Macaroni Bolognaise

For Takoyaki, who loves pasta in meat sauce, and is willing to bring a (heavy) food jar despite her heavy bag. Bless her heart and stomach.

Macaroni with Sardines in Tomato Sauce

What an awesome east-west combination!

I quite discovered this dish by accident, when I ran out of fresh ingredients to dish up a bento for RM some years back. My only resort then was to turn to canned food, and since I had some leftover Sardines in Tomato Sauce in a pan (from dinner), I decided to just toss it with hot angel hair spaghetti.

Strike! He came back all smiles and reported that he absolutely LOVED the taste, so this became our not-so-regular bento meal. Unfortunately, no one else in the family, other than myself, likes the idea of that, so it's currently restricted to being a bento dish and not a family dish.

Chicken Macaroni Soup

This is possibly one of the favourite comfort foods of Singaporeans. We eat it when we are unwell (thanks to loving mothers), when we are craving a filling hot chicken soup, when the weather is cold and rainy, and when we don't know what else to cook.

I am thankful to have at least one child who, despite carrying a heavy school bag, is still willing and happy to bring hot soup to school on cold days such as today. The other one... I don't know why he doesn't want to bring.

Under the chicken and 菜心 (caixin) are large macaroni elbows, while in the sauce cup is some sambal belacan, which girl loves (like me) to dip her chicken into.

Chicken Spaghetti Bolognaise

... deconstructed.

Girl reported that this was awesome. Guess pasta sauce from a jar is still fine once in a while...

Fried Pasta with Shrimp

Like Aglio Olio but with wayyyy more additions, this is one of RM's favourite meals. Let's see, I added shrimps, cashews, garlic, parsley... oooh this was so good. I had some leftovers for lunch.

Fusili Aglio Olio with Scallion Omelette Bento

Sightly eclectic, but still yummy.

Chicken Breast Spaghetti Two Ways

Chicken Breasts were baked the day before specifically for use in bentos and also for my breakfast today. Ave chicken breast!

Aglio Olio for Roast Meat

Bolognaise for Takoyaki

Salted Fish Fried Rice / Tuna Pasta Salad

Last evening, Takoyaki commented that I have not fried salted fish - that pungent, salty Chinese dried fish that lends so much flavour to dishes - for a long time. So I obliged her by frying some on the spot for her to bring to school today.

Here's her Salted Fish Fried Rice Bento. Contrary to its name, the rice itself is not very salty and requires some seasoning.

For Roast Meat, I boiled up some spaghetti, cooled it under running water and tossed it with some leftover tuna mayo.

Fusillini Pesto with Grilled Shrimps

Looks like it's going to be a bento-filled last week of school, because Roast Meat is going to be staying back in school almost everyday volunteering. To start the week's lunch, here is his requested Pesto-whatever-pasta.

Fusillini Pesto - Counting down to end of year...

I'm not even sure whether there will be any bentoing next week, although RM tells me he has to stay back in school to help his teacher with something.

Menu:

Pasta (planned over) with pesto (Arrighi's, I don't really like the flavour)

Toasted seaweed chicken

Veggies

Snack box: tiny clementine and a cheese wedge plus Milo

Spaghetti Con Le Sarde Bento

My version though, cooked and tastes completely different from the authentic one. Ok essentially it's just canned Sardines with Tomato Sauce tweaked to my tastes and tossed with cooked spaghetti. I hope you weren't expecting anything fancy. Hahaha!

Planned over for RM's school meal tomorrow. This tastes really nice, surprisingly.

Last Burst of Energy

Something came over me last night (maybe it's the presence of ham in my fridge) which spurred me up to put a little more effort into this last couple of bentos for this term.

Takoyaki's

RM's

Kimchi Chicken Macaroni

Leftover roast chicken + cucumber strips + kimchi + cooked macaroni = done. Simple.

Macaroni Alla Marinara and Mushroom Cheese Omelette Bento

RM is down with flu, so I got to focus on whipping up one of Takoyaki's favourite meals - tomato sauce pasta. As I fell asleep too early, I woke up in the middle of the night (3am) and went to cook the sauce.

I'd accidentally bought lots of macaroni pasta (long story), so was just trying to find a way to start using them. The macaroni was topped with some sauteed spinach and a mushroom and cheese omelette. It's a one-egg omelette, although it doesn't look like it.

Recipe for One-Person Mushroom and Cheese Omelette

Ingredients:

One white button mushroom (sliced thinly)

One large egg (about 60g)

Pinch of salt

Half a slice of processed cheese

Method:

Heat up a small frying pan or tamagoyaki pan over medium-low heat and add 2 tsp of oil.

Once oil is hot but not smoking, add shroom slices and saute till brown.

Meanwhile, add a pinch of salt to the egg and beat it lightly.

Spread shrooms out evenly in pan and pour beaten egg over mushrooms. Tilt pan to achieve an even shape.

Quickly tear the cheese up into little pieces and spread them out on half the egg, keeping cheese bits away from the edge.

Fold the cheese-less half of the omelette over the cheesy side. 

Flip after 30secs. Give the other side another 30 secs and remove from heat to cool.

Always keep some pasta sauce in your pantry

Remember Monday's inaugural bacon sandwiches? We bought a whole packet of bacon just because of the sandwiches (ok, so there were only 8 rashers in it - it's a small pack) and completely forgot about the rest sitting in the fridge.

And when it came to the evening's bento planning/request time, there was nothing else I could use other than the bacon. So after a few minutes of research on the internet, I decided on a simple bacon pasta dish with minimal prep and cooking. 

Like I said, I ran out of the usual staples so there wasn't even any veg. Going marketing tomorrow...

Merry Monday Pasta Bento

Topped with green pepper and onion omelette and served with apple chunks.

I just hope it's not stone cold by recess time since this box does not have very good thermal properties.

Mondays are always tiring

Another lovely day when I have to prepare completely different bentos for Takoyaki and Roast Meat. Thankfully, there was less to do for RM because his sushi were all store-bought. No raw fish, safe for bento.

Takoyaki was adamant about bringing (planned over) Spaghetti Bolognese, otherwise known as meat sauce pasta in our family.

Spaghetti Shrimp Aglio Olio

Made with quick-cooking angel hair spaghetti, here's another of RM's favs. Keeping things simple, I only sliced some red and yellow capsicum and cucumber to go with it.

Bangers and Spaghetti

Actually we had mash for dinner but he preferred to bring spag today instead so I indulged him. Cooking angel hair spaghetti is a snap anyway.

Honey Master Chicken over Pasta

I can't believe it's been two years since I last gave my kids a Honey Mustard Chicken bento. Made up a batch last night (leftover from a big pack of boneless chicken legs, half of which I used for steaming with Chinese preserved mustard veg 梅菜) especially for today's bento.

I know everything looks rather yellow and brown but as long as it's tasty and nutritious right....?