{ Little Lunch Box #85 } 小饭盒

The last sheep that I tried making was not very convincing and I told myself, I shall try again.

So here it is but I'm not quite happy with how it turned out.  Mostly the ears.  I think I got the ears wrong and I doubt the little one would recognise that I was trying to shape a sheep out of her lunch.

But surprisingly, she could tell from first look!  What a consolation!

What's here are ...

• Ham & Cheese Sandwich, which was slightly toasted so the bread was the warm enough to melt the cheese a little but not tough when it's cooled.
• Lava Egg, which I don't recommend you making it for lunch boxes as it's not completely cooked.  I bring the lunch box straight to my daughter after making it so the egg wasn't kept long out in our weather.
• Milk, which you can hardly see in the background.

{ Little Lunch Box #84 } 小饭盒

The little one ask if I could make one of her favourites burger for her lunch.  How could I reject her?

It's actually THIS burger but I topped it with homemade Mentaiko sauce.   She actually reminded me to torch the sauce.  =_=||

I don't have a lunch box that is big enough to hold burgers.   So, I always either wrapped it up with pretty printed foil or use a take away container.

I shared how I did one HERE before.  The one I did today is a little different as the take away container is a little shorter and the bun is actually touching the bottom (in this case, the top).  So I had to use another method. 

You should be able to see clearly what was done.  Just 2 holes close to one another on opposite sides. 

Now, you may ask why not just one hole?  Well, you may recalled me saying the bun was touching the top.  If I had only made one hole, the string/ribbon will have to run past the 2 holes.  I don't want the bun to be touching the string.  :)

And so, a carrying case for my kitty bun is done.  And off we go to school.

29jan15°thur | doodling • It's Lunch Time! Have you had yours already? • Had some time so I doodled on the plain container. • #WokkingMumVideo #WokkingMumKids •

A video posted by Elaine Chia 「イレイン チア」 (@wokkingmum) on Jan 28, 2015 at 10:02pm PST

{ Little Lunch Box #83 } 小饭盒

The little one's ASP ends later today so I decided to pack her with a more filling lunch box.

I'm planning to make Seafood Noodle Soup today, so I bought some prawns.  I picked the smallest prawns and decided to use them to play a bit the little one's lunch. 

The idea was to make a lamb.  Alas, it wasn't a very convincing one.  Well, at least I know the little one will enjoy her lunch as it packed with all her favourite food.

It has rice ball with, button mushroom, broccoli, meatballs and of course 2 little prawns.

{ Little Lunch Box #82 } 小饭盒

It's a brand new week!

I had a great weekend cos I was able to catch up on an extra couple of hours of sleep!  Yay!  (God I'm looking a lot like a panda now.)

I hope you had a great weekend too!  I'm already looking forward to the coming weekend!  Time for me now, passes by at light speed.  So yeah, the weekend will be here without me realising.

So, are you feeling a little crabby today because of the Monday Blues?  This little crab is not feeling crabby at all.  She's all  ready to get eaten, along with her little fishy friend. :P

The crab's body is a "bread bun".  You can see how it's done HERE.  The claws are sausages secured using spaghetti. The 8 legs are from the bread crust.

So there you go. Hope you have a good week ahead!

{ Little Lunch Box #81 } 小饭盒

The third After School Programme for the week.  And no.  My brain still doesn't want to wake up.

Since I had some left over rice still warming in the rice cooker, I used them to make Egg Crepe Kani Maki.

I sprinkled on both sides of the individual pieces of maki with Nori Flakes for added fragrance.  Sides are Edamame.

{ Little Lunch Box #80 } 小饭盒

What? It's Lunch Box day again?  But I haven't have enough time to warm up my brain.

Never mind, the little one wouldn't mind have toast for lunch break, especially if I have added her favourite cremini mushrooms in there.

I shaped the bread into a round one to make it more fun.  Well, actually, so it could fit in the lunch box I'm using. :P  I included edible "toadstool" apples too. (Can you see them in the background?)

Toasts were "rested" before I pack them.  Don't have them to get soggy.  I added a quail egg to one of the toasts too.

By the way, I'm using THIS RECIPE.  Except, I added 4 cremini mushrooms, sliced, to the original recipe and instead of having that many steps, I only had 2 steps. Mix ALL the ingredients together before spreading on the bread.  After which, you toast it. 

Works fine! :)

{ Little Lunch Box #79 } 小饭盒

School reopened not too long ago. 

It's a lot more tiring for me now that I have one child in the secondary school and the other in the the primary school. This means, for sure, lesser beauty sleep for me (and I don't have the habit of napping in the afternoon. Neither do I have the chance to do it).

The elder one returns home "as and when",  making cooking so difficult.  More on that if I have the chance to rant.

Anyways, after school programme (extra lessons) has started for the little one. For some reasons, she only has about 15 to 20 mins break time for the first few lessons.  So, lunch in school need to be really simple, knowing she takes forever to finish her food.  (And also I need time to warm up. :P )

So, it's just her favourite, Egg Mayo Sandwiches. :)

{ Little Lunch Box #78 } 小饭盒

The little one requested for fried rice for her lunch box today.  I added an omelette to the fried rice. 

Little piggy tried so hard to climb out of it and accidentally tore the beautiful smooth omelette I made. *cried a single tear*

Ok. I was just trying to make a simple meal a tiny bit more interesting with little piggy. ;)

{ Little Lunch Box #76 } 小饭盒

A simple lunch box for the little one with all her favourite food.

There's small prawn & pork patties, blanched broccoli & sweet peas and her all time favourite, egg; done here as egg roll.

{ Little Lunch Box #75 } 小饭盒

The little one's lunch.

Bought the tiffin carrier from a shop in Haji Lane.  It looks cute and was decorative purpose.  It didn't seems to be able to pack much food in them.

The little one won't have finish her lunch if I filled up all the 3 layers.  Hence they looked all half filled only.

She had meatball soup, sweet peas, sweet corn, saute button mushroom and scrambled eggs with rice.

{ Little Lunch Box #74 } 小饭盒

My daughter was to stay back in school for an extra 45 mins on Tuesday and I thought why not she just get food from the school canteen.  She agreed and I thought that way end of the story.

She told me that morning before going to school that she didn't want to eat in school after all and asked if I could her sandwiches instead.

I said it's fine as long as she doesn't make requests on for the sandwiches since I didn't go the the supermarket or wet market during the weekends and there isn't really much ingredients to work with.  ( eg, I used luncheon meat instead of the usual ham for the ears and 'cheeks'.)

She ended up with one of her favourite, Egg Mayo Sandwiches.   Lazy mum ... doesn't really want to squeeze my brain juice.  Not really not very good with last minute requests either.  So, never can go wrong with Egg Mayo where making my daughter's sandwich is concerned. Hahaha ....

This is probably the last lunch box of this school term, which means, no more after school programmes 'cos examinations are coming. :P  This also means, I will have to find time to post the recipes that I meant to share but didn't have the time to do it.   Got to wake up those lazy bones. :P

{ Little Lunch Box #73 } 小饭盒

I did this lunchboxes for both my kids last week.

They are always at loggerheads, always fighting and arguing with each other.  Even the food they like to eat are opposite of each other. 

One love the tuna sandwich and the other love the egg mayo sandwich but they both hated the other.  This is just one of the many food they hated and loved.  =_=||

Since I had to prepared both their lunchboxes in a short time (cos I wasted time day dreaming :P), I decided to just prepared simple sandwiches.  One for the "cat" and one for the "dog", cos they are just like them. :P  But they there are times that they do get along.  Some of the 'times".

The Kitty

The Doggy

{ Little Lunch Box #72 } 小饭盒

This was the lunchbox I prepared for my daughter last Wednesday.  A simple National Day lunchbox since National Day was just a few days later (then).

I prepare Pan Grilled Chicken which I cut into smaller pieces, with mushroom sauce, Steamed Veggies as sides and Asparagus Soup.

And of course, the Singapore National Flag rice with is from crabstick and egg white.

{ Little Lunch Box #71 } 小饭盒

Today's lunchbox for the little one consist of her favourite Saute Button Mushrooms and Eggroll with Fishpaste.  I want her to try eating Broccoli hence I packed only 2 florets (so she has no excuse not to finish them) instead of her usual favourite veggies.

As usual, mum want to have a little fun packing lunchbox, so I steamed a little rice with blue pea flowers to make a simple Doraemon's head.  The eyes are made from egg white, which I saved a little from the eggroll.  The pupils and whiskers are seaweed.  The nose is crabstick, also taken from the eggroll. 

Hmm ... I think I might have packed too much rice for her. :P

{ Little Lunch Box #70 } 小饭盒

Last Sunday, we happened to have a drink at Coffee Club.  My daughter saw their mini Egg Mayo Sandwiches and couldn't resist it.  I told her it totally not worth ordering but her doting father give in to her.  And true to my words, the sandwiches came looking miserable.  Tough bread, burnt veg and pitiful fillings.  It was a total rip-off. 

Needless to say, she struggled to finished the bread (cos they were like rocks). She only managed to eat one of the stone bread and finished the egg mayo with a lick (it's was that little).  That was not before pulling the blackish leaves out, which were half wilted and half burned that turned into 'ashes' the moment you touched them.

After that torturous meal, she asked if I could make her nice-nice Egg Mayo Sandwiches for her lunchbox today.  Hahaha ... Next time better listen to mum. :)

{ Little Lunch Box #69 } 小饭盒

I don't usually play with my son's lunchbox.  But since I have some bits and pieces of food left from my daughter's lunchbox, I decided to just have a little fun with it. 

I bet my son will have the same expression as the Japanese curry rice girl when he opens his lunch box. :P

{ Little Lunch Box #68 } 小饭盒

The little one wants omu(fried)rice for her lunch box.

I also prepared baked cheesy cauliflower mash and a lightly seasoned kailan stems for her sides. 

I still had some time on hand and since the omurice was kinda plain, just just cut some strips of seaweed and did an outline of my favourite bird and Snoopy's pal, Woodstock, on it.  Just for the fun of it. ;P

{ Little Lunch Box #67 } 小饭盒

I made Egg Mayo Buns for my daughter last Thursday.  Okay, they are sandwiches shaped like buns.  They make eating egg mayo sandwiches a lot less messier as the fillings won't fall over over the place.  Works well with tuna fillings too.

I did it with the help of a tool - my daughter's toy cookie cutter, which I have 'stolen' from her a few years back. :P  You can use any round shape items, like bowl, cup, takeaway plastic container, etc., preferably with a thicker edge to help press on the breads and stick more securely.

Here are the steps to make the sandwich buns:

Place a heap of fillings in the middle of the bread.  You can make an impression of the ring that you will be using on the bread as a guide so the filling will not exceed the circle.

Place another piece of bread over it. DO NOT PRESS on it.  Instead, squeeze on the sides on the bread a little. 

Place the circle cutter or cup on the bump and continue pressing the sides to push more bread into the ring.  This is to help create a dome and to prevent the bread from stretching out and tearing when you press the ring later.

Press the ring down hard so the 2 pieces of bread will stick together.  Use a knife to cut away the excess bread outside the ring.

Remove the ring and you will see the end product, the bun sandwich.  You may serve it as it is or toast it in the oven for a crunchy bite.

It is best to use fresh bread or (store bought) bread not longer than 2 days old as the bread begins to dry a little and is not so stretchable.  The top bread will tends to tear.

Please do not throw away the excess bread.  You can use that to make breadcrumbs.