Minion Toast

My weekend activity with the boys, making Minion toast for afternoon snack. To make the minions, just cut two arch-shaped side by side on one toast. Then cut nori to make the clothes. Tug the nori on the side cuts and glue them using cheese-spread. 
Cut the sliced cheese using big straw to make the eyes, and add nori for the eyeballs and mouths.

And for the other side of the toast, I spread Nutela and put sliced banana on top. Arranged them like flower petals and put cherry tomato to make it pretty.

The boys ate the cherry tomato first then the nori, and finally gobbled up the rest of the toast in no time. Mission accomplished :)

Kid's Favourite Bento

These are my kid's favourite meals for school lunch or snack after school. They are ham & cheese mini croissants, steamed buns with ham & cheese filling, and siomay with fish roe on top. My little one loves the addition of fish roe, he said they popped in his mouth :)

So, for my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Ham & cheese croissant
2. Ham & cheese steamed bun (recipe for steamed bun here)
3. Siomay with fish roe on top (recipe here)
4. Corn on the cob
5. Carrot sticks
6. Apple cuts for recess

And my eldest son had the same lunches except he had mandarin for recess.

Chicken, Bacon, and Leek Pies

Chicken, Bacon, and Leek Pies are really comforting food. This is my first time to make it and I really want to share the recipe with you because it tastes absolutely delicious!

Chicken, Bacon, and Leek Pies 

Ingredients :

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

1 egg yolk with 1 tbs milk, lightly whisked

sesame seeds as needed

Pie filling:
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
1 leek, thinly sliced
6 rashers bacon, chopped
600g skinless chicken thigh fillet, diced
2 sprigs thyme
½ cup plain flour
375ml chicken stock
1 lemon, zested and juiced

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. For the pie filling :
- Place butter and olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add leek and cook until softened, about 2 minutes.
- Add bacon and continue cooking for a further 5 minutes.
- Add chicken and thyme and continue cooking until chicken is just cooked through, about another 5 minutes.
- Add flour to pan and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. 
- Add chicken stock and 375ml water and bring to a simmer, stirring continuously until sauce has thickened.
- Stir through lemon juice and zest and season. Set aside to cool.
3. For the pastry :
- Cut 3 circles of pastry to fit muffin tray (I used egg ring). 
- Prick the base with forks to release any trapped air, which is what causes the centre to rise up.
- Spoon filling into cases.
- Cut another 3 circles of pastry that slightly bigger than the egg ring to cover the pastry with the filling. 
- Pressing firmly around the edges. 
- Make a few small holes with a fork in the top.
- Brush the top of the pies with egg mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Place in the oven to bake until the pastry is golden and crisp and filling is cooked through, about 20-25 minutes.

tips : I used the leftover cuts of the pastry to make mummy dogs. Just wrap the pastry around the hotdog. Brush it with egg mixture and bake in the oven until the pastry turns golden and crisp.

Details as below :

For my eldest son, the lunch consists of :
1. Chicken, bacon, and leek pie
2. Corn on the cob
3. Siomay with fish roe on top (recipe here)
4. Checker & rabbit apple cuts for recess

For my youngest son, the lunch consists of :
1. Mummy dogs
2. Corn on the cob
3. Siomay with fish roe on top (recipe here)
4. Kiwi fruit for recess

Stamped Wrap Bento

My kids love wraps. This time I presented the wraps in more attractive style, used nori and sliced cheese as stamps and decorated them with eggsheet. Firstly, I cut the nori with corrugated scissor, then cut the sliced cheese with corrugated knife. Make them slightly smaller than the nori. Then I cut the eggsheet with the help of bento cutters (pictures & link below). That's it!

Details as below :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Chicken wraps (chicken, carrots, tomato, lettuce, bbq sauce, ham & cheese)
2. Corn on the cob
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Carrot sticks
5. Watermelon cuts for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Chicken wraps (chicken, carrots, tomato, lettuce, bbq sauce, ham & cheese)
2. Corn on the cob
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Carrot sticks
5. "Checker and rabbit" apple cuts for recess

Minecraft Birthday Cakes

It was my eldest son's birthday last month. He turned 9. As usual, I always ask the birthday boy about his birthday theme. And this time, he chose Minecraft. It is no brainer actually since he really loves this game so much and plays together with his little brother.

So I started my research in the internet, and got some great ideas. I had to make 30 cupcakes for his teacher and classmates. 
I found that the White Almond Sour Cream (WASC) Cake recipe is the best to my liking and so easy to make. You may find the recipe here.
And for the fondant, I made marshmallow fondant, and here is the recipe :

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe
source : Angelfoods.net

Ingredients :
400 gm marshmallows (white for white fondant)
4 tbsp water
800 gr icing sugar
copha, melted

Method : 
1. Place marshmallows in a large microwavable bowl.  
2. Pour water over the marshmallows.
3. Microwave for 1-2 minutes.  
4. Stir until the marshmallows are melted.
5. Stir through 600 gr icing sugar.
6. Pour melted copha (about 4 tbsp) onto your work bench.
7. Put 200 gr icing sugar on the copha and pour the melted marshmallows onto the icing sugar.  
8. Start kneading the marshmallow, incorporating the remaining icing sugar. 
9. Add more icing sugar if it is too soft.
10. Knead for approx 10 minutes until the end result is not sticky anymore.


notes : This recipe makes 1.2 kg of fondant.

And for the birthday cake, I still used the WASC recipe. But this time, I used the chocolate flavour cake mix and replaced the sour cream with plain yogurt, and it tasted so divine!

Sweet and Savoury Bento

For today's lunches, I prepared ham and cheese scrolls for the savoury version and cinnamon apple rose scrolls for the sweet version. 

For the bananas, I carved using sharp knife and when it dried out, it will go brownish and you'll be able to read the messages. 
I found this method works really well with my year 1 son who is still learning to read. Learning should be fun, shouldn't it ? :)

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Sweet and savoury scrolls
2. Corn on the cob
3. Milk jelly and nata de coco
4. "Enjoy your day" banana for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Sweet and savoury scrolls
2. Corn on the cob
3. Milk jelly and nata de coco
4. "Have fun" banana for recess

Get Along Bento

I've done so many lunches with croissants so it is quite hard to find a title for this bento. But because the croissant monsters looked so friendly at the penguin sausages, I named these lunches : Get along bento :)

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Cute ham & cheese croissant monster
2. Penguin and octopus sausages 
3. Corn on the cob
4. Carrot sticks
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. Watermelon cuts for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Cute ham & cheese croissant monster
2. Penguin and octopus sausages 
3. Corn on the cob
4. Carrot sticks
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. Banana yogurt for recess

Similar bento tools I used for this post :