Muffin Tin Monday

I threw together a simple lunch for Ashlyn yesterday. She loves getting her meal in a muffin tin. :)


I made her a Mickey Mouse peanut butter and jelly sandwich, provolone cheese, and veggie chips. She ate almost all of it except the cheese. I think I never did muffin tin meals very consistently because I wanted to do these elaborate themes for Ashlyn but whenever I didn't have time to come up with one I just wouldn't do it. But I've realized recently (I made her a quick MTM last week but forgot to post it) that she gets excited just over a simple one like this! I still have fun making elaborate ones for her every now and then but I've gotten okay with the fact that I just can't do that all the time. I may not always post the simple ones on here (though I will sometimes) but I'm excited by the "new" idea that she'll have fun with even the simple tins. :)

To see what others did this week, head on over to Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Monday - Springy!

Yay for Muffin Tin Meals! They're definitely fun. I haven't been very good at doing them every week, but I did manage to throw together a simple one today for Ashlyn's lunch. I guess it ended up being a kind of spring theme.


She had a butterfly-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich, watermelon, key lime pie yogurt with butterfly sprinkles, and blueberries. Sounded yummy to me, but Ashlyn's not big on blueberries or watermelon. Weird kid. ;) I think she'd love watermelon if she gave it a chance. She took one bite the day we bought it and she hasn't tried it again. Oh well, I'll keep offering it! I've made watermelon popsicles before and she absolutely loved them so maybe I'll just have to do that again. They were definitely super yummy!

To see what others made for MTM this week, head on over to Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Meal - Mmmmmm

Well, I was slacking and didn't make Ashlyn a muffin tin meal this past Sunday, but I made her one on Wednesday. Each week I teach Ashlyn a new letter (she recognizes all the letters but I'm also teaching her the sounds they make as well as numbers, shapes, etc. She LOVES school!) and this week is the letter M. So I decided to make her a letter M muffin tin meal!


She had Macaroni and cheese, corn dog Muffin (recipe from Once A Month Mom - I add corn to our corn muffins), and M&M's all in Muffin liners on a Minnie Mouse plate. The M&M's were from a color sorting/counting activity I did with Ashlyn and I told her that she could have some of them for a snack so it inspired me to do this. The rest of the meal just happened to be leftovers from the night before so it was really easy and she loved it!

For more muffin tin meals, check out Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Monday - Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's On Its Way! (Or, Was Yesterday... Either Way)

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter weekend. We sure did! I was also able to make Ashlyn a muffin tin meal! Technically, it was just our Easter dinner in a spring-like muffin tin, but I knew Ashlyn would love it. And I totally wanted to get back into the MTM swing of things so I thought it would be a good start. :)


Ashlyn had a Hawaiian roll, homemade garlic mashed potatoes (since the first time I've made mashed potatoes from scratch, I just can't go back to the boxed stuff), ham, and corn (her favorite vegetable). Saturday we had made Rice Krispie treats and cut them into spring/Easter shapes. We left one for the Easter Bunny (along with a carrot) and she got one in her tin, too! Her little cereal bunny also has a cute little mini marshmallow tail. :) She also got the ears to her chocolate bunny. We found a really cool bunny (Snapsy by Hershey)


that breaks apart really easily and is small, so it was a nice addition to Ashlyn's Easter basket and she totally gobbled up those ears!

To see the cool tins others have made, head on over to Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Monday - Big and Little, Short and Tall

Whoa... it's been awhile since I've done anything with this blog! I logged on to post and I still had my Christmas layout up! So for now it's just going to be a generic layout until I have time to do something more me. Sorry about all that! We went on vacation for about 2 weeks and I got sick the last day and just felt horrible for awhile. I got better a week or so ago, but just still had absolutely no energy and just began to really feel like myself again a couple of days ago. So, I'm back and starting back up with Muffin Tin Monday! This week's theme is Big and Little, Short and Tall.


Ashlyn had a big heart and little heart peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, big flower and little flower apple slices, and a big marshmallow and mini marshmallows for dessert. I also used a combination of small and large muffin liners. She ate everything except maybe two small bites of sandwich. :)

To see what everyone else is doing this week, check out Muffin Tin Mom!

Oh, and remember that today is Peanut Butter Day! We're trying to celebrate more little random "holidays" like that, and I thought it would be fun to do this one. I'm going to be making peanut butter cookies with Ashlyn this afternoon. We're making Peanut Blossoms (I think that's a fairly common name for them...), where you make the peanut butter cookies and push in Hershey's Kisses when they first come out of the oven. My mom knew them as Brown Eyed Susans but every now and then she would call them Brown Eyed Christinas for me (since I have brown eyes). Ashlyn has gorgeous brown eyes, so I think of these cookies now as Brown Eyed Ashlyns. ♥

Muffin Tin Monday - Christmas Again!

Hi there! It's that time again... no, not for that, silly! It's time for Muffin Tin Monday! The theme again is the holidays which, for us, means Christmas. :) Last week I saw this adorable reindeer sandwich over at Family Life, which led me to this wonderful reindeer sandwich over at Little Nummies. Now, I may or may not have mentioned my love for Rudolph and reindeers in general, but I just HAD to make Ashlyn a reindeer sandwich! And I may or may not have told hubby that I might make one for myself one of these days. ;) And the wonderful, sweet hubby he is, he offered to make one for me himself that very afternoon. ♥ But you didn't come here for side stories.... this time.


Hmmm... now that I upload the picture I see that his eyes aren't exactly perfect. *head tilt* Oh well! I still absolutely adore him! Along with her peanut butter and jelly Rudolph sandwich, Ashlyn had Craisins (reindeer poop - totally hubby's idea :D ) and carrots for the reindeer. And this is the first time I remembered to flip the muffin cups inside out so we could see the design (I don't use actual muffin liners very often so I was excited to do something a little different today). I got that idea from Muffin Tin Mom. :) Oh, Ashlyn ate most of her lunch, so that's always good.

Want to see what others did this week? Head on over to Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Monday - Christmas Trees

I was so excited to find out that the next three weeks of Muffin Tin Monday, the theme is going to be the holidays! We've been majorly in the Christmas spirit around here (which I know will only grow when hubby comes back from school) so I knew this would be so much fun! Ashlyn has been absolutely obsessed with Christmas trees so I decided to focus on that this week.

Ashlyn had a Reese's peanut butter tree (which, as always, was taken out of the tin before I gave it to her to make sure she ate the rest of her meal first), a peanut butter and jelly Christmas tree, tree-shaped cheese, and some crackers. Nothing too creative, but when she started eating, all of a sudden she just cried out "TREES!" :) She ate everything except one or two bites of sandwich.

Sunday was also Walt Disney's birthday, and since we had our muffin tin meal on Sunday, I made sure to include a little hidden Mickey on the Christmas tree sandwich.

Now to start brainstorming on what to do next week... But for now, head on over to Muffin Tin Mom to see what others did this week!

Muffin Tin Monday - Thanksgiving

It's Muffin Tin Monday!


This week's theme is Thanksgiving. Yay! I prefer to do our Muffin Tin Meal on Sundays, but I wanted to include my turkey cookies (which I had intended to make on Saturday) and didn't get them done until Sunday. AND we were going to a friend's house for dinner so a dinner tin wasn't possible. :) But that's okay... we had a lunch tin today!


Ashlyn had a cornucopia made of biscuit and filled with turkey and provolone cheese, apple slices, blueberry Craisins, and a turkey cookie! I wanted to make the cornucopia out of croissants, but the NEX was completely out (they were out of a lot of things this close to Thanksgiving). Can I just say that making the cornucopia with a biscuit is much harder than I was picturing it would have been with the croissants? Maybe I just didn't know what I was doing. ;)

Check out Muffin Tin Mom to see what others did this week!

Muffin Tin Monday - No Theme

It's Muffin Tin Monday again! This week's theme is the Food Pyramid/Nutrition, and I had a slight idea of what I wanted to do, but I kinda went my own direction this week. I didn't really follow a theme at all. I just put Ashlyn's food in a cute, buggy tin.


Ashlyn had (starting from the top and going clockwise around the tin) broccoli, ranch dressing to dip, half of a turkey and provolone sandwich on sourdough, strawberries, the other half of the turkey and provolone sandwich.

Ashlyn didn't eat much, but she seemed to enjoy it. She has tried strawberries before and didn't like them, so we tried again. Hubby put a tiny sprinkling of sugar on them to help with any tartness, so I'm not sure if she liked them because of that or she has just developed a taste for them now. I'll break some more out for snack today or tomorrow and see how she likes them. :)

To see what others did this week, head on over to Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Monday - Tea Party

It's that time again!


This week there was no theme for MTM. I knew for awhile that the next no theme week I wanted to do a tea party. Well, I felt a little uninspired by the time I got around to doing it (yet again I wasn't able to do it on Sunday like we like to do, so she had lunch in a muffin tin today) so I did just a quick little meal.


Ashlyn had apple hearts, tea pot turkey and cheese sandwich, and Babybel cheese with a flower cut out. She really enjoyed it and even nibbled on the Babybel cheese! She hasn't really liked it before (maybe she ate some of it in her pumpkin tin, but not much), but I figured I might as well try it out since she's starting to really like cheese now. She used to not like any cheese at all. Weird kid, I know. :)

Head on over to Muffin Tin Mom to see what others came up with this week!

Muffin Tin Monday - Halloween

It's MTM! Yay!


This week is the Halloween theme and I've been looking forward to it for a long time now! But, unfortunately, all three of us have been sick this weekend so I didn't do the tin I really wanted to do. :( Oh well, I was still able to throw a little something together. Ashlyn doesn't have much of an appetite when she's sick (like her Mama) so it was very simple.


She had a witch-shaped piece of toast, some chicken noodle soup with princess shapes (she's going to be Cinderella for Halloween), and a special treat... a pumpkin cake pop! Not the best cake pop (it had fallen off the stick and my food safe marker was dying on me) but she loved the little surprise. :)

Muffin Tin Monday - Pumpkins

Things have been crazy around here for awhile, but I'm happy to be getting back into Muffin Tin Monday!


I've missed it and I think Ashlyn's gotten to the time for her where she will have even more fun with all the themes and just switching things up. I am very happy that I'm able to jump back in with Pumpkin week! :)


Ashlyn had some pumpkin-shaped Reeses peanut butter cups (which honestly I didn't really realize how big they were until I put them in so she ended up just having one), a pumpkin-shaped tuna sandwich, and some crackers and Babybel cheese. I didn't have mini pumpkin cutters or I would have probably cut some cheese in shapes, but since I don't I just tried carving the Babybel into jack-o-lanterns. It didn't come out perfectly, but it at least resembles one! ;)

Muffin Tin Monday - ABC's

Themes are back for Muffin Tin Mondays! This week it is the ABC's. I did a simple snack tin for Ashlyn.

Apples, Bananas, and (dried) Cherries. She loves fruit and we have recently found out she likes dried fruit as well, like Craisins and dried pineapple. I really wanted to get fresh cherries, but the NEX didn't have any. It turns out she doesn't like dried cherries. Oh well, I'll try a few more times just in case.

To see what others did, check out Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Monday - Swap Package

Hello there! I was so excited to make a meal using the things I got in my Muffin Tin Swap package! I have used a lot of it since I received it, making rice animals for Ashlyn, using the sandwich cutter, etc. Today, though, I decided to make her a simple breakfast tin.

I could have arranged everything better and made it cuter, but my baby girl was not shy in letting me know she was hungry!!! Ashlyn had half a doughnut, banana, and apples. She loves bananas and apples and ate them before even touching the doughnut. I was able to use one of the Bento boxes I received, an adorable food pick, silicone cup, and a vegetable cutter to cut the apples. :) I'm extra motivated now to make cute lunches or snacks for Ashlyn more than just once a week!

To see what others did this week, head on over to Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Swap!

I got my package yesterday from my Muffin Tin Swap partner! And I just have to say... I got HOOKED UP!!! My swap partner was my good friend Jamie at Momma's Playground. I was so excited to learn she was my partner!

Anyway, my "wish list" was Bento stuff. I didn't have anything Bento but love seeing other Bento lunches and wanted to do Bento lunches, too! (I'm sure I said Bento enough here... Bento...) This is what Jamie sent me:

WOW! I just love everything! I would post pictures of each individual thing, but that would be a long post. :) So here are a few.

Look at these super cute princess cookie cutters! Jamie totally had Ashlyn in mind when she saw these. :)

I thought these liners were the cutest things ever! I almost don't want to use them. :)

I love these picks, too. So cute!

There were also two Bento boxes, more picks, dividers, cutters, and rice molds. I used one of the rice molds last night, actually! We decided to have rice as a last minute side dish with dinner and I made a rice bunny for Ashlyn. She's not eating much right now because she's teething so she didn't eat it, but she still thought it was cool! I can't wait to use everything! I'm going to be doing an extra special Bento MTM this week! :) Thank you so much, Jamie!

Muffin Tin Monday - Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We usually do our Muffin Tin Meal on Sundays and I always set it to post for Monday morning, but this weekend has been very busy and we ended up actually doing MTM on Monday! We had a going away party for some friends on Saturday and all day Sunday we were getting everything together for Aaron's birthday party! Tomorrow is his actual birthday so today's MTM theme is Happy Birthday, Daddy! He's gone at work right now (he has a VERY busy week this week) but we're definitely thinking about him. ♥

Ashlyn had some leftovers from the party. We got some "party platters" from Subway so she had part of a sub, some macaroni salad, and part of a red velvet cupcake. She really enjoyed it all. Especially, the cupcake, of course. But she really liked the sub. I'm not surprised, though, because she did yesterday, too.

Kinda off topic, but I've been so proud of Ashlyn the past few days! Well, I'm always proud of her, but lately she's been saying "please" and "thank you" without having to be prompted!

To see what others have put together for MTM this week, go over and visit Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Monday - Week in Review

I am really excited to have finally gotten back into Muffin Tin Monday! I honestly started feeling that everything was just chaotic and I couldn't get a hold of anything. Especially housework. Our house never got filthy or anything, but I would always panic when I would find out someone was coming over. But a couple of websites I was looking at (FlyLady and Couponing To Disney) inspired me to start off small and I'm already feeling so much more in control of not just the housework, but life in general! It's been fabulous! Couponing to Disney has inspired me in other ways, too, but that's a different story. :) So anyway, it has helped me feel more excited about MTM again.


This week we made our own theme... The Week in Review!! Sure, you could call them leftovers, but what's the fun in that? ;)


So Ashlyn had macaroni and cheese, popcorn chicken with ranch for dipping, and pretzel sticks with chocolate for dipping. The chocolate isn't melted in the picture because I wanted to melt it right before she ate it. I also always put the dessert part in different cups so I can put it aside and make sure she eats the healthier stuff first. The macaroni and cheese was just random from earlier in the week and the popcorn chicken and pretzel sticks were from our Sword in the Stone movie night! I've recently made a site dedicated to my Disney obsession to Disney and you can see our The Sword in the Stone movie night there!

To see the wonderful tins others made this week, check out Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Monday - Oceans and Ponds

It's time for another Muffin Tin Monday!! It is a "No Theme" week, but I decided to do my own theme. This week we did Oceans and Ponds (sounded better than Bodies of Water or something that incorporated both shrimp and ponds that I had in mind). :D

Ashlyn had popcorn shrimp, carrot reeds around a ranch dressing pond, fish eggs (cut up grapes), and goldfish!

I took out the goldfish crackers before giving her the tin because I wanted her to actually eat her healthier stuff. She never really had grapes before and didn't particularly care for them. We found out recently that she likes shrimp, but she only took a couple of bites. She ate all those carrots, though, and was really light on the ranch. She just munched away like a little bunny! Then, of course, she gobbled up the fish crackers, but that wasn't really even a question. :)

To see what other creative people did with their tins this week, visit Muffin Tin Mom!!

Also, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!

Muffin Tin Monday - Seeds, Plants, and Flowers

It's Muffin Tin Monday! This week is another part of the Springtime mini-series. This installment is all about Seeds, Plants, and Flowers!

I made a peanut butter and jelly flower with a mini marshmallow center (inspiration here), a pastrami, turkey, and cheese flower (inspiration here), Rice Krispies "seeds," extra flower cheese, and broccoli "trees." The broccoli had some cheese on it so maybe we can say the "trees" are bathed in "sunshine?" lol

Ashlyn didn't eat everything, but I was very proud that she tried everything!

To see what creative tins other people made, head on over to Muffin Tin Mom!

Muffin Tin Monday - Birds and Nests

I hope you are all nice and rested and ready for a new week! We didn't really do a whole lot this weekend, but it ended up being wonderful. A nice, relaxing weekend where we just spent time having fun together as a family. :) All three of us had colds during the week and were starting to feel so much better this weekend, so it was really nice. And what better way to start the new week than with...


MUFFIN TIN MONDAY!!

This week starts a spring mini-series and this week is all about birds and nests.


Ashlyn had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (that is supposed to be a bird... obviously I haven't bought cookie cutters yet), a rice krispie treat nest, and strawberries to act as little eggs (though I put the extra slices in their own cup). This is only the second time she's tried strawberries. She tried a couple of bites, but wasn't really digging them. She didn't hate them, though. I think she just needs to get used to the tartness of them so we'll be giving her bites every couple days or so.

Now, next week's theme is going to be a difficult one for me, but hopefully I'll think of something fun. We have finally decided that our next movie night is going to be Pocahontas, so I'll be in planning mode this week anyway.

To see what others came up with for this week's MTM theme, check out Muffin Tin Mom!