Meals that can be eaten for dinner straight out of the oven, or which are just as delicious eaten cold for those nights when one child is starving at 6pm and the other not home from training until after 8pm, meals which can double up for lunch boxes the next day (and day after that).

Chicken nuggets are a perfect solution. And let’s be honest, what kid doesn’t love them?!

My recipe is super easy to make with just a handful of ingredients. I make a big batch for our big eating family , and it a makes enough for lunch boxes the next day or two. I just throw them straight into the lunchbox as is, or wrap them up in some Mountain Bread with some mayo and lettuce.

If you’re looking for more lunchbox recipes, check out my 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! It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved!

I’m not one for batch frying anything, I just don’t have the patience for it and I can’t bare the mess. These baked versions are just as good as the fried ones, but without the mess and they take a fraction of your time.

The seasoning can be left out of the breadcrumb mix if you prefer, or you can use any alternatives which you family prefers.  I often do a version with a Tex-Mex flavour which the kids just love. Or you can add in some parmesan cheese or lemon rind.

I like to serve the nuggets with oven-baked potato and sweet potato fries and a nice crispy garden salad and a squeeze of lemon over the lot.

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:

Dulse flakes
Sweet Paprika
Smoked Paprika
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Dried thyme 
Dried basil
Himalayan rock salt
Spelt flour 
Extra virgin olive oil

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Baked Chicken Nuggets

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 16

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups breadcrumbs I just popped 2-3 pieces sourdough bread into the food processor
• ½ cup ghee or butter or mix of both
• 8 chicken thighs approx. 900 gms
• 2 teaspoons dulse flakes
• I teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• Sea salt or Himalayan rock salt
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 3 eggs lightly beaten
• extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees C
• Spread breadcrumbs on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until golden brown, 10 minutes, stirring breadcrumbs a couple of times to ensure they golden evenly
• Towards the end of breadcrumb cooking time pop the ghee and/or butter into a ramekin into the oven to allow to melt.
• While breadcrumbs are in the oven, cut chicken thighs into quarters
• Once lightly golden place breadcrumbs on dinner plate, allow to cool then mix through the dulse flakes, paprika, garlic and onion powder, thyme, basil, salt and slightly cooled ghee or butter
• Place flour on a dinner plate
• Set a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet and lightly brush some olive oil onto the rack. Or you can just line a couple of baking trays with baking paper
• Set up an assembly line of chicken, flour, egg, breadcrumbs and proceed to dip the chicken into the flour (shake off excess), egg (allow excess to drip off) and finally the breadcrumbs and place on the wire rack
• Drizzle chicken with olive oil and bake until the chicken is cooked through, approx. 15 – 20 minutes, flipping half way through the cooking time

If you make this recipe let me know if your family loves it as much as we do, and please take photos and send them to me via Facebook, or if you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek

You might also like these other family-friendly dinner ideas Tex Mex Burrito Bowls or Chicken Leek and Mushroom Pie

Bren x

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.

Growing up in a Middle-Eastern family, one of those dishes was a popular cultural dish, mums delicious and comforting spinach, lentil and lemon soup.

Mum still cooks it for me. Well, to be honest it’s my kids she’s really cooking for these days. Every second week she’ll come around and stock my fridge full of foods to last up to three days, the selection based on the specific requests of my kids. Some of her popular dishes are za’taar, homemade pies, spanokopita and her cannelloni. It’s really special to see that they also love her lentil soup as much as I do.

It’s unassuming in in it’s simplicity, but manages to pack a truly delicious punch, and makes a perfect mid-week meal the whole family will enjoy and leftovers can be packed to take to work or school for lunch.

I’m often asked how to keep the food hot until lunchtime.

Well, it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Boil the kettle and then pour the water into the thermoses, be sure to pop the lids on
2. Heat up the food
3. Pour out the hot water  add the warmed up food into the container,  then pop the lid on immediately.

Here are my fave insulated jars which have lasted me years:

Lunchbots Insulated Stainless Steel Container 470ml 16oz
In these containers I pack soups, pastas, any hot meals and also cold salads.

Kleen Kanteen TKCanister with insulated lid 8oz 237ml
I like this smaller size option to keep things cool like yoghurt, granola and fruit, overnight oats or to keep things warm like the chicken nuggets or smaller serves of things like soup, stew, pasta.

If you’re looking for more lunch 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!

There’s even a delicious recipe for Kale and Cannelleni Bean Minestrone which my kids love taking to school in their insulated container.

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 or coconut oil
Lentils
Salt and pepper

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Spinach, Lentil and Lemon Soup

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 5

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• Splash of olive oil or coconut oil
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 2 cups red lentils
• 6 cups water or vegetable stock I throw in a couple of my frozen chicken stock ice-cubes too
• 1 bunch English spinach leaves washed and chopped
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Heat oil in a large saucepan or stockpot over medium heat
• Add the onion and gently fry for up to 5 minutes
• Add the lentils and water/stock and bring to the boil
• Reduce heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until lentils are tender and starting to fall apart, adding in spinach in the last 5 minutes of cooking
• Stir in the lemon juice just before serving and season with salt and pepper
• Ladle into bowls and serve with toasted buttery, garlicy sourdough and extra lemon juice to taste

Notes

You can blitz the soup until smooth if texture is an issue for little kids

Lucky for me, Kady is also an amazing recipe blogger and she immediately shot out two recent recipes she had created involving seafood, offering to share with me so I could try and blog it for others feeling fish-challenged. Clever girl that Kady!

I can honestly say that we all LOVED this dish, I wasn’t sure I’d get the kids over the line with the babaganoush, so I did mash potato (or as I like to do a cauliflower, sweet potato and potato mash) for them instead, but they tasted the baba and loved it too.

Kady recommends using the same recipe for the crunch, to make a granola – she keeps the mix in an jar and uses it on everything!

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:

Salt
Pepper
Coconut oil
Oats
Quinoa
Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Tahini
Parsley

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Crunchy Gemfish with Babaganoush

Servings 2

Author Kady O'Connell

Ingredients

• FISH
• 2 x fillets of gem fish or any other meaty white fish
• sea salt
• pepper
• CRUNCH TOPPING
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp oats
• 1 tbsp quinoa
• 1 tsp walnuts crushed
• 1 tsp hazelnuts crushed
• BABAGANOUSH
• 1 eggplant choose a heavy dark one - they have less seeds
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley

Instructions

• Turn the grill on to the highest setting and put the whole eggplant under it. Leave for 5-10 minutes then turn sides - it should be completely soft and the skin starting to burst when its done.
• Take the eggplant out from the grill , cut off the top and peel away the skin.2. Place crunch mix in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 10 minutes. Then add all crunch ingredients to food processor and blend to a crumb.
• Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Rub the gem fish with a little coconut oil on both sides and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the crunch mix on top of the fish
• Place the fish in the oven at 180 degrees celcius for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the fillet. Use a knife to check if its cooked through.
• Place the eggplant meat into a food processor/ blender with the other babaganoush ingredients and blend until smooth.
• Spoon the babaganoush onto 2 plates and top with the gemfish.

Another seafood recipe the whole family loves which packs a power punch of goodness is this one for Sweet Potato, Corn and Wild Salmon Fritters.

Enjoy!

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

These little puppies sure kept them quiet for a while. Well, until the next day, that is, when they forcefully relayed their expectation that more cookies would be appearing in their lunch boxes!

The banana kinda replaces an egg as the binder, giving it its chewiness, and extra sweetness. The dark chocolate gives it some delicious texture and a touch of decadance on top.

Banana and chocolate – a match made in heaven!

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:

Honey
Whole Spelt Flour or White Spelt Flour
Dark Chocolate Chips
Rolled Oats

While you’re here you may like to check out my recipe ebook to give you some lunch inspiration, 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!

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CHEWY CHOC-BANANA COOKIES

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 110 g unsalted butter softened
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 banana mashed
• 1 cup spelt flour sifted
• ¾ cup rolled oats
• ½ cup desiccated coconut
• ¼ cup dark chocolate chopped (I used 70% lindt, approx 4-5 squares) or dark choc chips

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 175 C & line 2 large baking trays with non stick baking paper.
• Beat the butter, honey and vanilla until pale and creamy. Stir in the banana.
• Add the sifted flour, oats, coconut and stir until well combined. Add chocolate and mix well.
• Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place on baking rays and flatten..
• Place in oven and bake for approx 10-12mins or lightly golden.
• Leave on trays to cool.
• Thermomix Instructions
• Blend banana, butter and vanilla together on Sp 4 for a few seconds.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on Sp 4-5 for 10 seconds.
• Scrape down the sides and mix on Sp 4-5 for 6 seconds
• Press roughly chopped chocolate onto top
• Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place on baking rays and flatten..
• Place in oven and bake for approx 10-12mins or lightly golden.
• Leave on trays to cool.

Steal one for yourself with a steaming cuppa, the kids won’t even notice. But if they do, you’re on your own…

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Some other easy healthy treat ideas you might like are Peanut and Choc-Chip Biscuits and Healthy Anzac Biscuits.

I always encourage having a few staples on rotation in the fridge because it can make healthy eating a breeze.

Here’s what I had:

Grass Fed sausage

Meat from animals who eat grass (what they are born to eat) and not grains (which is very difficult for them to digest) are “rich in all fats now proven to be health-enhancing, but low in the fats that have been linked with disease”, as Doctor Mercola so neatly puts it.

Broccoli Pesto

As broccoli is in season and is a nutritional powerhouse, I thought I would make a batch of broccoli pesto. I lightly steamed it before adding my usual healthy pesto ingredients and, hey pesto! Broccoli is cancer fighting, immune-boosting and great for your bones and nervous system. It’s so versatile that I’ve been using it as a dip, an addition to a warm vege salad, spread on a piece of sourdough and on top of my omelettes. Yummo!

Cup of chicken stock

Having attended a wonderful bone broth workshop by Alexx Stuart, I’m ecstatic to report that, for the the first time, I’ve managed to get my chicken stock to the consistency of the much sought-after gelatin. Yeah baby. For me this was like striking gold after so many failed attempts. Seems I’m enjoying the imune boosting, mineral boosting, ultra-nourishing , wrinkle smoothing benefits of stock. You can read more on the top 10 reasons to make your own stock on Alexx’s blog.

Carrots and beans

Carrots and beans are super tasty right now, mostly because they are in season. Carrots are full of nutritional benefits, and an excellent source of vitamin A and are anti-aging, great for your skin, cancer fighting, cleansing for your body, amongst other things.

Beans are a great source of vitamins and minerals and have great cardiovascular benefits. They are a wonderful source of dietary fibre (great one to have if you are … umm … constipated) and help to prevent infections in the body.

So I received all of these benefits from my simple lunch and you can too with just a smidge of planning.

Oh , and I may or may not have had one of my delicious and energy boosting raw cacao balls after lunch : )

Have a wonderful day.

Bren x