All posts tagged: Bento

chicken tenders hello kitty bento lunch

Bento Lunch Box Menu – September 18 to 22

Published by

Thursday is a happy day. Last day of work and school for us here in the United Arab Emirates. I am always looking forward to weekend and spend quality time with my bunch. Who doesn’t? The week started with me coming down with a flu. Kids were also adjusting to waking up early again. Vierte needs to be up and eating breakfast at 5:30 am out the door by 6:20 am for school bus pick-up. Yes. I am happy it is finally the weekend. Here is what I pack for the kids school lunch. Sunday – September 18: We have beef kofta as the main meal for both kids.   September 19 – Monday: Chicken Tenders and rice. Marinated chicken breasts the night before and fried the following morning. I will post recipe next week.   September 20 – Wednesday: Tuna Sandwich for Vierte and Cream Cheese Sandwich for Chloe. September 21 – Wednesday: Apple Cake and Pasta Arrabbiata for Vierte. Baked red apple cake the night before and prepared pasta in the morning. Pasta preparation made easy with Barilla …

Weekly School Lunch Planner

Published by

A few friends of mine asked if I could share a print out of what the kids had for school lunch. Why did I not think of that?! It will be a good reference for me as well and make sure that I pack variety of food options for the kids. I wrote down our first week of packed school lunch, all of the recipe’s are available here. To make sure I pack a balanced meal for my kids, I use three major food groups which the kids are learning in school – GO, GROW, and GLOW food. Packing at least one food from each group ensures that our kids are getting all the nutrients they need for the day. I hope our Weekly School Lunch Planner will help you prepare a fun and healthy meal for your kids. Just click on the photo below to download your planner. School/Work week starts on a Sunday here in the UAE. Planner best printed on a B4 (10.12″ x 14.33″) paper. Download #LetsMakeLunchFun weekly planner here. Join in the fun of bento …

bento lunch box tools back to school

Back to School: Get your lunch box kit ready!

Published by

We are about to bid farewell to unscheduled days of summer vacation. Hooray! Eldest son, Kuya V is off to Year 4 on the same school and is beyond excited to see his friends, talk about summer and how many Pokemon cards he collected and caught. As for LittleMiss C, she will be in KG2 this year, our baby at 4 years is still too young to be in KG 2! As with every new academic year, it is time to think about sleep routines, school uniforms, bags and lunch boxes. Here are my top five things to get your lunchbox kit ready for school. 1. Lunchbox and bottles: Do you need a new set of lunchbox kits? I always go for compartment style boxes for easy packing, we love our Planetbox and BentGo Kids. Check for leaks – fill bottles with water and lunchbox with yoghurt, give it a good shake and check for leaks. If they do have leaks I re-use them to store toys. Molds / Black spots – Make sure you check the interior of …

chicken rice pilaf bento lunchbox

Bento Lunch box Recipe: Chicken Pilaf

Published by

Our yummy lunchbox recipe for you this week is Chicken Pilaf. It is always a hit and miss for me when cooking basmati rice, most of the time it turns out mushy. As my friend would say “basmati is no good when sticking to each other” I prepared this pilaf recipe twice this week and the basmati rice was perfectly cooked. The kids love it as well, that is why they had for school lunch and more at home. Chloe’s: Chicken pilaf, strawberries and cereal bar Vierte’s lunchbox: chicken pilaf, baby carrots, dried mangoes, kiwi and cereal bar   Give it a try and let me know if your kids enjoyed this Chicken Pilaf recipe as well.

Recipe Zaatar Feta Pinwheels

Bento Lunch box Recipe: Zaatar Feta Pinwheels

Published by

We survived the first week of back to school! Well, technically it was not 5 days of school week for us but still, YAY! For us UAE residents our busy school and work week begins on Sunday till Thursday. We have Friday and Saturday as our weekend. Our back to school week was a breeze, both kids woke up on time and no major morning drama. LittleMiss did have a rough start in school but was fine after. I first had a taste of Za’atar pinwheels when LittleMiss and I attended a Baby Massage class. After that, I have a weird craving for the flavor ever since and would eat one whole Za’atar Manakish just to satisfy myself. This week I finally got a chance to re-create the za’atar pinwheels I had 4 years back. It is super easy to make, perfect size for your kids lunchbox and yummy too. Our De’Longhi MultiFry Machine is becoming one of our favorite kitchen gadgets, it has literally saved me from spending more time in the kitchen. This machine also allows me to “fry” food by using …

chicken teriyaki bento lunch

Teriyaki Sauce Recipe and Bento box ideas

Published by

Any dish with teriyaki sauce is a family favorite that’s why I always have a bottle of homemade sauce to perk up grilled or pan fried dish. I once taught that preparing this sauce would take a lot of effort, I was wrong. You need few ingredients and just simmer away. Teriyaki flavor is different each time you prepare it depending on what ingredients you use. For instance when I make it for salmon more garlic on the sauce then more ginger if chicken. Teriyaki Sauce Three Ways All three lunchboxes below use teriyaki sauce in different ways. Grilled Chicken Breast with Teriyaki Sauce on the side Panda rice bento box is a chicken breast marinated with teriyaki sauce then pan fried, sauce packed on the side. Slow cooked Chicken Teriyaki This week I dumped chicken drumstick with teriyaki sauce in a pan and slow cooked it for 30 minutes. Oven baked meatballs drizzled with thick teriyaki sauce Oh I also use sauce as salad dressing, you should try it. Yummy! One chef on a cooking show …

isda lumpia recipe bento lunch

Fish Spring Rolls (Fish Lumpia)

Published by

Fried spring rolls or commonly known as lumpia shanghai in the Philippines is a favorite dish to serve on special occasions along side pancit. Besides fried rice this is one dish that my kids eat with much gusto that has hidden vegetables and it’s easy to prepare. Lumpia is a versatile dish that you can prepare vegetarian or with any meat you like. For this recipe I made use of left over fried fish and broiled fish fillet. I packed this for the kid’s bento lunch box and they once again requested it for lunch.      

chicken popcorn bento lunch kebab

Chicken Popcorn Kebab Bento Lunch box

Published by

The last of the three products I presented for a bento workshop is the chicken popcorn, it’s odd shape and dull color made it challenging to turn into something fun and inviting to eat. Other products use for the workshop are chicken nuggets and sausage. Kuya V was the one who suggested that I turn them to kebabs or barbecue with colorful vegetables in between. Barbecue sticks are not allowed in school, instead we made use of drinking straws as skewers.  Now, your chicken popcorn looks more inviting to eat compared to just placing them flat inside your lunchbox. Inside our lunchbox : kebab of capsicum, olives, cherry tomatoes and chicken popcorn strawberry, kiwi and blueberry cheese cupcake (I will post recipe of this soon) sweet corn adorned with cucumber carrot flower baby carrots and broccoli Bento tools: tiny fork food picks, silicone cupcake liners and drinking straw. Check out how we made fun bento lunch box with sausage and chicken nuggets. Tag us on any of your bento lunchbox creations and use #UAEMakesBento and #WhatToEatMom on instagram. We are @cuddlesncrumbs on …