I was challenged by the team at BB Squares to participate in their #BBSquareOff – where we would be sent mystery ingredients and have to make a lunch box creation. I will be competing against a 2 other bloggers and one myself participant.

So here is mine.

Ingredients

– BB Squares Brown Bread

– Cream Cheese

– Lettuce

– Cherry Tomatoes

– Cucumber

– Cheddar Cheese

– Smoked spiced chicken

– Tomato sauce

– Tumeric

– Paprika 

– Garlic

– Mixed herbs

– Olive Oil

Extra – star or any shape cut out, you can grab these from the baking section at your local mall

The trick with basic ingredients is to have fun with them and create different textures and shapes that work for your little one. For a toddler I slice, diced and grated my ingredients into bite-size amounts.

To start mix a dash of tomato sauce with your cream cheese to make it a light pink colour, a pinch of paprika for taste. This will also make it easier to spread on our BB Square bread.

Place on both slices.

First layer:

Slice the lettuce into little squares, and mix with some of your cream cheese mixture and place on your slice of bread. 

Second layer:

Take your plain smoked chicken and lightly coat with a small mixture of paprika and turmeric for a pop of flavour and colour. Note your chicken is cooled to room temperature before placing on the sandwich.

Third layer:

Most kids love cheese and its a winner in our household, because of its flavour and fun colour, we used cheddar cheese, grated finely to make it lightweight. Place this on top of your chicken layer.

Fourth layer: My daughter is not a fan of cucumber, but I wanted her to try it, so I diced it up finely and lightly placed is around the sandwich, so it would not be overpowering. 

Fifth Layer: A whole cherry tomato can be a bit much for a sandwich for our kids, and many kids are not big on tomatoes, even though they are really good for you. To combat this, and make sure it is eaten, the tomatoes were finely chopped and sauteed in a frying pan with some olive oil, garlic and mixed herbs, then left to cool before adding on top of the cheese and cucumber. It makes almost a relish like sauce. 

Final step – take an additional slice of BB Squares bread and cut out your shapes, we chose stars, with some leftover cream cheese mixture, spread on the bottom of your shape to “stick” to the top of your slice. The remaining slice… well make yourself an open sandwich with any leftover ingredients… you deserve it too!