What to do with leftover Bento food cut outs?

There might be some of you who are wondering what to do with those leftover cut-outs from bento-making. So here, I try to share with you what I do with them. The ideas might or might not work for your household, but I hope even if it is not practical for you, it will give you some ideas on how you can make use of your leftovers.

HAM/SAUSAGES - I usually throw these into my kids' fish soup noodles, and they have it for breakfast. I've also used them for pizza and pasta.

KAMOBOKO/CRABSTICKS - I use the left-overs in my soup and stir frys.

CHEESE - I keep the leftovers in an air tight box in the fridge. And I use them in sandwiches, omelettes, pizza and pasta. For pizza and pasta, I mix them with the grated cheese. I also stuff them in meatballs and meatrolls.

SEAWEED - This one is easy, my boys like to eat them, so they will eat up whatever is left after I am done with their bento.

BREAD - This is probably the food I get the most leftovers.I usually accumulate these in the freezer and use for bread pudding or french toast. Or I use them to make bread crumbs. Recently, a Daddy in our bento group shared with us how he toasted the leftover bread crusts with furikake. I tried it out and it was a hit with my boys. And if we are heading to the park, I will take a bag of leftover bread from the freezer and let the boys feed the ducks, fish and turtles.


Bread pudding from the leftover breads, I prefer to bake them in little ramekins, instead of one big tray.


This is a variation of the bread pudding above and this version is my boys' favourite, topped with raisins and strawberries. :)

BREAD PUDDING RECIPE

Ingredients:
Bread to fill 4 ramekins
1 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.
2. Break bread into small pieces into 4 ramekins. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped. Sprinkle with raisins.

This is bread spread with olive oil, and topped with furikake and grated Parmesan. The boys love this. I've come up with a milder version with italian herbs and grated Parmesan, they like that too. Yet another variation is bread toasted with sugar and cinammon powder.

Sometimes, I also 'cheat' by stuffing the leftovers in their onigiri, sandwiches and hiding them under their rice. lol. :P And if I'm feeling hungry, I do at times just eat up the scraps as I make the bentos. Please share with me what you do with your leftovers. :) I'm sure you'll come up with other great ways to make use of them. :)