Grilled Rice Ball Bento

焼きおにぎり弁当

The box I used today is actually a sandwich container by Crayola. You see, anybody can make bento without buying fancy bento items from Japan. :D

Pooh's Honey Bread

I don't know how many times I have baked Pooh's Honey Bread. My friends always love it, and I haven't yet met any child who doesn't fall in love with this bread. We recently were invited to the birthday party of one of the kids who LOVE the honey bread, so we brought a fresh loaf as a birthday gift. Unfortunately, we were not able to stay at the party to see her open all the gifts.

Her mom later wrote me saying:

"My daughter was sooo excited when she opened your gift! She ran around the room showing everyone "Her" Honey bread and was letting everyone smell it! LOL. This is one of her favorite things and she will always remember how you made this for her when she was sick."

This totally made my day (and it happened to be my birthday)! I love it when kids appreciate simple little things in life!

Who is older?

Even though these were such simple bento with leftover (BBQ lemon garlic chicken & BBQ sweet potatoes) from last night, I felt so much better than when I sent the kids to school with sandwiches.


Big sister Heidi's. She loves sweet potatoes.


Little brother Tyler's. He's not a big fan of sweet potatoes.

Princess's favorite bento

Princess LOVES rice balls with umeboshi. She's so Japanese when it comes to food, and I'm not complaining at all. Tyler also enjoys lunch with rice, but I'm too lazy, so the kids' lunch boxes often have sandwiches instead. I've been feeling pretty guilty about this for quite some time because I know I should be making Japanese style bento both for the kids and my husband. I keep telling my husband, "Maybe in about five years, I'll really start making bento for you." Do I mean it? I do! I'm thinking that should happen for real by the time Jake is in kindergarten, but it should be earlier.

Tuna Sandwich

Leah had been asking for a tuna sandwich for days, so I decided to let her make her own for lunch today.


I was hoping my favorite can opener (OXO smooth edge can opener) would work for her too, but unfortunately, she didn't have enough strength yet... Although I almost contacted OXO asking to consider designing a special can opener for little kids, I realized there wouldn't be much demand probably. :(


OXO mini prep bowl is perfect for little hands!






Leah could hardly wait for me to finish taking photos of her first sandwich. She said so many times almost crying, "I want to eat it NOW!"


Decorated by Leah. She said she made a flower.

Costco Rotisserie Chicken Rice

Tyler and I made a rice dish with leftover Costco rotisserie chicken.


Measuring rice. (OXO 3-quart stainless steel mixing bowl & 3-quart stainless steel colander. I love using these two together!)


Washing rice.


Leave the drained rice for about 30 min.
Tyler is learning how to use the timer too. (OXO triple timer)


Washing carrots. (OXO flexible vegetable brush)


Adding the chicken into the pot.


Tyler loves using this OXO pepper mill.


The prep work is all done. Now we'll steam it for 12 minutes.


Looks pretty good! (OXO rice scoop)


Great job, Tyler! It was very yummy! (^_^)

Here's my 9th blog!

Dairy & Egg-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometime last month, Tyler and Leah made these cookies by themselves! They were so proud. :D

Even though I rarely have the energy and time to do anything except for surviving every day with three kids by fixing very simple meals, I decided TODAY that I should really make an effort to spend more "cooking time" with the kids at home and therefore created this blog (the 9th, by the way)! How am I ever going to find the time to update this blog when I can't seem to post much onto the other eight? I don't even know myself, but let's just see how it goes...