Because they are quick, nutritious and delicious, they make a fantastic lunchbox snack. You can always dial up the nutrition factor by utilising the beneficial fats contained in butter, controlled amounts of natural sugar, and the vitamins, minerals in the seeds

These are not like your average crunchy Muesli bar. Rather, they’re a softer, crumblier (but not too crumbly) version and make a great option to keep your kids happy, full and focused at school.

Because most schools have a nut-free policy, I have omitted nuts in favour of seeds for this recipe. Maybe you could add some almonds to a batch for home use!

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:

Oats
Spelt flour
Coconut sugar
Desiccated coconut
Sunflower seeds, pepitas
Chia seeds
Dried apple, Sultanas, Apricot, Cranberries
Cinnamon
Vanilla powder
Raw honey

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Muesli Slice

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cup of organic oats
• ½ cup spelt flour
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar
• ½ cup dessicated coconut
• ½ cup mixed of sunflower seeds sesame seeds, pepitas (your choice)
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1/3 cup chopped dried apple or you could use sulphur-free sultanas, sulphur0free dried apricot or sugar free cranberries
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder
• 90 g butter
• 3 tablespoons natural yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon honey

Instructions

• Grease and a 3cm deep, 16cm x 28cm (base) baking pan
• Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees C
• Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
• Melt butter, add honey and yoghurt and stir well.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until mixture sticks together.
• Press evenly & firmly into the baking pan.
• Bake for 20-25 mins or until top is golden.
• Cut into squares when hot and allow to cool.
• Once cold remove individual squares from pan and store in air-tight container.

Notes

I like to freeze them and pop a couple into the kids lunchbox each morning.
Once cold remove individual squares from pan and store in air-tight container.

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.

Similar recipes you might like are Raspberry Swirl Slice and Apple Crumble Slice.

Bren x

Having had some issues with wheat and gluten intolerances in the past, I set about creating a gluten-free alternative that would be just as tasty as the popular versions of tart bases. A brief flirtation with trial and error that included different ingredients and measures, and I was there.

I now make several variations of the crust and filling. It’s really hard to go wrong!

The recipe below is one my whole family loves, and as soon as my husband discovers this post, I’ll be making some more I’d imagine!

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:

Rolled oats or quinoa flakes
Raw almonds
Raw cashews
Maple syrup
Coconut oil
Ground cinnamon
Salt
Cacao powder
Honey or maple syrup
Vanilla powder

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Chocolate Mousse Tarts

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• TART BASE
• 1 cup rolled oats or quinoa flakes
• 1/2 cup raw almonds
• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablesppons coconut oil
• 1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• pinch of celtic sea salt
• CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
• 1/2 medium avocado
• 1/2 medium banana frozen if possible
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder
• 1/4 cup raw honey or maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch celtic sea salt

Instructions

• BAKED TART
• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
• Grease a 12 hole muffin pan very well
• Blend the oats or quinoa flakes in food processor until they are fine and crumbly and then pour into a mixing bowl
• Add the almonds and cashews to the food procesor and blend until fine and crumbly
• Add the oats or quinoa flour back into the food processor along with all the remaining ingredients
• Blend until everything comes together, is sticky and holds together.
• Press 1 tablespoon of the dough into the greased hole and spread evenly & thinly around the base and sides
• Bake in a preheated oven for approx 10- 15 mins or until golden brown.
• Leave to completely cool down.
• CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
• Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth and spoon into the cooled baked tarts and serve.

Notes

Be sure to grease the muffin tins well.
I love these with a dollop of pure cream on the top, some raspberries, sliced strawberry or banana.
Leftover chocolate mousse can be stored in the fridge for two days and be added to leftover tarts when ready to serve.

Bren x

So when I found some “need to be used” coconut cream and ginger in the fridge, I decided to throw it into the batch of rice I was cooking that night. The end result was a delicious and subtley infused rice.

This rice was perfect with a simple red kidney bean, sweet potato and kale casserole for dinner and with the leftovers I made a winter-warming rice porridge for breakfast.

So keep in mind this recipe made enough rice for 1 dinner and 2 breakfasts for a family of 4 (or 2 dinners & 1 breakfast).

If you decided to cook only 1 cup of rice, then add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of coconut cream.

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:

Basmati rice
Coconut cream
Chia seeds
Sunflower seeds
Cinnamon
Vanilla powder
Raw honey or maple syrup or coconut sugar
Cashews
Coconut flakes
Brown rice syrup

Here’s what I did…

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Coconut & Ginger Infused Rice Porridge

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 2 cups basmati rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 3 big slices of ginger
• 1 cup of chia seeds
• A good handful of sunflower seeds
• Both are quite neutral tasting for difficult for the kids to detect, otherwise you could grind them up
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla powder
• 1 tablespoon of raw hone pure maple syrup or coconut sugar for serving
• ½ cup almond flakes
• ½ cup cashews
• ½ cup coconut flakes
• 1 tablespoon brown rice syrup honey or maple syrup

Instructions

• Put the rice, water, coconut cream and ginger into a saucepan and stir.
• Bring to the boil and then turn down to low & cook for approximately 20 minutes until rice is ready.
• Discard the slices of ginger.
• You can now serve for dinner and/or save some or all for breakfast.
• In the morning put desired amount of cooked rice into a saucepan with double the amount of milk.
• Add chia seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, vanilla powder.
• Put on low heat for 10 minutes to heat and absorb some of milk.
• While this is warming up heat a small to medium frying pan and toast up the almond flakes, cashews and coconut flakes in the dry pan.
• Just before the nuts were lightly toasted, added a tablespoon of brown rice syrup and stir the mixture around for a further minute.
• Serve the rice porridge in bowls, topped with the nut mixture and some slices of banana or your favourite fruit.

If you’re looking for some lunch 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! 

Stay warm.

Bren x

And it’s packed with all the beneficial ingredients needed to feed the gut bacteria, making for a happy digestive system : )

Swiss nutritionist Dr. Bircher-Brenner believed that the raw, natural ingredients of his muesli brew (brewsli!) would have healing properties for his patient’s health.

Bircher Muesli was born!

Soaking the oats and nuts and seeds overnight reduces the phytic acids. This not only makes them more digestible but also allows the body to absorb the nutrients more efficiently.

This is my family’s favourite homemade combination for bircher muesli, which is jam-packed full of goodness and a great way to start the day. There’s some in the fridge right now!

Got picky eaters? The Fussy Eating Bundle was created to help as many parents as possible instill positive eating habits in their children and provide a lifelong joyful relationship with food, thus creating peaceful, stress-free mealtimes. FIND OUR MORE HERE.

This is a big batch that will be enough to last for breakfast, snacks, and lunchboxes for the week. Top it with My Favourite Homemade Granola recipe to add some texture and crunch.

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Brenda's Big Batch Bircher Muesli

A delicious breakfast option to make mornings run smoothly.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 5 x cups of rolled oats
• 3 x cups of milk or coconut water or a combination of both
• A couple handfuls of almonds
• A couple handfuls of sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons of chia seeds
• A couple handfuls of sultanas
• 2 x cups of natural yoghurt
• Juice of one orange
• 1 x grated apple
• A good shake of cinnamon
• A good pinch of vanilla powder

Instructions

• Mix all of the above together, cover and leave pop into the fridge overnight.
• In the morning, serve with extra milk and/or yoghurt, fresh seasonal fruit and a swirl of raw honey or pure maple syrup.

Notes:

* Fresh fruit is a fabulous source of fibre and has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer and other diseases. In this recipe, I use grated apple, which is packed with vitamins like A, B1, B2, and C, as well as minerals like calcium, potassium, iodine, iron, and phosphorous.

* Oats can be powerful in lowering cholesterol and, therefore, fighting heart disease. Oats contain insoluble fibre which lowers blood sugar and control diabetes.

* Nuts and seeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are associated with numerous health benefits including the development of the nervous system and reducing bad cholesterol. They are also are a great source of protein which is important for building and repairing muscles.

* Chia seeds deserve a special mention as they are highly nutritious and a natural source of Essential Fatty Acids, a great source of fibre, full of antioxidants, protein, amino acids, essential minerals, and vitamins.

* Yoghurt provides good bacteria for the digestive tract, is a good source of protein, and is loaded with vitamins like calcium, vitamin B-2, B-12, potassium, and magnesium.

So let’s think outside the cereal box and enjoy this nutrient-rich, healthy wholefood breakfast that is exploding with goodness!

Other breakfast recipes you might like Date and Walnut Bircher Muesli and Spiced Quinoa Porridge.