This food art was inspired by the time I swam with the sea turtles this past summer and is sponsored by the USAppleExportCouncil.To make this #TingsFunFood, I used California Granny Smith Apples. They are tart, firm and refreshing - a perfect ingredient to add tanginess to my pasta salad!

How to make this Apple Pasta Salad into an Under the Sea themed food art

TURTLE:

• Cut the green apple in half and carve lines onto the skin with a paring knife for the turtle’s shell
• Slice the tip of a cucumber for the turtle’s head and trim cucumber limbs using baby food scissors
• Add candy eyes

PASTA SALAD:

• Cook conchiglie pasta according to package instructions. Rinse in cold water and drain well. Set aside.
• Cut tomatoes, and remaining green apples and cucumbers into bite-size pieces. Add them to the drained pasta.
• In a large bowl mix together pasta, ham, tomatoes, green apples and cucumbers
• In a small bowl whisk together mayonnaise, honey, vinegar, salt and pepper and pour over pasta. Toss until combined.

OCEAN:

• Slice cucumber lengthwise into narrow strips for the seaweed
• Cut cheddar cheese with a star cookie cutter for the starfishes
• Cut slices of ham into a fish with scissors
• Cut hot dog in half and slice the bottom of the hot dog vertically to create the tentacles.
• Lay mixed pasta salad at the bottom of the plate for the seabed

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Hope you like this food art! 

If you give this a try, be sure to share your pictures with me on IG @tingandthings_ or use hashtag #TingsFunFood. I'd love to see your version!

Can’t believe Justice is starting his first year at kindergarten! It’s been nothing short of amazing spending the past 4 years at home with him (I do admit though, it was challenging at times) and I’ll definitely need to get used to this. I made this cute breakfast food art for him to celebrate this milestone. I love getting creative with his breakfast. Nothing beats waking up and starting the day with a breakfast that excites you. This breakfast might seem complicated but could be easily done with basic pantry items. 

To make this first day of school breakfast:

Owl 🦉

• stuff a bit of brioche bun into the bagel hole
• spread cream cheese and cover the entire bagel
• cut banana slices and add blueberries for the eyes
• cut strawberries in halves for the beak and wings

Pencil ✏️

• cut the remaining brioche bun into a strip
• add cheese on top
• cut cheese into a triangle shape
• trim a raisin and add it to the tip of the triangle
• flatten the raspberry and add it to the end of the strip

Words 🍎

• Cut alphabets onto slices of ham/cheese using cookie cutters

Smoothie🥤

• Add remaining banana, strawberries, blueberries and milk into a blender and blend until smooth

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Happy day 1 of school everyone! How was your kiddos’ first day of school?

Follow #TingsFunFood for more cute food ideas

With Chinese new year celebration, Valentine’s day and my birthday coming up…it’s been a busy month in our household. Justice wrote his first Valentine’s cards for his friends in his class and it was the cutest thing. I loved receiving a little something from my friends back in school. It warmed my heart. And I want to make my little guy feel special as well on Valentine’s Day.

Here’s what I made for him for breakfast. He loves getting a surprise breakfast like this just as much as I love making it for him.

How to make this Valentine’s Day breakfast

I used a fluffy pancake recipe then made the batch ahead of time. In order to use the cookie cutters to cut the shapes. I froze the pancakes in the freezer ahead of time. Once they are frozen, it was a lot easier to cut them into different shapes including small pieces like the hearts.

After all the pieces were cut, I wrapped them back up in Saran Wrap and put them back to the freezer until next morning to assemble.

Prepping ahead of the time really helps me as we all know time is usually rushed in the morning with kids at home….I was a little disappointed that we ran out of strawberries at home (like how could I let that happen??). I had to improvise and use strawberry rhubarb jam to create little blobs of hearts and eyes because it was lacking some colours.

For the ears and mouth, I used Nutella mixed with a bit of milk so that I got the thinner consistency to draw in.

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And that’s it!

Hope y’all have a happy valentine’s day!

Afternoon tea time seems a bit fishy today...

I was very inspired by these little taiyaki bites that I bought from T&T Supermarket (they were on sale!) and thought I could have some fun with Justice’s afternoon snack since #foodartwithting has been inactive for quite some time (we’ve been too busy enjoying our summer).

For those unfamiliar with taiyaki, they are Japanese fish shaped waffle cakes usually stuffed with red bean paste. I totally love these as a quick, simple snack that’s fun to eat.

Taiyaki Fish Bowl

To make this fishy snack without the fish taste:

• Preheat air fryer at 180 degrees
• Add the taiyaki’s in an air fryer for 6-7 minutes
• Add blueberries to where the fishes would blow their bubbles
• Cut some seedless green grapes into quarter slices and assemble them like seaweeds
• Add some blackberries and diced apples so they look like the bottom of the ocean or you can use whatever fruits on hand to make the sand, rocks, corals etc.

Justice loved this so much (no surprise there) and luckily I was able to snatch a piece of taiyaki before he finished the whole plate.

If you give this a try, be sure to share your pictures with me on IG @tingandthings_ or use hashtag #diywithting. I'd love to see your version!

Food art might seem time-consuming to make. But now that we are staying home more than ever before because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have more time to explore new hobbies and do something fun, right? If you’re in the lookout for something creative to do indoor then you’re in luck! Today, I’m sharing 7 simple and easy food art ideas that you can try making at home. This is a perfect way to spark creativity with your kids too! Let’s continue to do our part to flatten the curve.

Write a Message

 

Think of a message that you'd like to convey and construct it with food! This #stayhome food art I created using slices of swiss cheese and a slice of cinnamon raisin bread while in quarantine. Using alphabet cutters, I cut the alphabets to form the word and used a baked quiche for the letter, O. You can also explore different shapes with what's available in your fridge and pantry. For example, muffin, donut and a slice of lemon can also be used to form the letter, O. If you don't have alphabet cutters on hand, you can cut them with scissors. Or even write the message in another style, for example, you can form your message using spaghetti to make it calligraphy style!

What's the Weather Today?

Is it sunny? or is it a rainy day out? While the weather doesn't really matter much when you're staying home most of the time, it's fun to show the weather forecast with your food! Here I created this food art using the basics - eggs, bacon, cheese and a slice of bread! I call it, "Cloudy with a Chance of Bacon". 

To create the cloud and sun, I first separated the egg yolk from the egg whites. I pan-fried the egg whites into a large circle and cut the fried egg white with scissors in a cloud shape. I then cooked the egg yolk so that it is slightly brown. I cut up the bacon and cheese slice to form the arc of a rainbow and cut a piece of bread to form the house. Lastly, assemble all the pieces on a solid coloured plate and you're done!

Tell a Story

Think of a story to tell using the plate of food. It can be something that happened in your childhood or something memorable in your life. In this food art, my story is, "The Early Bird Gets the Worm". I grew up with this phrase and lived by it. I believed you have a greater advantage if you take action right away. And this is the story that I wanted to convey. I first whisked eggs into a bowl and pan-fried it into a large circle. Then I fold the circle in half and in half again. The fried egg would now look like the shape of a pizza slice. I tucked the corner of the fried egg underneath so that I'd have a round body for the bird. I sliced the tomatoes to form the wings and the beak. Using scissors, I cut a slice of an onion to form the feet. I spread spinach at the bottom of the plate and sprinkled some sunflower seeds for the field. The hardest part was the worm. I couldn't find anything that could depict it nicely. Thankfully, I had Lemon Poppy Seed salad dressing to the rescue, which made it super easy. I dragged the dressing longer on the plate and it already looked like a bird is biting a worm. Easy-peasy!

Create a Logo!

A logo is bold with simple shapes. You can turn a logo of your team, your favourite superhero, music band or business logo with food. I created a superman logo using a slice of toast, cheese, bacon and strawberry jam. Read about my step-by-step here. 

Show Your Favourite Character!

I was inspired by the shape and colour of my multigrain bread so I turned it into a Japanese cartoon character, Domo-Kun. You don't need a lot of ingredients either! Here, I used as few as a slice of bread, dabs of strawberry jam, blueberries, and banana slices only. It was too cute to eat! Read about my step-by-step here. 

Bring Out the Colours

Take inspiration from the vibrant colours of different fruits and vegetables and create your masterpiece with them. I love using fruits. Not only because they're always available at my home, but they also make the art look that much more appealing and appetizing. This simple rainbow food art consists of strawberries, oranges and grapes! You can add more arcs to the rainbow by adding more fruits like lemon for yellow or blueberries for blue etc. I loved how this rainbow turned out! Finish off with some scrambled egg whites for the clouds and you're set!

Go Bananas!

With food art, sky is the limit. There're endless possibilities. In this Nutella waffle, I turned the banana slices into alphabets to form a pun. I had so much fun coming up with these food puns!

I hope you guys enjoy these ideas. Check out more of my food art here. If you do give this a try, please share your pics with me on Instagram: @tingandthings! I would love to see what you come up with! Stay home and stay safe everyone!