Loh Mai Kai Bento (350)

The loh mai kai was leftover after praying to the ancestor, I had it steamed and packed half into the bento.  Bento was ready in less than 10 minutes.

Grapes and loh mai kai

Passion fruit jelly

Meat Floss and Seaweed Roti Canai Rolls Bento (349)

Another quick and simple roti canai rolls I able to think off :)

After shallow frying the roti canai, I placed it on a piece of seaweed, squeezed on some mayo, sprinkled with lots of meat floss, then roll it up.  I let it sit for about 5 minutes, then cut into 5 rolls.  Little girl took 1 to test out the flavor and the other 4 went into the bento.  Bento was ready in about 20 minutes.

Meat floss and seaweed roti canai rolls

1 marshmallow,

2 sweets from HK Disneyland given by my colleague,

a fruit jelly

Skinned orange wedges

Braised Yee Mee 焖伊面 Bento (348)

Waked up with a blank mind, really have no idea what to prepare for little girl's lunch and bento.  After browsing through the ingredients I have in the cabinet and fridge, this is what I managed at the end.

Bento was ready in about 25 minutes.

Braised yee mee with chinese cabbage, fish cake and dried prawns

Grapes

Pineapple

Seaweed Hash Browns Bento (347)

Just found out over the weekend that little girl loves hash browns, of course I won't disappoint her, cook her some for bento.

I used 2 medium size potatoes to make 5 hash browns.  While I was cooking 2 plain ones in the non-stick pan, I saw some soggy seaweed (those small packs seaweed that little girl left on the counter), as I don think anyone will like soggy seaweed, I had them cut thinly and mixed into the shredded potatoes.  It turned out superb, little girl enjoyed eating it very much :)

Bento was ready in about 30 minutes.

2 seaweed hash browns and 1 plain hash brown

2 quail eggs

5 grapes

2 packs of ketchup from McD

Elephant Sammy Bento (346)

School re-open today.  Little girl had so much fun during her 1 week holiday,  she stayed over nite at mum's place, then her cousins' place, she came back only on Sunday evening b4 the school starts.  She really turned wild after moving out from the 'jail' for the entire week, gonna tune her back to routine & normal again, haiz...

Last nite,

LG:  Mummy, can I have a small bento to school 2moro?
Me:  Why, darling?
LG:  2moro is Monday, I have duty, I don think I can finish fast
Me:  Alright... Sandwich ok for u?
LG:  Ok
Me:  Tuna sandwich?
LG:  Yes!

So, here is the small & simple bento, ready within 15 minutes.

Tuna sandwich with cutie elephant print

Marshmallow and grapes

Carrot, Peach and Raisin Cupcake

I had 3 sticks of carrots in the fridge which I do not know what to do with them, as the 2 at home refuse to touch this orange color veggie.  So, in order to con them into eating carrots, I had them grated finely and hidden them inside the cupcake :p

Also, to make them more healthier, I added wheat bran and fresh peach into the cupcake as well.

I adapted the recipe from Joy of Baking, altered a bit to make it more healthier, the cupcakes turned out very light, moist and yummy.

Ingredients
240g all purpose flour
20g wheat bran
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 large eggs
160g brown sugar
1 cup corn oil
210g finely grated raw carrots
1 large fresh peach, skinned and chopped coarsely
100g raisins

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Sift flour, baking soda and ground cinnamon together, add in salt
3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and oil until slightly thickened
4. Fold in the flour mixture until incorporated
5. With a large rubber spatula, fold in the grated carrots, chopped peach and raisins
6. Evenly spoon the batter into muffin cups and bake about 20 minutes (I baked for another 10 minutes on 200C as they were still pretty wet after the said baking time) or a tooth pick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean
7. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack

I had all the ingredients for the cream cheese frosting ready, but due to lack of time, I didn't make the frosting, I believe these cupcakes will taste lagi best with it :p

It tasted even better a day later

Made 9 small and 6 medium cups

Sushi Sandwich Bento (345)

Making a simple sandwich bento for little girl again as it is Friday, the bento have to be prepared early and stayed in the bag for a longer time til her recess.

Turned the boring pork floss sandwich into these interesting sushi sandwich, I believe little girl would find it tasting differently from the normal pork floss sandwich she ate for breaky.

Bento was ready in 10 minutes.

Pork floss & mayo sushi sancwich

Hawthorn candy 山楂酪

Grapes and marshmallow

The Queen Bento (344)

This bun is the same as the pizza swirl bun, I just had the filling wrapped inside instead of rolling in. After placing the facial expression and chicken nugget on the bun, I found it looked like a little queen :p

Bento was ready in less than 10 minutes.

The plum looking queen

(bun with pizza sauce & cheese filling, chicken nugget as crown)

Top: chicken nugget

Middle: marshmallow

Bottom: grapes

Pizza Swirl Buns

The idea of baking this bun was inspired by Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day of their recipe on pizza lollipops. I didn't adapt their bread dough recipe but using the leftover no-kneading method bread dough after baking the sweet potato and nian gao buns.

The process was not difficult if you look at the video in pizza lollipops link, just spread some pasta sauce on flatten bread dough, sprinkle some mozzarella cheese, roll up the bread dough, cut dough with scissor, let it proof, then bake in oven at 180C for 20 minutes.

My lunch - pizza swirl buns with thick cream of mushroom soup

I had the buns baked in the morning, had a few for our breakfast, and I ate 2 again for lunch, yum!

Baked Rice Bento (343)

Made this baked rice with part of the remaining bolognese sauce after baking the pizza swirl buns.  I fried a few pieces of marinated pork, placed them on some white rice, scooped plenty of the bolognese sauce over, then top with plenty of cheese and baked in oven for 15 minutes.

Baked rice

Peach and grapes

Oden Bento (342)

It was a speedy and easy bento, I just need to blanch the pasta and fish balls in the oden broth that I leftover last nite.  Bento was ready in about 15 minutes.

Bear-bear pasta

Assorted fish balls with facial expression :p

Cucumber and grapes

Stir-fried Pasta with Scallop Sauce Bento (341)

Don know what to cook for the bento & lunch this morning, as little girl loves pasta so much, decided to tweet the method of preparing the pasta, stir-frying it instead of the usual way of mixing it with bolognese sauce.

I stir-fried the cooked leaf pasta with some marinated pork, cabbage and scallop sauce, it tasted so good that little girl asked for 2nd serving :p

Stir-fried pasta with pork, cabbage and scallop sauce, top with shredded egg

Skewers of orange cubes & kiwi berries

Sweet Potato and Nian Gao Bun

Took some sweet potatoes from MIL, thot of using it to fried the 1/2 nian gao I left, but at the end decided to change to make do some buns.

I used the no-kneaded method for the bread dough, as for the fillings, I just mixed & matched myself, luckily it turned out good :p

Ingredients
300g sweet potatoes, steamed, skinned & mashed
10g butter
1 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
8 nian gao cubes (cut to bite size)

1. Mix butter, sugar and salt into mashed sweet potatoes, mix til well combine
2. Separate mashed sweet potatoes into 8 balls, wrapping each with a piece of nian gao in the center
3. Let the sweet potato balls chill in fridge for 30 minutes
4. Wrap each potato balls into bread dough
5. Proof for 30 minutes
6. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle some black sesame seed on top
7. Baked for 20 minutes in preheat oven at 180C

I liked the combination of the sweet potato and the nian gao, both were soft & gooey, awesome!

See what I meant on the gooey part :p

Yummy bun!

Veggie and Cheese Pan Cake Bento (340)

Cooked this veggie and cheese pan cake with Carol's recipe, adored the crunchiness of veggies but disliked the smell of dried shrimp's skin mixed with cheese, the smell reminded me of the food that my grandma fed the chicken, sorry, I know it sounds disgusting, but that was how I felt while eating it.

Ingredients
1) The batter:
140g flour
10g wheat bran
2 eggs
150 ml milk
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of white pepper

2) Veggies:
Potato, shredded
Carrot, shredded
Cabbage, shredded
Spring onion, diced
Dried shrimp's skin
Cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Mix ingredients (1) all together til well combined.  Rest for 20 minutes
2. Mix in (2), fold well
3. Heat a non-stick pan with some oil, pour in half of the veggie and cheese mixture
4. Fry with medium fire til both side turn golden brown

I used about 30 minutes to get the pancake done and packed into bento box.  

Veggie and cheese pan cake

Skewers of grapes and watermelons and a container of ketchup & mayo

A note to myself, will skip the dried shrimp's skin next time if I will cook this again.

Assorted Finger Food and Muffin Bento (339)

This bento is a combination of loves and supports from little girl's ma ma (grandma) and mum.

Finally, little girl starts her exam today, I don really have enough time (multi-tasking with work and doing her final revision) to prepare her a nice & cute bento, but I put together all the food that MIL and I prepared before hand.

Bento was ready in about 10 minutes.

An oreo muffin (baked by me),

3 wantans (fried by MIL),

2 fish balls (I bought from SS2 night market)

3 fried popiah nian kau (wrapped by me, fried by MIL),

and 5 grapes