Some of the measurements were missing, including the amount of flour, but her mum suggested to just add enough flour to make a semi thick mixture : )

As usual mums back then never wrote down recipes, they just went by look, smell and taste.

This is my adapted, ad libbed version which I recently took to a picnic and they went down a treat!

Note the dried mint goes perfectly with the cheeses and gives the muffin a lightness and lift.

These are perfect for breakfast, lunchboxes and are just delicious dipped into soup.

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
Aluminum-free baking powder
Bicarb soda
Extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper

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Savoury Cheese Muffins

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 15

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 6 eggs
• ½ cup mild extra virgin oil oil
• 2 & ¾ cup spelt flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1 cup romano cheese grated
• 1 cup feta crumbled
• 1/2 cup cheddar or tasty cheese grated (extra to sprinkle on top)
• cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried mint

Instructions

• Line a 12 cup muffin pan with muffin cases
• preheat oven to 180 degrees
• In a jug whisk together milk, eggs and olive oil.
• Into a large bowl add the flour, baking powder and bicarb soda, all the cheeses, black pepper and dried mint .
• Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it.
• Stir lightly with a fork until almost combined. (the batter should be lumpy, don't overmix) Spoon into muffin tin and sprinkle with remaining cheddar.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean and muffins are golden on top.
• Allow to cool in tray for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack

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

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 similar recipes you might like are Egg Muffins and Rich and Delicious Chocolate Muffins (with vegetables!).

Bren x

Fetch it out and transform them into this delicious, savoury snack.

Straight out of the oven they are crunchy and crispy. Once stored, they soften back up again, but follow my notes in the recipe section if you want your chickpeas to stay crispy for longer.

Serve them sprinkled over salads or soups, or eat them by the handful as a moreish snack.

Chickpeas make a great high fibre, high protein snack in your kids’ lunchboxes which they’ll just love munching on.

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:

Chickpeas
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Garlic powder
Paprika
Cumin
Chilli powder
Cracked black pepper

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Roasted Spiced Chickpeas

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 400 gram tin chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon sea salt extra for taste
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• pinch of chilli powder optional
• Cracked black pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Dry chickpeas in a tea towel REALLY WELL. Remove any skins which have come loose. Leave the chickpeas to air dry for a few minutes.
• Place chickpeas in a medium bowl. Stir through olive oil to coat the chickpeas..
• Pour chickpeas onto the prepared baking tray. Roast for 25-30 or until golden and crispy. I like to stir them half way through.
• Remove from oven and toss with spices and salt while still warm. Allow to cool.
• Store in container for up to 3 days.

Notes

If you want your chickpeas to stay crispier for longer, switch off the oven and leave the chickpeas in there to dehydrate until the oven is completely cool. Even leave overnight.

If you know someone who could use some wholefood recipes please share this recipe with them. Feel free to share my FREE breakfast ebook below with lots of ways to “think outside the cereal box”

If you make my recipes please take photos and send them to me, or if you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek or #brendajanschek,  I’d love to see what you make!

Here are a couple of other easy savoury snack recipes you might like – Auntie Helen’s Hummus or my Taco Popcorn.

Bren x

So in usual Brenda style I set out to make the healthier version while the kids doubted I’d be able to match the tastiness (without all the sugar).

Lo and behold!

The kids went cray cray over my version, popped them in their lunch boxes each day, and have already asked me to make them again, and again …

These bars are so good that I just had to put this recipe into my Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes ebook  which is packed with 40 delicious nut-free, sweet and savoury wholefood recipes your kids will love! Grab you copy 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:

Rapadura or coconut sugar
Spelt flour
Baking powder
Honey or rice malt syrup

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Orange Poppy Seed Bars

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 165 grams butter softened
• 1/2 cup rapadura or coconut sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups spelt flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup poppy seeds soaked in 4 tablespoons orange juice
• ICING
• 150 grams cream cheese
• 1-2 tablespoon honey or rice malt syrup
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 2 teaspoons orange zest

Instructions

• Grease and line a slice pan with baking paper
• Preheat oven to 175 degrees
• Pop butter and sugar into a bowl and beat with an electric mixture until pale and creamy (1-2 minutes)
• Add one egg in at a time, beat well
• Add in the poppy seed/orange mixture and stir
• Add flour and baking powder and fold in
• Pour into the slice pan
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
• Cool in the tin for 10 minutes
• Carefully turn onto a cooling rack
• Ice once completely cool
• ICING - simply pop all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth
• Using a butter knife spread icing onto cooled cake
• Slice into bars
• I stored them in the fridge

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

Remember to check out Easy Wholefood Lunchbox ebook here.

You might also like these Oat Seed and Date Bars or this Muesli Slice. Both also make great lunch box fillers.

Bren x

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

Print

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

While they’ve been cooking in the kitchen with me since they were wee little things, they were yet responsible for cooking an entire meal from start to finish (as well as doing the dishes) until now.

They were both excited to get stuck in and they immediately knew what they wanted to cook for week one.

My son studied food technology at high school this year, and really loved a recipe for Burek they created. Sadly, I lost the recipe, so my son set out to recreate it, with a little helping hand from me. They worked out perfectly, so tasty and crispy,  so we’ve decided to share his recipe. My daughter made us a delicious Mushroom Soup and Focaccia, both Thermomix recipes.

During school term kids really do have enough on their plate (see what I did there) and I am concerned that the balance is never quite right – there just never seems enough time for it all – earthing outside, running around, eating their greens, studying, memorising, doing assignments… &nbspWhile my kids still do lots of cooking during term, making a whole meal from scratch just hasn’t made the cut.

But we’ve got to shift the thinking, because cooking from scratch is as important as reading or swimming or doing maths – everyone should grow up with this skill. It’s a matter of health and culture. And this means it is our duty as parents to introduce culinary literacy to our kids from a young age and provide more an more opportunities for them to learn the skills.

For us the school holidays offers more space for these opportunities, and kids cooking dinners means parents get more time off! Here’s my son on Facebook Live strutting his stuff in his kitchen and making the Cheese and Spinach Triangles.  It’s worth a look if you’re not sure how to cut and fold the pastry.

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
Sea salt
Cracked black pepper
Milk
Sesame seeds

Print

Cheese and Spinach Triangles

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Author Orlando Janschek (with a bit of help from mum!)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 350 grams spinach chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped
• 350 grams feta cheese
• 200 grams ricotta cheese
• sea salt and cracked black pepper
• 2 sheets of pastry we used Careme butter puff pastry because it's made from real butter and not margarine. It's expensive, but I'm having more and more trouble finding Pampas Butter Pastry which was more affordable
• 1 egg with a splash of milk lightly beaten to be used as egg wash on the pastry
• sesame seeds and poppy seeds for sprinkling

Instructions

• Heat olive oil in large frying pan over medium heat
• Saute onion for a few minutes then add garlic and spinach and saute for another few minutes until spinach is soft, then add parsley and stir together. Allow to cool.
• In a medium bowl stir together the feta and ricotta cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Stir through the cooled spinach mixture.
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees C
• Pop some baking paper over two baking trays
• Cut pastry in half, then each half into quarters, so you end up with 8 triangles per sheet of pastry.
• Pop a couple of heaped tablespoons of the cheese and spinach mixture along one of the shorter sides of the triangle, and fold over.
• Secure pastry together and seal the edges using the back of a fork ( Best to watch the Facebook Live video to see best way to fill, fold and secure).
• Brush some egg wash over each triangle and sprinkle over the sesame and poppyseeds.
• Place triangles on baking tray and cook for approximately 25 minutes or until golden brown
• Serve with a big side of salad.
• Enjoy!

Notes

These are delicious hot or cold, and make a perfect lunchbox addtion.

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 at Brenda Janschek Health and Lifestyle.

Bren x