KookyCulinary

Today’s bento consists of whole-grain Dino chicken nuggets (from Costco) with ketchup, fresh grilled corn, carrot sticks and nutella roti canai (asian crispy pancake)

I love fried rice and it always comes in handy when I run out of ideas. It’s also a good way to hide vegetables. Just cut them into really small pieces and add it to the fried rice. My little one loves broccoli and carrots so I didn’t have to hide them. Please excuse the ketchup mess! : ) My attempt at decorating with ketchup didn’t quite turn out the way I expected. hehe….. Other stuff in the bento are apple sauce topped with granola bits and cheese sticks

I realized that I do a lot of animal themes in my bentos!! Lil’ C just loves animals. So whatever makes her happy works for me. Here’s another one.

Bento consists of Turkey Sandwich, Cheese, Grapes, Potato Chips & Strawberry Smoothie

This is one of Lil’ C’s favorite food. It is one of those food that I keep as a backup whenever she’s hungry since it is fast and easy to make.

Sprinkle some cheese on the bread. Here I use a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella.

Then add some ham or turkey.

Add more cheese.

Cover with the other piece of bread. Then spread some butter on the outside of the bread.

Then place it butter-side down on the pan to pan-fry till crispy. Meanwhile, add some butter to the top of the bread. Then flip over carefully to pan-fry that side.

Then add some celery sticks with peanut butter (or any other vegetables) and strawberries with dip for a yummy meal.

My girl likes pasta. So I try to mix and match the different pasta and sauces whenever I can. In this bento, I added sausage to penne pasta and marinara sauce. Other than pasta, there’s celery sticks in peanut butter “mud”, corn & black grapes

Bento content: Bear-shaped fried rice, rooster-shaped hardboil egg, edaname and my favorite cherries-Rainier cherries.

The only egg that Lil’ C likes is scrambled eggs. She does not like hardboiled egg. I wish she would ‘cos I would love to use my egg molds!! I decided to try one more time to see if she likes it. I used my rooster shaped mold and added a sprinkle for the eye. Looks cute to me but Lil’ C took a sniff of the egg and ran away!! Grrr….. I guess I better find other usage for my egg molds!!!

Technically this is not a bento but it doesn’t mean that you can’t still make lunch appealing for your kid. This is a ham & cheese bread cup with shredded carrots & cucumber flowers.

To make the bread cups,

1. Take a piece of bread and flatten with a rolling pin
2. Get a round cookie cutter ( I use one with a flower edge) and cut out a round piece.
3. Prepare a muffin pan by brushing with a little melted butter or cooking spray
4. Gently press the cut piece of bread into each muffin hole so that it forms a cup shape.
5. Bake at 350 for 8-10 mins or till browned. When done, remove & cool.
6. Meanwhile prepare filling. For this, I just chopped up some ham and mix with a little mayonnaise. You can use tuna salad, chicken salad, crabmeat salad or whatever else that you fancy.
7. Fill each cup with filling. Top with a little mozzarella or cheddar cheese. Put it back into the oven for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese. Remove & serve.

A little uninspired visually but filled with Lil’ C’s favorite food. Croissant with raspberry jelly (or better known as jam in some countries), heart-shaped fried eggs and blueberries.

Today’s bento: Mini corn dog with ketchup for dipping, raspberries and a little cheese stick flower.

Lil’ C is crazy over corn dogs these days. She just loves it. In case you are not familiar with corn dog, it’s actually a hot dog that is coated in a batter and then deep-fried. I am using the frozen ones and they can be found in the freezer section in the grocery store.

Everytime we go to Ikea, we would always end up at the food court and have some meatballs. Can’t resist them! Lil’ C love them, so I got a bag of the frozen ones from Ikea.

Today’s bento: Meatballs with lingonberry sauce, peanut butter & jelly sandwich, grapes and jellybeans for a treat.