Food for the kiddos

Food for the kiddos

Thursday 29 January 2015

Snoopy and Woodstock Sandwich

Close to the end of the week. I have a Snoopy and Woodstock rice shaping mold that I didn't get a chance to use for the longest time. I decided to give it a try even though my kids are not into Peanuts characters.

I made a Snoopy and Woodstock using cheese today. Kaya butter spread with fruits and an egg. The kids recognised Snoopy but they were like… 'Who's that?' referring to the yellow bird. I told them Woodstock is actually Snoopy's best friend. I also ask them to try their friends and see how many kids know the characters. 




Seems easy to make but it is not. It took me almost an hour to create the characters on cheese last night. Probably because I am not too familiar with the characters. Haha...so how can I blame the kids for not knowing Woodstock?

Wednesday 28 January 2015

Piglet Pineapple Tarts for CNY 2015

I didn't make any sandwiches for my kids today. Was busying making pineapple tarts yesterday because my kids kept bugging me to make for them since I turned the fresh pineapples into pineapple paste. They wanted to bring the tarts to show their friends the piglet tarts they have made. I have been making the piglet design tarts for some time now. They are really popular with kids and adults too!
Snacks for Recess
I covered the pineapple paste with the dough and the small one was the one who rolled the balls, sticked the ears and nose and poke the eyes of the pigs. She even helped to glaze some of the tarts too! She is good assistant to have.  I look forward to the time when she is old enough to bake on her own while all I do is to eat! Wahahaha…
Child Labour: glazing the tarts

I was busy trying out a new design for the Year of Goat. Unfortunately, the design was time consuming and not ideal. I guess I should just stick to making pigs for now.
The not-even-close sheep design

 Counting Down to Chinese New Year!

Tuesday 27 January 2015

Tsum Tsum I Love You

A friend posting a picture of Tsum Tusm fair on FB and the cute characters have caught my eyes. My kids have downloaded the game and so I decided to make a Tsum Tsum character egg mayonnaise sandwich for them today. Donald Duck is much easier without the fake eyelashes but I cannot think of any blue edible stuff to make a Donald Duck's signature blue hat.

Below is the BEFORE and AFTER look for Daisy Duck. Adding 'makeup' such as fake eyelashes and blusher for the sandwich. Which look do you prefer? The natural look or the made up one? Hahaha….

The duckies sandwich for the day. I have some pieces of mini chocolate buns left so I decided to put it into their sandwich box as well. Included grapes and some of their favorite cookies too! They have reminded me NOT to add an egg to the box today. It's egg mayo sandwich so enough of eggs for the day!

My kids came home and told me that their BFF loves the Miffy sandwich I made for them yesterday. So I made a Miffy for their BFF today. I have informed the mother in advance (incase her girl is allergic to eggs) but the mum preferred a peanut butter sandwich for her kiddo. Anyway, below is the sandwiches for today!



Hope my kiddos find that their sandwich resembles their Tsum Tsum character! :)

Getting Started - How to make a rabbit sandwich

There are a few basic items you must have to make cute sandwiches for kids. There is no need to buy all the fancy molds and seaweed puncher if you are only doing it once a while. You can always buy them over time when you decide to do it very frequently. I have built up my collection of sandwich making tools over time and my favorite hunt for cheap molds and seaweed punchers is Daiso Singapore. 

The items in the picture is all you need to get started :

1. Mental egg shaper ring (it is for making sunnyside up egg) for cutting bread
2. A small pair of sharp scissors (for cutting dried seaweed)
3. A tweezer to pick up the small bits of seaweed
4. Straws of different sizes
5. Round medicine bottle caps or anything round circular stuff you can find at home.

Yap, that's all the tools you need to get started! And most of the items do not cost you anything!!!

In this rabbit sandwich tutorial, we are not using all the tools shown in the picture. We are only using the mental ring, tweezer, scissors and the pink medicine bottle cap.

Basic Ingredient for the Sandwich :
A) 2 slices of bread 
B) Dried seaweed (seasoned seaweed that comes in small individual packs)
C) Jam or any type of filling for the bread
D) Mayonnaise or jam ( to make the seaweed 'stick' on the bread)
Looks like some surgical tools in place :p

STEPS : 
  • Step 1 : Cut the facial expression on seaweed. Place the cutter and seaweed bits on a plate before placing them on the bread to see the effect. Having a seaweed puncher does make it easier but some can be quite costly. Get the punchers only when you are sure that you are making such sandwiches often. No point buying something for one time usage(even if it is just $2) and then leave it in the cupboard to collect dust.
Putting the pieces in place on a plate to see the desired effect

  • Step 2 : Spread jam and cut the bread with the mental ring.

  • Step 3 : Apply the mayonaise thinly behind the seaweed bits and 'stick' it to the bread. For the rabbit nose, use the pink round medicine cap to cut out some cheese before putting the seaweed on the sandwich. You can skip the cheese part if you do not have any cheese at home. 

  • Step 4 : Cut a semi-circle on the remaining bread and use the scissors to cut out the shape of the ears.  Make it into the shape of a teardrop. 2 ears = 2pieces.  

  • Step 5 : To attach the ears to the rabbit, insert the ears between the 2 slices of bread. At this point, the sandwich is completed. 

  • Step 6 (optional) : You can chose to add on more decorations such as a food pick as a ribbon or a bow. In the picture below, I used 2 small ham bits(again can cut the shape using scissors) and a food pick.  You can also add 'blusher' to the rabbit by dotting red strawberry jam on the cheeks!

The Final Product
For the busy mums, I totally understand how difficult to wake up early in the morning. I always prepare the seaweed bits and sometimes the bread(in this case, the ears and round face) and at night after I tuck the kids in bed. When the morning comes, I just need to spread the jam, stick the seaweed on the bread and pack it into the lunchbox.

Monday 26 January 2015

Miffy Lookalike

MONDAY!!! *yawn*…The kids love Miffy Rabbit so I decided to make it into a sandwich. This is a super easy sandwich to make. I used a rabbit sandwich mold today but the same sandwich can be made without a rabbit mold. Life easier with a mold but you can still come up with the same cute sandwich without it. I will share with you how to make a sandwich with some simple items available in the kitchen in the next post.

I used a scissor to cut out the 'X' mouth and seaweed puncher for the eyes. You can survive without those seaweed punchers by cutting out your own shapes using a pair of sharp scissor. Just need more time that's all.

Peanut Butter Sandwich + Egg + Apple + Cookies
Miffy Lookalike

I made a Miffy Rabbit using rice in 2013 (picture below). When I first started preparing food for my children in 2013, I made rice bento for them to bring to school for lunch.  However, the rice would be cold by lunch time and they were not able to heat up the food. 

I have tried several methods but decided to focus on sandwiches instead. They used to buy a simple sandwich for recess(made up of a single slice of bread and half a slice of cheese) and that's it! With the cute sandwich lunchbox, I will always pack 2 slices of bread, throw in an egg at times, some fruits to go along and not to mention a small bottle of milk for picky eaters. I hope my 2 skinny monkeys can gain more weight over time.

Miffy Rice Bento

I have also used a rabbit egg mold today and it looks pretty good(picture below). Added seaweed for the eyes and nose (not really necessary) because I have some extra seaweed on hand. If the egg is slightly bigger than the mold, there will be some bits squashed flat by the mold. Just trim it off with scissor and it will look prefect.

Thursday 22 January 2015

2013 vs 2015 Hotdog Bun

The first recess food that I have packed for my kids in 2013 was a hotdog bun. I do not make hotdog buns that often so there are only 4 buns in 2 years. 

The owl bun is their recess food today, the duckie bun was made in 2014 and the other two in 2013. Looking back at the creations, I guess the more recent ones look more appealing to the kids. It is a learning process and I am still trying to improve and come up with more cute food. :)



Hotdog Buns for Recess

A sleeping owl perched on a log blocking the way for the other little birdies.

As I do not use coloring in the food for my kids, it is important to add colors to the sandwich box using food separators, colorful food picks or even fruits. 



Wednesday 21 January 2015

This is how the star shaped egg is created.


I bought this star shape
egg mold from Daiso
Singapore.

Use a hard boiled egg (must be hot after peeling off the shell!) and put it into the mold. Cover.

Soak in cold water for 10mins and remove from the mold. You will get this!

Just use seaweed to cut out the facial expression and put it on the egg.
My kids said they wanted the moon and the stars last night.

What do you do when your kids ask for the moon and the stars? Like any other parents, I do everything I can for them.

Bear bear blissfully asleep on the peanut butter moon with the star friends. Sweet dreams….


Tuesday 20 January 2015

I saw an app with an icon of a bear taking picture with a camera. That reminded me that one of my kiddos is starting photography lesson in school this term. Therefore, I decided to make something similar. Ham and cheese sandwich with an egg and some fruits for school today. Hope she enjoys the sandwich as much as her photography classes.

Say CHEESE!!!


Sunday 18 January 2015

Once upon a time, when Disney Frozen merchandises were rare and few, I bought plain sandwich bags and drew the pictures using permanent marker. The kids were delighted of course! The classmates even asked for their used sandwich bags.

Whenever I feel lazy, I will dump the sandwich into the colored sandwich bags, paste some pretty stickers on it or write some encouraging words for the kids. And off they go to school with it.





Saturday 17 January 2015

Gravity Falls Character

Finally decided to start a blog to share the food that I have prepared for my super picky 'customers' at home. I have been making recess food for them for 2 years now. They brought these to school on Thursday and were able to guess the character correctly at 1st sight (phew!). I told them to let their friends guess too. You must be a Disney Junior fan if not, don't think you know her. Their classmates guessed correctly too (means i didn't deviate too far from the original character).  Do you know who she is? :)