Taco Night - Muffin Tin Monday

I haven't done Muffin Tin Monday in quite some time.  But it seemed a shame not to feature these cute little penguin plates and forks that my mom got for the boys last year on Christmas clearance.

I hadn't done taco night in ages, and this time it went over really well with the boys.  Or maybe it was because of the penguin plates?  They had grass-fed beef tacos with cheddar, Mexican style rice in present shaped muffin cups (with a snowman pick), and steamed broccoli with salsa in a present shaped muffin cup with a gingerbread man pick.  Everybody earned dessert this night, and I'm thinking I should have taco night again soon!

Cort and Reid get to Take Their Lunch to School

Guess who started eating lunch at school a couple of times a month?  Why Cort and Reid!  Yes, they are doing lunch bunch some Wednesday afternoons.  They love eating lunch with their friends.  Here is what I packed for them recently:

They each had ham and cheese rolls on whole wheat bread (with Halloween picks), olive skewers, pretzels, grapes in a spider muffin cup, and a bear biscuit.  They ate everything except a couple of pretzels! 

For more fun lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom. 

Power Rangers Muffin Tin Monday

At a yard sale recently I picked up a big Power Rangers semi tractor trailer and 5 action figures.  Pierce has never seen the show, but the price was right and I thought he'd have fun with it.  He certainly has enjoyed it, so when I saw Power Rangers pasta in the store I thought I'd pick it up.

 Some years ago Paul asked me not to cook whole grain pasta ever again.  I have obliged.  But he was out of town on business.  What he doesn't know won't hurt him, right? 

The boys had homemade bread with butter, cut in a ninja shape (cool cookie cutter, huh?), fresh strawberries, roasted broccoli, and Power Rangers pasta with parmesan and kalamata olives.  All 3 boys ate every last bite and earned themselves dessert! 

I thought the Power Rangers pasta tasted great for being whole grain.  I'm betting Paul wouldn't even notice if I cooked it again.  Although he might notice the funny Power Rangers shapes!

For more fun lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom. 

Maple Leaves Muffin Tin Monday

The leaves are officially falling all over the place now!  The other day I was making homemade tortillas and as I rolled out the dough, it occured to me that I could cut them out into fall shapes before cooking them.  So I dug out my maple leaf cookie cutter and proceeded to do just that.

Pierce had two homemade tortillas topped with refried beans, melted cheese, and of course olives (the boy is crazy for olives!).  He also had a heart muffin cup with corn, and sliced tomatoes and green peppers from the garden.  My garden was pitiful this year, but I did get a few tomatoes and green peppers at least.  Pierce ate everything but a few bites of the corn.

For more fun lunch ideas for kids, check out Muffin Tin Mom. 

Happy October - Muffin Tin Monday

Another Muffin Tin Monday bento lunch for Pierce! 

Pierce really loves grilled cheeses.  This was a simple lunch.  Grilled cheese on homemade bread, carrots, grapes, and a marshmallow for dessert.  The carrots and grapes were in spider muffin tin cups.  I added a couple of Halloween picks to jazz this up a bit, especially now that it's October! 

For more fun lunch ideas for kids, check out Muffin Tin Mom.

Early Bird Catches the Worm Bento on Muffin Tin Monday

Last week I taught Pierce about the meaning of the saying "the early bird catches the worm".  And then he found it represented in his lunch box.

Pierce had some cheese crackers in a spider muffin cup, an apple banana crusher (my parents brought these back for the boys from a recent trip to Trader Joes - the boys love them!), an open faced cheese bird sandwich, a gummy worm, and some roasted seaweed.  Yes, my boys (and I) enjoy the roasted seaweed as a snack.  Shocking!

For more fun lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom.

Creepy Crawly Breakfast on Muffin Tin Monday

Do you know what September is?  It's the month of creepy crawlies.  Trying to get into my car (yes, the mice are back) and into my house (wolf spiders...shudder!) and into my compost bin (very large brown larvae - is this bad?).  And let us not forget, the most dreaded of all, those stinkin' stinkbugs!  All these creepy crawlies were on my mind when I made breakfast for the boys the other day. 

This was Cort's plate.  He had honeydew melon (which I bought on the side of the road from a produce stand), turkey sausage, and house shaped french toast on homemade bread with syrup.  He liked it and ate every bite, in spite of the creepy crawlies.  I, on the other hand, just can't stop thinking about The World's Largest Wolf Spider that is residing in the bush just outside our front door.  His web is taking over the region, and the only thing saving him right now is my deep hope that he likes to eat stinkbugs....

For more Muffin Tin Monday ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom. 

Angry Birds Bento Lunch

Is it a bad sign if there's an angry bird in your lunch?  I suspect that you're okay, if you only have one angry bird, but if you had 3 or 4 it would definitely mean trouble.

How did I make it?  I made homemade bread in the bread machine and added plenty of red food coloring.  Then I used food scissors to cut out the shape.  The eyes are string cheese, the beak is American cheese, and the black details are cut from a sheet of seaweed.  In addition, Pierce had a homemade oatmeal chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, grapes, and pretzels. 

For more fun lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom. 

Flat Stanley Bento on Muffin Tin Monday

Well, I'm back to packing lunches here.  Usually they aren't elaborate, but on this particular day I decided to pack a fun lunch for Pierce.  He likes the Flat Stanley books, so I decided to attempt to recreate Flat Stanley.  How do you think I did?  You can see what Flat Stanley looks like in the top corner picture on the book.

I was out of fresh fruit, because it was right before grocery store day, so I tossed in an applesauce packet, some carrots, and a bear biscuit to go with the Flat Stanley sandwich.  Flat Stanley was created from provolone and American cheeses on homemade whole wheat bread, raisins (eyes) and a piece of fruit roll up (mouth).

For more fun lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom.  Happy Labor Day!

Mexican Pizza Man on Muffin Tin Monday

You know what is always a hit in my house?  Mexican Pizza Men.  Since I make the tortillas myself, they take 45 to put together, but aside from that this is a quick meal. 

Refried beans and cheddar cheese on a homemade tortilla with garden tomato, green olive, and avocado features, and a mushroom muffin tin cup body of corn.

Find more Muffin Tin Monday ideas here. 

Fuzzy Headed Mom on Muffin Tin Monday

Last week I completely forgot to actually link up my Muffin Tin Monday post with Muffin Tin Monday.  Kind of funny.  I've been running around doing last minute things before Pierce starts school later this week, so I've been kind of forgetful.  I'm looking forward to getting back into a rhythm of school days though. 

This was Reid's dinner the other night:

He had homemade bread with butter, cheese tortellini in a marinara sauce, salad (cucs and tomatoes from our garden) with ranch, and a fundamiddles cupcake (my mom brought over a couple of boxes of the mix that she'd found on clearance, so we had fun making them).  He liked this dinner pretty well. 

Now, if only I can remember to actually add this to the link up this week!  Anyone else feel like they're missing a few brain cells lately?  Please tell me I'm not the only one....

In Mint Condition on Muffin Tin Monday

It's Muffin Tin Monday again!  And there is more from the garden today.  Tomatoes and cucumbers (from the garden), a grilled cheese on homemade white bread, beets (from our garden), and a mint chocolate chip cookie. 

Pierce ate every single last bite.  The twins ate all but the cucumbers and beets.  So not bad, overall. You can find the yummy (and easy) mint chocolate chip cookie recipe from Karen over on This Old House 2.

For more fun lunch ideas, visit Muffin Tin Mom.

Fresh From the Garden on Muffin Tin Monday

Our garden, while pitifully destroyed in large portions by those rotten squash bugs, is at least producing a few things.  We are enjoying what we can harvest at our meals.

To keep in the garden them, I pulled out our mushroom and spider muffin cups.  We had roasted beets, egg salad sandwiches on homemade white bread (the eggs were from our hens), and cucumbers.  Pierce loved this meal and ate every last bite.  Cort and Reid mostly ignored the veggies, but ate the sandwich.

For more fun lunch ideas, visit Muffin Tin Mom.

My Mom is so Mean on Muffin Tin Monday

Time for this week's Muffin Tin Monday.  You won't believe the horrors I subjected my boys to this week.

They had fresh salad from our garden (yes, I did buy them some Ranch so they'd stop complaining), ONION casserole (oh yes I did) and tuna salad sandwiches on homemade classic white bread.

I had never tormented served my boys onion casserole before.  I confess they didn't eat it.  They lifted up onions, looked at them warily, then flung them back down and said, "I don't like this".  Pretty sure they were all thinking, "WHY CAN'T MOM JUST GIVE US CHICKEN NUGGETS?"  I liked it though - I love cooked Vidalia onions.  At any rate, the boys ate their salad and sammys okay. 

For more Muffin Tin Monday lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom.

Fourth of July Muffin Tin Monday

Okay, so technically it's not July 4th yet.  But it is Monday, and we're getting in the theme of things here. 

When I think of food on July 4th, I think of barbecue or burgers or hotdogs and corn on the cob with watermelon for dessert.  So we did a lunch of veggie barbecue ribs (the ones by Morningstar Farms - I had one in the back of the freezer to use, and they are delicious!), corn, and a sweet potato pecan spice muffin.  This is the first time I had ever baked in these star cups, and Pierce thought it was so neat when he popped out the muffin and it was star shaped. 

What food do you associate with July 4th?

For more fun lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom.

A Good Salisbury Steak on Muffin Tin Monday

It's Muffin Tin Monday again.  We've been enjoying all the grass fed beef from the cow we bought into, and I think we'll definitely do it again in the future.  I think that one of our favorite recipes for the beef is salisbury steak.  Which is kind of funny, since salisbury steak always made me think of that nasty unflavorful mush that they plopped onto trays in the elementary school cafeteria.  You know, with the cardboard box tasting mashed potatoes and the watery scoop of gray-green peas?  But when I was trying to think up creative ways to cook our ground beef, I thought I'd try to find a salisbury steak recipe, and I found one that we love.   

Served along with the salisbury steak was nothing 1980s cafeteria style nasty, thankfully!  We had fresh roasted sweet potatoes and salad from the garden.  I'm happy to report that FINALLY (after how long?) Pierce is eating salad.  Although he did get upset this particular day because I ran out of ranch and he had to have Thousand Island.  The horrors! 

For more fun kids' lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom.

Black Beans and Tortillas on Muffin Tin Monday

It seemed time to break out our totem pole muffin tin cups sent to us a while back by Garden of Daisies.  They're so cute!  We had black beans, homemade tortillas, and salad from our garden (with a boiled egg from our chickens on top).  You can't get much healthier, and it's such an economic meal too!

I like to soak my black beans in water overnight, and then put them in the crockpot on low with water and a cup of salsa for the day.  They turn out so tender and have a slightly smoky flavor when done.

If you've never made homemade tortillas, you are missing out.  They're only like four billion times better than what you buy in the store.  I made 12, and there were only 3 left over after dinner.  The boys always love them.  You can find the recipe HERE.

For more ideas of recipes for kids, check out Muffin Tin Mom.

Salad Season Muffin Tin Monday

Time for another Muffin Tin Monday!  Recently when we had a hot stretch I had cravings for a lighter supper and wanted to make some salad type dishes.  So I made a simple pasta salad (in a lemon juice/olive oil/pressed garlic dressing) and a salmon salad.  I wasn't sure the kids would actually eat the salmon salad, since I don't think I've ever made it before.  Cort adored it, and Pierce ate all of his.  Reid was the only one that wouldn't touch it.  The kids had theirs with breadsticks, and they got preacher cookies for dessert.  Incidentally, I substituted 1 tsp of coconut oil for the 1 tsp of butter that my preacher cookie recipe calls for, and it gave them a different (but quite tasty) flavor.

For more fun kids' lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom. 

Another Royal Muffin Tin Monday

I really like our set of crown muffin cups.  They're so colorful and fun.  Here's what we had for dinner:

Cheesy garlic breadsticks, tossed salad w/ greek olives and cherry tomatoes, spinach/parmesan tortellini. 

Mmmm, looks good enough for me to make again!  For more MTM ideas, click here. 

Creole Hearts on Muffin Tin Monday

I love to cook cajun and creole style foods.  My boys don't seem to appreciate it as much as my husband and I, but I keep hoping eventually they'll anticipate nights of spicier dishes.

This tin is actually a microwave cake tin that my mom picked up somewhere.  I need to track down those mug microwave cake recipes everyone was making last winter and give it a shot!  Meantime, it seemed appropriate for a Muffin Tin Monday.  We had red beans + rice w/ celery, onions, and smoked turkey sausage, a hard boiled egg from our chickens (who are laying quite well lately), a strawberry fruit leather (homemade!) and some fresh grapes. 

For more fun MTM ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom.