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.

This a problem because they are missing out on important nutrients, such as fibre, iron, calcium, carotenoids, vital to their long term health.

I’m excited to report however, that recent research shows, that kids are far more likely to try vegetables, and like them, if they are paired with a spicy dip.

My favourite vege stick dippers (or crudités if you’re of the French persuasion) include celery, carrot, red capsicum, carrot sticks, beans and snow peas.

Vegetable sticks and dips are great for gatherings, weekend lunches, lunchboxes, they are perfect for an after school pep me up and we always use them as our sandwich spreads.

Many kids often enjoy vege sticks to dip into almond/nut butter drizzled with maple syrup.

Fortunately, dips are quick and easy to make, and you can avoid the nasties you would find in most commercial dips which are full of additives, preservatives and the dreaded vegetable or canola oils.

So I have compiled some favourite dip recipes for you. I can assure you there is at least one dip here that will suit all tastes.

These dips are also full of goodness, so once you get your kids dipping in their vegetable sticks, it’s a win-win!

Thanks to all these mums for sharing their awesome recipes. Here we go –

The kids will have a ball dipping into this bowl of green fun by Natural New Age Mum.

Sonia’s Super Spinach Dip

Here’s a delicious one for the Thermomixers (oh yay, that would be me now!) Quirky Cooking’s.

Dairy Free French Onion Dip

Kids love the flavour of Nachos-Cheese and this one from Additive Free Bites fits the bill.

Dairy Free Cheese spread

Soooooo much goodness in packed into this super dip from Superfoodz for Kidz.

Lunchbox friendly Pepita Pesto

Just a few ingredients whizzed up in food processor is all it takes to make this delicious vibrant dip.

We’ve always got hummos on the go around here, try this easy version by me.

Auntie Helen’s Hummos

Guacomole is always a winner and kids love to make it too , try this recipe by One handed cook.

Guacomole Dip

The colour! Need I say more. Another one from One handed cook.

Roasted Beetroot Dip

So there you have it. Do your kids have a favourite healthy dip and vege dipper? I’d love to hear in the comments below.

Bon Appetite!

They’re one of the handiest snacks I can think of. Each morning I simply grab one and throw it into the kids’ lunchboxes, which also means I have one less thing to think about.

I love knowing that my kids are getting a good dose of quality fats from the butter at recess time. The dates are a rich source of vitamins and minerals, and the cinnamon has warming, medicinal (anti inflammatory & blood-sugar stabilising) benefits.

And I love the little muffin yelps from the kitchen that grow louder through the day, breaking me down to the point where I acquiesce and, yes, enjoy one around 3pm with my last tea for the day.

This creation is a current fave of ours, and we truly can’t get enough. Thermomix Instructions below.

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!

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Date & Cinnamon Muffins

Lunchbox friendly

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 100 grams Medjool dates pitted and chopped
• ½ cup coconut sugar or rapadura sugar
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup wholemeal spelt flour, or unbleached plain flour
• 1 cup white spelt flour or unbleached plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 125 grams unsalted butter melted
• 1 egg beaten

Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees and grease 12-hole muffin tin.
• Mix dates, sugar, bicarb of soda and cinnamon in a bowl and pour over boiling water and allow to sit for 5 mins.
• Add the flour, baking powder, melted butter & beaten egg and carefully stir.
• Fill muffin holes to ¾ full and cook for 20-30 mins depending on your oven. Mine take 20 mins.

Thermomix Instructions

• Chop dates for 5 seconds, speed 6 and pop into medium sized bowl together with the sugar, bicarb of soda, cinnamon and boiling water, and allow to sit for 5 mins.
• Melt the butter at 100 C for 2 minutes, speed 1.
• Add all remaining ingredients to the thermomix (including date mixture) and mix 5 seconds on speed 6.
• Push down the sides and mix a further 2 seconds on speed 5.
• Fill the greased muffin holes to 3/4 full and cook for approx 20-30mins depending on your oven. Mine take 20 mins.

Notes

Pour yourself a cup of spiced chai tea, grab a muffin, lather it with butter and enjoy!

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.

Other similar recipes you might like are Apple and Carrot Muffins and Mix n Match Muffins.

Bren x

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These loving women wanted to make sure that their dear ones would have a long-lasting nutritious snack as they travelled for weeks by sea to the front.

The humble Anzac biscuit is a delightful tasting biscuit and extremely easy to make. I’ve replaced a few of the standard ingredients to make them even more nutritious than the original.

I’ve replaced golden syrup (a by product of sugarcane refining) with maple syrup, commercial wheat flour (subjected to bleaching agents) with spelt flour and brown sugar (not really different to white sugar) with coconut sugar or rapadura sugar.

Make a batch or two of these easy biscuits to share with family and friends on Anzac day. Be sure to bake extras and keep in the freezer for lunchboxes too!

If you’re looking for more recipe 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!

Thanks to my friend Danielle from Keeping Up the Holsby’s for this picture of a batch she made and loved!

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Anzac Biscuits

Lunchbox friendly, nut-free,egg-free, can be dairy free by replacing butter with coconut oil

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 125 grams butter
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons boiling water from the kettle is fine
• ½ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 1 ¼ cups spelt flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1/2 cup rapadura or coconut sugar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius or 160 degrees fan forced.
• Grease or line oven trays.
• Melt butter with maple syrup in small saucepan over low heat until smooth.
• Mix flour, oats, coconut and sugar in a medium bowl.
• Combine bicarbonate of soda and boiling water and add to saucepan and stir.
• Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir well.
• Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place them on baking tray/s and flatten. Space well apart.
• Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.
• Cool biscuits on trays.

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.

Other similar recipes you might like are Peanut and Choc Chip Biscuits or Ginger Snap Cookie Shapes.

I personally adore dates which make up the base of most bliss ball recipes, but I am often asked if I have a recipe with a replacement for dates and which are nut-free and I always send across this Raw Cacao Ball recipe which uses desicatted coconut instead of dates.

With 5 simple pantry ingredients these make a quick, delicious, portable snack perfect for the school lunchbox, to throw in the gym bag, or as an afternoon snack.

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:

Desiccated Coconut – full of fibre and good saturated fats (the medium-chain kind) which make you feel nice and full, and coconut has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties.

Cacao powder – a raw and unprocessed superfood that contains iron, fibre, zinc, potassium, calcium. The anti-oxidants can help your body decrease inflammation and slow cortisol (stress hormone) production, stimulating feelings of wellbeing and euphoria. Cacao is known to lower blood pressure, adding to a feeling of calm. NB: Cacao contains theobromine which is a mood enhancer so I don’t recommend it for kids under 2yrs of age.

Coconut oil – boosts HDL cholesterol (our good cholesterol), high in anti-oxidants also, antimicrobial. Balances blood sugar and detoxifying. The fatty acids in coconut oil help the hormones get to where they want and need to go in the body, and so support the creation, processing and elimination of estrogen and progesterone, leading to hormonal balance.

Raw honey – contains beneficial compounds such as pollens, enzymes and anti-oxidants, full of vitamins and minerals.

Maple syrup – contains lots of zinc plus other vitamins and minerals which have cardiac benefits.

Vanilla powder– contains anti-oxidants, calms the nervous system, fights infections.

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!

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Raw Cacao Balls

Gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free

Total Time 15 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups desiccated coconut
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup of raw honey or pure maple syrup or rice malt syrup add up to 1/3 cup of sweetener if needed
• ½ cup cacao powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla powder

Instructions

• Put all the ingredients into a food processor and whiz them together well (If you don’t have a food processor try mixing all by hand)
• Mixture should be wet but not soaked. If you find it too wet just add extra coconut and mix; too dry, add more oil
• Roll the mixture into tablespoons size balls with your hands then roll the ball into shredded coconut and place them on a cookie tray
• Pop them in the freezer for approx 20 mins or until they set (doesn’t take long)
• Either store in the freezer (where they become firm, but not frozen) or the fridge

Notes

If popping into lunchbox, ensure you do so with an ice-brick otherwise they will 'melt' due to the coconut oil

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.

Other similar recipes you might like are Chocolate Orange Truffles and Brenda’s Breaky Balls. 

Bren x