Muffin Tin Monday - Puppy Love!


Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday! This is the blog link up that showcased reader submitted Muffin Tin Meals.
I made a "puppy love" Muffin Tin Meal This week. And my daughter told me after the umpteenth time of giving her cucumbers, she likes them!! That's a Muffin Tin Win!



In This Tin: Grilled Chicken, Cucumbers, Bananas, Carrot Sticks, Strawberry Yogurt with a wee bit of sprinkles and diced strawberries. A Puppy PB and J Sandwich, and Cheese Hearts


A fun puppy inspired craft: Recycled Yogurt Cup Felt Animals




Also from our friends at No Time For Flashcards: Pretend Pet Clinic

Now it's your turn! Did you make a Muffin Tin Meal? I would love to see it!

Strawberries As Big As A Hand!

Strawberries as big as a hand! While not organic they are so tasty! 

Muffin Tin Monday - Valentines Lunch

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday the Muffin Tin Meal Blog Link Up. Share your muffin tin meal blog post below! For more info on Muffin Tin Meals, see the FAQ page

 I am in a post-kid-birthday-party coma, 
but we still managed a little muffin tin lunch with a Valentine's twist.

 In this heart valentines themed muffin tin lunch (from the top left): Heart mini sandwiches, red grapes, heart shaped melon, red strawberries, heart stamped Babybel cheese wheel, chocolate dipped cupcake with heart sprinkles.

The larger Stainless Steel Rice Mold cutter I used for the mini sandwiches, the smaller one is a Wilton fondant cutter and the silicone heart shaped muffin tin is also made by Wilton, bought at Michael's (with a coupon ;) )

A healthier spin: omit the cupcake and add snap peas:

For a fun preschool toddler friendly craft to go along with today's muffin tin meal, try my conversation heart tracing craft from Blissfully Domestic

Now it's your turn.


Slow Cooker Recipe Pot Roast in Beer


Ingredients:
  • (1) 2-3 lb. Sirloin Tip Pot Roast
  • (1) 12 oz bottle of Hefeweizen beer (I chose an imported Bavarian ale from Trader Joe's)
  • (1) package onion soup mix  (or can substitute with minced fresh garlic, salt and pepper, and minced fresh onion)
  • Salt and Pepper "to taste"
  • 1/4-1/2 cup all-purpose  flour

Directions:

Heat a shallow pan with oil on high. Get it piping hot.
Mix together the package of soup mix and 1 bottle of beer (Set aside)
Sprinkle a dash of pepper on the cut of meat and cover in flour
Sear each side of the roast in the pre-heated pan for 2 minutes or less.
Remove fro heat after 2 minutes and place in crockpot.
Pour Beer mixture over the meat in the crockpot.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
"Au Jus" can be saved for pouring over the meat or thickened with flour to make gravy

Serve the slow-cooked Pot Roast With Onion Roasted Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli

Happy Birthday MTG


Happy Birthday Muffin Tin Girl.

 I am so blessed to have you as a daughter.

You are creative and fun.

You are kind and caring.

You are such a good sister.

You are beautiful...

and I love to see you smile.

I love you, Mom


Raspberry Chipotle and Brie Cheese Baked in Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

I have vivid memories of crescent rolls growing up. If we didn't have them with every meal, we wanted to have them with every meal. So, when dreaming up a new recipe, I was inspired by my moms crescent chicken bundle recipe, a friend who brought raspberry chipotle sauce to a girl's night out, and my love affair with brie cheese. It's a match made in baked heaven.

Ingredients

  • 2 cans Pillsbury Original Crescent Rolls
  • 8oz raspberry chipotle sauce (found in the condiment aisle of your local grocer or you can make your own)
  • 1/2 pound brie cheese

Directions

  1. Unwrap 1 package of the dough and roll out the dough on an ungreased cookie sheet (For less mess, line baking sheet with parchment paper). 
  2. Separate the dough into 4 rectangles, pinching the middle where the perforated traingles meet.
  3. Place as little or as much brie and chipotle sauce as you want on two of the rectangles
  4. 4. Wrap and tuck the dough around the cheese.
  5. Repeat steps 1-4 with the second package of dough.
  6. Makes 8 "pockets"
  7. Bake as directed on the dough package, for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.
  8. Serve warm right out of the oven with apple and pear slices.
Tip: For bite sized servings, wrap small amounts of brie and raspberry chipotle sauce in the individual triangles.
Tip: For an added flavor boost, add chopped bacon.
The flavor is rich with a little chipotle kick and you just might want to eat it with a fork!
I am kind of excited to share this recipe with you in an oh-my-gosh-you-have-to-try-this kind of way and I hope you like it!

You can vote for my Creative Crescent Recipe and you'll be entered to win a $1,000 grocery gift card!
Find more quick and easy Pillsbury recipes at www.CreativeCrescents.com.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Pillsbury. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Contest Rules.

Muffin Tin Meal


In this tin:
Raspberries, carrots, blueberries, broccoli, hummus, 
organic whole milk strawberry yogurt with sprinkles


Muffin Tin Monday Rainbow Fruits and Vegetables


Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday! This is the official blog link up for Muffin Tin Meals and the link up that started the "muffin tin meal" craze that you see all over Pinterest, other blogs and such. There are over 150 Creative Food and Muffin Tin Meal ideas on the Muffin Tin Mom site!


I used a plate full of reversed muffin liners to make up this week's muffin tin lunch snack and included broccoli, blueberries, raspberries, celery, carrots and hummus in the center.

After sampling the delightful sweetness of last weeks homemade donuts, I knew it was time for a fresh fruit and vegetable platter. The kids added a new taste to their pallette this week. Hummus! I was so excited. It's a healthy alternative to ranch dressing and other dips and sauces.

We made a fingerprint rainbow craft to go along with our rainbow collection of fruits and veggies in a muffin tin this week. Simple and straightforward stamping fingerprints with paint in rainbow colors. And it seemed  perfect to cheer up this rainy weather we are having.


No Need For The Sunday Paper



(a little sneak peek of tomorrow's muffin tin meal)

The new year is ripe with hope, change, and opportunity to make healthier choices with what we and our kids eat. And after the donuts I made this week, I figure a little re-focus onto healthier choices is good. Not that I don't love the occasional sweet treat. :)

Here are this week's links:

Six Sisters' Stuff: 100 healthy snack ideas, perfect for those looking to make healthier choices and still keep the taste buds happy.

Copy Cat Cook: Make homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll Ups With Nothing but strawberries and cinnamon

Simple Organic: Real Food Changes that make a big impact (I was surprised by the "add fat to vegetables" one)

Homemade Donuts

Delectable and delicious. I got Muffin Tin Girl a Babycakes Mini Doughnut Makerfor Christmas. This week we have made over 4 dozen mini donuts in varying flavors, frostings and sizes. Seriously, someone need to stop us. I really hope there are donuts in heaven because they are so good!


This little baby makes 6 "donette" style mini donuts at a time and comes with the maker, mini cooling rack, sugar shaker, and a fork tool to remove the donuts. The included recipes make enough for 18-24 donuts.


 The included manual has a few recipes to get you started and they taste great! The recipes are essentially "from scratch" and you can make substitutions for gluten free and more. One of the best things about the maker is that the donuts are baked and not fried. So, if I am going to splurge on a treat like this for the kids, that's a bonus.

Muffin Tin Girl and I mixed everything together, but when it came time to pipe the dough in the maker, it was just too hot. So, I did that part. I guess you could say that's one of the only draw backs.


We made the sour cream donuts from the recipe in the accompanying booklet, covered them in a citrus glaze and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar.

Citrus Glaze:
Mix powdered sugar and just a bit of Orange Juice together until you get the desired consistency of a glaze (Like the glaze on a cinnamon roll) 
Roll the sour cream donuts in the glaze while still war and allow to set for 2 minutes.


These are the chocolate donuts witht he top half dipped in melted bakers chocolate and covered in sprinkles.

Tip: Babycakes recommends using a plastic bag to "pipe" the mix into the maker. In my humble opinion this is an eassential step.
Tip: They aren't going to taste like traditional donuts because they aren't fried, but MAN are they good


Disclosure: This post is not compensated. I did not recieve a free product. I just reeeeally love it and had to share the mass amounts of amzing donut's I am making!

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Muffin Tin Monday

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday! The weekly link up going strong since 2008 that is all about the Muffin Tin Meal. Whether you have a toddler, preschooler, or young child, serving food in a muffin tin is a great way to get them to try new foods, have fun during meal time and break up the lunchtime blahs. If your kids are in school, try muffin tins for snack time, dinner or dessert! 

We are kicking off 2012 with some Muffin Tin Lunch fun. 


 In this tin: organic puffed corn (from Fresh and Easy), organic tangelos, broccoli, a wee bit of ranch dressing, raspberries, and apple slices



Next week I will be starting to share crafts to go with your MTM's. For now, I will share this
***Muffin Cup Alert!*** Michaels has these cuties on sale for $1.50 per pack.




Now it's your turn!

Sort Legos in a Muffin Tin


Putting together those new Lego sets can sometimes be a challenge. Muffin Tin Boy received some pretty amazing Lego Ninjago sets for Christmas and the Legos seemed to be continually sprawled across  the middle of the family room as he was searching for each piece. Plus, I would inevitably step on a piece or three.

Enter my solution to keep the pieces easier to see and assemble and easy to put up and out of the way mid assembly. Sort them in a muffin tin (or cupcake pan if that's what you call it).


For the larger sets, we used two muffin tins.


Click here to see More uses for a muffin tin

Muffin Tin Monday

Happy Muffin Tin Monday and Happy New Year! We rang in the new year amongst friends and the last 2 days have been nothing short of a complete blessing. I hope your beginning of 2012 is a full of hope as mine is.
Muffin Tin Monday is the weekly blog carnival that celebrates the Muffin Tin Meal held here at Muffin Tin Mom. A Muffin Tin Meal is a meal served in a  muffin tin, usually for kids as a way to get them to eat healthier, break up the lunch time blahs and have fun with food. 

2011 was a year of awakening for our family's food choices. We now eat organically when possible and seek to eat as many fresh seasonal local foods as possible. We are on the hunt for stores and markets that carry fresh local produce and I hope 2012 brings the advent of more farm to table adventures.

Here's how we rung in the new year, Muffin Tin style:

Nitrate-free deli meat, tangelos from a friends yard, vanilla yogurt with sprinkles, cheese squares, raw broccoli, pears, hard boiled eggs and apple slices.

It's amazing how 19 sprinkles can jazz up yogurt!



Thank you for being part on an amazing year for this site. I am excited about some of the wonderful things on the horizon for MTM. Stay tuned for more interactive site features in 2012. I want to make MTM more of a resource for you and will be sharing crafts to go along with MTMs in the coming year.