Tips

What do you need to start Bento ?


I. Bento Box and Tools


1.  Knife

2.  Scissors

3.  Punch holder

4.  Cookie cutter/bento tools

5.  Any kind of Lunch box

6.  Cupcake silicon/paper

7.  Food pick

8.  Tweezer

9.  Rice mould


10. Straws in many sizes



II. Useful Ingredients



1. Nori (Japanese dried seaweed)

2. Black sesame seeds

3. Easy cheese spread

4. 
Furikake


HOW TO SAVE TIME ?

When you start making bento for the first time, it might seem overwhelming and you wonder how long it takes to prepare a bento lunch. Actually it's not that scary. Here are some tips on how to save time in preparing bento lunches :

* Plan ahead
I usually make plan for one week ahead, what I should prepare for my kids' lunches. Make it visual, draw it if necessary. When you have picture in mind, somehow it will be easier and faster to prepare the lunches.

* Bento tools
There are plenty of bento tools that is really helpful to create cute lunch boxes. You may find lots of cool stuffs in here.

* Bake in batches
Making bento doesn't have to be cute/charaben. As long as it contains nutritious food, provides varieties and looks interesting to eat, which can be a challenge sometimes. For a busy mom, it is a great idea to bake in batches on weekend and keep them in the freezer. Then take it out as much as needed at night and put in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. I usually preheat them in the microwave and let them be cooler before pack them in the lunch boxes.
You may find lots of recipes in this blog (find recipe label in the front-right page of this blog).

Happy bento-ing!



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What will you do with leftover ?

1. This is very yummy recipe I usually make with bread crust leftover :

BREAD PUDDING
Ingredients :
* Bread to fill 4 ramekins
* 1 tbs butter, melted
* 1/2 cup raisins/sultanas
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1 cup milk
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1 tsp vanilla extracts
Directions :
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C
2. Break bread crust into small pieces, put inside 4 ramekins. Drizzle melted butter over the bread.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour   over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking with the egg mixture.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly tapped. Sprinkle with raisins/sultanas.
Enjoy while still warm....




2. Other ideas for bread crust leftover : cut into pieces and bake them. You can either use them as
    crouton, or blitz them and use them as breadcrumb.



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