Bento #11, Bumblebee

Our little girl had a very bad night, a bit tummy ache.
So we didn't had much sleep. Lot of time to think about my next bento though :D

Bumblebee Bento
- 2 pieces sausage (she wanted one the give to her friend :) )
- pretzels
- raisin bun disguised as bumblebee. (cheese stripes, raisin eyes, wings of edible paper)
- flowery cucumber pieces

Bento #10, Stars



A little to late out bed... so no fancy bento. :)

- 4 stars bread with cookiespread (speculoos) (a real favourit)

- cucumber stars

- piece of cheese

- baked fish piece

Strawberry cupcake

 My youngest daughter, L will turn 2 in July.
She really loves loves loves strawberries.
So I though  try to make here a strawberry cake.
But since she had cowmilkallergy, I have to practices making nice cakes (without milk and butter.) before I make the real deal.
I usually make mine cakes with water/soymilk/oil/ sometimes I replace the eggs.

So I tried making Strawberry cupcakes, with strawberry creme and (ofcourse)  a strawberry on top.

And then I bundled all the replies; Wowwie

jammie, this is so great, etc...... 

I think I did a really good job making them.

And so I have a great recipe for L's birthday cake.

Ingredients Cupcakes:

- 1 cup selfrising flower

- 1/3 cup oil

- 2/3 cup canesugar

- 1 cup small diced strawberries

- 2 eggs (or replacer)

- pinch of salt

Reheat your oven at 350F (175C). And prepare you cupcake sheet with liners.

Mix in a great bowl all the ingredients, exept the strawberries. Mix everything well and then stir in the strawberries with a spoon.

Then divide the dough evenly over the liners. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.

The cupcakes are ready, when a toothpick come sout dry.

Ingredients Frosting;

- 1/4 cup flower

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup strawberry-soymilk

- 1 cup butter/crisco

- 2 tbsp strawberry jam/confiture

- pinch of salt

First,  in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the sugar, flour, salt together. Add the milk and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally until the mixture has thickened into a paste and slightly bubbly at edges.

Then transfer the mixture to the bowl let it cool, till it's really cold. Strat mixing and then add the butter; beat until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. At the jam/confiture and mix a little more.

Transfer the frosting to a decorating bag and make a nice swirl on top of your cupcake, and to finish it of, a nice strawberry on top :D





Bento #9, simple friday grilled cheese

On Friday it's really hectic in the morning.
Not much time...
So a simple one.

Simple bento

- 1/2 raisin bun

- 1/2 grilled cheese sandwich

- some cucumber

- containter with a little ketchup

Bento #8, Butterfly

Butterfly Bento
- bread shaped as a butterfly with cheesespread, decorated with mini meat & cheese hearts.
- pretzels
- dried cranberries
- fishstick

Bento #7, Ducky

A ducky bento.

- bun with cookiespread (speculoos pasta)

- meatball

- pretzels

- strawberries

Bento #6, Flower Power

Here the Bento four my youngest daughter.

They sat together at the table, enjoying and having fun.

I really liked it that they loved the bento's I made for them.

It felt like a little party.

Bento:

- bread spread with pate, shaped as a flower, topped with meat leaves and a pretzel

- strawberries

- pretzels

- mini pear muffin (egg/dairyfree)

Bento #5, Sweet Girl

Yesterday was the first schoolday after a 2 week holiday.

As usual on monday, I pick her up the eat lunch at home.

In the morning I thought I could surprise her with a nice lunch.

My first option was to have a little picknick... but the rain didn't agree.

So I deceided to practice my Bento's :)

Here the Bento for my eldest daughter.

She was so suprprised, Mama, how did you make this nice girl.

She couldn't wait to start eating... exactly as I hoped :D

Bento:

- bun with cookiespread (Speculoos) under the cheese/meat girl

- pretzels

- strawberries

Happy Mother's day

Happy Mother's day

I had some sort of breakfast on bed.... tea and a badly boiled egg :)
My youngest made a nice flower photo holder and teh oldest painted a saucer.
The looked so proud presenting it me, I'm the happiest mum in the world.

Strawberries

I just planted some strawberries in our garden...
Not really in the ground because our cats tent to destroy everything we plant.
So I planted it a bit above cat level :)
Cant't wait for them to grow........ so I can pick them with my girls and eat them :D

Quick Dora & Diego Pasta

On Wednesdays I try to cook for at least 2 days.....
I work on Thursday & Friday, arrive home late (in my eyes late... it’s around diner time, 6 PM ) after picking up the kids, hungry,  it's just soooooo great that I only need to reheat the food, before attacking it.

I'm a big fan of Damaris, from Kitchen Corners, she writes a great blog.
She encouraged all her readers to share our quick meals, as everyone of us could use a quick meal plan in our busy lives, sometimes.

Here is my recipe of our Quick Dora & Diego Pasta.
(the other thing I made was burrito's, if you wanted to know :) )

I usually have all of this at home... sometimes fresh in my  fridge, sometimes the veggies and meat frozen.
It was the children’s turn to pick the pasta... so yes: Dora & Diego pasta. :)

The ingredients:

1 pack Dora & Diego pasta

250 gr ground beef

400 gr vegetables (already diced, quick right!)

1 pack tomato sauce

salt

pepper

garlic (powder)

curry

brown sugar (when I add this, they al eat sooo much better, including my husband :) )

(all spices to taste)

My girls sometimes refuse to eat there vegetables... so sometimes I put the sauce in the blender... so they can't find them :D

Prepare the pasta as the box says.

Fry the ground beef, I usually already start adding the spices, except the brown sugar.
When all the meat is brown, add the vegetables, stir fry till it's no longer raw.
Then add the tomato sauce. Stir, add the brown sugar, let simmer for a few minutes.
..... done :)

Mix the pasta and sauce or serve separate.

When we have leftovers, I often safe them in the freezer, for a even more quicker meal.

Holidays

Yes I'm still here :)
We had a school holiday here, so I've been very bussy.
Not must Bento though, but that will change next week, when the holiday is over.

We had some special holidays:

April 25 th: Easter. After eating there Easter chocolat bunny (dairyfree). We went to an amusement Park, based on fairytails.

The children where a bit scarred of the witch of Hans & Grettel.

April 30th: Queensday. We celebrate the Queens Birthday. Everyone dresses up in orange. In every part of our little country you'll find garage sales, usually all together in the town centre.

Where you can be a whole lot of junk, and sometimes, nice things, as toys for the children. Disney books and a teapot :)

May 4th, we remember our deaths, (dodenherdenking) the whole country is quit for 2 min. at 8.00 PM. The Queen and several other important people (also a school class) lay flowers on the remembering monument.

First off all we remember WW2.

May 5th, we celebrate freedom. (bevrijdingsdag) Trough the whole country there a free concerts and festivals to celebrate our freedom. Which we sometimes take for granted, (and therefore we remember at May 4th).

Further we went to the beach a few times, had 2 BBQs and I went shopping with my 4yr old daughter :)

I was soooo proud doing this with her. See some shops, ate cake, more shops, gave her a little present and one of the things she liked best was that we went by train :)