Farida Abdel Malek 
Food Blogger Sara El Refaie gave us 5 of her favorite lunch box recipes that are easy, quick and convenient for meal prepping your kids' lunch boxes for the rest of the week. As a mom, your daily morning struggle is what to pack for the hungry little monsters and how to not bore them with the same thing over and over again. Her blog Kitchen Keys is all about cosy, homey, comfort food and these 5 are no exception. I personally can't wait to pack the first recipe in my lunch box for work and yes don't forget these would be perfect for adults as well...
1. Olive Oil, Yogurt & Zucchini Cake
Ingredients:
- 1/2 a cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 a cup of yogurt (1 small pack)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup of raw honey
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 2 cups + 1 Tbsp of flour
- 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
- 1/2 tsp of baking soda
- 1 1/4 tsp of cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 2 cups of shredded zucchini
- 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips or raisins or dried cherry or walnuts
Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Grease (with oil or butter) and flour a 23 cm round or square cake pan. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the wet ingredients; oil, yogurt, eggs, vanilla, honey and sugar.
4. In another bowl, whisk 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Don’t over mix or the cake will be tough.
6. Fold the shredded zucchini into the cake batter.
7. Toss the raisins or chocolate chips or cherry or walnuts with 1 Tbsp of flour & fold into the cake batter.
8. Pour the batter into the greased cake pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan then flip onto a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Store at room temperature for 1 day or up to 5 days in the fridge.
Extra Notes:
- Shred the zucchini before preparing the cake so that it dries out a bit.
- The cake is not too sweet, you can drizzle it with honey if you want it sweeter.
- Don’t skip adding the semi-sweet chocolate, raisins, dried cherry or walnuts because zucchini doesn’t have a strong taste on its own.
2. Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Fillet
Ingredients:
For the chicken marinade:
- 1 kg of chicken fillet cut into strips
- 2 cups of butter milk
- 1/2 tsp of paprika
- 3/4 tsp of garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp of cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tsp of ginger powder
- 1 Tbsp of dried oregano or thyme
- 2 Tbsp of mustard
- 2 to 3 dashes of hot sauce or more to taste (optional)
- Salt and pepper
For the chicken breading:
- 3 to 4 cups of Japanese panko breadcrumbs
- 3 Tbsp of vegetable oil or olive oil
For the light honey mustard dip:
- 1 yogurt pack (light or full fat)
- 2 Tbsp of light mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp of Dijon mustard
- 1/2 Tbsp of honey or more to taste
- Salt to taste
Steps:
1. In a glass bowl, mix the chicken with all the marinade ingredients.
2. Cover & refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours up to overnight.
3. With your hands, mix the panko breadcrumbs with the oil until totally mixed.
4. Place the breadcrumbs in a large non stick pan over medium-high heat. Keep stirring constantly for about 5 minutes until the breadcrumbs take a golden brown color. Remove breadcrumbs from the pan & place in a large shallow dish. Set aside to cool completely.
5. Preheat oven to 200 C.
6. Coat each chicken piece with the breadcrumbs, pressing the mixture well with your hands on the chicken to make sure it sticks to the chicken.
7. Place the chicken on a non stick baking tray & bake in the oven for about 12-20 minutes.
8. Serve immediately with light honey mustard dip.
9. For the honey mustard dipping: Mix all the ingredients together & store in the refrigerator up to a week.
Extra Notes:
- You have to use thinly sliced chicken & make sure all the pieces are more or less the same size to cook evenly.
- I like adding the spices to the chicken marinade & not the breading but you can still add the same spices to the breadcrumbs as well if you want.
- Panko Breadcrumbs is widely available in large supermarket chains.
3. Homemade Chicken Nuggets
Ingredients:
For the chicken:
- 500 gm chicken breast fillet cut into pieces
- 1/8 tsp of corn flour or corn starch
- 1/2 tsp of baking soda
- 1/2 tsp of onion powder
- 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp of cardamom
- Salt and pepper
For the coating:
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
- 3/4 cup of crushed corn flakes (I use Rice Krispies)
- 1/2 tsp of baking powder
- Oil for deep frying
Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor, place the chicken, baking soda, corn flour and all the spices. Process until the mixture comes together and forms a dough like ball.
2. Be careful as the mixture will be too sticky. Dust a big tray generously with flour. Place the mixture on the tray and place a plastic bag on top of the mixture. Using a rolling pin or your hands, spread the dough into a thin layer (about 0.5 cm).
3. Remove the plastic bag, dust the top well with flour and press on it with your hands to stick to the mixture. Place the tray in the freezer for about 30-45 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat the egg with a pinch of pepper. In another bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, baking powder & crushed corn flakes together.
5. Get the tray out of the freezer; the mixture should be firm but not fully frozen to be able to cut it. Using a knife or cookie cutters, cut the nuggets into squares/shapes. If at any time, the nuggets starts sticking to the knife/cutters, just dust the knife/cutters with little flour.
6. Dip the nuggets in the egg mixture then in the breadcrumbs mixture, pressing with your hands for the coating to stick on the nuggets.
7. Arrange the nuggets on a clean tray (apart from each other) and freeze. Once they are frozen, store them in zip lock bags in the freezer. (This step is mandatory so that the nuggets won’t stick together in the zip lock bags).
8. To deep fry, heat oil until hot and fry the frozen nuggets on medium heat until they become golden brown.
Extra Notes:
- Measure the corn flour and baking soda accurately as too much corn flour will make the nuggets dry and too much baking soda will make them mushy.
- You can add any spices you want to the chicken and coating.
- The recipe can be doubled.
4. Light Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of all purpose flour
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 1/2 tsp of baking soda
- 1 tsp of cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 1 cup of mashed banana (about 3 medium really over-ripe bananas)
- 1/4 cup of oil
- 1/4 cup of yoghurt
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup of chopped dark chocolate
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a muffin tray with oil spray or vegetable oil.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cocoa powder and salt together.
3. Mix the bananas, egg, brown sugar, vanilla, oil and yoghurt together until combined.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients; mixing only until combined. Don't overmix. Fold in the chocolate.
5. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the muffin tray.
6. Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean of the batter (it might have melted chocolate).
7. Let cool for about 10 minutes in the tray. Run a knife around each muffin to get them out easily then place them on a wire rack until they cool.
8. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.
9. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.
5. Light Apple Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 cup of whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp of baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
- A pinch of salt
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup of honey
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 1/3 cup of melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup of applesauce
- 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 2 cups of shredded apples (about 2 apples)
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Prepare a muffin tray with 15 cupcake liners.
3. In a bowl, mix the flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
4. In another bowl, mix the honey, brown sugar, eggs, coconut oil, applesauce and vanilla extract.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined.
6. Fold in the grated apples and stir a few times until nicely distributed in the batter and there are no streaks of flour.
7. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners using an ice cream scoop. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8. Let cool for 5 minutes in the tray then place on a wire rack to cool completely.
9. The muffins can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 2 days or in the fridge up to one week.
Extra Notes:
- You can use vegetable oil instead of coconut oil.
- To make applesauce: peel and dice 1 apple then boil in little water until soft. Drain the apple and mash very well with a fork or process in a food processor until it is pureed. You will need only 1/3 a cup.
- Use sweet apples as they are the main sweetener in this recipe. I use red or yellow apples, not green.
- These muffins freeze really well.
- I tried baking the muffins as a whole cake and it came out perfect.
Recipes and Image Credits: Kitchen Keys
