Croissants and Pies Bento

The boys had ham & cheese croissants and Chicken, bacon & leek pies for their lunch. You may find the pies recipe here. 
For extra cuteness, I put my favourite fun eyes bento picks to the croissants. I also add black sesame seed for the noses and tiny pieces of red crab sticks for the mouths.
You may find similar eyes bento picks, here :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Ham and cheese croissant
2. Chicken, bacon & leek pie
3. Hard boiled egg
4. Asparagus wrapped with ham 
5. Carrot stick
6. Mandarin for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Ham and cheese croissant
2. Chicken, bacon & leek pie
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Asparagus wrapped with ham 
5. Carrot sticks
6. Green seedless grapes for recess

Mix and Match Bento

This time I used recipes from my previous posts. I prepared mushroom, leek and bacon mini quiche, homemade fruit jelly (inspired by Nami - Just One Cookbook), and ham & cheese pinwheel sandwiches.

Details as below :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Mushroom, leek, and bacon mini quiche
2. Ham and cheese pinwheel sandwich
3. Corn on the cob
4. Homemade fruit jelly
5. Watermelon cuts for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Mushroom, leek, and bacon mini quiche
2. Ham and cheese pinwheel sandwich
3. Corn on the cob
4. Homemade fruit jelly
5. Roast diced beetroot
6. Kiwi fruit cuts for recess

Mummy Sandwich

Mummy sandwich is very easy to prepare. I cut the sandwich and ham using the egg ring. Then assembled them together and put the ham in the middle. I also cut the cheese-sliced using egg ring, then sliced them criss cross and arranged them on top of the sandwich. I used cream cheese to glue them on. And last but not least, I glued 2 dried sultanas on top of the sandwich for the eyes using cream cheese as well.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Ham & cheese mummy sandwich
2. Corn on the cob
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Broccoli and cheese
5. Carrot sticks
6. Apple checkered for recess

And for my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Ham & cheese mummy sandwich
2. Corn on the cob
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Baked beetroot sticks
5. Carrot sticks
6. Orange cuts for recess

Halloween-themed Bento

Halloween is one of my favourite bento theme and also the boys'. This time, I prepared hard boiled egg skulls, decorated with nori. And for the mummy-dogs and creepy finger pastry, you may find how to make them here.

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Hard boiled egg skull
2. Mummy-dog
3. Creepy finger pastry
4. Corn on the cob
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. Broccoli and cheese
7. Segmented orange for recess

I prepared the same ingredients using different type lunch box for my eldest son, and it looks totally different :)

Cute Spiders Bento

I had so much fun making these bento. The hardest part was to cut the spider's legs, but I was so pleased with the results. Those spiders look so adorable :)

To make the spider's body, legs and pupils, I used nori. And for the eyeballs, I cut the white crab stick with a wide straw.

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Ham and cheese sandwich with "spider" on top
2. Corn on the cob
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Carrot sticks
5. Kiwi fruit for recess

My eldest son had the same lunch, but he had banana (I scored the banana skin with sharp knife to write Halloween) for recess instead.

Egg Witches Bento

The holiday is over and the boys are ready to enter term 4.  We start the day with our first Halloween-themed bento, the Egg Witches bento. 
I've prepared the mummy-dogs and the creepy finger pastry the night before, so I don't need to rush in the morning.

To make the mummy-dogs, I wrapped sliced puff pastry around the Kransky cheese, and baked them until the pastry cooked and turned slightly brown. And for the creepy fingers, I cut the puff pastry in triangular shaped, then rolled it one by one until it formed like finger, and then baked them until it turned  slightly brown.  After it cooled down, I brushed a little red food colouring in the pointy bit of the pastry like fingernail.

Details as below :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Mummy-dog
2. Creepy finger
3. Corn on the cob
4. Ghost egg witch (hard boiled egg and nori)
5. Jack O'Lanterns (carrot with nori)
6. Apple cuts for recess

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Mummy-dog
2. Creepy finger
3. Corn on the cob
4. Jack O'Lantern egg witch (hard boiled egg and nori)
5. Jack O'Lanterns (carrot with nori)
6. Kiwi fruit for recess

Similar bento tools for today post :

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

Once again, together with my fellows Bento Bloggers and Friends, we organized a blog hop to celebrate the Roald Dahl day. 
Recently, my sons watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie on the television, and they loved it!
So I tried to create Mr. Willy Wonka from Roald Dahl's famous book Charlie and The Chocolate Factory for them. 

To make Mr. Willy Wonka, I used hard boiled egg, olive, crab sticks, nori, noodle, and earwood fungi. For the hat, I molded white steamed rice and covered it with nori and red crab stick.
For the base, I put white steamed rice, with stir-fried bamboo shoots, pickled cucumber, and red chilli.

For the side dish, there are pork wontons, ham "flower", pickled cucumber, strawberries with white crab sticks, and homemade fruit jelly (inspired by Nami from Just One Cookbook).

I hope you enjoy this post! Please continue the blog hop to the wonderful work of art from Bento Monster by clicking the button below :

Pretty Sushi Bento

I haven't made sushi for my boys for quite some time even though these are one of their favourite foods. No wonder this morning they were full with excitement to find out that they were going to have sushi for their lunches.

I'm pretty sure they are going to bring empty lunch boxes home after school. It is worth the effort, I suppose!

If you want to know more about sushi and learn how to make sushi, you can learn from my favourite blogger : Nami (Just One Cookbook). 

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Sushi with carrot, cucumber, and crab fish fillings.
2. Corn on the cob
3. Broccoli and cheese
4. Tamagoyaki (rolled egg) with fish roe on top
5. Ham "flower"
6. Red seedless grapes for recess

My eldest son had similar lunch to his brother, but he had apple cuts for recess instead.

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 :)

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

Bolu Kukus (Indonesian Steamed Cake)

Bolu Kukus reminds me of my childhood, when I made this cake together with my mum. To make this cake is quite challenging, this cake must have 3 or 4 buds on the top. I share the recipe and tips below.

BOLU KUKUS (INDONESIAN STEAMED CAKE)
Make about 12 cakes

Ingredients :
300 grams of all purpose flour
250 grams of sugar
5 egg yolks
4 egg white
1/2 tsp baking soda
175 cc of soda water
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp red food colouring (or anything you like)

Method :
1. Prepare steamer, warm up for about 15 minutes.
2. Line bolu kukus molds (I use silicon molds) with parchment paper
3. Beat  the eggs, sugar,vanilla until thick & paste.
4. Fold in 1/3 of the flour, then 1/2 of the soda, gently mix.
5. Repeat remaining flour & soda, end with flour.
6. Mix throughly until the batter is free of lumps.
7. Divide 1/3 of the batter into small bowl. Keep the rest in original colour.
8. Add red food colouring into that bowl. Whisk until combined.
9. Spoon cream batter into mould. Swirl a little of the coloured batter.
10. Steam for 20 minutes on high heat.


Tips :
* Cover the steamer lid with a cloth to prevent any drips on the batter.
* Do not open the steamer at first fifteen minutes. No peeking, this can cause of the cake to stop rising.

I used some leftovers for my kids school lunches. Both of them had similar lunches. Details as below :

For the school lunch, I prepared :
1. Bolu Kukus
2. Corn on the cob
3. Crackers and cheese
4. Sausages
5. Broccoli and carrot sticks
6. Yogurt
7. Apple cuts for recess

Cutie Eyes Bento

I baked ham, corn and vegetables muffin for the kids. I've made this recipe before, you may find it here.
And I added my new food picks from Bento USA for extra cuteness. This food picks are very handy to save time.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Ham, corn and vegetables muffin
2. Cheese and ham mini croissant
3. Corn on the cob
4. Milk jelly and nata de coco
5. Carrot sticks
6. Sultana
7. Granny Smith apple for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Ham, corn and vegetables muffin
2. Corn on the cob
3. Milk jelly and nata de coco
4. Carrot sticks
5. Yogurt for recess

Mummy Dogs

These mummy dogs were made of sausages wrapped with slices of puff pastry, then were baked in the oven at 180° C for around 25 minutes. I put black sesame seeds for the eyes.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Mummy dog
2. Corn on the cob
3. Siomay
4. Broccoli and cheese
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. Rockmelon and banana cuts for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Mummy dog
2. Corn on the cob
3. Ham and cheese pinwheel
4. Siomay
5. Broccoli and cheese
6. Carrot slices
7. Milk jelly and nata de coco
8. Banana for recess

Spooky Bento

Making halloween-themed bento is just so much fun. No wonder that October is one of my favourite month for bento-ing and blogging :)

For the first day in term 4, I made the Spooky Bento for the kids. The boys love the mummy dogs so much. It made of sausage wrapped with sliced puff pastry. For the eyes, I used cheese and black sesame seeds. The scary fingers are made of puff pastry that is cut into triangle shape and rolled. I brushed the fingernails with red food colouring to make it more dramatic. And the boys said it looked so creepy :)

The worm jelly is made of milk jelly that I poured into a bunch of straws and let it set. It looks pretty cool, huh ?

So for my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Mummy dog
2. Creepy "fingers"
3. Corn on the cob
4. A bowl of jelly "worms"
5. Hard boiled egg with cheese and nori "bat"
6. Sultanas
7. "Jack O'Lantern" carrot
8. Rockmelon cuts for recess

And for my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Mummy dog
2. Creepy "fingers"
3. Corn on the cob
4. A bowl of "worms"
5. "Jack O'Lantern" carrot
6. Banana for recess 

Lady Bug Sandwiches

These cute lady bug sandwiches are so easy to make. I got the idea from Cute Food For Kids blog. You just need circle cookie cutter (I used egg ring instead) and straw. That's it!

Each box consists of :
1. Lady bug sandwich (ham and cheese sandwich, white part of crab stick and nori)
2. Tamagoyaki (rolled egg) with salt and pepper
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco

I prepared banana and watermelon cuts for recess as well.

Sunflower Bento

I saw Anna the Red's sunflower long time ago, and so happy finally I tried to make it. It looks so vibrant and beautiful!. Here is the link on how to make it.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Indonesian Risoles Ragout
2. Sunflower sausage and tamagoyaki with salt and pepper
3. "Tulip" Sausage
4. Carrot sticks and kale leaf (for baran)
5. Banana for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Indonesian Risoles Ragout
2. Sunflower sausage and tamagoyaki with salt and pepper
3. Ham "rose"
4. Carrot sticks and kale leaf (for baran)
5. Banana for recess

Cute Mice Bento

The best thing about Bento is that you can use the same ingredients but present in different formats/layouts, so the kids will still be excited on opening their lunches. I used chicken, leek and mushroom pies, the same ingredients as the previous bento. You may find the recipe here.

This time the kids have the similar bento box, each with :
1. Chicken, leek and mushroom pie
2. Corn on the cob with "flower" carrot and sesame seed on top.
3. "Mouse" hard boiled egg (nori, black sesame seed, carrot)
4. Chicken roll
5. Ham and cheese rolls
6. Banana with "Eat me" carving