Mr. & Mrs. Dog

In the red box, I prepared :
1. white steamed rice with Mr. & Mrs. Dog on top. I cut out cheese with doggy shaped cutter, and then used nori, crab stick and bread crust for the eyes, nose, mouth, and ribbon.
2. Heart shaped jellies
3. Corn kernel
4. Chicken meatballs
5. Sausage
6. Lettuce

I prepared apple and mandarin in the blue box for his recess.

Hatched Chicks

Details as below :

For my year 2 son, I prepared :
1. Frog onigiri (white steamed rice shaped using bear rice mold, carrot, nori, and black sesame seed)
2. Sausages and crab stick
3. Hatched chick hard boiled egg
4. Springrolls
5. Shell shaped jellies
6. Lettuce

For my kindy son, I prepared :
1. Salmon and sweet potato patty
2. Springrolls
3. Crab stick and sausage
4. Hatched chick hard boiled egg
5. Shell shaped jellies
6. Kiwi fruit
7. Lettuce

Cute Kitty

This box consists of :
1. Cute Kitty Onigiri (white steamed rice, and soy sauce for the brown color, cheese, nori, and red eggsheet)
2. Transportation shaped jellies
3. Chikuwa and cheese for the paws
4. Pork dumplings
5. Lettuce

And I prepared banana for recess

Twin Lions

My mom is visiting me from overseas, and we had fun making bento together :)
Details as below :

I made this one for my eldest son, it consists of :
1. Lion sandwich (filled with strawberry jam with cheese, nori, and carrot for the face)
2. "Penguin" sausages (nori and corn as beak and eyes)
3. Car-shaped jelly
4. Pork dumplings
5. Lettuce

My mom made this one for my little one. It consists of :
1. Lion sandwich (filled with strawberry jam with cheese and nori for the face)
2. "Crab" sausage
3. Fish-shaped jelly
4. Pork dumpling
5. Kiwi fruit
6. Lettuce

Free-style Bento

This box contains of :
1. Salmon and sweet potato patties (recipe as below)
2. Pork dumplings
3. Tamagoyaki
4. Onigiri sprinkled with salmon furikake
5. Corn kernel
6. Sausage and lettuce


Salmon and Sweet Potato Patties Recipe

Ingredients
600g orange sweet potato, peeled chopped into even-sized pieces
210g can no-added-salt red salmon, drained, skin and bones removed, flaked
125g can corn kernels, drained
35g (½ cup) fresh breadcrumbs, made from day-old wholemeal grain bread
2 green shallots, finely chopped
50g egg, lightly whisked
Freshly ground black pepper
45g (½ cup) dried breadcrumbs
Cooking spray

Method
1. Cook the sweet potato in a steamer basket over a large saucepan of simmering water. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the sweet potato to dry out.

2. Preheat oven to 180°C (fan-forced). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Put the sweet potato in a large bowl. Mash until smooth. Add the salmon, corn, fresh breadcrumbs, shallot and egg. Season with pepper. Mix until well combined. Divide the mixture into 16 equal portions, then shape into patties. Put the dried breadcrumbs on a large plate. Coat each patty in breadcrumbs.

3. Divide the patties between the baking trays. Spray each side with cooking spray. Cook in oven, turning once, for 20 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

Easy Sausage and Sandwich Roll

It's been a while I did not make this kind of sausage roll. It's pretty easy to make and one of my kids' favourites. We just need to flatten white sandwich (remove the crusts), spread tomato ketchup, and cheese. Then roll in with the sausage inside. Then fry at medium heat until golden brown.
I cut into 3 slices, and wrapped one of them with egg net.
In this box, I prepared :
1. Sausage & sandwich rolls and egg net
2. Crab sticks and chikuwa with spring onion filling
3. Lettuce and carrot "flower"
4. Yakult

Roast Pork Wrap

We had pork roast leftover, so I decided to make wrap for the kids' lunch boxes. The wrap contains of roast pork, wrap, grated carrot, lettuce, avocado, corn & tomato salsa with coriander, cheese and BBQ sauce.
Details for the bento boxes as below :

For my little one, I prepared :
1. Roast pork wrap
2. Ham "flower"
3. Kiwi fruit
4. Lettuce
5. Strawberry yogurt

For my eldest one, I prepared :
1. Roast pork wrap
2. Two halves of hard boiled egg
3. "Hungry caterpillar" sausage
4. Broccoli, lettuce, and carrot sticks
5. LCM Yogurt split stick
6. Segmented orange for recess

And for extra cuteness, I put animal food-picks inside the boxes. You might find similar stuffs in the link below:

Power Rangers

There's Power Ranger fever in our house. I'm pretty sure these bento will make my sons wrapped :)
My eldest son is keen on the Red Ranger, and my little one's favorite is Blue Ranger. Now, those colors become their favorite color...

For my little one, I prepared :
1. Blue Power Ranger (hard boiled egg, eggsheet, cheese, and nori)
2. Bacon & cheese scrolls
3. Crab sticks and chikuwa
4. Lettuce
5. Rockmelon cuts

And for my eldest sone, I prepared :
1. Red Power Ranger (hard boiled egg, eggsheet, and nori)
2. Onigiri decorated with nori & cheese
3. Prawn tempura and halves chikuwa
4. Broccoli and lettuce

Cheese and Bacon Scrolls Bento

I made cheese and bacon scrolls the day before for after school snack, and used the leftover for today's bento. It's pretty easy to make. Just spread tomato ketchup, sliced bacon, and cheese over puff pastry. Roll and cut at around 2.5 cm thick, and put it in the oven at 180C until golden brown.

Details as below :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Cheese and bacon scrolls
2. Cute hard boiled egg (eggsheet, nori, and carrot)
3. Ham flowers
4. Broccoli, lettuce, and "rose" carrot

For my little one, I prepared :
1. Cheese and bacon scrolls
2. Chikuwa, crab sticks, and ham flower
3. Flower carved carrot, corn and lettuce
4. A cup of sultanas
5. "Bumble bee" hard boiled egg (nori, carrot, nori, and angel hair pasta)
6. Rockmelon cuts
7. Blueberry yogurt

Smoked Salmon Onigiri

In the blue box, I prepared :
1. Smoked salmon onigiri (white steamed rice with smoked salmon on top)
2. Prawn tempura
3. Broccoli, lettuce, and baby carrots

I prepared segmented orange for recess

Funny Looking Dog

I tried to create a dog using the leftovers in my fridge. I'm not sure whether it works or not, but it's kinda cute, I suppose :)

This bento consists of :
* Hard boiled egg for the face (nori, breadcrust, and black sesame seed)
* Pork dumpling for the body
* Sausage for the feet (breadcrust and nori for paws)
* Lettuce, broccoli, and baby carrot

Seals and Penguin

Details as below :

 For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Pork dumpling
2. Two halves of hard boiled egg
3. "Seal" sausages (cheese, nori, and black sesame seed)
4. Pretzels
5. Broccoli, lettuce, and baby carrot

For my little one, I prepared :
1. Pork dumpling (underneath the penguin)
2. "Penguin" hard boiled egg (nori, black sesame seed, carrot, and tomato ketchup)
3. Pretzels
4. Sausage
5. Lettuce and baby carrot
6. Strawberry yogurt
7. Kiwi fruit

Fish in the Pond

The blue box consists of :
1. Pork sausage roll with tomato ketchup
2. Pork dumpling
3. "Fish" sausages
4.  Broccoli (with cheese) and lettuce

And watermelon cuts for recess.

Here the recipe :
PORK SAUSAGE ROLLS
Ingredients:
6 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 egg
salt and pepper
600g pork mince
1 carrot, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
White sesame seeds for the sprinkles

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Mix pork mince, grated carrot, garlic and egg together and season with salt and pepper.
2. Cut each pastry sheet in half. Form 1/2 cup amounts into a long sausage shape and place onto one edge of each sheet of pastry. Roll up to enclose. Glaze outside of pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with white sesame seeds.
3. Cut into small bite size pieces (5-6 per roll)and place onto trays.
4. Cook for 15 -20 minutes until golden brown.

Similar tools for today post :

Croquettes Bento

I made bacon & cheese croquettes for the boys and they love it so much. Here is the recipe :

BACON and CHEESE CROQUETTES
From : Best Recipes (www.bestrecipes.com.au)
Preparation time: more than 30 minutes

Ingredients
4 rashers bacon, finely chopped
2 cups cold mashed potatoes
1 egg yolk
2 green onions, finely chopped
¾ cup plain flour
40 g mozzarella cheese, cut into 1 cm cubes
1½ cups fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg
¼ cup milk
Oil for shallow frying

Method
1. Heat non stick frying pan over medium heat and cook bacon 3-4 minutes or until crisp.
2. Combine mashed potato, egg yolk, onion, bacon and ¼ cup of flour in a large bowl.
3. Roll heaped tablespoons of mixture into balls. Push one cheese cube into the centre of each ball,
molding mixture around to enclose the cheese.
4. Place remaining flour on a plate and breadcrumbs on another plate.
5. Whisk milk and egg together and place in a shallow bowl.
6. Roll croquettes in flour shaking off any excess. Dip in egg mixture then coat in breadcrumbs.
7. Heat oil in frying pan.

8. Cook croquettes in batches then transfer to a plate lined with paper towel and serve hot.

I kept some leftovers for their Bento. Here are the details :

 For my little one, I prepared :
1. Bacon & cheese croquettes
2. "Star" shaped pretzels
3. "Penguin" sausages
4. Lettuce and baby carrots
5. Watermelon cuts

And for my eldest one, I prepared :
1. Bacon & cheese croquettes
2. Pretzels
3. Tamagoyaki (egg-rolls)
4. "Crab" sausage
5. Broccoli and lettuce

It's amazing how cute food-picks can make bento look more attractive. You may find it here :

Pussy Cat

This cute pussy cat is sleeping safe and sound. This bento I made for my eldest son. The head is made of onigiri (white steamed rice that I moulded using GLAD wrap) with nori for the eyes and tip of the nose, breadcrust for the nose and ears, and carrot for the rosy cheek.
The body is from hard boiled egg with breadcrust for the hands and feet. And I put carrot "heart" in the middle of his tummy.
For the side dishes I prepared sausages, chicken nugget, broccoli, baby carrot and lettuce.

Similar tools I used for today post :

High Pigtail Bento

High pigtail is a hairstyle I used to have when I was a little girl. I was wondering what else I can do with this croissant, since my sons love it so much. I've done boomerang, crab, fish, Rillakuma, etc. So after a couple of twists and turns, I think this one is quite cute as well :)

The red box consists of :
1. "High pigtail" croissant (ham & cheese croissant, eggsheet, eggwhite, and nori)
2. Two halves of boiled egg
3. Sausages
4. Lettuce, asparagus (under the pigtail), and baby carrot.

The blue box I filled with "checker" and "rabbit" apple - for recess.

Curious George and Cruskits bento

We all love curious George. He's a little cheeky monkey that is always curious and loves his best friend ( The Man with the Yellow Hat) so much. I found myself humming the "upside down" tune (Curious George movie soundtrack by Jack Johnson) while I was doing this bento :)

I made this bento for my eldest son, it consists of :
1. "Curious George" (crumpet, cheese, breadcrust, eggwhit, and nori)
2. Corn on the cob
3. Chicken nuggets
4. A cup of Sultanas
5. Lettuce, asparagus, and baby carrot

Since my little one loves smoked salmon so much, I prepared this bento for him. It consists of :
1. Arnott's cruskits with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and dill
2. Corn on the cob
3. Kiwi fruits
4. Lettuce and baby carrots

Smoked Salmon Pinwheel

These are the meals for the boys today. There are apple, banana, and yogurt for recess. Details as below:

For my kindy son, I prepared :
1. Smoked salmon pinwheel ( flattened white sandwich, cream cheese, smoked salmon, and dill)
2. Corn on the cob
3. Sausages
4. A cup of sultanas
5. Kiwi fruit
6. Lettuce and baby carrots

For my year 2 son, I prepared :
1. Smoked salmon pinwheel ( flattened white sandwich, cream cheese, smoked salmon, and dill)
2. Corn on the cob
3. Sausages
4. "Hatching chick" hard boiled egg
5. Lettuce and baby carrots

A School of Crabs

This time, I prepared sweetcorn fritters for the boys. You can find the recipe below.
And I used scrapbook punch with crab pattern to decorate the eggs, and it looks wonderful!.

SWEETCORN FRITTERS

Ingredients
2 cups (approx 2 corn cobs) fresh corn kernels
3 spring onions (or 1 small red onion), roughly chopped
2 eggs
small handful coriander (or parsley) leaves
150g self-raising flour
pinch salt and pepper
1 zucchini, finely grated and squeezed to remove excess moisture
1 carrot, grated
Canola oil, for frying

Method
Mix corn kernels, spring onion, eggs, coriander, flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl until combined.
Using your hands, squeeze the zucchini to remove any excess moisture. Add the zucchini to the corn mixture along with grated carrot, and stir to combine.
Heat 1-2 tablespoons of the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Drop large spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until golden on the underside. Turn and cook the other side until golden and cooked through.
Drain on paper towels and serve

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Sweetcorn fritters
2. Chicken nugget
3. Hard boiled egg with crabs pattern nori
4. Corn on the cob
5. Lettuce

For my little one, I prepared :
1. Sweetcorn fritters
2. Corn on the cob
3. Hard boiled egg with crabs pattern nori
4. Kiwi fruit
5. Blueberry yogurt
6. Lettuce

Piggies Bento

This box consists of :
1. Mr & Mrs. Pig Onigiri (white steamed rice, eggsheet, and nori)
2. Chicken nuggets
3. "Piggy" sausages (with cheese & black sesame seed for artificial)
4. "Piggy" hard boiled egg (sausage, eggsheet, and angel hair pasta)
5. A cup of sultanas
6. Corn on the cob
7. Lettuce

Buzzy Bees

Cute little bumble bees are buzzing around the garden. I prepared this bento for my eldest son, it consists of :
1. White steamed rice (bumble bees are made of eggsheet, nori, and black sesame seed and the flower is made of eggsheet, baby carrot stem, lettuce,and corriander leaf)
2. Pork meatballs with earwood mushroom
3. Lettuce, broccoli, and baby carrot
4. "Heart" shaped milk jelly

Similar tools I used for today's post :

Lady Bug, Fishes, and Rilakkuma Croissant Bento

My kids love croissant so much. They used to eat it with ham and cheese. So why not put their favourite in their lunch box. They must be very thrilled!
Because this croissant was quite big, I cut it into three, and made them two little fish and one Rilakkuma.

For my kindy son, I prepared :
1. "Two cute fishes" croissant (ham & cheese croissant with eggsheet and nori)
2. "Fish" shaped jelly
3. Two halves of hard boiled egg
4. "Lady bug" Granny Smith apple (egg sheet and nori for the details)
5. Lettuce and baby carrot

For my year 2 son, I prepared :
1. "Rilakkuma" croissant (ham & cheese croissant with eggsheet and nori)
2. "Seashell" shaped jelly
3. Chicken nuggets
4. Broccoli, lettuce and baby carrot