Lego Party Food Cups and Muffin Tin Monday

What do you think of these Lego Food Cups? Perfect for a party, birthday, or an anytime treat. They were sort a last minute creation after the kids and I were playing Legos today. My brain works like that – inspiration on the fly! I thought it would be fun to add cupcake liners and snacks to the inside.

Not your typical Muffin Tin Meal, I know. But they do have muffin cups inside. I gathered up a bunch of lego bricks and set to building. I went through one or two rebuilds. It was so rewarding to fill them with snacks!

No DIY shot would be complete without a kitten photo bomb! Our new kitten likes to be right where the action is.Here you can see the cups were actually hallow on the bottom. Had I had enough Legos to create a full base, I would have done so. But the frame created the perfect effect I think.

Now it’s your turn!

Muffin Tin Meal with Mini Flower Sandwiches

In this muffin tin: Flower peanut butter and honey sandwiches, orange slices, banana and acai chips from Funky Monkey Snacks, carrots and snap peas.

I love that Muffin Tin Meals force me to make a variety of foods the focus and the sandwich becomes less of an entrée and more of a side. I am also blessed that my children love many raw veggies like snap peas.

The Stainless Steel Flower Vegetable Cutters and bento food picks are available on Amazon.
6 cup Muffin Tin is from Wilton

Muffin Tin Monday: Fun In The Sun

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday! This is the weekly Monday blog link up that celebrates the muffin tin meal. Read below on how you can join in and to find out more, be sure to visit the FAQ page.

Here’s what we had this week:




In this “fun in the sun” muffin tin lunch: Applesauce “sand” (I know it’s a stretch) with a fancy umbrella, orange slice “sun”, sunny sandwich, carrot sticks, yogurt with rainbow sprinkles, and some sugar snap peas

We were invited to Knott’s Soak City (courtesy of Knott’s) this weekend to check out all the fun waterslides and fun there was to be had. And boy did we have fun! The best part of the day was conquering that pink and yellow monster of a waterslide called the “pacific spin”. They have 3 locations around Southern California and plenty to do for all ages. So whether you are a local or planning a visit to Southern California this summer, you will want to check them out.



Here are some other “fun in the sun” food ideas:
Sharks on the beach snack
"Under The Sea" Themed Muffin Tin Meal
Dolphin themed Muffin Tin Meal
Rainbow themed muffin tin meal
Now It’s your turn!

Summer Muffin Tin Snack Ideas

 

Summer is the perfect time of year for fun snacks and treats. If you’ve been on the fence about muffin tin meals, I encourage you to give it a try this summer.

In this snack: Granola and peanut butter mashed together, carrots, banana slices and watermelon flowers

Some fun Muffin Tin Snack ideas:

DIY Berry Smoothie Bar: Load muffin tins with an assortment of berries, fruit and add ins like flaxseed or shhh…spinach!

Travel Theme: Going on a family vacation? Create a themed meal around your destination spot.

Book club: Are your kids in a reading program over the summer? Create a literature inspired muffin tin meal from a favorite book

Make Your Own Pizzas: start with english muffins or pita bread and pizza sauce. Load a muffin tin with all sorts of different toppings. Toast in the oven for DIY pizza fun!

Planning a trip to the local watering hole? Create beach/ocean/lake themed muffin tin meal!

What are you planning fun for this summer?

Muffin Tin Monday

Happy Muffin Tin Monday! I am in post- Mother’s Day bliss.I had a really nice Mother’s Day, how about you?

We have been sampling all kinds of nut butters this week. So I thought it would be fun to do a fun and healthy “dips and spreads” muffin tin snack this week.




In this muffin tin: apple slices, Justin’s Almond Butter, carrot sticks, granola, yogurt (with sprinkles of course) and fresh strawberries


Now it’s your turn!

3 Free Mother’s Day Circle Punch Printables

 

Food picks and cupcake toppers make great additions to muffin tin meals. Here are 3 free Mother’s Day printable for circle punch die cuts from 3 wonderful blogs:

Tom Kat Studio has adorable pink and yellow free printables for Mother’s Day

Tulip & Turnip shares this Mother’s Day Printable in Red and Blue (pictured above).

Fresh Linen shares this free Mother’s Day printable circle tags

**You’ll need a 2 inch circle punch or a multi-sized circle cutter to cut out these circles.

**You’ll need tape, glue and toothpicks to make them into food picks or cupcake toppers.

Quick, easy and fun!

Cupcake Liner Butterfly Kid’s Craft

Spring is a great time for crafting and fun with the kids. There are so many fun themes to explore. Plants, flowers, baby animals, bunnies, chicks and of course butterflies! Butterfly crafts for kids also are great teaching tools. Butterflies are a symbol of renewal, rebirth and overcoming obstacles. And besides that, they’re pretty!

Here’s how to make a muffin cupcake liner butterfly craft:

You’ll need:

• Clothespin peg
• 2 cupcake liners
• chenille pipe cleaner
• black fine tip pen
• craft glue
• glitter glue (optional)

Steps:

1. Fold each cupcake liner in half.
2. Glue each cupcake liner to the side of the clothespin peg, flattening the liner in the center so it adheres to the clothespin
3. Cut a snippet of the chenille pipe cleaner and fold it in half to make antennae.
4. Glue antennae to the top of the peg (as shown in the photo)
5. Add glitter glue to the round edge of the cupcake liner
6. Draw on a face, if desired.

*The muffin liners in the photo butterfly craft photo above are from Michael's Art

Make an afternoon of it with this butterfly kid’s lunch or snack

Muffin Tin Monday

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday! This is the almost world famous blog link up that showcases reader submitted Muffin Tin Meals from across the web. Muffin Tin Monday is what started the “muffin tin lunch” craze a few years ago. It’s the sister to the bento lunch. Each cupcake tin well can hold a perfect child size portion and it great for introducing new foods and food textures to curious tummies. Peer reviewed research has shown that kids are drawn to products with liscenced characters on them and to foods that are presented attractively. They, like adults, eat with their eyes.

To read more about muffin tin meals and lunches, be sure to visit the Muffin Tin Meals FAQ page, and click over to see more Muffin Tin Meals and if you ever have a question, I am always here to help in any way!




In this muffin tin meal: baked rosemary chicken leftovers, plain romaine salad greens, apple slices, red grapes, vanilla yogurt with sprinkles, orange slices


***I will be hosting a Muffin Tin Meals and Lunches Kit Giveaway with everything you could want to make muffin tin meals for your kids. Leave me a comment below with anything you would like to see in the giveaway.***


Now it's your turn. Here's the low down:

Peanut Butter Yogurt Honey Fruit Dip

I often take to twitter or facebook when I need quick savvy advice from my readers and friends. Friday was no exception. I asked twitter if Nutella was healthy. And the response was a collective “No, but it’s yummy!” I wanted to find an alternative to peanut butter since Muffin Tin Boy doesn’t like it (what’s not to love?). Leah Seghedie of @bookieboo and mamavation.com offered up this suggestion on twitter as a possible healthier alternative:


Mix some peanut butter with yogurt and add a drizzle of honey for a creamy fruit dip.

Brilliant and delicious and healthy! (We used natural peanut butter, organic yogurt, and local pure honey). Although Muffin Tin Boy still didn’t like it, I LOVED it. Maybe you and your kids will too.

Another twitter friend suggested almond butter. I think that’s next up on the grocery list. I have been meaning to try Justin’s Nut Butters. I hear they are delicious.



These cute ceramic flower measuring cups were a part of the early Mother’s Day gift from RedEnvelope.com I could just die from their cuteness.