Bento #4 - Ham & Cheese Sandwiches

A wonderful and healthy lunch is just as important as a hearty breakfast. Today is Monday, the starting of the week again so I decided to make something hearty and healthy for lunch. Since I have bought some shave honey baked ham and wholemeal bread on Sunday. I decided to some ham and cheese sandwich to go with the apple and cucumber sticks for lunch.


My son and I love the Apple Dipper from Mac Donald so I got the idea of making my own Apple and Cucumber dipper with Caramel Sauce and it really taste great for a starter. I have slightly toasted the bread slices before adding cheese, ham, tomato and cucumber slices to it. I wrap it nicely with foil and baking paper then tie with baking string to that they can sit up straight side by side. As for the dessert, I serve it with two cubes of the Macadamia Nuts & Chocolate Fudge Brownies which we made on Sunday afternoon.

For More Details:
1. Check it up @ My Bento Collection Site

Macadamia Nut & Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Made this Macadamia Nut & Chocolate Fudge Brownies this afternoon based on the same recipe that I used for Dual Chocolate Fudge Brownie(click here for recipe). This round, I add in macadamia nut instead of white chocolate and I had reduce the oven temperature to 170 degree instead of 180 degree. I cut short the baking time to about 23 minutes and it did improved the inner texture a bit but then it is still not as sticky as I expected. Maybe I shall try to reduce the timing to about 18 - 20 minutes instead and add in maybe another one more row of chocolate..... hehehe... Overall this round it did taste better, more moist and soft. Reyon ate two slices immediately after it is slightly cool off from the tray.

Seafood Melody

Seafood Melody is our this Saturday weekend dinner theme. We have Baked Scallop on shell with Cheese, Seaweed Onigiri wrapped with fish floss, Octopus & Crab shapes mini sausage and lastly serve with prunes wedges which is in season. At 1st my aim was to make some Fish Shapes Onigiri with my fish mould but too bad the shape doesn't come out nicely so I had to change it to normal triangle shape. As you can see, I added some stir-fry Broccoli among the octopus and crabs to act as seaweeds for them to rest on.


I made these cute little Octopus and Crabs to enhance the sea creatures theme.(which is not really look like crab but more like kitty according to Reyon and one of my blog pal hahaha....). Reyon and I really enjoys ourself on making these cute little creatures, we decorate the eyes and noses with black and white sesame seeds which creates different kinds of facial expression.

I found these frozen scallops on shell at one of the local supermarket upon a friend's recommend. It's really worth to spend that amount for these nice and juicy scallop which I baked it with some easy ingredients in the pantry.

Ingredients: (serves 1)
3 Scallops on Shell
Some Japanese Mayonnaise
Some Chopped Spring Onion
Some Chopped Chilli
Some Shredded Cheese

Methods:
1. Defrost the scallops completely, rinse well and pad it dry with some kitchen paper towel.
2. Place about 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise cream on the centre of the scallop, sprinkle some chopped onion and chillie.
3. Top with some shredded cheese and grill for 3 - 5 minutes until it is cook through depending on the size of the scallop.
4. You can added some extra cheese after 2 minutes or so for extra cheesy taste.


Tips:
1. If you do not have any Japanese Mayonnaise, you can use any type of mayonnaise or thousand island.
2. If this is serve for kids, you can omit the cut chillies.
3. You can replace the chopped spring onion with chopped brown onion.
4. Use any type of cheese that you can find in your fridge, for this I used Mozzarella Cheese.

For the rice dish, I used the Seaweeds flakes and Black Sesame seeds to combine with the cooked rice then use the triangle Onigiri mould to shape it. I also add some fish floss filling in it to enhance its favour.

During the meal, Reyon and I saw some interesting poses which we think we would like to share with you. First, we spot the little Octopus sitting on top of the reef waiting to be eaten....... :p Next we have two Octopus on guard, guarding one of the Pyramid. Lastly while eating half way through the scallops, Reyon was saying that the crab had almost dropped into the red lava (i put some chilli sauce on the scallop shell as dipping sauce)... it is crawling at the side of the volcano...... hahaha....

Bento #3 - Mr Pooh

Another day of Simple lunch bento. Today's menu will be Pooh Ham and Cheese Sandwiches served with Pooh Head print hard-boiled egg and some Prunes wedges. I starts to find it so interesting to prepare our own bento lunchbox. Although it might be just some simple food but the taste and sight is much more heart warming, nothing compare to homemade lunchbox especially it is with the help of my little Reyon.


As usual, we prepared most of the ingredients the night before so that in the morning it won't be so rush to get everything ready within limited time. Reyon enjoys the process of helping me out on my lunch bento and it's also a way of our bonding time to prepare something together. We have the bread, ham and cheese cut then kept either in the box or fridge. So on the next day morning, reyon will be able to help me assemble them while I pan-fry the ham and boil the egg. I tried not to overwork ourself on the preparation process so I only plan to bring bento lunch either twice or three time a week. Reyon loves this bento set very much especially the Pooh Egg, he even protest that I cannot take the egg which is one of his favourite snack :)

You can find the sample of the cutter and mould use on these links:
1. Medium Size Pooh Cutter
2. Small Size Pooh Cutter
3. Pooh Egg Mould

For More Details:
1. Check it up @ My Bento Collection Site