Butterfly Themed Rice Salad

Another ‘leftovers’ lunch in today’s post.  You may have noticed; I love using leftovers! They make lunch quick, easy, and provide a welcome change from sandwiches, not to mention preventing waste.  I often think that bento-style lunches were made for leftovers, because you can put pretty much anything in a bento lunch.

In this lunch Small Child had a butterfly shaped silicone cup filled with left-over basmati rice.  Around the cup were scattered the rest of the ingredients for the rice salad; chopped red pepper, chopped cucumber, peas and raisins.  The idea was that he could tip the rice into the main lunchbox compartment and mix it up himself.  I explained this to him before he left.  On the side he had some roast chicken, topped with a couple of flower picks, and some grape ‘caterpillars’ on heart picks.

For dessert he had frozen organic strawberry yoghurt butterflies, and an apple, cored, sliced and half decorated with a butterfly carved from the skin with the aid of mini cookie cutters.  I was really pleased with the apple – the wings on the butterfly could flap and everything! It looked prettier in ‘the flesh’.

Small Child liked this lunch, especially as his class is called ‘Butterfly’.  He said the girls liked this lunch too! Most of it was eaten; he left some of the rice salad, but ate all of the rice and everything else.

Grace