Little Lunch Box 25 小饭盒

School reopens today! Yeah! I will be busier but I will have more peace at home. :P



My daughter starts her school early today for her art enrichment class in school so its lunchbox day after breaking for a month. She already told me last night that she wants kaya with bread when she spotted me buying her favourite kaya. =_=|||



I was prepared to make her just normal triangle sandwiches (brain cells still holidaying) when she told me her idea. She said I can try making origami dog using bread and seaweed for the face. :o



So here you have it. Her idea of origami doggy sandwiches. :)

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Little Lunch Box 53 小饭盒

Its Learning Journey for the kids in school today.  Hence, the kids have to bring their own lunch or snack



A few days back, my daughters friend ask her grandma to check what I will be making for my daughter and wants her grandma to make the same for her too. Hehehe ... Grandma asked if I could help make lunch for her grand-daughter too. ;)



To make it easy (for me :P) I decided to prepare burgers so I do not need to use lunch boxes.



My daughter requested for chopped broccoli and coriander to be in the meat patty and I prepared egg roll with some leftovers crabstick and spring onion as sides too.

So, this was the girls lunch, wrapped in foil and packed in foam box. ;)

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Little Lunch Box 24 小饭盒

Todays my sons turn to go for his Learning Journey trip with his school. I packed super simple tuna sandwiches for him. I include a packet of fries and a bottle of milk too.

For someone who hates eating bread, I made the sandwiches small. I cut a slice of bread into 4. Visually, its not a lot but its actually the same. :P Yup, thats my son. I still need tricks to make him eat. :P

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Little Lunch Box 36 小饭盒

Another simple lunch for the kids. This mum is getting lazy. :P



I bought the fishy fish cake and the squarish fish tofu from the wet markets yong tau foo stall. I sliced them into half, steamed them and use them to top the rice thats mixed with furikake. Those in the middle are sausages, by the way.



I bought them miso soup too to go with these. ;)

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Lunch Box 3

Opps. Its another Lunch Box post. :P Im cooking fried rice today and thought it will be a good lunch box idea.

This is a rather common lunch box, omu-rice . Its basically egg over rice. I believe the authenic way is to have the rice wrapped in the egg. I wouldnt want to go through the haste of doing that for 2 reasons. It needs more eggs and the kids wont appreciate the effort of doing it. They will just cut the egg and eat it whichever way I do it. :P

So, heres my simple version of omu-rice . Im not using over-night rice hence the rice is a bit more moist but we prefer it that way. Its softer. All the ingredients are my sons favourite except for the hon-shimeiji. ;) You decide what you want in your rice

To have the egg cover the rice, you first cook the egg. Have slight over half an egg hanging out the lunch box. Adjust the remaining to fitting nicely in the box. Spoon the fried rice into the box sitting on the egg. Flip the rest of the egg over then use a spoon to gently push the edge of the egg to the sides to tuck them in. And there you have it. :)

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Lunch Box 9

My son has been buying his own food in school since he started school. I thought its a good practice for him to be independent and for him to learn how to handle money.

However, I noticed that for the last couple of days, he did not eat during recess because he came back with all money I gave him for recess. I told him I had to let him bring food to school and the first thing he ask for is rice. :P Thats because his school does not have rice other than nasi lemak.

This is the simple fried rice I prepared for him today. Its with shredded carrot, baby corn, prawns and star-shaped fish cake. If you wondering why the rice seems yellow, theres nothing wrong with the photo. I fried the rice coated with egg, hence the yellow hue. ;)

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Little Lunch Box 05 小饭盒

My daughter asked for bean
sprouts with A LOT of garlic and blanched broad beans. Rice cooker being used to make porridge
for the kids for lunch so I pack noodles for her instead. Her must-have eggs are quail eggs in the form of little chicks here.

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Lunch Box 14

This is my last lunch box I prepared for my son. He doesnt want to bring lunch box to school anymore. :(

I suspect that he prefers to bring money to school so he can buy and eat whatever he likes. Noone to stop him. :/ Hmm ... I dont think Ill stop making lunch box for him. Im just going to let him have some freedom and fun buy food from the school canteen, then start making lunch box again.

This lunch was made according to my sons request. Noodles, lightly stir fried with sesame seed oil and oyster sauce. I added Kai Lan, carrots and fish cakes to it too. I actually wanted to do something with the carrots but run out of time, so I just had to leave it as it is with the hole in the middle. :P

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Little Lunch Box 57 小饭盒

Today is the last day of my daughters school swimming programme and its also her swimming assessment.

After more than a month break from swimming, she forgotten all the techniques that her coach taught her. (=_=)||  Whether the kids pass the assessment or not, I bet they had lots of fun. Too bad the school stopped having swimming as ECA as they are shorthanded. Oh well ...



Anyway, my daughter loves her best friends little doggie, called Miu Miu (branded dog ... hehehe), a lot. She kept asking her friends grandma to bring Miu Miu to school so she could play with her for a while after school. 



On Monday, Miu Miu went to school to wait for the girls to finish school and my daughter played with her for while. She was a bit disappointed that Miu Miu wasnt there yesterday. So I decided to make her doggie sandwiches today. :)

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Little Lunch Box 19 小饭盒

I bought some Apple Baked Ham yesterday, which is my kids favourite. The elder requested bringing ham for school. I told him, it would be sandwiches (which he hated :P) as I dont think I can wake up at 5am to prepare his lunchbox for him :P



So, this sleepy head mum did a simple ham rolled sandwiches for the elder one to bring to school for his recess. I packed his favourite strawberry milk too.

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Little Lunch Box 11 小饭盒

My daughter requested for Kaya Bread today. She said her friends are all having bread for recess and she wants bread too. o_O I prepared the bread, as per her request.

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Little Lunch Box 44 小饭盒

This is a simple lunch box I prepared for my daughter for her recess last Wednesday.



Before I start packing, she told me not to make any animals for her (she is not into cute food). She said she dont know how to eat them. She said just make like our dinner. :P



I still couldnt resist and sliced a braised egg and decorated it a little. I regretted a little cos moisture from the rice did some changes to the egg yolk. Then when my daughter saw it, she said, "I thought I said please dont make any animals?" :P :P  Opps ... 

Okay, I will try not to next time. ;)

Braised Egg on Mixed Rice (white and brown rice)

Chicken Cutlet and Sweet Peas with Edamame & Crabstick

Introducing more fruits to my fruit hater :P

She has accepted apples and blueberries. Letting her try golden kiwi.

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Little Lunch Box 32 小饭盒

Its pink lunch box aka sandwich day, again!



Todays lunch box idea came from the 2 little cure penguins we bought for the kids during our trip to Hong Kong Ocean Park.



I made the sandwich using cheese and chocolate bread bought from local bakery. Sadly, this is going to be last time that they will be selling chocolate bread.



The staff in the bakery said its not sellable and that they are making a lose for making chocolate bread. :( It tastes and smells really good. Too bad the residents around the bakery dont like it.

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Blogger Spotlight Mandys Recipe Box

   Hi guys! I am so excited to announce my very first Guest Blogger Spotlight!
I have a list of blogs that I am just obsessed with! I have to stop by them everyday to see what yummy foods theyve posted. So many of the meals that have graced my kitchen table are because of these awesome blogs. I thought that I would start sharing the love and let you all know about them too!

   I am honored to announce my first guest! She is basically my bloggie BFF. If there is such a thing!  lol  She has tons of amazing recipes and we have so much in common! It has been so fun getting to know her through Facebook and Emails. She is such a sweetie! 
Okay, Ill quit rambling on. Ill let her tell her story....  





Hey everyone! Its Mandy from Mandys Recipe Box. I am so excited and honored to be here on Life as a Lofthouse. As you already know, Holly has an incredibly delicious blog and I am happy to know her.

I am a wife to a hot farmer named Lance, and momma to 3 pretty awesome kids- Hannah, Preston, & Emma. We live in the rural (translated:middle of nowhere!) Idaho. I am from Ogden, Utah and then met and fell in love with Lance. After living in Ogden for 3 years, we moved to Idaho so Lance could join the family farm. I have definately been converted to a country girl. I love my life!
Today I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes using a grill. It is so simple, which is my motto. Who says incredible food has to be complicated? I hope you enjoy it and send some warm weather thoughts my way, would you? Thanks!

Greek Souvlaki

2 lbs. pork roast cut into bite sized chunks

Accent or Season Salt

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt

 olive oil

whatever veggies you want to add

Mix all seasonings together. Place pork in a container and sprinkle seasoning over it. Toss to coat. Pour in enough olive oil to cover the pork. Cover and marinate over night. Put onto skewers with veggies (peppers, mushrooms, onions etc), wrap in foil, and cook slowly on the grill. About 20 minutes or until done. Before serving, remove foil and sprinkle with lemon juice.

I hope you like this recipe as much as I do. Be sure to come visit me at Mandys Recipe Box. Id love for you to say Hello!
~Mandy

Thanks, Mandy, for stopping by and sharing this great recipe! 

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