Lunchbox-friendly Chocolate Muesli Bars (Nut, Dairy and Fructose Free)

I've been making these muesli bars for the kids for years now but with all 3 kids off to school or daycare this year (sob) I can officially call them 'lunchbox friendly.'

If you want to eat fewer processed foods, then making your own snacks like these is a great place to start.

Store bought muesli bars, especially the ones plastered with statements like 'no added sugar', '99% fat free' and 'no artificial colours or flavours' can be full of rubbish ingredients. (I will be doing a post on how to read product labels next month so keep an eye out for that!)

These use a mixture of seeds instead of nuts, coconut oil instead of butter and rice malt syrup instead of sugar. If you have no problems with dairy then use butter by all means and you could also replace the syrup with either honey or maple syrup (although this means they won't be fructose free).

They are absolutely delicious and really filling too so my kids will having one of these and a piece of fruit in their lunchbox for morning tea next week at school. It will keep them going for hours!

Chocolate Muesli Bars

140g rice malt syrup
90g coconut oil
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tbs raw cacao
3 ts vanilla extract
1/2 ts salt

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C / 140 degrees C fan-forced.

Line a 20 x 30 cm slice pan with baking paper and set aside.

TMX - melt together the syrup, coconut oil and vanilla extract for 2 minutes / 80 degrees / SP 2. Add all remaining ingredients and process for 20 seconds / SP 4.

No TMX? Melt the syrup, coconut oil and vanilla in a small pot over medium heat. Place all remaining ingredients in a large bowl and toss to combine. Pour over the syrup mixture and mix really well.

Tip the mixture into the prepared pan and press down well.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes. Use your nose with this one, the house will smell amazing and it will look evenly browned. Do not overcook!

Remove from the tin by lifting the baking paper on each side and slice into bars while still warm. Leave until completely cooled. Store in an airtight container or freezer.

Makes 16-20 but you can slice them into whatever size bars you need

My Sweet Corn Pancakes

One of the very few vegetables my Mr 5 will eat (and I'm not counting chips as a vegetable because he won't touch homemade ones) is corn on the cob. But there is absolutely no way he will eat a muffin, pancake or anything else with pieces of corn in it.

I adore corn fritters with their sweet and savoury flavour and packed with herbs. But I accept that those won't get eaten and sometimes you have to compromise. I came up with these sweet corn pancakes and was delighted to see them gobbled up without a pause.

The secret is processing the corn with the eggs and milk to form a completely smooth puree. The small amount of coconut sugar enhances the sweetness but you could leave that out, add 1/2 ts salt and make them savoury instead. They would be delicious served with avocado and smoked salmon.

Hope your fussy eaters enjoy these as much as mine!

My Sweet Corn Pancakes

1 x 425g tin corn kernels, drained and rinsed
4 eggs
200ml rice milk*
2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
3 ts baking powder
2 ts coconut sugar
pinch salt
oil or ghee for frying

Place the corn kernels into the food processor and blitz until chopped. Add the eggs and milk and process for 30 seconds or so, scraping down the sides if you need to, until the mixture is completely smooth.

Add the dry ingredients and process until just combined. Use a spatula to scrap the sides and mix through an extra flour. * Add an extra tbs or so of milk if you feel the batter is too thick at this stage as all flours differ.

Heat a large frypan over medium heat and add the oil or ghee.

Once hot, place heaped tablespoons of mixture into the pan (I can fit 4 at a time) and cook for approximately 3 minutes each side.

Remove to a plate and keep warm as you repeat with the remaining mixture.

Serve with butter, syrup and crispy bacon.

Makes around 16 pancakes.

Welcome to My Wholefood Family

How exciting that you're here!

This blog has been a labour of love for 7.5 years but it is now time to change course and take things in a new direction. Actually, it's not really so new because if you've been reading along for awhile you will know as a family we have made some big (but simple) changes to the way we eat.

A few months ago I ran a survey asking readers why they are here, what they like and what they want to see more of. Thank you to all those wonderful people who replied, you made my day! The top 3 things you want to see more of are:

- switching the family to whole foods
- healthy food on a budget
- meal planning

I hear you.

Those are exactly my issues on a daily basis and I think together we can take some amazing steps this year!

To make sure you don't miss a recipe please update your RSS feeds!

This will still be predominantly a recipe blog. It's what I love. But I will also be sharing my tips and tricks on switching to, planning and shopping for whole foods.

I also really love making-over recipes. Like finding an amazing looking dessert in a magazine that is full of things we don't eat, and figuring out how to make it in a more whole foods way. So if you have a favourite recipe that you wish was a little (or a lot) healthier, send me an email and I will see if I can make it over for you. Same thing if you find a recipe from my archives that you would like to see made healthier or dairy free or whatever. Let me know.

So to answer your question, no I won't be removing any recipes from my archives. Even the ones full of white flour, white sugar or packaged foods. I love being to look back on what we were doing years ago, get nostalgic over how little and cute the kids were and honestly, get inspiration for dinner sometimes!

So in essence we have a new look and a new direction for the New Year.

I think it's going to be fun!

Pumpkin Boiled Fruit Cake

We're going old school with this one - and it doesn't get much more retro than a boiled fruit cake!

I know not everyone is a fan of fruit cake but we love them. They are very much a treat in this house though as being full of dried fruit they are also packed with sugar. I still had half a bag of mixed dried fruit leftover from making Christmas cakes and a visitor coming for morning tea so it seemed like to the perfect opportunity to make this again.

It is adapted from an old family recipe that I can remember my mum making in the 80s (yep I'm that old!). It is has no sweetener apart from the dried fruit (tick), wholemeal flour (tick) and mashed pumpkin (big tick for hidden veggies).

The pumpkin gives it a lovely warm colour and helps keep it moist, although unlike other fruitcakes this one is best eaten on the day or the day after baking but no longer. Even my pumpkin-hating husband and super fussy Mr 5 loved this and the entire cake was demolished between 6 of us.

I didn't do it this time around but I have been extra sneaky in the past and added a grated zucchini into the fruit mixture and it virtually disappears once boiled. Love those hidden veggies :)


Boiled Pumpkin Fruit Cake

450g organic mixed dried fruit (I used sultanas, raisins and currants)
125g butter
1 cup water
2 ts mixed spice (cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice)
2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
2 ts baking powder
1 cup cold mashed pumpkin
2 large eggs

Place the fruit, butter, water and spice into a large pot and bring to the boil over medium high heat. Let bubble for 5-10 minutes or until most of the liquid is gone and the fruit is plump and sticky. Allow to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C / 150 degrees fan-forced. Grease and line a deep 8 inch cake pan and set aside.

Add the beaten egg and pumpkin and mix well.

Fold through the flour and baking powder (I never bother sifting but you can whisk them together in a bowl before adding if you like).

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 1 1/2 hours. Watch the top and cover with foil if it is getting too dark.

Cool in the tin and serve sliced with butter and a cup of tea.

Salsa Verde

Happy New Year everyone! How are you feeling about 2016? Tired and not ready to go back to work, or pumped and positive about what what the new year may bring? As for me, I am really excited about the big things that are happening this year. Oscar is going into grade 2, Charlie is starting prep and Noah is off to daycare for the first time. That will leave me with 3 child-free days (feeling a little sad about that) to really get stuck into my study (feeling great about that!).

In order to make it all run smoothly I will need to be really organised with food and shopping and I'm working on some planning tools to help with that. My health will also have to be a priority this year if I am going to have the energy to do everything I want and need to do.

While I don't set resolutions as such I do set intentions, and as always I intend to eat more vegetables, to really get a rainbow of colours on my plate every day. We tend to get stuck in a veggie rut and let's face it, the same old steamed vegetables served on the side of whatever protein we happen to be having that night can get boring.

For me the secret to eating and really enjoying salads and vegetables is a great sauce. If you can whip up a great homemade mayonnaise and a handful of different salad dressings you can make anything taste amazing.

Salsa verde literally means 'green sauce' and is a packed with the good stuff like fresh herbs, garlic and extra virgin olive oil. It is fantastic tossed through salad leaves and it makes a plate of steamed greens really sing. It is so good that I can (and do) eat spoonfuls of it straight from the bowl.

 

Salsa Verde
Slightly adapted from Taste

1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley
1/2 bunch basil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 ts capers
zest of 1 lemon
3 tbs fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra virgin oil
salt and pepper to taste

Place the herbs, garlic, capers and lemon zest into the food processor and blitz until finely chopped (TMX 10 secs / SP 8, scraping down the bowl halfway).

Add the lemon juice and then with the motor running drizzle in the oil and process for about 30 seconds. Transfer to a glass bowl and store covered in the fridge for up to 3 days (if it lasts that long!)

This one is husband-approved so give it a go!