Kiddie Snack Box 简易小孩便当

My little boy started preschool slightly past 2 years old, it's only a 3 hour session and the school usually serve hot drink and warm meal during break time, so instead of lunch, I usually let him bring a snack box to school, or whenever he attends a field trip organized by the school.

I bought lunch boxes of different sizes and some silicon cupcake holders, this allow me to arrange various food in the lunch box without being all mixed up.

Whenever possible, I'll prepare mixture of snacks with carbohydrate for energy, fiber from fruits or dried fruits to for vitamins and smoother bowel movement. Days where I have limited time, I will just pack him a simple fruit jam sandwich, tuna bun, chicken floss or hotdog bun (bought from store), with a packet of full cream milk for kids. I won't go over elaborative on the snack box prep, so long he's happy and healthy, I'm happy too. :)

I'll be updating this post from time to time, so do revisit sometimes :)


Snack box #1
Nutella sandwich with freshly steamed sweet corns in a cup (about 1/4 corn). I attached a finger spoon for easy eating.

Snack box #2
Pitted Prunes, cocoa flavored Panda biscuits, marshmallows, Wholemeal honey oat cereal.
A fresh apple not in pic.

Snack box #3
Hotdog in A Blanket (cheesy sausage in wrap), organic raisins with a bunny pick. He loved this and kept asking for more the next day. :) Recipe available here.

Snack box #4
Pitted Prunes, Nutella banana toast, almond cookies. Same method as the Hotdog in a Blanket, just replaced sausage with banana and use normal sandwich bread instead of wrap.

Snack box #5
Blueberry jam sandwich bread in heart & star shape, organic raisins and dried cranberries, cheesy fish cookies.

Snack box #6

Organic Raisins with roasted pumpkins, cheesy fish biscuits, fresh apples.

Snack box #7

Fresh seedless grapes and cut organic prunes for my baby girl, the cute animal picks served as food pick, conveniently. I pack her daily healthy snack to avoid others from offering unhealthy junks!

Stir Fried Udon with Mixed Veggies 香丝炒乌东面

I tried cooking udon soup once and it was a disaster; the noodle turned out soggy and I had to threw it away. So I've learnt, udon, unlike any other noodles or pasta, need the shortest possible cooking time - 1 minute maximum.

So today I tried making fried udon noddles for lunch, it was a big relief that it turned out just nice and both my little boy and big guy loved it. Ethan came to me and said "mommy, I like the noodle, thank you for cooking!"

This is quite a quick meal, took me 30 minutes from chopping, cooking to serving. Will definitely make this again.

Stir Fried Udon with Mixed Veggies

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 8 minutes
Serving for: 3 persons

Ingredients:
2 packs of udon noddles (about 200gm per pack)
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
20 stalks of asparagus, cut into long strips
1 fresh carrots, cut into long strips
12 brown mushrooms, cleaned and halved
4 slices of hams, cut into long strips (skip this for a vegetarian fried udon)

Seasoning:
2 table spoons premium soya sauce
1 teaspoon thick soya sauce (optional)
Dash of black pepper (used sparingly if you are cooking for little ones)
Dash of sesame oils

Cooking Methods:
1. Heat up 2 spoons of cooking oil in a wok or a deep frying pan, sauté the garlic until golden brown. Set a side the garlic but leave the oil in the pan.
2. Add carrot strips, asparagus into the pan, stir fry for about 3 minutes, then add the mushrooms and stir fry for another 3 minutes. Drop in the ham slices and season with soya sauce and white pepper.
3. Add the udon into the hot pan. Season with the Seasoning (as above). Stir the udon for a minute to mix evenly, turn off the heat and serve immediately.

Serving for my little boy, he liked it!

Serving for my little boy, he set the table himself :)

Tips for serving:

Before serving, top with some shredded cucumbers or shredded fried eggs.

I rinse the udon with some boiled water before cooking although not its not necessary

Udon cooked very fast, so make sure you do not cook it more than a minute.

The fresh ingredients

Stir frying in action.. Looking delicious!

Served with chili and lime from our garden.. my favorite!