• Grease 2 x 12 hole muffin tins with butter
• Thaw butter puff pastry as per packet directions
• Pop eggs, feta, cream cheese, salt and pepper into a food processor and blend for a few seconds until mixture is smooth (ie feta isn't still in lumps)
• Pour into a measuring cup with a spout and mix through spinach and mint
• Using a glass, cut holes in pastry ( I used a cup with 9cm diameter) and place into muffin holes
• Pour the egg mixture into the pastry
• I alternated the topping with half a cherry tomato and thinly sliced red onion
• Pop into the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until quiches are golden brown
• Leave to cook in trays for 5 minutes then remove to a cooling rack

Notes

Delicious hot or cold

If you know someone who could use some lunch box inspo, please share this recipe with them!

And please take photos and send them to me, or if you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek

You might also like these 10 Savoury School Lunch Box Ideas and these 17 Sweet and Easy Lunch Box Recipes.

Bren x

Kale chips are a big hit with my kids and, evidently, their friends, who come around and hoover them down before returning home demanding their mums make them too.

The teacher at school has her doubts, however, explaining to the kids (who are starting to ask for kale chips to be packed in their lunch boxes) that chips are bad for your health. Good on the teacher, because eating conventional chips every day is clearly not good for your health, but kale on the other hand is an incredibly nutritious food.

Keeping up with the demand is the real struggle. Luckily, the kids enjoy helping me make these moorish, healthy snacks so we can have them in constant supply.

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:

Coconut or olive oil
Himalayan rock salt

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Kale Chips

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of kale
• 2 tablespoons of coconut or olive oil
• Celtic sea salt or Himalayan rock salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 150 degrees
• Place coconut oil into oven for 1 minute to melt
• Cut/pull kale off the stem & wash well
• Spin in a salad spinner to dry then place on tea towel to absorb any extra moisture
• Put coconut oil in a bowl and using your hands, circulate the kale in the oil until well covered
• Lay strips of kale onto large flat pan (I usually need 3 pans) and put in oven for approx 10-12 mins
• Check kale at 10 minutes to make sure they are becoming crispy and not turning brown
• Spin the tray around (to ensure even heating).
• Remove from oven and sprinkle lightly with Celtic sea salt or Himalayan rock salt
• Don’t forget to make sure they are completely cool before storing in glass mason jars or plastic container

Why you should be eating kale?…

Kale is a dark leafy green (we all know we should be eating more of these), full of health benefits and nutrients. Like? Kale:

– is loaded with vitamins, especially vitamin A, but also vitamins C and K and folic acid;

– is rich in calcium, potassium, copper and iron. These nutrients are necessary for healthy bones, skin and eyes;

– contains important anti-oxidants such as carotenoids & flavonoids which can help to prevent cancer;

– is low in calories & high in fibre, so it’s great for digestion;

– is an anti-inflammatory food with lots of omega-3 fatty acids, which help to fight inflammatory and autoimmune disorders.

Kale is a very versatile plant that can be cooked in many ways, including steaming, stir-fries and salads … oh, and chips!

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my 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!

Other snack ideas you might like are Chewy Choc-Banana Biscuits and Raw Caramel Slice.

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