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

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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.

….enter kids and it seems anything that involves dough and a rolling pin is total bliss for them!

So here we are, Quiche Lorraine with Kale, totally made from scratch by my 11 yr old daughter under my guidance and on high rotation here due to the YUM factor. And what’d ya know, it’s so easy and quick to make. Especially the pastry!

Our pastry edges clearly need some work, but that can be our next challenge.

Btw, on the occasions I just can’t be bothered making the pastry, I use Pampas Butter Pastry or Careme Pastry instead.

And if you’re clever you’ll make a double batch and pop slices into your kid’s lunchboxes  for the week and not have to think about what to make again!

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration, take a look at my recipe ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes, packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved!

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Quiche Lorraine with Kale

Servings 6

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 200 grams spelt flour
• 100 grams butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 60 grams chilled water
• 200 grams bacon or ham chopped
• 200 grams cheddar cheese grated
• 7 eggs
• 200 grams pouring cream
• 2 cups kale finely chopped
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• pinch ground nutmeg

Instructions

• Pop flour into a large bowl, add butter and rub together until resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Stir in salt, then add 2-3 tablespoons of water and mix till a firm consistency.
• Knead the dough briefly on a floured surface then pop in the fridge to chill for around 15 minutes.
• While dough is resting in the fridge, grease a 25cm flan tin and preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
• Beat eggs together then add cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg and add cheese and stir through.
• Remove dough from fridge and roll out to 1cm thickness and line the pastry in the flan tin.
• Prick the base using a fork, cover with baking paper, pop on some pie weights or beans, and blind bake for 15 minutes or until golden.
• Once cooked remove from oven and remove baking paper, pie weights or beans.
• Lower oven temperature to 180 degrees C.
• Spread base of pastry with chopped bacon, then pop in the kale and pour over the egg mixture.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and firm.

Notes

This is delicious served with a big garden salad and makes a great lunchbox leftover.
For a sharper flavour so a mix of cheddar, parmesan and Romano cheeses, so good!

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 Egg Muffins and Potato,Feta and Spinach Frittata.

Bren x

Here’s a delicious version created by my good friend Marisa from Happy Bull Memoirs. Marisa is a great cook, she’s like the Juliet Binoche character from Chocolat, she loves satisfying her guest’s desires with her delicious, comforting food, always spiked with love and mystery and I’m alway excited to receive an invite over for a gathering because well, I do love my food, and Marisa always delivers.

When you check out her blog, make sure you scroll down ’cause there you’ll see a recipe for the best dang Ginger Heart Biscuit recipe you’ve ever tasted. I was going to healthify them and make them for the kids myself, but you know what, these are always a special treat we have probably once a year from Marisa, and sometimes the pleasure that food brings is enough to override anything else. Our memories of Marisa will always include her beautiful Ginger Heart Biscuits.

Now, back to the Miso Ramen, don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients/instructions in this recipe, it’s easy-peasy to make because the slow cooker does all the work for you!

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:

Sesame oil
Salt
Seaweed or nori sheets
Soba noodles

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Home-made Miso Ramen

Prep Time 5 minutes

Servings 6

Author Marisa Zamora from HappyBullMemoirs

Ingredients

• 3 x tbs of sesame oil
• 1 kilo of pork spare ribs
• 4 x chicken legs
• 1 large leek chopped roughly
• 1 x large carrot chopped or shredded
• 6 x cloves of garlic whole
• 1 x red chilli medium heat or to taste
• 30 g of fresh ginger or to taste
• 6 x shitake mushrooms sliced into long quarters
• 100 g of white miso paste
• 3 x tbs of cooking sake
• 2 litres of water
• Salt to taste
• Bamboo shoots chopped lengthways for serving
• Seaweed or nori sheets roughly chopped for serving
• 1 soft boiled egg shared between 2 people chopped in half for serving
• Spring onion finely chopped for serving
• 50 g – 100g of Ramen fresh noodles per person or soba noodles cooking instruction on packet

Instructions

• In a slow cooker or pot on low heat throw in all ingredients starting with the sesame oil, pork and chicken legs then leek, carrot, garlic, chilli, ginger, mushrooms, miso paste, sake and salt.
• Cover with 2 x litres of water or enough water to cover the ingredients.
• Note: There is no need to sautee anything in this recipe as it is primarily a stock.
• *Cook on low heat for 3-4 hours with a lid so the moisture does not evaporate. Add water if you see the pot drying out! Nb: You will not have this problem if you use a slow cooker.

Straining the broth

• Once cooked, take out pork ribs, chicken legs and shitake mushrooms before straining the soup. Separate the chicken from the legs but keep the pork on the bones and set aside with the shitake mushrooms which will be added back into the broth in the final heating stage.
• Strain the broth using a fine sieve or strainer. Let the broth cool down completely to scoop out any remaining fat that comes to the surface.
• Reheat the cooled down broth including the now boneless chicken pieces, pork ribs and shitake mushrooms.
• Before transferring to a bowl make sure you are happy with the salt content of the broth. You may want to add a bit more to enhance the broth flavour.
• To serve, place some chicken and 2 x pork ribs into each bowl with shitake mushroom.
• Add noodles then fill the bowl up with broth.
• Add bamboo shoots, seaweed or nori sheets, half an egg and spring onion on the surface of the broth.

Enjoy!

Other soup recipes you might like:

Pea and Ham Soup

Spinach, Lentil and Lemon Soup

Indian, Cauliflower, Potato and Mung Dhal Soup

Cauliflower and Potato Soup

Slow Cooked Lamb Shank and Barley Soup with Gremolata

Pumpkin and Root Vegetable Soup

Home-made Miso Ramen

Chicken Noodle Soup

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.

You can find out a little more about her below.

This is the first of 6 new recipes we can’t wait to share with you!!

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Summer baked meatballs with kale and juicy tomato sauce

Lunchbox friendly, batch and freeze

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Author Berleena Eberle for Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• Meatballs
• 1 kg grass fed organic beef mince (ground)
• 2 eggs
• 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped (reserved half for tomato sauce)
• 1 large brown onion grated or finely chopped, can use food processor (reserve half for tomato sauce)
• 1 cup of kale leaves stripped and chopped finely
• 1 tspn ground cumin or seeds
• 1 tspn ground cinnamon
• ½ tbsp of dried or fresh dill
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup of sourdough bread chopped into small pieces
• Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
• 1/2 tspn olive oil
• Basil for garnish
• Parmesan cheese to taste
• Tomato Sauce
• 1 tspn olive oil
• 1.5 cups of passata sauce
• 3/4 cup stock or broth
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 sprigs basil finely chopped
• 200 g spelt pasta ½ cauliflower (grated to make rice) or 3 medium zucchinis (spiralized)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
• To make the meatballs, combine the mince, eggs, half the garlic and onion, kale, cumin, cinnamon, dill, lemon rind, bread, salt and pepper in a bowl. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes so the kale and breadcrumbs can absorb some of the moisture.
• Roll meatballs into balls and set on baking tray, brush with olive oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden on top.
• To make the tomato sauce, saute the remaining onion in oil for 1-2 mins in a large saucepan. Add the garlic, stirring for a further minute. Add passata sauce, broth and apple cider vinegar, season well with salt and pepper. Let sauce simmer on low heat for 5 mins.
• Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer on low heat for a further 5-10 mins. Turn off heat and mix through basil.
• Serve meatballs on a bed of spelt pasta, cauliflower rice or spiralized zucchini of your choice, drizzle tomato sauce on top, garnish with fresh basil and parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Bren x

Meet Berleena….

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.

Usually on the weekend, if time permits, the kids and I will get busy in the kitchen making food for the lunchbox.

I always like to pop in something fun into their lunchbox each day. We don’t ‘do’ dessert at home, so once a day at recess my kids look forward to their healthy treat.

They are almost always made from scratch ( I have a stash of our fave packaged options for those insane days), from the best ingredients I can afford, and as nutrient dense as I can make them.

For more lunchbox inspiration check out my Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes eBook filled with 40 of my children’s favourite nut-free and refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes. All kid-tested and kid-approved!

Here are some of their fave lunchbox treats.

Rich and delicious chocolate muffins (with vegetables) by Brenda Janschek

Sweet potato and choc chip muffins by Mummy Made it – gluten free

Beetroot, quinoa and chocolate muffins by The Holistic Ingredient

Sweet potato brownie by Slim Birdy – gluten free

Chocolate Orange Truffles by Brenda Janschek (if nuts are allowed)

Leftover porridge cakes by Lisa Corduff

Date, oat and seed bars by Brenda Janschek

Nut-free chocolate and coconut no bake bars by BecomingNess

Coconut slice by Homemade, Healthy, Happy

Chai, date and sesame biscuits by Brenda Janschek

Vanilla Apple Chia Pudding by Brenda Janschek

Cinnamon, turmeric custard by Low Tox Life

Banana Pancakes by Brenda Janschek Health & Lifestyle

Pancakes 3 ways by Quirky Cooking

Super smoothie by Brenda Janschek

Brownie Cake by Brenda Janschek

Raw Cacao Balls by Brenda Janschek (nut free)

Find the best 10 Savoury School Lunchbox Ideas here

For more lunchbox inspo, grab my new Easy Wholefood Lunchbox recipe eBook with 20 savoury and 20 sweet recipes filled with simple wholesome ingredients to meet your kids nutritional needs and fuel their learning and play, giving them the brainpower and energy they need to get through the day.

On top of all the learnings of how to create, execute and cook a recipe, he’s learnt what’s involved in creating an eBook, as well as business concepts like costs, breaking even, profits and valuing your product. I’d love to think my kids are little entrepeneurs in the making!

So we agreed to share just one more recipe from our eBook, and based on a Facebook poll, the most popular recipe chosen from the options were these totally scrumptious SPICY CHICKEN WINGS.

Orlando pretty much created this recipe on his own and I have such fond memories of sitting together at the kitchen bench, sun streaming through the windows and foraging through the herb and spice box. From there he threw together a few flavours with a couple of other essential marinade ingredients and voila, spicy chicken wings were born!
It took him a couple of tweaks to get the balance right (he was initially a bit heavy handed with the cayenne pepper – ouch!) but the end result is sooooooo good and I’m one heck of a proud mum.

We hope you love this recipe as much as we do.

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:

Chilli powder
Oregano
Cayenne pepper
Paprika
Thyme
Onion powder
Olive oil or coconut oil

Print

Spicy Chicken Wings

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 3

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic peeled
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or melted coconut oil
• Juice from half a lemon
• 700 grams chicken wings or around 7 medium sized wings (small drummies are also an option)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
• Crush garlic cloves into a large bowl.
• Add all the herbs and spices.
• Add the oil and lemon juice and stir well.
• Pop the chicken wings into the bowl and massage the marinade in thoroughly.
• Place chicken wings onto a baking tray and cook in the oven for approx. 45-55 minutes.
• Serve with lightly steamed and buttered broccoli and green beans, or a side salad and homemade sweet potato and potato chips (these are seriously sooooo good, and also have a special herb and spice mix and can be found in the snack section of Real Food for Hungry Teens.

Real Food for Hungry Teens eBook

Created by certified health coach, Brenda Janschek, and her hungry, foodie son Orlando, this eBook contains a rich variety of over 20 nourishing, real food recipes designed to satisfy the tastebuds and growth requirements of developing teenagers.

Teenage years place a great burden on the body as it transforms into adulthood. These tasty recipes are designed to help our growing kids through this period of physical, emotional and intellectual upheaval with food that actually supports their accelerating growth, without simply resorting to a loaf of bread at each sitting.

If you’re not lucky enough to be soaking up some Fiji sunshine (hint: I’m not), you’re probably at home where kids can tend to get bored and Mums become chained to the kitchen.

So why not kill two birds with one stone without breaching any child labour laws? Go ahead and welcome the kids into the kitchen. It will give you a helping hand, keep them busy, and they’ll learn a thing or two at the same time. And I don’t even need to mention the bonding opportunities and memories this creates.

Kids learn so much when they chop, crumb, stir, roll, stuff, slice, measure and decorate. But remember to make it as much fun as possible. So, grit your teeth and be prepared for some, well, a lot of mess. Here are some fantastic recipes which may just help to unearth some new family favourites. Pick a few to make and instil confidence and the art and skill of cooking into your kids these school holidays.

Cooking with kids is one of the best ways to unfuss your fussy eaters too! It’s so important to help your kids have a healthy relationship with food from as young as possible. Involving kids in meal prep makes them active participants and gives them a sense of control from the very get-go. When your kids help with picking groceries, preparing food and setting the table, their curiosities are peeked, and they want to be part of the end result, which is eating the prepared meal!

TURN FUSSY EATING AROUND WITH THIS LIFE-CHANGING RESOURCE!
The Fussy Eating Bundle has you covered. Use our tried and tested strategies and solutions and help your children eat and love a wide variety of foods today!

You can source many of the ingredients in these recipes from my one-stop-favourite-shop, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They offer amazing quality ingredients and value for money and they stock  all my favourite products and I don’t even have to leave the house!

Savoury

It’s oh so tempting just to make sweets when you are cooking with kids, but based on my kids cooking classes, I can promise you they love making (and eating), savoury dishes just as much.

Hearty Black Bean and Sweet Corn Quesadilla by Brenda Janschek Health and Lifestyle.

If you haven’t made this already, do yourself a favour, and get cracking on this recipe with the kids these school holidays.

It’s my son’s favourite recipe from the recipe ebook we wrote together Real Food for Hungry Teens, which has received rave reviews from kids of all ages. Such a super fun recipe to make and eat these holidays.

Avocado Brown Rice Sushi by Stace from A Healthy Mum.

Stace reckons her 3yr old loves mashing the avocado through the rice and popping it on the nori. Such a fab sensory experience for them!

Cheese and Seed Crackers by Georgia from Well Nourished.

Full of goodness , this recipe offers lots of opportunity for grinding, grating, rolling and cutting.

Perfect holiday fun!

Paleo Zucchini Bacon Bites by The Merry Maker Sisters.

With lots of opportunity for mixing, sifting and rolling, these delectable bites make for a perfect rainy afternoon activity for your toddlers or even your grumpy teens!

Baked Chicken Nuggets  by yours truly.

I love this recipe because kids of all ages can get involved in the cubing, peeling, dicing, rolling, coating and lining up on a tray…and who doesn’t love a chicken nugget? These ones are the bomb!

Stuffed Cucumber and Celery Boats from my recipe ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes

From experience in my kid’ cooking classes I know that kids just love to stuff food! From potato, to tomatoes, zucchini, celery and lettuce leaves. Look out for their faces beaming with pride when they serve the whole family their little stuffed boats : )

Baked Eggs by Lisa Corduff from Small Steps Living.

Now here’s an idea for the school holidays.

How about you have a sleep in, and let the kids make you this for breakfast? Often kids favourite meal of the day is breakfast, which means they love making it too.

Another great recipe for the tweens/teens to handle themselves, little siblings can help set the table, sprinkle the side with feta and herbs and a crack of salt and pepper.

Sweet

Oat, Seed and Date Bars by Brenda Janschek Health and Lifestyle.

My kids are teens now, yet they still love making simple recipes like this.

It’s a great way to show them how easy eating tasty, healthy can be and they love the quick result.

Healthy Chocolate Crackles by Sonia from Natural New Age Mum.

You won’t find large amounts of refined sugar or hydrogenated copha in this version. No siree!

Your kids will see for themselves what goes into the healthy version when they get stuck into making this easy, simple treat.

Rowdy Roll Ups by Amy from The Holistic Ingredient.

The kids will love seeing how all this comes together from scratch, with so few ingredients no less to get this delicious result.

Berry Smoothie Bowl by me is a great one to prove to kids that maximum deliciousness doesn’t need to come with a truck load of sugar and additives, just simple ingredients for the kids to whizz up before devouring it.

Coconut Rough by Ness from Becomingness reinvents a childhood favourite.

With your guidance, let older kids learn how to turn on the stove, and get their confidence up doing all the stove top bits (with your watchful eye), while the younger kids can stir and pour.

No Bake Peanut Butter Balls by Brenda Janschek Health and Lifestyle.

Enlist the kids and stock up the fridge with these power-packed goodies perfect for snacks.

Younger kids get to practise their motor skills with the rolling, older kids love measuring out just the right amount and ensuring all the balls are the same size (they do in my family anway).

My Favourite Home made Granola by Brenda Janschek Health and Lifestyle.

Great for breakfasts or snacks on the go, lots of opportunity to talk about the goodness in nuts and how fruit is dried.. Remember, cooking with our kids allows opportunities for learning all about food too.

There you have it, 14 fantastic recipes to make from scratch during school holidays. Remember, surrender to the inevitable mess and you’ll find so much joy in passing on the lifelong skill of cooking onto your children.

If mealtime is always a struggle in your house check out The Fussy Eating Bundle where our tried and tested strategies and solutions have helped thousands of parents help their children develop a healthy relationship with food. 

Bren x

They know the boundaries, so they never ask for anything too outlandish, but they appreciate being asked just the same.

Now I can take it a step further as I have the pleasure of actually creating recipes with my 12yr old food-loving son. And because he understands the balance of nourishment and taste, the upside to this little collaborative approach is that the food is more likely to be eaten rather than return home! Unsurprisingly, muffins are hot on their list of regular items.

Muffins are always a delicious treat, but it’s still a good idea to mix them up for variety.

I always try to make my muffins as nutritious as possible, so in this recipe I added the sunflower seeds, carrots and apples to the staples, which include the best quality eggs, butter, flour, sugar and coconut I can find and don’t they just make the perfect healthy lunchbox snack too!

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! 

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 Spelt flour
Wholemeal spelt flour
Coconut sugar
Sunflower seeds
Baking powder
Cinnamon
Salt
Desiccated coconut
Milk
Vanilla powder

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APPLE AND CARROT MUFFINS

Ingredients

• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds roughly or finely ground
• 2.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 large granny smith apple peeled and grated
• 1 medium carrot grated
• 2 cups milk
• 100 grams butter melted and slightly cooled
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees.
• Butter a 12 hole muffin tray.
• Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, desiccated coconut, cinnamon, sunflower seeds and salt in a large bowl.
• Whisk together the eggs, butter, milk and vanilla and add to the flour mixture along with the grated carrot and apple and gently mix through.
• Spoon the batter into the muffin tray until 3/4 full and bake for approx 20 mins or when skewer comes out clean.
• Enjoy and share the recipe with your friends!

Here’s a little information on the benefits of each ingredient:

Sunflower seeds

High in Vitamin E, magnesium and cancer-fighting selenium, anti-inflammatory, mineral-rich (great for bones), great for nerves and skin.

Carrots

Protect against heart disease and cancer, high in anti-oxidants and vitamins (A, K, C and calcium).

Apples

Packed full of disease fighting vitamins (C & B-complex), and a rich source of antioxidants, minerals flavanoids and dietary fibre.

Eggs

Go for pasture-raised or organic. High in Omega 3’s, Vitamin D, choline and selenium.

Butter

Full of vitamins (A, E, D & K), lauric acid, anti-oxidants anti-cancer properties.

Coconut

Contains minerals, supports brain function, increases feelings of satisfaction and fullness, healthy fat, high in fibre.

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 Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes here.

If you liked this recipe you may also like these other delicious muffin recipes – Date & Cinnamon Muffins and Savoury Cheese Muffins.

Bren x