Tutorial Cheese Crackers Real or Fake ?

Today's tutorial is a funny one, are these cheese crackers real or fake? This is an easy tutorial which we can use as a bento space filler, or as a funny prank, or as a party snack or even something less scary for Halloween. I think the possibilities are endless and this is going to taste great with breads, sandwiches, chips, salads, etc :D

Here's what you need:
2 slices of cheddar cheese
1 slice of goat cheese (or young cheese, or any cheese that is lighter than the 2 slices of cheddar you have)
1 circular cookie cutter with scallop edge (you can also use flower shaped cookie cutters)


Here's what I did:
1. Stack the cheese slices on top of one another in this manner:
cheddar cheese - goat cheese - cheddar cheese

2. Use the cookie cutter to make the shapes. Then use a toothpick (or the end of a food pick) and poke 9 holes in the centre. Voila!!

Bento Filler: Cheese Crackers Real or Fake ?

This is also a fun and easy project to work with kids because its relatively easy and mess-free for the adults and its also easy enough for kids to grasp the instructions. So now the question is, how would you name this bento tutorial, Fake Cheese Crackers or Real Cheese Crackers? ;D

Tutorial Sweet Simmered Shiitake Bento Timesaver

Today's tutorial post is about another trick I have up my sleeve, sweet and simmered shiitake mushrooms, which is essentially a bento timesaver recipe. This is a perfect recipe if you know that you will be busy for the rest of the week and have no time to prepare every item individually in mornings. If stored well in the refridgerator, this sweet and simmered shiitake mushroom bento timesaver should last up to a week.

Sweet and Simmered Shiitake - Bento Time Saver and Space Filler

Ingredients:
10 dried shiitake mushrooms
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons mirin (dry sherry can be used as a substitute)

How to:

1. Soak the dried shiitake in cold water until soft. This takes about 1 hour. 

Tip: Usually I'll soak the mushrooms while I'm preparing dinner. By the time Mr Bear and I have finished eating dinner and finished all the cleaning up, it will all be soft enough. If you like, you can soak the mushrooms overnight as well.

How I soak dried mushrooms

Tip: This picture shows how I soak the mushrooms. Because the dried shiitake mushrooms tend to float (which I find rather annoying), I used a dipping dish as a weight so that all mushrooms will get soaked evenly. 

Do not discard the water which you used to soak the mushrooms.

Once the shiitake mushrooms are soft, remove the stems and cut them into bite size pieces.

Tip: As shown in the very first photo, I have cut them into different shapes. This is a personal preference because I figured that if this sweet and swimmered shiitake timesaver is going to appear on me and Mr Bear's bento for the next 2 days, it might be more interesting if they don't look the same everytime we open up the bento.

2. Put the shiitake in a pot with enough soaking water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and add all the other ingredients. Continue simmering until the liquid is almost absorbed completely.

Let it cool completely and portion it into little containers or small silicon cake molds. Store in the refridgerator.

This shiitake bento timesaver might taste a little sweet on it's own because it is designed as a side dish to go with rice. If you like you can serve it together with a plain salad as well.

This is how I make the Sweet and Simmered Shiitake Bento Timesaver, I hope you find the recipe and tips helpful too.

Tutorial Thursday Bento Uncle Samosa

Yesterday Mr Bear and I had an Indian home delivery for dinner. The portions were surprisingly big and there was quite a lot of left overs. There was a big samosa that we couldn't finish and so I decided to make a tutorial on how I bento-fy (is there even such a word?) something as challenging as a irregularly shaped Samosa.

Bento Uncle Samosa

Because the samosa does not really have a smooth surface and I was feeling lazy, I decided to put the decorations on the OUTSIDE instead of directly on the samosa.

What I did was to just wrap the samosa in saran wrap (aka glad wrap, food wrap). Next I fill up the rest of the space with cucumber and tomato. I didn't use any dividers in this bento because the saran wrap would already prevent the samosa from coming in direct contact with the cucumber and tomato. As a final touch I just use a marker to draw in the eyes on contruction paper and stick it on. Uncle Samosa's moustache is made from a brown piece of contruction paper, so I didn't have to do any colouring myself. hehe.

If there is stickers lying around in the house, it will be even easier. You just have to draw in the eyes and stick it on the saran wrap.

Hope you like this easy time-saving tutorial and have a good laugh at silly Uncle Samosa!

Bento Meatless Monday grapefruit write up

Today we are having a simple meatless grapefruit salad bento for lunch. I have decided to make this meatfree fruit salad because we had eaten a lot of junk food over the weekend and I am feeling really quite guilty. hahaha! Yesterday, Mr Bear and I ordered Surinaamse take-out with a full portion of chicken curry and roti (for me), a full portion of lamb and roti (for Mr Bear) AND a full portion of Java-style Saoto soup (Soup soto) with rice! Hahaha basically it was rather big portions even for 3 big adult eaters. We sat in front of the TV and basically binge ate. hahaha, and before we knew it, we had finished EVERYTHING and the takeout boxes were all licked clean. Come to think of it, its rather unbelievable. LOL!

Sorry, I had digressed, hahaha! Other reason why I had made this meatfree bento with grapefruit is because of its high vitamin C content and its high fiber content. Pink and red varieties of the grapefruit also contain high amounts of an antioxidant called lycopene (which can also be found in tomatoes). What is also good about the grapefruit is that it can help lower cholesterol, which makes it ideal (at least psychologically, hahaha) after yesterday's food binge. There is one very important thing to take note though, if you are on medication, please check with the healthcare professional before eating a grapefruit because studies have shown that grapefruit might give certain drug interactions, often making the drug more potent than it is supposed to be.

Bento Meatless Monday Red Ruby Grapefruit Salad

Previously I have also made a Grapefruit Salad Bento, but this time round, I made a variation. Instead of laying pieces of lettuce to filter out the grapefruit juice, I cut the grapefruit into a half. Then I removed all the juicy grapefruit flesh from one half and sliced them into manageable bite-size pieces and pop them back into the grapefruit "basket". This way, all the grapefruit juices stay IN the basket and not everywhere else. For the other half, I sliced it into wedges and stack them on top of the basket. I top it up with a sleeping bunny food pick and a few small slices of the lettuce for the colour. I hope you like today's Meatfree Monday Red Ruby Grapefruit Salad.

Bento Easy Roll-up Sandwich

After a few days of making rice-based bentos, I have decided to make a sandwich bento for a change. This is an roll-up sandwich bento is an easy one and is great for busy mornings.

For this bento, I used the usual square white bread easily available in the supermarket. Because the bread I have is slightly dry, I placed it in the microwave for about 10 seconds so that it gets softer and is easier to roll. Next I remove the crust and put in whatever filling I have on hand. It happened to be cheese and salami today, but jam and butter works well too :D Next I roll it up and secure it with a food pick.

I place the sandwich rolls in the bento box and stuff in some left over salad. (This salad was sold already cut in the supermarket near my place, so I didn't have to do anything) Add in the star and its done. I hope you like this easy roll-up sandwich bento!

Bento Funny Frog Face Fillet o Fish for a Friday

Today I'm in a pretty funny mood when I decided to make this bento. It's fish fillet burger with chopped apples on a bed of lettuce. Maybe I should give this bento a funny sounding name as well. Bento Funny Frog Face Fillet o Fish. hahaha, now I want to hear someone read this title out loud and fast :p

Hope you have a good laugh with this Bento Funny Frog Face Fillet o Fish and have a happy funny Friday! :)

Bento Babybel Bird

Yesterday Mr Bear and I had an oven dish. It consisted of potatoes, mushroom, ham and lots of cheese. There was a handful left over and there was also 1 piece of mini babybel sitting in the fridge, so I decided to use them to make this happy Babybel Bird bento.

Bento Babybel Bird in Ojue lunchbox

Close up of Bento Babybel Happy Bird

I used the deepest compartment of the Ojue lunchbox here because I am intending to use this on its own.

First, I lined the lunchbox with a large piece of lettuce. Next I put in the left over potato dish, taking care to push all of them to one side, so that the food surface is almost in line with the top edge of the bento.

Then I stuff julienne strips of lettuce into the rest of the lunchbox and I top it up with the piece of mini babybel cheese.

Sidenote: the beak I used here is from the wax covering the babybel. If the bento is intended for kids, I would replace it with a piece of carrot or surimi, just to be safe.

Bento Healthy Grapefruit Bunnies Salad

After binge-eating with Mr Bear last night, I woke up feeling like I had a food hangover. So I decided to go super healthy with this salad bento : Grapefruit Bunny Bento with lettuce. Detox!

First I put a few layers of lettuce and then the grapefruit. Not only does the lettuce looks pretty with the grapefruit, I've discovered by chance that the lettuce have an extra function. The lettuce layers "lift" the juicy bits of the grapefruit and I got to enjoy the texture of the grapefruit without them swimming in the juice. So I get to eat the grapefruit, then the lettuce and finally slurp up all the remaining juice that had collected at the bottom. What a nice discovery!

Healthy Meat-free bento featuring Grapefruit Bunnies

Close up of bento Grapefruit Bunnies

I used 2 large pieces of lettuce and 1 whole grapefruit. Just like the honeydew bunnies, I used the seed as eyes for the Grapefruit Bunnies. The bento box I used here is a 200ml air tight box I bought from Hema. Hope you like this healthy meat-free bento salad : Bento Grapefruit Bunnies :D