Muffin Tin Monday - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week there is no theme for Muffin Tin Monday, so I thought I would pick a theme that goes along with what we are learning about this week. We are doing a unit on butterflies (and possibly other insects), so I thought a tin themed to go with Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar would be fun.

Going counter-clockwise, starting in the upper left:
Monday's 1 apple, Tuesday's two pears, (oops I just realized I'm out of order), Friday's oranges (I know there's more than five, but I was supreming the orange and not about to let any go to waste), Thursday's 4 strawberries, Saturday's cheese (string cheese, instead of swiss), and Sunday's leaf.


I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but The Very Hungry Caterpillar came by and took some bites of Sprouts lunch (I used a straw to poke holes in each piece of food, except the oranges). I made a big dea about this when I gave her the tin and she laughed. JGD thought that she should pass on lunch if "someone" else had eaten it.


Sprout enjoyed most of this lunch. What's not to like, it's mostly fruit! Here she is pointing at her lettuce leaf... She did eat most of the cheese stick, this was taken after she polished off the strawberries and oranges. (Notice that Quincy is watching her eat.)

To see what other tots ate today in their muffin tins go to Muffintinmom.com.

Muffin Tin Monday - Rainbow Colors

Rainbow Colors

(I'm not a first timer that was left over from the Menu Plan Monday post I did. Sorry.)


This week's theme for Muffin Tin Monday is Rainbow Colors. We haven't really done many of the color themes, so I really wanted to make sure to do a tin this week.

This week Sprout had (starting in the bowl, a biscuit with apricot preserve (Orange, I had actually planned this to be grape jelly and thus purple, but apparently we don't have any.) Then in the tin we have (clockwise from the top left): Red peppers (red), Carrots (orange), leftover Annie's Macaroni and Cheese, served cold (let's say yellow), kiwi, edamame (green), strawberries (more red).


I was debating giving Sprout the biscuit because last time I did she stuck her fingers in it said "sticky" and refused to eat. So I didn't give it to her at first. And as is her normal she ate the strawberries and kiwi first. Then I gave her the biscuit and she played with it. So I took it back, and she asked for it back. I showed her how to take a bit and then she ate the half right up.

She also ate most of the macaroni and cheese and all of the edamame.  She ate some of the carrots and peppers (which was a little weird because she has been asking for the baby carrots everytime she sees them, I guess they're not as sweet as the fruit), but really enjoyed moving everything she didn't want to eat into one muffin cup.

And of course she ended lunch going through the Walgreens flyer.  (She found some pretty good deals too!)

To see some other colorful Muffin Tins go to Muffintinmom.com.

Muffin Tin Monday - Green

Green

The theme for this week's Muffin Tin Monday is Green.  After a week of not feeling well, which is continuing into this week, I decided to take it easy with this week's MTM.

Sprout had (clockwise from the top left) avocado, cucumber, green pear, green grapes, edamame, and more green pears.

The irony is that this MTM went over better with Sprout than many of the others where I have put in far more effort.  Oh well.  I'll keep trying.

As I expected Sprout ate her grapes and pears first, though I was happy when she mixed in a cucumber spear or two.

"Look, Mommy.  I ate it all."

If anyone has any suggestions about where to get inexpensive muffin tin accessories, I'd love to hear about them.  I got this one for Sprout when we first started, and though I keep thinking about adding to it, I've had a hard time convincing myself to spend the money.


Go here to see what other people ate for Muffin Tin Monday.

Muffin Tin Monday - Dr. Seuss

I know that Dr. Seuss was a MTM theme several weeks ago, but I didn't do it that week, and our theme for this week is Dr. Seuss in honor of his "birthday" this week.

 Here is our MTM for this week.  Starting in the upper left and going clockwise:  Green Eggs and Ham, avocado because D is not a fan of eggs and we don't eat ham; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, an open faced strawberry jelly sandwich using a fish cookie cutter; Cat in the Hat, hat made out of bananas and strawberries; The Tooth Book, an apple mouth (I used cut apple instead of marshmallows); Ten Apples Up on Top, 10 pieces of cut up apple; The Foot Book, a muenster cheese foot using a foot cookie cutter.

D ate Cat's hat quite quickly, and then used her hands on the jelly on the fish.  When she realized her hands were sticky, that was the end of lunch.  I was quite surprised as she loves avocado and apples, and is normally a fan of peanut butter.  Granted she was rather tired today as we had to get up early to get Jolly Green Daddy to the airport.

On the other hand she did say "sticky" when she was not happy about her hands.  Oh well, better luck next week.

To see what other tots had for lunch today go to Muffin Tin Mom.  Next week's theme is Yellow.

Muffin Tin Monday - Winter

It's Muffin Tin Monday again!

This week's theme on the MTM site is orange.  I decided to stray from their theme this week for 2 reasons. The first, we have been learning about winter and cold for the past week, and I thought a MTM would be a good way to end it.  Second, I couldn't think of anything orange in the house, besides one or 2 oranges I have sitting in the fruit bowl.  As you will see, even our carrots are yellow!

This was a tough meal to actually fit in the muffin tin.

D had an edible snowflake with cinnamon and sugar.

Cream cheese penguins.  I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com quite some time ago, and have been looking for a reason (and the time to make them).

D also had two edible snowmen.  The first is just cream cheese on bread that I used a snowman cookie cutter on.  The second was a snowman on a stick.  I know D will love to make this when she gets bigger, but for right now, I made and she loved eating it!  I made it using a dried cherry that I cut up, instead of chocolate chips.

The lower left has some "snowballs" (Gorilla Munch cereal).

D really enjoyed this lunch.  The snowman on a stick was hard to resist and D grabbed that right away.

She loved bananas and apples and the penguins.  The rest she played with more than she ate.  That is until she broke enough of the snowflake off to find the star from the middle.  This is the one shape that she will recognize and say!  And was thrilled to have a star to eat.

Muffin Tin Monday - Errr Sunday

It's been forever since we last did an official muffin tin meal.  I thought that the color themes would be a great time to get back into it, as this is now what D is learning.  We are working on shapes and colors, as she seems to be doing pretty well with body parts and animals.

We did Muffin Tin Monday a day early this week.  This week's theme is Red, which I thought would be great to do on Valentine's Day. (Though we did nothing else.  That will probably be changing in the future.)  It was still a fun lunch to, especially in the heart muffin "tin" we have.

Going clockwise, starting in the upper right, D had strawberries, spaghetti with red sauce, red apples, grape tomatoes, more spaghetti and red pepper.

I knew that getting D to eat the spaghetti with all the fruits and veggies would be tough, but I though it was worth a shot.  Sure enough she polished on the strawberries almost as soon as I gave her her food.  Then the apples and grape tomatoes.  She ate a lot of the peppers, and then played with the spaghetti.  She ate some, and even tried to twirl it on her fork! 

Muffin Tin Monday - Apples

The theme this week for Muffin Tin Monday is apples.  What a great theme, especially leading into Rosh Hashanah at the end of the week.  After a busy morning, I wasn't sure what D would eat, but thought we would give it a try.  

I was getting lunch ready and wanted to a take a picture of the "apple" shaped grilled cheddar and apple sandwich.  (I believe it is really a pumpkin cookie cutter, but hey... D doesn't know).  

Here is the completed muffin tin.  The top row starts with apple sticks, then apple cinnamon rice cakes, and apple chunks.  The bottom row is Applesauce Noodle Kugel and the grilled cheese sandwich.


D enjoyed her Kugel and did a great job eating.  Eventually, she decided that the food would taste better on her tray.

And of course a meal is not complete, if we're not wearing it.

We also read Dr. Seuss's Ten Apples Up on Top! to go with our apple lunch.  D thought the pictures were funny and enjoyed the story during lunch.

Muffin Tin Monday

I learned about the Muffin Tin Mondays a while ago, and have decided that it is finally time for me to get in the game. I think that using a muffin tin to put together D's meals is great. I am able to make sure that I am giving her a balanced meal, and she has fun checking out all the little nooks and crannies. I have tried this out a few times. Here is what I have done.

This is our meal for this week. There was no theme.

Top Row: Edemame, cheese and mini bowtie pasta

Bottom Row: Plum, there was milk in the empty spot but D pulled it out as soon as I put it down and crackers

D enjoying her Muffin Tin Meal (MTM).

This was my first try at a MTM. I was worried about D taking the whole tray and throwing it on the floor, so we tried individual cups.

Green: Banana Rings Yellow: Baby carrot sticks

Red: Yellow Bell Pepper strips Blue: Cheddar Cheese

I made this one when we got our new "tin" to see if D would dump it all on the floor or not. Thankfully, she didn't, at least not as soon as I gave it to her. I will say that the bottom row did go first.

Top row: Cucumber sticks, shredded cheese, American Chop Suey

Bottom Row: Cherries, pretzels, apple cinnamon rice cakes.

I tried making an MTM to go with Goodnight Moon, which has been D's favorite book recently, no matter what time of day.

Top: Grape Tomatoes -- red balloon, Bunny Cheddar Crackers -- bunny in the story, mozzarella cheese -- cow, apple cinnamon rice cakes -- moon, macaroni and cheese -- bowl full of mush, and brussels sprouts -- rabbit food, and something green for the great, green room.

I am looking forward to doing this regularly for D. Though she's a little young to really get the connections, we're getting there, and Mommy is having a lot of fun!

To learn more about Muffin Tin Mondays.  To see what some other Muffin Tin Moms and Dads did this week.