Neat 2 Eat Everyday Lunchbox Recipes and Fun with Food

Neat 2 Eat Everyday Lunchbox Recipes and Fun with Food

Want your kids to be excited about your cooking again? Ebony Malcolm has got the all answers to your menu-malfunctions in her latest released recipe book, -Neat 2 Eat Everyday Lunchbox Recipes & Fun with Food.'

This book is not only fundamentally about teaching parents and kids how to have fun with food again, but gives everyone that healthy alternative, making sure your kids get the best source of nutrients for every meal of the day.

The art of Bento, has transformed Ebony in her own life, and now can assist the lives of many more mothers. Bento is the Japanese art of making normal lunches like rice, meat, vegetables into intricate characters, themes, or even people or places.

As everyone knows a mother's time is precious, and a complex lunchbox sounds like the last thing you can fit before school. Neat 2 Eat Everyday Lunchbox Recipes & Fun with Food is not only about teaching creativity, but simplicity. 'It can be as simple or complex as you want it to be" Ebony explains.

Although this book is not written by a nutritionist, or a dietician, Ebony prides herself on being a mum of what she calls a 'fussy eater". With around 194 lunchboxes to pack per year, Ebony's goal is to minimalize those processed lunch boxes, and make all mother's mornings a little bit simpler. Her Bento lunchbox tutorials are packed with vitamins and vibrancy, meaning your kids can now enjoy eating their daily fruit and vegetables.

Neat 2 Eat Everyday Lunchbox Recipes & Fun with Food's mouth-watering recipes are not only tasty, but eye catching. So you will have no more scrunched up faces or lunch boxes returning home half full. Each recipe has been tried, tested and carefully chosen to tempt your fussy eater, and take the pain out of packing the dreaded lunchbox by packing something Neat 2 Eat!

Neat 2 Eat Everyday Lunchbox Recipes and Fun with Food
Author: Ebony Malcolm


Fruit Celebration Cake

Looking for a fun and healthy alternative to a birthday cake? Then look no further, check out this great tutorial on how to make cakes out of fresh fruit!

Fresh fruit cakes are a fun emerging food trend and are great for kids who are egg free, dairy free, gluten free, nut free or any other type of allergy/intolerance which makes them great for shared birthday cakes at childcare and/or schools.

They're really easy to make and allow you to have some fun and get creative.

Ingredients
1 large whole watermelon (the watermelon is the most important part make sure it has a nice thick mid-section)
Fruit to decorate; I used a mixture of rockmelon, strawberries, fresh pineapple, grapes and blueberries

Utensils
A long sharp knife
Bamboo skewers
Tooth picks
Melon baller
An assortment of bento mini cutters and or/cookie cutters
A dish to serve

Method
Start with a room temperature watermelon (watermelons are less incline to crack and break if they're room temperature) and slice an evenly sized section out of the middle (approx 15cm) using a long sharp knife.
Next lay the segment onto a cutting board and around the edge close to the rind.
Now you'll need to remove the rind, I found the watermelon segment didn't want to just slide out so I cut a slit downwards in the rind and just peeled it away.
I also ran my knife across the top like you would when levelling a cake just to make sure it was nice and flat and I also ran it around the outside to make sure it was smooth/even.
After you've gotten your watermelon base pop it on a plate and now the fun part, it's time to decorate! This is really where you can let your creative flair take over, I gave Google a quick search for inspiration and then just went with what I had.
You can use tooth picks if needed to secure the fruit decorations to the cake but just be mindful they are there and make sure they're removed prior to serving, the only place on my cake where I used tooth picks was along the bottom with the pineapple.
Melon balls make great decoration and if you ball them so you're left with one flat side they just stick right to the -cake' without needing toothpicks to hold them in place, I also pushed mini cutters into the watermelon base and gently scooped a bit of the shape out so I could place a corresponding shape made from rockmelon into the hole which held in place nicely and lastly I popped some fruit stars on bamboo skewers and threaded some grapes and blueberries into the top of the cake for a decorative effect that was sure to stand out and voila an impressive cake made entirely out of fruit.

Interview with Ebony Malcolm

 

Question: What inspired you to create Neat 2 Eat Everyday Lunchbox Recipes and Fun with Food?

Ebony Malcolm: Before I started Neat 2 Eat I struggled with packing lunches for my fussy son, I found leftovers were by far the quickest and easiest thing I could pack in his lunchbox so I started creating recipes that allowed me to cook dinner and pop the leftovers in his lunchbox the following day, I ended up with quite a collection and decided to create Neat 2 Eat Everyday Lunchbox Recipes & Fun with Food as a way to share them with other parents.

Question: How important is it for families to have fun with food?

Ebony Malcolm: I think it's very important to adapt a relaxed attitude toward food in order for kids to develop a healthy relationship with good, healthy foods, it's when we start getting tense that mealtimes can become a battle, it's important to have fun and play with your food to keep that relaxed attitude going.


Question: How do you ensure your children are eating the healthiest options?

Ebony Malcolm: You don't have to be 100% perfect all the time with food and in fact it's important to allow kids to eat a wide range of foods (including those sometimes foods) in order for the to build that healthy relationship with food, I always look for alternatives for the foods my kids want to eat e.g. they can have plain corn chips over crisps and flavoured corn chips, healthy eating needs to be practical for you, your family and your lifestyle.


Question: What is Bento?

Ebony Malcolm: Bento is the Japanese art of making cute pack lunches, in Japan bentos consist of such items as rice, vegetables, sashimi (raw fish with condiments) and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables.

Bento style lunches are becoming more and more popular in western cultures however they differ from the traditional Japanese style bento by the types of foods used to create them. These include more western style foods such as sandwiches, fruit/vegetables, cheese, cold meats, egg and/or leftovers presented in a cute compartmentalised manor.

Bento lunches are great for fussy eaters or if you are just wanting to provide a varying lunch for your child/ren, not only are they are simple to make bento lunches are also portion controlled which means your child can have those sometimes foods they love without over doing it and you don't need to use plastic wrapping/bags making them an eco-friendly alternative to traditional style lunches and most of the products used are re-useable.


Question: Can you talk about how these healthy alternatives are also more convenient for families?

Ebony Malcolm: Ditching the packet stuff and getting in the kitchen is by far the best thing you can do for you and your family but it needs to be quick, easy and convenient, Neat 2 Eat Everyday Lunchbox Recipes & Fun with Food has a collection of recipes that are just that, super easy to make and family friendly and as mentioned above the leftovers make for a great lunch the following day taking the hard work out of packing the dreaded lunchbox.

Question: What recipes feature in the book?

Ebony Malcolm: The book is broken up into 4 sections; Snacks (a few quick and easy snack recipes), Sandwich Free Lunchbox Mains (a great collection of recipes that can be used as diners and then popped in the lunchbox the following day), Treats (a couple of my favourite -sometimes' recipes) and Lunchbox Tutorials (a few simple bento tutorials), it also has a little section at the beginning with tips for feeding fussy eaters and making bento practical, quick and easy for you and your family.


Question: Which recipes are your families favourite?

Ebony Malcolm: Wonton Lasagne Cups is one that gets a good workout here as well as the Mac -n' Cheese Muffins, both are just delicious.


Interview by Brooke Hunter