Bento#3: Anpanman Tomato Rice Bento

When talking about fixing a bento for young toddler like Angel’s, it really is quite challenging for me due to the reasons:

1) Angel’s solid are porridges still. (Anyone came across a porridge bento before?? LoL Maybe I should try it someday …. Ya! I think I should :P)
2) I am trying not to use process food as much as possible in her daily meal.
3) Angel is allergic to all diaries, nuts and seafood which means food like cheese / fish balls, etc is out of the question.
4) She is a meat person and don’t really fancy veggies, raw or cooked unless I hide them inside her food.

So I guess I am left with not much of a choice to pack a variety of bento for her for the moment being. But somehow, I feels that I need to start now so by the time that Angel attended kiddy, I would have gotten a better idea on how to fix a proper bento and will not take ‘forever’ just to fix her something simple and nice. I am pretty slow in preparing bento at this moment and absolutely no idea on what to make for her most of the time. Some very dedicated bento-ing mommies really are extremely creative and very talented ….. I am pretty amazed!

So after some thoughts, I think I should start with the cute Anpanman! Anpanman is one of the most popular anime cartoon characters in Japan at this moment and I think his chubby face looks very cute! This little superhero dedicates himself to the cause of justice and will allow those hungry and in need eat his face which is make of anpan (bread fill with bean jam) which can be restored. Oh …. Yummy yummy!!! :) So in order to get the orange colour of Anpanman’s face, I have decided to make Tomato + Onion + Mince Chicken Rice using fresh tomatoes for Angel’s dinner. And at the sides, I have added some diced cucumber to fill in the gaps, some water apples decorated as flowers, half of a banana underneath those flowers, and some steam carrots as butterflies and on the cheeks. So that’s Angel’s Anpanman bento for dinner.

Angel’s Anpanman bento with Tomato + Onion + Mince Chicken Rice, Dice Cucumber, Water Apples and Bananas at the bottom.
When Angel opened up her meal, she was squealing with delights and dance a bit on her high chair until hubby asked me whether she normally behaves that way when she got her bento meal :) It’s such rewarding just by the look on my little girl’s happy face …… She kept looking at her bento and show me the eyes, nose and mouth until I need to asked her to ‘eat’. I did reminded her to eat the fruits (those flowers) very last but when I turned around, she quickly shove them into her mouth and pretended not to let me saw her munching on her fruits LoL Half way enjoying her meal, hubby took away the food picks and baran thinking to wash them and she scream and cry so loud until hubby put them back to where it belongs *laugh* I am glad that she likes her bento and polished off her meal in no time – all by herself without asking me to feed her that night.