Happy Thanksgiving and another award

What better way to start the day than having a sparkling clean kitchen on thanksgiving morning? YUP ^.^ hubby and the boys cleaned it for me early in the morning when I am still busy with baby Gavin. I am so thankfull for so many things in my life. And on top of that I also received this happy mama blogger award  from LIA CHEN. It's just really made my day. So with this happy thought I would like to wish everyone a very happy thanksgiving.


I feel so honored to received such award from her. I am the biggest fan of her blog. She makes such an incredible bentos for her 2 kids and she also make a very stunning photographs. You can see her creation at http://www.mybentolicious.com/ Thank you so much Lia, you are one amazing hapy MAMA ^__^

And now let me pas this award on to another happy mamas, and they are :

ANGI - FITRI - JENN - LISA

Quail eggs

I miss my hometown BANDUNG so much where we can get the freshest quail eggs anytime at all for nothing. Here in Bellingham I will be lucky enough if I can get some "fresh" quail eggs at the Asian market. And it’s not available all the time so whenever I saw some I have to get it. And even so I still get little upset because I pay almost US$2.00 for ten pieces and "at least" 4 of them are rotten, not to mention I always have trouble peeling the skins off so I messed up at least 2 or 3 of them *bad me*. But I am still thankfull because at many other places you'll have no choise but to get the canned one.

Anyway, for today’s bento I packed D some left over fried rice with kamabako, elephant and rabbit quail eggs, teriyaki meatballs w/ zucini, steamed broccoli, cucumber and flower carrots. Same thing for B too but since he didn't really like fried fish cake so I pack him plain white rice. I prepared the apple at night so it turned a little brown in the morning, I ended up replacing it to a new one but too late to take another picture.

I also packed some fruit separately. I cut the persimmons into half to show the beautiful center part, I arranged on top of lettuce bed for color. If only I have some fresh berries I think it would be perfect, but for now peeled oranges would do.

My first AWARD!

This is my first AWARD since I start blogging and I feel so honored to get this kreativ blogger award from Angie. You can visit her blog at http://bentojunkie.blogspot.com/. Here’s the rule: I have to state 7 things about myself and pass it on the award to another 7 creative bloggers. This is a FUN way to get to know each other more. So here are my seven things about me :

I love cooking but hate cleaning, even though most of the time I did it anyway :D

I always think about others than myself.

I don’t like to use CC, if I want to get something I would rather wait till I have the money than owe the bank.

I hate being rushed and or late. I consider myself a very on time person.

Hubby says that my weakness is that I am too nice ^.^ and many time people will take advantage.

I love coffee, even though I have problem with caffeine but I love the flavor, so I always get the decaf one.

Last time I went to the cinema is when that ancient movie Alvin and the chipmunks was out :D *poor me*

Okay, now for the hard part, to pass this award to another 7 creative bloggers. I really do have a hard time making decision. As ya'll know I am so new with this blog and I am not even sure if I know 7 bloggers. But I take this as a challenge to get to know more people, so BIG thanks again to you Angie ^.^ here are another 7 creative bloggers I’ve choose:

Fitri at http://mommy-nisa.blogspot.com/

Peppy at http://indonesia-eats.blogspot.com/

Lisa at http://aprilisadesigns.blogspot.com/

Inggrid at http://bentobliss.blogspot.com/

http://mymealbox.com/

http://new2bento.blogspot.com/

Jenn at http://bentoforkidlet.blogspot.com/

Okay gotta go now, I have to do lunch recess duty at D&B's school, will post today's bento once I got back. Have a great Monday everyone!

Mini sandwiches

This is the boys’ bento from the other day that I forgot to post. It’s just mini chicken sandwiches that I made using the mini sandwich maker I purchased from www.forsmallhands.com. It comes with 6 attachments in 4 different shapes.

As for the rest are only some fresh red and yellow bell peppers, grape tomatoes, and flower carrots topped with fresh parsley. Oops!! almost forgot the cheese string next to the sandwich :p. On the next bowl are some fresh kiwis and apples, and I also put in a home-made dried plum. Lastly are some mini pretzels for a snack.

SPAGHETTI ANYTIME AT ALL

I do not pack the boys any bento for the last couple days due to early release for teacher conferences, so instead I am just gonna share this :D

YUP! Spaghetti anytime at all since I tried this new trick I am about to share.

I froze the spaghetti sauce in the ice tray (you can either use new sauce or just leftover). Here’s how: After the sauce is completely cooled down, I filled each hole in the ice tray, and then shook it to release the air. Then I covered it with plastic wrap, and froze it overnight. The next morning I released the spaghetti cubes from the tray, broke it into each piece then stored it in the Ziploc bag, date it then froze it back. It would be good for weeks. Next time my kids asking for some spaghetti I can just simply take whatever I need then put it in the microwave for 1 minute on high (it depends on how big is the microwave). Then it’s ready!

It will also be good for chicken parmesan or any other dishes that use a little amount of spaghetti sauce. Like for example tonight, I made hubby meatballs subs using home-made frozen meatballs and a couple cubes of spaghetti sauce topped with some mozarella and parmesan cheese, so effortless for a quick yummy dinner.

If you do not have ice tray, you can just use any kind of mold you have that similar to the ice tray like some silicone jell-o mold or something. And if you have trouble releasing out the cubes, just run it in some hot water right on the backside of the tray for couple seconds.

Okay, now I’d like to share my special secret ingredient besides LOVE for my yummy spaghetti sauce. I know this trick from a good friend of mine, she always makes her own sauce using fresh tomatoes from her own garden. She suggested adding 1 to 2 tablespoon of honey into the sauce. At first I was kind a reluctant to try but I then I tried it anyway and OMG it really works!!!. The sauce is so yummy and it has some sweetness taste but not a sugary sweet.

I also like to sprinkle the sauce with some fresh herb like parsley and basil right before serving. It doesn’t matter what brand of spaghetti sauce you use but the result will be satisfying. My husband said that I have to canned my spaghetti sauce, and he is such a picky eater, so if he said its good then IT MUST BE GOOD ^__^

Simple sandwiches

I have to volunteer for lunch recess at D&B's schools today, and hubby is down with bad cold ...*sigh* ... so this is gonna be just a quick short post :D

I only packed D&B simple sandwiches plus some grapes, cucumbers and carrots. I got some ideas from the 501 bento box lunches book. They've been wanting me to make them this monster ever since I got the book, hope they'll like it.

Okay got to go now! Have a great Tuesday everyone! ^__^

Tri-colore macaroni

I actually did not plan to pack spaghetti for lunch because I still have some leftover yellow rice from the party, but the boys seems to have enough of it and they wanted some spaghetti. And here's the picture of yellow rice I brought to D's school :

Okay, back to the bento, I packed this tri-colore macaroni with spaghetti sauce packed separately. I thought it would be easier to eat and less mess and plus I love the colors too  >.<

On the next bowl its only steamed broccoli, some leftover fruit salads plus apples, grape tomato, carrots, and ½ of hard-boiled egg.

Have a great day everyone!

Birthday Bento

Today is D’s 7th Birthday, so I have to make special bento. And this is the best I can come up with ^.^

I made PB&J for Brayden and Almond butter and Jelly sandwich for Dylan. Good thing I still have some red and yellow bell pepper in the fridge, so I use them to make some balloons decoration, I added cucumber with the skin side up for the green one.

I use alphabet pasta for the words “HAPPY BIRTHDAY”, angel hair pasta for the balloon strings, and stars pasta just for decoration. I added a little drop of food coloring into the pasta when I boiled it. Turned out okay I think. This is the very first time I am using some food coloring for the bento and I am a bit scared to be honest, can’t wait to see if he would eat it or not. The rest are steamed broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and sliced cucumber.

I also joint the birthday ceremony at D's school at the last hour before the class dismissed. I brought some TUMPENG (traditional yellow rice that shaped like a big cone). I’ll post pictures later on, now I have to go back to the kitchen :D

Chicken Teriyaki Bento

I am not as lazy as yesterday but still not 100% into bentomaking thingy just yet. I must admit I push myself a little too hard and that's not good. But I feel guilty if I only packed the boys lame lunches, even though I know they will eat it no matter what.
The thing is I have so many things going on in my mind right now, D’s birthday coming, have to make Dr’s appointment for the baby and so on and so on. This week is just insanely busy. And I could not take a break of packing them lunches since there's no cafeteria at their school.

Anyway, I prepared chicken teriyaki and steamed rice for the boys. I marinated the chicken overnight so it’s nice and ready for the next day.
I thought I would like to make the Stegosaurus Dino rice for B since he’s so totally into Dinosaurs world. So I use the cookie cutter that I got from the kitchen gadget store last week, but it took me a good 10 minutes just to release the rice from the dino cookie mold, yet it didn't came out as good as I thought it would. Oh boy!! My Bad!! I should’ve use the mold when it’s wet or spray it with oil spray before I use it. Bad bad me!! I guess when you’re not 100% then everything just seems to be wrong, you can totally see it from the result. Me not happy with it! ^.^

So for Dylan I decided to just shape the rice with bear onigiri rice mold, and here are the pictures :

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Spinach Ravioli Bento

I don’t know why but lately I am sooooo not in the best mood in making bento. I mean I still pack the boys lunch and everything but I just feel like I am losing my creativity, I don’t feel excited taking picture anymore …. I don’t know what’s going on with me.
Just the other day I even made an ugly bento, I was almost gonna post it on flickr for the ugly bento group but naahhh!!! … decided not to at the last minutes, it was just too ugly! LOL

Anyway, this morning I packed the boys some spinach ravioli, but I did not take a picture because it’s just exactly the same with what I’ve made in the past, so I thought I am gonna use the old picture instead.

This spinach ravioli from Costco is my life saver!!! Whenever I am not in the mood for cooking or just being a lazy butt like right now this is really coming handy. All I got to do is just boil it for about 7 minutes, strain it, then sprinkle it with some herb cheese that are included in the package and WALAHHH diner is DONE!!!! It’s even better because both of my boys are the biggest fan of this ravioli and they only want to eat it with just EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) sprinkled herb cheese, nothing else. So whenever I went to Costco I always make sure to grab one.

Anyway, here is the picture :

As you can see it's only spinach ravioli in one bowl garnished with fresh parsley and cherry tomato, and furit and vegetables on the other bowl, I also included extra parmesan cheese packed in a small furikake container. And lastly is my kids favorite snack cheezeIt!

Okay, I maybe need to find my ZEN and get a creativity boost right now and hoping maybe next week would be better.

Old bento pictures

I have no bento to be posted today, because I only packed the boys same O same O burger bento, and I did not even bother to take a picture. So instead I’d just go ahead posting some bento pictures from my old file, while refreshing my mind and hoping to get some new ideas for my kid’s bento in the future.

Let me start with this nasi goreng bento. We are all love nasi goreng! I make it almost all the time because it’s very easy to make. The ideal rice to be used is off course the rice that stays overnight (left over). You can, however make nasi goreng using some fresh made rice, but I would suggest putting the rice in the refrigerator for at least an hour. That way the rice would not be ends up too mushy.

You can throw almost anything into the rice, whatever protein and maybe vegetables you have in the fridge, seriously! So many times I make nasigoreng with some leftover fried chicken and maaan!!! My boys would go crazy for it! Making nasigoreng is my way to avoid wasting food, and basically that’s the idea according to Ming Tsai my favorite chef on foodnetworkTV.

For this bento, I made nasigoreng with some eggs and fish balls, it might sounds scary for some Americans but fish balls is a very commons ingredient to be used in so many dishes in Indonesia and many other Asian countries. It’s just like meatballs but it’s made out of white meat fish.

I personally off course love the spicy nasigoreng, but since this was made for the boys so I omitted the chilies. First I sautéed some minced garlic and chopped onion into a hot wok with just 2tbsp of vegetable oil (if you do not have a wok a regular pan would do the job). Then I added the fish balls that I cut into ¼ of each, after that, I added 2 eggs, scrambled it so it would not be clumped together. Lastly I add 2 cups of cooked rice and 1/2 cup of sweet corn, a little soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Keep stirring until everything mixed together and cooked.

I arranged the rice in one corner of the box, divided it with a plastic grass divider, next to it are some hotdogs that I cut into a flower shape, I put green pea in the center so it really would looks like a flower. Some grape tomatoes in between and pickle cucumber and carrots packed in a little dish bowl. Next to the bento box I packed some sliced persimmons sprinkled with a little honey and some chocolates kisses. Keep in mind this is Dylan’s old bento! Back then there’s no rule of NO sugar at all on the lunchbox.

Here are some of my other nasi goreng bento pictures from the past :

This one is just a simple fried frice with some eggs, fish cakes and sweet corn. On the next tier is banana cake and sliced navel oranges.

This one is also the same fried rice as above only I added some eggs omelet and I made a car with it. I use nori for the pavement and the red light pose. On the next tier is just oranges, vanilla cookies, fresh red bell pepper, and more omelet.

I got the idea to make a cattepilar bento from the bento book that I just got a while ago, I arranged some fresh cucumbers and carrots on top of the fried rice. I was out of lettuce at that time so the fruit tier looks so empty and I wasn't quiet pleased with the result.

This last one is the same fried rice as the other, I just packed it in the Mr. Zojirushi bento box. I put some teriyaki meatballs, steamed carrots cut into a flower shape and fresh lettuce underneath. On the other bowl I packed some fresh grapes, cherry tomatoes, sliced pears, and sugar peas. Last but not least cheezeIt!

Yummy mummy for Halloween's treats

I had no idea that I’ll have to make something for everybody at D’s class for a halloween’s treats, until 4.30Pm Thursday night! I really wished that he'd told me earlier.
He wanted me to make some green cake for everyone in his class. He calls it green cake but it’s actually a chiffon pandan, it’s an Indonesian version of an angel cake, but it’s flavored with pandan leave extract. Pandan flavoring is very popular for pastry or traditional desert throughout south East Asia.
He asked me reluctantly if the green cake is gluten free or not, and I said NO off course. Then he looks so upset and told me that he kind a promised his teacher that he’ll ask me to make something for the treats. but its gotta be gluten free, no sugar, no candy, and no dairy! ...Oh boy!

So then I rushed to the grocery right away to find some healthy little treats for everyone. But he kept telling me that he wanted me TO MAKE something for everybody. Then I thought I'll just fix them some fruit or veggie tray, it’s a quick and easy and plus all parents would be happy too.

Okay, Problem solved! Now I just got to make the boys a mummy bento that I’ve planned earlier, I was going to cook an egg separately and wrapped the yolk with the white part. And then I got this crazy idea, I thought to myself maybe I can make everybody a mummy treats, I knew it’s NOT gonna be an easy things to do because I'll have to cook more than 10 eggs and dressed it up like a mummy … NAAHH not a good idea since it was already 7 PM!

I debating myself for quiet some times and finaly decided to make some express yellow rice then wrapped it with thin layered of omelet and I'll try to make it looks like a mummy!
Thanks God everything was cooked around 8PM, but I worked up so late to finish wrapping and dressing all those little mummies, I use nori for the face BTW.

 
I really tried to make the egg wrapped looks white by omiting some of the yolk, but for some reasons the egg mixture still looks so yellow, Oh well! it is what it is. D seems to be so pleased when he saw the result in the morning, he just can't wait to go to school and show everybody.
 

 
I still include the vegetables I've bought earlier, there are some fresh cucumber, carrots, baby roma tomatoes and lettuce. I put it all together in a silicon cupcake.
I really wished I've known this way way early, so I can be well prepared and didn't have to stayed up so late, but HEY … anything for the boys right! anything at all!!