Fish Croissants and Dates Balls

 I found a recipe in Mouth of Moms website. It is a healthy sweet lunchbox treat because the sweetness comes from the fruit itself. For the dried fruit, I used dates instead apricot. Here is the recipe :

Coconut and Fruit Balls

Ingredients (makes 10 -15 balls)
3 Weet-Bix, crushed (I substituted it with half cup of oatmeal)
1/4 cup sultanas
1/4 cup apricots, finely chopped (I substituted it with dates)
1 tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup condensed milk ( I substituted it with a drizzle of honey)
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Method
In a bowl, combine the oatmeal, sultanas, dates and cocoa. Add honey, mix well.
Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls. Toss in coconut.
Store chilled in an airtight container.

notes : you can use food processor for better result.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Fish croissant (ham and cheese, croissant, nori)
2. Dates balls
3. Hatched chick (hard boiled egg, black sesame seed, and carrot)
4. Broccoli and cheese
5. Carrot sticks
6. Sausage
7. Apple for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Fish croissant (ham and cheese, croissant, nori)
2. Dates balls
3. Hatched chick (hard boiled egg, black sesame seed, and carrot)
4. Carrot sticks
6. Sausage
7. Kiwi fruit for recess

Bento tools for today's post :

Arghh...Me Hearty

For an international talk like a pirate day, today I  made this "Arghh...Me Hearty" bento.  It's like greetings to a friend, in pirate's language :)

The pirate is made of bacon and  mushroom mini quiche (recipe here), with nori and crab stick for the details.
The letters and the cheese are cut out using these tools :

For me, these tools create letters for lunchbox at perfect size.

I also put corn on the cob, carrot sticks, fruit salad yogurt, and kiwi for recess.

International Dot Day

To celebrate International Dot Day this Monday, I made dot- themed bento for my kids. For the polkadot fish body and the fins, I shaped the rice using Glad wrap. I used soy sauce to color the fins. And for the dot, I used the red part of the crab fish. For the details, I used crab fish and nori.

For the bacon and ham mini quiche, here is the recipe. I put crab stick and nori for the dot.

For my eldest son, I prepared :

1. Polkadot fish

2. Broccoli with cheese on top

3. Corn on the cob

4. "Octopus" sausage (cheese, black sesame seed, nori)

5. "Rose" ham

6. Tamagoyaki

7. Gala apple

8. Rockmelon cuts for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Bacon and ham mini quiche
2. Corn on the cob
3. "Flower" sausage (with corn)
4. Tamagoyaki with salt and pepper
5. Kiwi fruit for recess

Bento tools I used for this post :

 

Yellow for Hello

Today's bento theme is yellow. Since my little one is learning to read., I scored the banana skin with easy word, and asked him after school. He really enjoys this and it makes learning process fun! This time, according to today's theme, I wrote yellow & hello :)

In the box :
1. Triangular ham & cheese sandwich
2. Corn on the cob
3. Scrambled egg
4. Banana for recess

NHK World : Bento - The Global Lunchbox Project

NHK WORLD aired a special program : BENTO - The Global Lunchbox Project on Sunday, 14th Sep 2014. The show was about how bento as Japanese culture has spread all around the world. 

I feel so honoured to be able to participate in this project. It was a great experience, and it reminds me why I'm so passionate with bento. 

Here are some of the participants from around the world (Australia, Taiwan, Hongkong, USA, UK, and France). And picture in the middle is my bento creation.

Which one is me ?

Yup, that's me :)

Here I showed some techniques to make checker apple

And how to make sunflower from egg and sausage

Here is the result. Since  September is the beginning of spring in Australia, I named my creation : "Welcoming Spring Bento"

You may visit this website to see for other participants, and share your bento creations as well...

Crabs and Dolphins Bento

This cute bento is very easy to prepare. For the "crab" croissant, I just add cheese and nori for the eyes and mouth, add carrot for the claws, and add ham & cheese for the filling.

And for the "dolphin" banana, just slice the top bit for the mouth, and carve eyes shaped at the both side of the banana. It becomes brown when dry.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. "Crab" ham and cheese croissant (with cheese, nori, and carrot)
2. Corn on the cob
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Lettuce and carved tomato
5. "Dolphin" banana

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. "Crab" ham and cheese croissant (with cheese, nori, and carrot)
2. Corn on the cob
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. "Dolphin" banana

Mini Pizza Bento

This mini pizza is very easy to make. The kids had fun too, they helped me with the toppings:) For the dough, mix 2 cups of self-raising flour and 1 cup of Greek yogurt by hand and knead it until it's not sticky. That's it!.
After that, spread any topping you like. For this pizza, I used pineapple, onion, Roma tomato, sausage, ham, and mozzarella cheese.
Bake the pizza for around 10 minutes at 180C.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Leftover mini pizza
2. Corn on the cob
3. Car shaped hard boiled egg with salt and pepper
4. Carrot sticks
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. Apple "rabbit"

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Leftover mini pizza
2. Corn on the cob
3. Fish shaped hard boiled egg
4. Carrot sticks
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. "Humungus" banana

Bento tools I used in this post :