Insting Blogs

In this tin: Peanut Butter Roll up and broccoli "Tree", Orange, Apple and Fruit Leather "Monkey Face", "5 cheese cubes on food picks, Baby Carrot "Alligator Teeth", Banana "Monkey Food", Surprise: sprinkles inside little mini monkey face dressing containers. 

Hope you enjoy these links as much as I do!

This week's fabulous links:

I Can Teach My Child: A wonderful "new-to-me" early childhood education blog that is chalk full of ideas for activities and crafts for children from birth to 5 years. Some of my more recent favorites: Paper Plate Fish Net Craft and the Sand Art Number Cards The perfect duo for an ocean theme unit {image credit: Icanteachmychild.com}

Cupcakes Take The Cake: I am in love with these Hello Kitty Cupcakes with sparkly glitter hairbows. My 6 year old would faint other these beauties.

The Decorated Cookie: How to Draw on Food  this round up is so inspiring!

Delightful Distractions: How to cover a photo mat with fabric. Inexpensive solution for adding color and personality to any room in the house and would make a darling gift for the grandparents. So cute! Found via a favorite obsession blog of mine: Mod Podge Rocks

Wilton Wednesday came and went this week. But that doesn't mean I can share with you a little Wilton fondant and cookie cutter fun.

*Disclosure: Wilton  provided me with a bundle of fondant and cookie cutters to share with you for free. But that doesn't mean my thoughts aren't objective. If something sucks isn't good, I'll tell you. I'm cool like that. Fortunate for me and for you, Wilton's products don't suck.

It feels like just yesterday that my daughter, now 6 (and a half, she'd like you to know) was born. I remember being so tired that last trimester and for a brief few weeks I was laid up on bed rest. I had seen these grocery trucks driving by and heard about Vons.com and that you could order groceries online and have them delivered to your house. This sounded like the perfect option for me, as the thought of strolling down aisles of my local Vons grocery store for that week's sustinence seemd like a very daunting task at 8 months pregnant (I had cankles, people!)

I remember being so relieved when the man in the nice polo shirt showed up on my doorstep with arms full of groceries. I didn't have to set foot outside the house and I could rest my feet (erm, cankles) on a propped up pillow in peace.

As my daughter grew older and we added one more to make us a family of four, I looked forward to those lazy strolls down the aisles of my local grocery store, all by myself. I would pour over every item that slightly piqued my interest in hopes of prolonging my "alone time".

These days, I am thinking it would be nice to spend that time crafting, creating, spending time with Muffin Tin Dad or to catch up on blog reading.

So when I revisited Vons.com  recently (whose family of grocery stores include Vons, Safeway, Pavillions to find out if Vons.com serves your area visit the Vons.com FAQ page ) I was thrilled to see my old friend still there, ready to help me shop in the comfort of my own home (and my favorite black yoga pants).

Ordering your groceries online isn't difficult. In fact, Vons.com makes it easy with just a few clicks of the mouse.

I was able to set up an account (or in my case, re set up). Browse items by category or by aisle, shop any time day or night, schedule my groceries to be delivered as early as the next day (sometimes in less than 24 hrs) and pay for them all in a few simple steps.

Things I loved:

• Shop at anytime, day or night. Seriously. I completed my order at midnight and had it in my hands at 1pm the next day.
• Shopping by aisle. I could find items quickly, just like my local store 
• Free shipping on my first order, and delivery as low as $6.95
• Savings offered via the Vons Club Card are automatically included.
• Saves your purchase history for a simplified online shopping experience the next time around
• Order party platters from the Deli/Signature Cafe for your next birthday party, monday night football, or family get together and have it delivered right to your home!
• Have the choice of accepting other brands or sizes in case the one you chose is not available

In the future, I 'd love to see the ability to use gift cards.

You don't have to be on bed rest or be home bound to enjoy all the benefits that Vons.com has to offer. However, I think Vons.com would be perfect for:

• Expecting moms on bed rest
• Working Parents
• Stay-at-home parents with preschoolers and toddlers 
• Those without a car
• Senior Adults who are unable to go out
• Busy professionals
• Fantastic way to surprise a needy family with some much needed groceries

Would I shop Vons.com  again? Yes, absolutely.


The folks at Vons.com have graciously given me a promotional code to share with you: MUFFIN
Using the code MUFFIN at check out provides you with not only FREE SHIPPING but $7 off your first order of $50 at Vons.com

What about you? Would you use Home Grocery Delivery? Do grocers in your state offer something similar?

*Disclosure, I was given 2 Gift Cards in order to shop at Vons.com and share with you my experience. My opinions are my own and objective.

I would love for my kids to start using big kid cups. Here is my problem. Either the plastic cups are too light and tip over at the lightest touch or the adult sized glasses are too heavy and cumbersome.

Enter the large baby food jars that my sister-in-law left at our house this week. I decided to try them out as little kid-sized juice cups. They work great!

Other little jars that work: dried beef jars, old canning jars for jam, old glade candle jars

What works for you?

How are (did) you make the transition from sippy to big kid cup?

It's Monday and around here, that means It's Muffin Tin Monday. This week begins the re-installment of themed Muffin Tin Meals. Themes will be on a "two week on, one week off" basis and upcoming themes can always be found on my sidebar and I will update the facebook page. I had so many ideas brewing for this week - here's what I came up with...

The end of this week had us running around buying school supplies on sale, visiting friends and family before school starts and generally trying to ge things done around the house. How about you? Is Sunday, your "day of rest"? Well, around here instead of the Sunday Newspaper, we catch up on the inspiring, creative, educational, useful, and sometimes thought provoking links from around the web. 

I have really had fun exploring the wonderful products that Wilton has to offer. In this week's vlog, I talk about the back to school snacks, silicone muffin liners, and how to create a stash to make creating and assembling muffin tin meals a little easier. I'm still a vlogging newbie, so I hope you will bear with some of my more unflattering moments (like my bra strap showing).

What is a muffin tin meal, you ask? Simply stated, it's a meal served in a muffin tin. Over the last two years, moms have become creative with their offerings (myself included). In fact, beginning next week, we will be starting "themed" weeks. However, I want to be sure you know that there is no right or wrong way to make a muffin tin meal. As long as a meal, snack or dessert is served in a muffin tin (patty pan, muffin pan, cupcake tin, etc.), silicone muffin cups, paper muffin cups it is considered a muffin tin meal. 


Here's our muffin tin meal for today's Muffin Tin Monday. We opted for an afternoon snack this time around.

Happy Sunday to you all! I have collected some wonderful links this week-so I hope you enjoy them! And the paper this week? Well, I won't go into it too much....but promoting Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiched in French Toast as a "great option for school lunches" left me a little sad.

Katherine Marie Photography: LOVE her pirate "theme of the week" activities. She is such a wonderfully talented photographer and an equally creative mom. Her ideas are so inspiring!

Homemade By Jill: I can think of so many wonderful ways to use these adorable and free printable flash cards. a delightful piece of wall art or decoupaged onto a set of wood blocks, perhaps? How would you use them?

Kind Over Matter: And speaking of free printables, here's another inspiring free ABC printable perfect for birthday gifts, preschool wall art, and so much more.

Scholastic: 10 tips for transitioning from Summer to school. I love the tips about starting your school morning routine 2 weeks beforehand.

AlphaMom: If you follow Muffin Tin Meals on facebook, then you would have received a heads up on these colorful printable lunchbox notes and tags (photo above). A great way to encourage healthy eating and send them a little love during their school day.

[Img Credit: Alpha Mom]

I am introducing a new weekly feature here at Muffin Tin Mom. It's called "Wilton Wednesdays". I love Wilton's high quality and versatile products. I use a lot of them for MTM. For the next several weeks, I will feature one or more products and how you can use them for Muffin Tin Meals and Muffin Tin Monday. Be sure to check out the video. (I put on make up and did my hair and everything).




subscribers and those receiving by email, you'll have to click through to view the video.


*Disclosure: Wilton sent me a box full of goodies for free to share with you, my readers, and the opinions about these products are purely my own. This vlog series will not be a formal review, but rather a showcase of their products.

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday. The weekly blog link up here at Muffin Tin Mom where this community of moms and caregivers share the muffin tin meal they've made for their kids that week. Muffin Tin Mom is the official home of the Muffin Tin Meal. It's hard to believe that we have been doing this for over 2 years now and chances are, if you've seen MTM mentioned elsewhere in the online it's because of this little-blog-carnival-that-could and you, dear readers who I have loved connecting with, each and every step of the way. To read more about MTM origins, be sure to check out the FAQ page.

To celebrate, I wanted to share with you one of my most favorite reader submitted Muffin Tin Meals. It's from The Masked Mommy and after being seen here was featured on other notable blogs such as The Crafty Crow. This week I will be highlighting some more of my favorite themed muffin tin meal reader submissions.


We are also gearing up for themes beginning August 23rd. Don't forget that you will be able to find out what the current week's theme (or no theme) is by checking the top of my blog's side bar (If you are receiving this by feeburner or email, you'll have to click through. Themes are on a "two on, one off" basis.

Now, It's your turn. What did you make for Muffin Tin Monday? Won't you share it with us? Be sure to click on the blue "add your link" button and enter the url of your mtm blog post or online photo.

The family reunion ended today. It was a long, fun filled week!But, this mama is so tired. Here's a shot from one of the days at the beach. Even their backs are cute to me.

Good friends of ours had a cooking themed birthday party for their 5 year old daughter. And I asked her if I could share with you her "Make Your Own Grilled Flatbread Pizzas" that each of the kids made. Penny (that's my friend) included a variety of toppings both for little kids and for grown ups. Let me tell you, it was one of the tastiest pizzas I have had in awhile.

Here are the ingredients she offered:

• Large Pita Bread rounds
• Marinara/Pizza Sauce
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Pepperonis
• Olives
• Basil
• Sun Dried Tomatoes
• Crushed Pineapple

Each guest grabbed a pita, spread a little sauce on and then you could add whatever toppings you wanted.


Once assembled, They were placed on the grill to cook and covered for about 5-7 minutes (or until the cheese melted. The grill had been preheated to act almost like a pizza oven. It was the perfect activity for kids and grown-ups to do together.


If you make them, I would love for you to tell me how yours came out! I can see a whole smörgåsbord of of toppings like Alfredo sauce and grilled chicken, and so much more! Also, putting the toppings in a muffin tin might also make for a super fun Muffin Tin Monday!

A special thank you to Penny for letting me share her idea with all of you, I knew you would enjoy it as much as we did!

I try never to pull the "things are really busy at home" card with you all. But, *sigh* things are really busy at home! We have family in town for a reunion and I jumpd the gun promising a bunch of fun posts that need to wait a day or two...

so stick with me friends.