St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Snack

It's been a long time since I did a muffin tin lunch or snack but I just went grocery shopping and so I had food I could use that would fit perfectly with a St. Patrick's Day theme. Alexandra was excited to eat it and she finished the whole thing off after school. Camden really didn't want anything....not even the tiny Shamrock shake...WHAT??? (don't worry I finished it off!) 

In this muffin tin are: pickles (her favorite!) green milk, shamrock shake, fruit loops with "gold", celery with peanut butter, and rainbow fruit kabobs. 

Halloween Muffin Tin

I made the kids a Halloween muffin tin lunch for the kids and they really loved it!

M is for Muffin Tin Lunch

I used to be really good a making a muffin tin lunch every single Monday. Then as Alexandra went to preschool she was staying after school on Mondays and having school at lunch. Summer came and I did it here and there. Now, Alexandra is in Kindergarten and she works on a letter each week. During her "M" week I thought a Muffin Tin Lunch filled with "M" foods would be great. So I made her a lunch with mozzarella cheese, mango, milk, mac and Cheese, and meat. 

Valentine's Day Muffin Tin

Although Valentine's Day is today I decided to do a Valentine's Muffin Tin on Tuesday. Last year I found a cute heart shaped silicone muffin pan (it's very flimsy  but it works) to make a Valentine's Day themed lunch and at my favorite cake/candy supply store they have all kinds of cute cupcake picks to pick from so I always stock up when I go.

In this lunch I made a heart shaped peanut butter and  jelly sandwich, cheese cubes with a heart pick, cherry tomatoes, strawberry yogurt with red and pink sprinkles plus an X and an O from banana, grapes with a heart pick, and heart shaped cucumbers. It must have been a hit because every single container was empty after lunch!

For other great ideas for muffin tin lunches click on the picture below! 

Muffin Tin Snack

The other day I made Alex a "Make your own fruit kabob" snack and for Camden I made more of a fruit salad because I didn't want him having those skewers. I threw in some cucumber but she didn't really eat it. I tried! 

Muffin Tin Breakfast

                                                         

Whoa! It's been early November since I posted last...I guess...no I know I've just been super busy and have not been blogging as much as I used to. I thought today would be a great way to try to get back into and share a muffin tin meal. I actually have to make my muffin tin meals on days other than Monday because Alexandra stays at school for lunch bunch so she doesn't eat lunch at home.

Yesterday I decided to make the kids a muffin tin breakfast. This was Camden's first muffin tin meal. He will be 2 in March and he loved it! As soon as I placed the tins down on the table and called the kiddos out to the table Camden said "wow" so I guess he thought it was neat.

In this muffin tin I made the kids:

French toast skewers with syrup to dip

In the rest of the cups are some fresh fruit: grapes, blueberries, strawberries, and bananas. 

For other great muffin tin meals visit Muffin Tin Mom

Muffin Tin Monday: Halloween Lunch

I finally found some time to participate in Muffin Tin Monday! 

I know Halloween was last week but I gave Alexandra a Halloween themed muffin tin lunch so I wanted to share it today. It's been a few weeks since we've even done a muffin tin meal - the whole month of October kind of just flew by. In fact, I hardly even had any blog posts. I guess life just got in the way!

So here is what she had in her lunch

A Ghost banana, cheese cubes with a pumpkin pick, candy corn for dessert

A hot dog mummy with "blood" (ketchup) and eyeballs (grapes with the skin peeled off)

And let's not forget the mummy juice box! 

For more great muffin tin ideas go to Muffin Tin Mom! 

Muffin Tin Monday: Fresh Fruit and Dip

It's Muffin Tin Monday!

Sometimes Alexandra can be a picky eater but one food that will never go to waste in our house is fresh fruit. Each time we go grocery shopping we stock up on fresh fruit and a lot of it disappears within the week. In fact, now that I have two kids who love fresh fruit a quart of strawberries have been known to disappear within a day!

So today for her muffin tin meal I decided to make her a tin of fresh fruit and I threw together a fruit dip made out of vanilla yogurt and cream cheese with a little added cherry juice to make it pink.

As I gave Alexandra her meal Camden, who is almost 18 months, sat down for some fruit too. Well he wanted something but I wasn't sure what. He kept pointing at the table and I kept handing him things like his water, fork, etc. I guess what he wanted was a muffin tin like Alex. So I gave him a little muffin cup so he could feel like he was participating too. I guess I can consider this his first muffin tin meal. I started making them for Alex when she was 2 so I guess it's about time to include Camden in the fun too!

 The picture is sideways but I guess it doesn't really matter anyways! So we did  yellow, blue, and red fruit - bananas and pineapple, grapes and blueberries, and fruit dip topped with a cherry and strawberries. And Mickey Mouse and friends picks because that's all I have left! Time to do some shopping!!!

 Camden enjoying his strawberries and blueberries in a muffin tin cup (he already had a banana for breakfast!)

Yummy! 

Muffin Tin Breakfast

Muffin Tin Monday creeped up on me again! I always think throughout the week that I want to do a tin and then just post about it Monday but normally I'm scrambling in the kitchen trying to come up with a lunch or other meal to make for Alexandra's muffin tin.

Well today I thought I'd change things up and make a muffin tin breakfast. The fridge is starting to look pretty bare again as it's time to go grocery shopping again, but we always seem to have plenty of options for breakfast.

When I told Alexandra that I made her a muffin tin breakfast she was so excited! Here is what I put in her tin:

Top:  grapes, chocolate milk, heart shaped french toast bites

Bottom: yogurt with sprinkles, bacon, syrup for dipping 

As I was taking a picture of it she said "This is AWESOME!"  

For more ideas for muffin tin meals visit Muffin Tin Mom!! 

Muffin Tin Monday: Baseball Lunch

It's Muffin Tin Monday! 

It's late August and one of my favorite times of year - time for the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA . I grew up about a half hour from Williamsport so I would always love going up to watch some games at the field. It's a great place to take the family to watch some good baseball - and best of all - it's free AND the food doesn't cost an arm and a leg either!

I played Little League softball as a kid  but our team never made it to the World Series. We did get to Regionals though and were a few games away from making it. Those days were some of the best days of my childhood!

Now as a parent I can have the dream of being a  "World Series Mom!" I always thought about how cool it would be to be up watching the games with my son playing! He is only 17 months old now but maybe 11 years down the road it will happen. Or maybe he won't play baseball and that's fine too - at least we can go and watch some games!

Next year I do want to take the kids up to watch them live. We have been watching them on TV and Alexandra, who is 4, told me she wants to sign up to play in a game. I told her that in the Spring we could sign her up for teeball.

So anyways. in honor of the Little League World Series I thought I would make a baseball lunch.

Here is the lunch - I just made a pitcher, batter (minus the bat) and field (bases with cheese-it's and home plate with American cheese). This game features the home team, the Teddy Grahams vs. the visiting team, the Animal Crackers. 

Can you spot the mistake in the lunch?????? After looking at it now I realize....Animal Crackers should be pitching  instead of the Teddy Grahams!! My mistake and it's one I shouldn't have made being a ball player myself! Oh well! This is what happens when I am trying to do 5 different things at once! 

For more inspiration and to see cute lunches please visit Muffin Tin Mom! 

Muffin Tin Monday: Olympic Style

It's Muffin Tin Monday! 

Wow! I looked at the last time I posted and it was quite some time ago. This month has been crazy. We've been traveling every single weekend and so Mondays are usually spent unpacking and catching up on laundry...so we can pack up again! I've actually missed doing the Muffin Tin Lunches with Alex! She requested one on Friday and since it was the day of Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics I went with it! (And I tried using a muffin tin but it was hard so I transferred it to a plate!)

We talked about the symbols of the Olympics and did some crafts as well. Each day this week I want to try to do something Olympic related. She's actually been watching them with us too. She is starting to recognize landmarks on the TV like "Buckyham Palace!" It's fun watching the games with her!

Here is the lunch that I made her followed by a few of the activities 

The Olympic Torch at the top made out of a mini ice cream cone and strawberry

Olive Wreath made out of green peppers

An Olympic medal made out of a banana slice and red licorice

The flag of England made of American cheese 

The Olympic Rings in the middle made out of blueberries, chocolate chips, a strawberry, a banana, and peas

We made an Olympic torch, the rings, and a javelin made out of straws. 

For  more inspiration for Muffin Tin Meals visit Muffin Tin Mom

Muffin Tin Monday: Make Your Own Pizza

It's Muffin Tin Monday...and we seriously need to do our grocery shopping. We hardly have anything for lunches (and I just don't want to make mac and cheese every day), and for breakfast we are getting a little sick of toast as well. I hate not having fresh fruit in the house! My husband does the grocery shopping and he was going to go Saturday. Well on Saturday he said about going Sunday. Then yesterday he didn't really feel like it and I was thinking - Oh NO! I  had strawberries, blueberries, yogurt, cheese, etc all on the list because we love them but also because I wanted to make Alexandra a Red, White, and Blue muffin tin lunch. 

So today I tried to make due and since I had some pizza dough that I was going to use for some stromboli I thought she could make some star pizzas. She loved that idea! She loves cooking, loves pizza...AND as I type she has eaten the pizzas and is now finishing the leftover sauce with a spoon. She is definitely my daughter because I would do the same! And especially because I LOVE my pizza sauce - it's Chef Boy-ar-dee  and the "Chef" was actually from my hometown. The Chef-Boy-ar-dee factory is there and a few of my relatives work there, which means that I can get cases of that stuff for cheap!! (way below store cost!)

But anyways, what I did was I had her roll out the dough with my help and then she cut the stars out with a cookie cutter. I baked them and I was planning on having her add her toppings and pop it back in the oven to melt (especially since the bag of cheese was in the freezer!) but she had other plans. She made the pizzas and started eating them and said "I love frozen cheese". Ok. Whatever. It doesn't matter to me! 

For more ideas visit Muffin Tin Mom 

Muffin Tin Monday: Camping Tin

It's Muffin Tin Monday and I was excited to make this week's tin for Alexandra. This past weekend my friends and I went camping at Cowan's Gap State Park in PA. Whenever we get together it is always a good time full of belly laughs. We went camping in campers so we weren't roughing it but I really enjoyed the camping experience. I hope someday to take Alexandra camping because I'm sure she'll love it!

For the lunch I put in items that represented my camping trip in particular. On the top left there are  bears made out of cheese. We went on a hike to a scenic overlook and according to the guide and previous people there was a chance that we may see a bear. But we didn't. Phew!

Next is my version of a pie iron sandwich - with two bread circles filled with mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce and cooked like a grilled cheese. We did ours over the fire. I had to make two as  burnt my first one to a crisp.

Next I made a graham cracker tent. We used a camper like I said and good thing too because the first evening we had torrential downpours, severe storm warnings, and even tornado warnings.

On the bottom row in the middle is a kayak made out of a hot dog (with Daisy Duck kayaking) and an oar made of a pretzel and marshmallows. (I got this idea from my friend Stacy who was giving me all kinds of suggestions! Thanks Stacy - great idea!!!!!)

Then on both sides...dessert. Table side S'mores. I had my butane torch handy (because come on, the microwave is too easy!) so I fired it up (as Alexandra sat back of course) and it melted the marshmallows and made a mini S'more!


This lunch was definitely a success - the only thing left was one part of the graham cracker tent.

ooey gooey S'mores! 

For more ideas and inspiration for Muffin Tin Meals check out Muffin Tin Mom! 

Muffin Tin Monday: Happy Memorial Day!

Today is Muffin Tin Monday and today I made Alexandra a lunch with red, white, and blue and I also added in a special biscuit that her daddy brought back from his trip to Asia. For the last two weeks my husband has been in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore for business so he brought back some souvenirs. He got Alex some small chopsticks and spoon, the PJ's she is wearing in the picture (yes, it's 11:30 and we are still in our PJ's!), and a colleague gave him some biscuits, which I included in her lunch.

She tried the chopsticks...but  hands were easier! 

In her lunch was: a biscuit from Hong Kong  - it was a cookie with pineapple paste inside, blueberry yogurt, tomatoes that I cut up for her to try to use the chopsticks with, strawberries, and American cheese star cutouts.

Looking for other neat ideas for Muffin Tin Lunches? There are many more ideas at Muffin Tin Mom

Muffin Tin Monday: Earth Day Revisited

It's Muffin Tin Monday! 

This past week I pretty much didn't get anything done. My 1 year old started with a fever on Sunday and by Tuesday it was confirmed he had picked up Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease from another friend. So last Monday was spent with him in my arms either sleeping or crying. He got better but then Wednesday my daughter started with a fever. No Hand, Foot, and Mouth for her but she just wasn't feeling well for a day or two. On Wednesday I also picked up a sore throat and was totally out of commission because I felt like I got hit by a mack truck. Fever, chills, and throat so sore that by Saturday I went to an Urgent Care clinic to see if it was strep. Here it is on Monday and I am taking antibiotics and my throat is still slightly sore. But at least I have two healthy children now and I am able to get things done around here!

I had all intentions of trying to post last Monday about our Earth Day breakfast but it's very hard to type with a toddler in my arms! So today I'm going to share the breakfast we did last Sunday before any of the sickness hit!

So here is the breakfast I made: An earth pancake with a heart on top to show that we should love our Earth. The sun with mandarin oranges, a crispy flour tortilla tree, and the word recycle out of yogurt. Sorry that the picture is sideways...on my computer it was the right way and I can't seem to turn it around in this post.

To find inspiration for other Muffin Tin Meals visit Muffin Tin Mom

A Bug Lunch

Happy Muffin Tin Monday! Today I thought that I would make Alexandra a bug lunch. She is, after all, my little bug as I used to call her and since we are seeing a lot of bugs with this warm weather we are having I thought it'd be appropriate. 

In her lunch she has: a banana caterpillar, ants on a log, "nectar" in a flower (apple juice), a butterfly, a ladybug, and a leaf all made out of cinnamon and sugar toasted tortillas.  Normally she loves the toasted tortillas and asks for more so I made her 3. And of course today she decided that she wasn't into them and asked me to eat them. No problem there! 

To find some lunch inspiration head over to Muffin Tin Mom!

An "Egg"celent Muffin Tin

Today is a special Muffin Tin Monday.

Since Easter is this upcoming Sunday I thought Alexandra would like an Easter themed muffin tin. Boy did she ever. She was in the living room when I put it together and I sat it down at the table and she comes out and says "Whooooooooooooooaaaaa. That's really good mom!!!!" I'm glad she liked it! Opening each egg was a surprise. Hidden in the eggs were grapes, string cheese, goldfish, animal crackers, ham, and a piece of a marshmallow egg. I've never seen her more excited for ham in her life. Then to top it off I cut out an egg shape in American cheese and left her my food writer markers so she could decorate her own egg. I'm really looking forward to doing Easter activities with her this week!! 

For more great Muffin Tin Meal Ideas go over to Muffin Tin Mom

Muffin Tin Monday in March at My Mom's

How's that for some alliteration? This weekend I traveled with the kids up to my mom's house and since we are leaving on Monday and won't be around for lunch I did a muffin tin breakfast (but I actually did it on Sunday morning). I was trying to decide whether to do an early Easter tin or a Spring tin and my sister said I should do a lion and a lamb...and it was a great idea! March normally comes in like a lion and out like a lamb but here in PA this year it seemed to come in like a lamb and out like a lion! We had warmer temps throughout March (or above normal for this time of year - just this past week we were in shorts because it was 80 degrees!) but not it's back to it's normal self and ending with 40's, 50's and some low 60's. 

So for the Muffin Tin Meal I made a lion made out of a pancake with a strawberry mane. I added 2 chocolate M&M's for eyes and a strawberry nose and mouth. I know it doesn't look too ferocious but it was yummy! Then I made the lamb out of a pancake, whipped cream for the wool, and blueberry eyes and a banana nose and mouth. On the side she has a cup of syrup, pineapple, and blueberries. Can you take one guess at what she ate first????? If you guessed whipped cream you were right! I mean, what kid wouldn't dive into that first??? I sure would! 

To find other muffin tin meals go to Muffin Tin Mom

Muffin Tin Monday: Spring is in the Air!

 

Today is Muffin Tin Monday and my original plan was to do a lunch for St. Patty's Day since it was Saturday but instead I decided to do a Spring lunch! For the past week here in PA it's been in the 60's and 70's and this is the first year in a few years that the weather has actually been Spring-like during the first day of Spring.  Right now it's only 11:30 and it's already 66 degrees! And on the first day of Spring the weather is supposed to be 76 degrees!!! I LOVE this weather! Now I'm just hoping we don't get some kind of freak snow storm in April (it has happened before!)

The Flower is made of grapes, cheddar cheese, veggie sticks, and the flower pot is a toasted cinnamon and sugar tortilla. The small flowers at the bottom are strawberries and blueberries and the one in the center is lebanon bologna and american cheese. I used a flower muffin tin cup as the sun and in the center is our homemade strawberry sorbet (post coming soon on how we made it!)

For more inspiration go to Muffin Tin Mom to see some wonderful ideas! 

Muffin Tin Monday: A Dr. Seuss Belated Birthday Lunch

It's Muffin Tin Monday! 

I know that Friday, March 2 was Dr. Seuss's birthday but we decided to still celebrate by having a Muffin Tin Lunch dedicated to his birthday. I think now I am just a little "Seussed" out! I'm ready to move onto St. Patty's Day, Spring, and Easter!

So here is our lunch that I made for Alexandra  - and she ate every single bite!

This lunch consists of:

(Top row) 

A Pink, Yink, Drink from One Fish, Two Fish, Red, Fish, Blue Fish (milk with red food coloring)

A Dr. Seuss hat from The Cat in the Hat  (strawberries and bananas)

Goldfish to represent the Fish in the Pot from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

(Bottom Row)

 Green eggs and Ham from the book with the same title! (the egg is a cinnamon sugar crispy tortilla with a grape and the ham is...well...ham

A Dr. Seuss Hat tortilla representing The Cat in the Hat Comes Back

If you want inspiration for more Muffin Tin Lunches go to Muffin Tin Mom!