Sandwich – Sweet Cherrie Pie

Oh Dear…. what have I got myself into? Another blogging challenge. Well, if anything, it stretches my creativeness and and pushes my culinary skills. This time it’s all about bentos. Basically, a bento is a a packed lunch for taking away.

This challenge came about with twitter conversations with Jenni, Tracey, The Daily Spud, Elizabeth and Yuri. We then brought it Sheri, our resident bento expert. We aptly hash-tagged our bento related tweets #bentocuteness. However, as the deadline drew near, new hash tags were being born like #halfassbento and #procrastibento. For the roundup, please visit Yuri’s blog.

I had it all planned. I wanted to make Deanna’s lunch for Kindergrten (pre-school). And as usual, I ran of time. I did make it and photograph it and Deanna did end up taking it to Kinder for her lunch. However, I ran out of time to post it as the deadline was the weekend it was Deanna’s 5th birthday. But that’s another post.

I’ve never made a bento before so I had to do a little research. There are so many beautiful bento boxes out there.

Here’s my version. It’s called “Stars and Moons”

For the sandwiches, I used an empanada press, which I actually have never used to make empanadas but saw it one day, when I was cleaning the back of the cupboard. Of course, the sandwich can be filled with whatever filling you like. Deanna likes ham and cheese, so that’s what I put in it. For a healthy lunch, I included sliced apples and mandarins. I also like to add a vegetable so I added carrots which I cut out into stars using a cookie cutter. I also added some cheese triangles.

It may not be the cutest bento box, but it was yummy and healthy. The best part was that Deanna was excited to bring it to kinder and eat it for lunch because it was something different.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

I’ve been wanting to make a muffuletta since I saw Giada make it on one of her shows. I had the perfect chance to make one when we planned a visit to the Royal Melbourne Zoo for Hubby’s birthday.

I’ve always thought that muffuletta was an Italian sandwich. However, after doing a little research, it’s actually a type of Sicilian Bread and the actual sandwich was invented in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The best thing about this sandwich, as with any other sandwich, is that you can fill it with anything you like. Traditionally it’s filled with an olive salad or olive tapenade, various meats and cheeses. I think it’s best to make this on the morning of the day you plan on eating it. That way it gives it a few hours for the flavours to meld together. If taking on a picnic, I suggest first wrap in foil then cling wrap.