How Now Brown Cow

We use wholemeal bread just to be a that little bit healthier, and in this design the brown colour works great on the cows.

If you're wondering why my wife usually makes two of everything, it's because one is for Girl and the other is for Boy. Boy is not going to school yet but she makes an extra for him so he can join in the fun.

How-to Tips

• Use wholemeal bread or some other brown bread like rye. You can use white, but the cheesy snout won't stand out as much.
• The ears are made from the crust, which gives them a nice darker colour. Nice detail, Wife!
• Snout is made from sliced cheese.
• Eyes are made from sliced cheese and the black pupils from cut seaweed.

(I'm retiring the 'What-is-it-score' section because as she becomes more practiced, the score is almost always 3-out-3)

Hello Kitty (and Flower)

Hello everyone. This is a special blog post because my daughter (Girl) is going to write it together with me. Go ahead, say/type hello to the readers.

Girl: hello

Thank you. Now, what we have today is a fancy looking Hello Kitty. I've posted a Hello Kitty bento before but this one is more fancy.

Girl:because it has a flower

Thank you, Girl. That's right, this one has a flower. Ok, let's get to it.

Hello Kitty (and Flower)

How to

• Girl: this is not hard to make but it does have a few steps
• For this one you will need a mould (here's one sold in ebay). You can hand cut it but it's quite tricky,
• Girl: my mum used raspberry and mango for the bow
• My Girl is talking about these beautiful pressed fruit sheets we got from Tasmania. I'm not sure where else you can get it, but you can substitute seaweed sheets.
• My wife hand cut seaweed into the whiskers and eyes.
• Girl: my mum used corn for the nose.That way it is much more healthier for your child to eat a little bit of veggie
• That is right. Now for the flower, you can use a flower mold, put a bit of butter around the edges, and put some sprinkles on the buttered bits.

What-is-it score: 3 out of 3

• Girl: I love Hello Kitty.
• Boy: Is it Kitty?
• Dad: Hey you used the mold I bought for you. Fancy!

Ok I think my daughter wants to say some closing words.

Girl: bye bye everyone

Two Fat Sheep

These two sheep have obviously been eating high-fat grass and not doing any exercise. Or maybe because they've been eating grass made out of egg. And eating salami stick fences.

Two Fat Sheep

How-to:

• Start with cutting a couple of circle bread shapes. You can use a circle mold or cut them by hand.
• Cut a piece of circle ham - exactly the same size and shape as the bread.
• Put the ham on top of one bread piece - use butter or spread to stick them together.
• Cut out the head bit from the second piece of bread, just a small piece would do.
• Stick the second bread piece on top of the ham. Again, use butter or spread.
• Cut out bits of ham to make the ears, and for the lady sheep, cut out a ribbon from cheese.
• Use sesame seed or chocolate bits for the little eyes.
• My wife used shredded fried egg for the grass and salami stick for the little fence. Get creative and use other things:
• Lettuce for the grass
• Shredded carrot
• Cherry tomatoes

What-is-it Score: 2 out of 3

• Girl: Mmmm. Is it a sheep? Two sheep!
• Boy: Is it a ball?
• Dad: Ok. Umm. I think they're sheep. Very fat sheep.

Hearty Rice

Something a little different this time. Instead of bread, my wife used rice. She can do this only in winter because in summer the rice would go bad due to the heat.

You can probably substitute some soft diced up potato instead of rice if your kid is not into rice.

Hearty Rice

How to:

• Cook some rice - make sure it's not too soft and not too dry. You can use any rice that is not to flakey.
• While the rice is warm, spoon them into a mold. Here my wife used heart shaped molds. The steam from the warm rice will stop the rice from sticking to the mold.
• The face bits can be hand-cut from seaweed or punched out using a special craft punch. You can get it on Amazon or eBay (Australia).
• The red bits are cut up Vietnamese meat patties called nam - you can substitute cut up salami if you want.

What-is-it score:

• Girl: I like this love heart Mama!
• Boy: Is two love hearts.
• Dad: Nice. Makes me hungry.

Giraffe Family

This giraffe family of four took my wife a long time to finish. The body shapes are not to difficult (she used molds) but the spots took a long time since they had to be hand cut and hand pasted. The end result is very much worth it!

Giraffe Family

How to

• The bodies need to be cut out by giraffe-shaped molds. There are a lot of thin parts (necks and legs), so try using a dense bread so they don't break off.
• The spots and the face parts need to be hand cut and stuck on with butter/margarine/spread.
• A seaweed/nori punch cutter saves a lot of time (mostly for the face parts). You can get it on Amazon or eBay (Australia).
• Update: My wife told me that she used sesame seed for the little eyes.

What-is-it Score: 3 out of 3

• Girl: It's like our family. But they are giraffes.
• Boy: Lots of giraffes!
• Dad: Which one is supposed to be me?

Giant Strawberry

This one is easy to make, but looks good. And nice to eat, too. If you want to get fancy, you can make lots of little ones, they would look great.

Giant Strawberry

How to

• My wife used a mold for the strawberry shape, but you can easily hand cut the shape with kitchen scissors.
• The red par is a light coat of strawberry jam with chocolate sprinkles for the pips.
• For the leaf, spread a bit of butter/margarine and cover with green sprinkles.

What-is-it score: 3 out 3

• Girl: Woooow big strawberry!
• Boy: Mmm. Can I eat it?
• Dad: Woah! That's a huge strawberry!

Circus Elephants

Here we have three elephants juggling balls on their trunks. Add a lion tamer and some clowns and you get a circus. Hmm, that's not a bad idea. Maybe I'll ask Wife is she wants to a do a circus special ...

Circus Elephants

How-to

• You'll need an elephant shaped mold for this. Otherwise you can hand cut the bread, although it's pretty intricate.
• Each elephant has a slightly different set of eyes. Notice how even that small detail changes the each elephant's expression!

What-is-it score: 3 out of 3

• Girl: Look, the elephant is playing with the ball!
• Boy: Ell-e-phunt!
• Dad: Nice. Hey one of the elephants is juggling two balls. Show off.

Numbers

This is a simple design but it does take a fair bit of time to do. I think this works well because it looks impressive with all those numbers stacked together. This lunchbox is also really easy to eat since each number is a mini, bite-sized sandwich.

Numbers

How to

• First make a normal jam sandwich - make sure you cover all of the bread with jam, all the way to the edge.
• When you're done with the sandwich, all you have to do is cut out the numbers one by one. You need to use number molds, otherwise it will just take far too long.
• The only way to keep the numbers in place is to stick them to bottom of the lunchbox with butter or jam. Otherwise you'll just have to take a photo before they get jumbled up ...

What-is-it score: 16 out 16

Cross-eyed Owl

Here we have a rather cross-eyed bird that kind of looks like an owl, so we'll go ahead and call him Mr Cross-Eyed owl. A lot of detail in this lunchbox - notice the tree branch that the owl is perched on, and the star in the night sky. Not quite sure what the butterfly is doing there - do they come out at night? Maybe this one is a bit of a, wait for it, night owl.

Cross-eyed Owl

How to

• If you have been following this blog, you'll know the basics: butter/margarine/spread to get the bits to stick together, and the black stuff is hand-cut seaweed.
• The owl body is cut using a heart-shaped mold. If you don't have one, a circle mold would work too.
• Use the crust for the wings and the little horn ears.
• For the beak, cut the tip of a carrot. Good way to get your kid to eat a little bit of veggie.
• Don't throw away the carrot yet - you need them for the little feet.

What-is-it score: 3 out of 3

• Girl: Hoot hoot!
• Boy: It's an owl. (He said this with a very confident look on his face.)
• Dad: It's ... an owl, right? Or some kind of bird? What's wrong with his eyes?

Smiley Star Flowers

Aren't these cute? I'm not so sure if these are supposed to be stars or flowers, so I'm calling them 'star flowers'. Check out the cute little butterflies too!

Smiley Star Flowers

How to

• Ok, this one is not too hard but it involves a few steps. You'll need a star or flower mold. If you don't have one, you can still do this, but you'll have to hand cut the bread pieces.
• First, cut out 2 bread pieces using the mold.
• Use the same mold to cut out a cheese slice.
• Stick the cut cheese slice to one of the bread pieces. Use butter/margarine/spread.
• Take the remaining bread piece and use a smaller mold to cut out the inner face. If you don't have a smaller mold, you can use a circle mold.
• Stick this bread on top of the cheese. Again, use butter/margarine/spread.
• Hand cut the eyes and smiles out of seaweed. Stick the eyes and smiles to the cheese.
• For the red-faced star flower on the right, do the same thing except you don't need to cut the cheese slice. Just use jam instead.

What-is-it score: 3 out of 3 (kind of)

• Girl: Smiling stars!
• Boy: Oh little stars.
• Dad: Mmm. Flowers maybe? Or stars?

Ladybug

Ok, so the photo doesn't have the best lighting, but I think this cheesey ladybug is pretty cool. If you have some extra time you can jazz it up with some red bits. Maybe slice some strawberries and garnish the bottom of the lunchbox?

Ladybug

How to

• The ladybug shell is made from cheese slices. Hand cut the slices and use straw to poke out the holes.
• Use two of the circles you poked out from the shell as the eyes. In this one my wife cut a circle seaweed shape and put them under the cheese circles to give a nice out line effect.

What-is-it score: 3 out of 3

• Girl: It's a cute ladybug!
• Boy: Ladybug, ladybug ...
• Dad: It's some kind of beetle ... oh wait it's a ladybug right? Why is it yellow? Shouldn't it be red?

Piggynaut

So yes, this is a pig astronaut. This is an original design by the wife. It's pretty good for a first design - notice the little details like the snout and the eyes. Looks a little thin for a piggy though, maybe one day she will do a chubbier version of this space-faring porcine.

Piggynaut

How to

• You need to start with a base of bread. I suggest you draw the shapes on a piece of paper and cut them out, then use them to cut your bread.
• You then need to cut the ham and put it on the face. Then you can cut the cheese slices and put them on, including the astronaut helmet.
• I must admit I'm not sure how she did the pig snout. I think she first cut out an oval cheese then used small straws to poke out the snout holes.
• Note the tiny seaweed eyes!
• The belt and the other black bits are hand cut from seaweed.
• You can hand cut the star and moon if you're patient, otherwise you can easily find cookie cutter molds that will do that for you.

What-is-it score: 1 out of 3

• Girl: Is it a super pig?
• Boy: Space pig! (He's the only who got it right!)
• Dad: It's ... some kind of pig?

House No. 12

I don't actually remember what the "12" is supposed to be. Did my wife plan to do 1 2 3 and ran out of space (or bread?) Or is it supposed to be house number 12, but not sure why she would do that. Our house is not number 12. As my daughter likes to say, "It's a mystery."

What I like about this design is the use of bread crust to make the brown roof. Finally, a good use for bread crust! Also note the neat flowery arrangement of orange slices and grapes.

House No. 12

How to

• House is made from brown bread.
• The roof is made from cut bread crust, and stuck with lots of spread to the house.
• Door is made from cheese, although you can also paint a rectangle with jam if you want a red door.
• The numbers 1 and 2 are hand cut from bread, although you can easily find cookie molds with that shape.

What-is-it score: Easy 3 out of 3

• Girl: Is that our house?
• Boy: Ooo house.
• Dad: Whose house is that? Number 12?

Double Moo

I think this one is pretty neat. Two cows. Notice one is sleeping and the other one is smiling. This design also has the advantage that it doesn't waste as much bread.

Double Moo

How to

• The body is made from white bread.
• The head is hand cut from sliced cheese. The nose is hand cut from ham.
• The rest of the bits are hand cut from seaweed. 
• Olive spread/butter/margarine/other sticky spread to glue the bits onto the bread.
• Bonus: Shred some lettuce to line the lunchbox - grass for the cows!

What-is-it score: 2.5 out of 3

• Girl: It's two cows. Moo moo!
• Boy: Mmm. Pig and cow.
• Dad: Two burgers. I  mean two cows.

Pooh and Piglet

More licenced characters, this time the adorable Pooh and his friend Piglet. My wife is starting to really getting the hang of it. Look at the detail on the faces! Again the face features are hand-cut from seaweed sheets and ham.

Pooh and Piglet

How to

• I think everything was hand cut with kitchen scissors, including the face shapes.
• My wife printed out some pictures and used them as guides. She may have cut the prints first and used them as a template.
• Olive spread/butter/margarine are used to stick the face features to the bread. They're not the super strong so unfortunately they do tend to peel and slide when they are carried to school.

What-is-it score: 3 out of 3

• Girl: Pooh bear! Piglet!
• Boy: Bear-bear. Oink oink.
• Dad: Nice. Why is Piglet bigger than Pooh?

Hello Kitty

My wife's first licenced character lunchbox! It's Hello Kitty, the world's most powerful cat (she/he's worth half half a billion dollars per year). Also note the bonus animal made from banana and apple slices. Can you guess what is it?

Hello Kitty

How to

• My wife started using wholemeal bread - hence the rugged texture and brownish colour.
• The Hello Kitty head shape is cut using a Hello Kitty shaped cookie cutter.
• The bow, whisker, and face parts are all hand cut. The bow on the bottom kitty is cut from ham.
• As usual, the face parts are stuck to the bread with olive spread. Butter, margarine, or any other sticky spread will do just fine.

What-is-it Score: Easy 3 out of 3

• Girl: Wow, Hello Kitty!
• Boy: Miaow.
• Dad: Nice Hello Kitty.

What-is-it Score (for the bonus animal on the right): 0 out of 3

• Girl: Mmm. Is it a fish?
• Boy: Banana!
• Dad: Is it some kind of dinosaur?
• Correct answer: I'm 90% sure that it's supposed to be a caterpillar.

Pointy-eared Cat

I think this is the first lunchbox where she started using seaweed. She uses the Japanese seaweed called nori, and she often hand-cuts them with scissors.
Also my wife started making two lunchboxes - one for my daughter, and another for my son. Just to be fair!

Pointy-eared Cat

How to

• All the black parts are hand-cut from seaweed. I'm  not sure what you'd use if you don't have seaweed. Maybe ham?
• The seaweed are then stuck to the bread with olive spread. You can use margarine or butter or any other sticky spread.
• Use cookie cutter or similar shaped molds to cut out the bread into triangles and circles. You can hand-cut them if you don't have molds.

What-is-it Score: 3 out of 3

• Girl: It's a cat!
• Boy: Miaow!
• Dad: Wow, how long did it take you to cut the mouth parts?

Short-eared Rabbit

I think this is the first funky lunchbox my wife made for our daughter. 

If I find an earlier one I'll be sure to post it. It's looking pretty good already, although her later ones are better (obviously).

Short-eared Rabbit

How to

• The little heart and flower are made with cookie cutter molds.
• The rabbit ears are hand-cut with scissors then stuck together with jam.
• Pretty sure the rabbit face (eyes, nose, and smile) are hand-cut from carrots. They are then stuck to the bread with olive spread. If you don't have olive spread, butter or margarine or any similar spread will do.

What-is-it Score: 3 out of 3 

• Girl: Ooo. It's a rabbit.
• Boy: Rabbit.
• Dad: The ears are a bit short ...

Welcome

Hi. I'm "Dad". I live in Melbourne, Australia, with my wife and two kids.

This blog is about the lunchboxes that my wife make everyday for my kids. Right now it's mostly for my daughter, who started school this year, but she usually makes a copy for my younger son. If you have kids, you probably know why she does this. Hint: Sibling rivalry.

She enjoys doing these lunchboxes so I thought I'd share her creations with the world. I hope you enjoy them.