(#157) Kabocha and chicken

Tomorrow's bento is really simple. I wasn't even plan to take a picture but I did it anyway. I really need to push myself on making bento and take a picture before school ended for summer. I am so sorry if the bento is really really plain and simple :D

Before I continue, I want to share a bad news. Something awful had happened this afternoon! one of our chicks was missing this afternoon, hopefully she just ran away and hide somewhere because our next door neighbor's dog was attacking them. I found the dogs underneath the deck and it was lots of noises and feathers everywhere.
Hubby still looking for her with no luck so far, will keep you all posted. Now back to the bento :

Inside the box are roasted kabocha, pan roasted chicken with garlic onion and EVOO, carrot sticks and fresh kiwi. Snack is packed separately (not pictured).

(#156) Beef and veggie filled bread

Up for tomorrow's bento is semi home-made beef and veggie filled bread.

I tried to make a bear out of the bread but hubby suggested to add carrot for the ear .. ended up looking like a mouse :P 

The rest are steamed broccoli, cucumbers, navel orange, yellow carrots, golden delicious apple and black plum.

(#155) Simple sandwiches

I must admit I do not really give my boys lots of sandwich even at home, and I am not sure if that is a good thing or not. I used to packed sandwiches for my first son D during his first year of school because I was too busy with B (he was baby at that time). And now he can eat almost any kind of sandwiches from tuna, chicken etc. Different story with B! the only sandwich he would eat is almond and honey sandwich (is our PB&J) which unfortunately is banned at school due to some allergic problem.

Well, today I actually have prepared some chicken for dinner but we decided to do grocery after 5. So I just fix the boys some quick and easy meal for their late dinner and was thinking to save the chicken for tomorrow and make sandwich for tomorrow's bento.
But I got stuck and confused on what kind of sandwich I should prepare for B. I spent a long time standing in front of refrigerator and thinking about it. Last time I packed him chicken sandwich he did not even touch it! coming home all hungry and everything .... *sigh*

Okay, enough whining :D
So I ended up making chicken sandwich for D and banana sandwich for B. The rest are steamed broccoli, navel oranges and golden delicious apples. I put some cheese, flowered carrot and mint leaves just for cuteness!

(#154) Sandwich bento and No Sugar Raisin Cookies recipes

Tomorrow's bento featured only simple sandwich. I originally planned to pack some beef terriyaki we had for dinner, but there's almost no leftovers. So I prepared honey sandwich in a whole grains bread instead, and I added hardboiled egg (halved), yellow carrots, cherry tomatoes, strawberry. I also packed some cookies I baked this afternoon. YEP! y'all heard it, cookies for a snack time!! I told the boys that it's gonna be okay to have this cookies because this is NO SUGAR cookies!!

I used my new boxes I brought back from Indonesia that has 2 compartments and I was thinking to use the bottom part only. I was so dumb not to think that if I do that the leads would not fit correctly. And sure enough! I realized that after I am done taking pictures. So then I have to re-arrange and start all over again, including taking pictures :D (of course)

So here is the first picture :

And here's the picture after being re-arranged, as you can see I moved the cookies into 2nd tier and added some bunnies cheese crackers :

And here is another picture for B :

And now for the No Sugar Raisin Cookies Recipe, I used the recipe from allrecipes.com, but I adjusted this and that according to some opinions from the reviewers

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups raisins (I used 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup peeled, cored and chopped apple 
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (I reduced it to 1/2 cup)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup quick cooking oats (I added 1/2 more)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

I add 1 table spoon of mixed spice (spekulaas cake spice) for an extra flavor.

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the raisins, apples and water. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Set aside to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking soda. Stir in the vanilla, eggs and the apple mixture until well blended. Fold in the oats and nuts. Cover dough and chill 8 hours or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

I bake the cookie right away and didn't wait to chill for 8 hours since one of the reviewer said that if you do that the cookie would be too dry. 

When the cookies done, I honestly did not really impressed with the result. But it tastes pretty good, and the boys love it so much PLUS I do not feel guilty letting them snack on many cookies. Will make it again next time!

#(153) Chicken wings bento

This bento is actually yesterday's, we had home-made Chinese dinner that night and I packed the boys some leftovers.

I cooked some stir fry vegetables (bell pepper, carrot, shitake mushroom, broccoli, cabbage & fish cake).  And deep fried chicken wings (I know ... next time I'd bake instead). I spent the whole hour to do the chicken like shown on the pictures, I de-boned one part of the wing and pushed the meat to the edge, so it would be easier to eat and less mess. It was worthed, came out so yummy and tender, the boys and hubby love it!

Here are the pictures :

Have a great Tuesday everyone!!

(#152) Wedding pics and Ravioli bento

Hello everybody ... I hope you all are enjoying your weekend.
It's been a long while since my last post. I went to Indonesia for my sister's wedding in March. When I came back I wasn't really in the mood of making bento coz of the jet lag, and soon after that the boys were on spring break.

Anyway, I spent almost 3 weeks in Bandung - Indonesia. I went with baby G only and left D and B home with hubby. I have traveled to Indonesia with 3 kids, so traveling with only one baby was easy! problem is, it was really hard leaving the other 2 at home *seriously*, I never been away from them since they were born. But hubby did such a great job taking care of D and B. And we skype almost everyday, so I got to talk to them before they went to school and around dinner time.

Here are some pictures from the wedding :

My youngest sister

The whole family minus hubby, D and B

It's me between my sister and her husband

Me, baby G and my sister

During the traditional ceremony

Okay, now to the Bento.

I made this simple bento last week. It was only cheese ravioli drizzled with EVOO and cheese and herb. 

The rests are home-made salted egg, cucumbers, tangerine, yellow carrots and cherry tomatoes. 

Y'all have a great day.