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Excited to share with you that Muffin Tin Mom's Kawaii Cute Kitty Sandwich was featured on Must Have Cute. Click the link below to see more cute stuff.

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I get asked often enough from my kids (okay all the time) to make a muffin tin lunch, snack, dessert, or dinner. If I am making something, it's always "Can we have it in a muffin tin?" I love that they get excited about having food served this unique way. Here was today's lunch:

Spring time has officially sprung and we are celebrating with these adorable baby chick feet muffin cups in rainbow colors. Ours are from Ross Stores (An inexpensive place to find super cute Muffin Tin Meal accessories). The Orange one reminds me of the movie Ponyo. :)



I was unable to find these exact ones online (they may have been discontinued), but I did find ones similar in red on Amazon and the vegetable cutters I used to cut the flowers out of the apples:


How are you celebrating Spring?

Happy Monday! If it's Monday, then it's Muffin Tin Monday around here. Muffin Tin Mom is proud to be the host of MTM. We are going strong at almost 3 years! This week, I'd like to showcase some of my favorite personal Muffin Tin Meals:

We usually don't pack sliced apples in our school lunches for the simple reason that apples, when sliced and exposed to air, turn an unsightly shade of brown. That has changed since we tried one of the many apple-slice-saving ideas out there - soaking them in ginger ale for 10 minutes (I also hear any lemon-lime soda will also work).

This technique is also fantastic for packing shaped apple slices in your bento and easy lunchboxes. Best thing about it? Apples still taste like apples!

Sources:
The Make Your Own Zone
WikiHow

What kinds of tips have you heard about for keeping apple slices from turning brown?

My kids love Lunchables. I think for the very same reason they love Muffin Tin Meals. Cute little compartments for little food. But, I die a slow death every time I purchase one, because lets face it, "processed" doesn't even begin to describe what's in "cheese food product".

So when Muffin Tin Girl wanted a Lunchable for a snack yesterday, using our Easy Lunchbox, I was able to create a DIY version at home. However, for the homemade version to pass off as the real thing, I knew I would have to present the bread, cheese and meat creatively by cutting it into circles and lining up the deli meat on food picks.

Worked wonderfully! And I was able to control the quality and quantity of the food in her homemade Lunchable. Something this mom likes very much.

**Update: If any of you clicked the link above and got an affiliate signup screen-I am soooo sorry! I have updated it to the correct non-affiliate link!

What's not to love about pancakes? I mean seriously. And pancakes made into adorable bunnies perfect for spring? Yes, please! Jenni Price of Jenni Price Illustration graciously accepted my invitation to guest post here at Muffin Tin Mom. Her mad pancake art skillz will blow your mind. I hope you enjoy this simple step by step bunny pancakes tutorial as much as I do!


Bunny pancakes are perfect for spring and are super fun for your kids!


This recipe makes about three bunny pancakes depending on the size that you make them. The bunnies in the photo are sized around 4”x5 ½.


Supplies

• Griddle or large skillet
• Pam Cooking Spray
• Large mixing bowl
• Water
• Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix (the just add water mix)
• Electric mixer
• Two Condiment Squirt Bottles (can be found at Walmart)
• Red Food Coloring
• Paper Towels
• Spatula
• Spoons for mixing
• Candy (chocolate chips, red M&Ms)
• Measuring Cup

You had better taste the candy to make sure it's good!


Get out your large bowl and mix with a spoon 1 cup plus 1-2 Tablespoons of pancake batter with ¾ cup of water. You want your batter thick enough to “draw” with but not too much where it wont squeeze out of the squirt bottle. Grab your electric mixer and stir until it's well blended. If you have too many lumps, they will clog up your squirt bottle.

Pour 1/3 cup of batter slowly into one of the condiment squirt bottles. This will be your white color. Put 7 drops of red food coloring into the remaining batter (there should be about 2/3 cup left) and stir with a spoon until the batter is pink.


Pour the pink batter slowly into the other squirt bottle. Make sure and have paper towels handy to clean up any drips.

Spray your griddle with cooking spray but do not turn it on yet.


Step One: Draw a circle with the pink batter.
Step Two: Draw bunny ears with the pink batter.
Step Three: Using the white batter, draw the inside of the ears and the mouth area.


Step Four: Turn on your griddle to the lowest setting (between 200-225 degrees) and let the outlines cook. Wait until they seemed puffed up before continuing. These cooked outlines keep the batter from spreading out so that the shape stays in place.
Step Five: Fill in the bunny with the pink batter as shown in the photo.
Step Six: Using the white batter now, fill in the remaining outlines as shown in the photo. Wait to flip the bunny until the batter is bubbly and looks mostly cooked.


Decorate your bunny pancakes with chocolate chip eyes and M&M's for little noses. You can let your kids have fun with this part. They might even want to try different candy colors for noses or raisins for eyes.


Bunny pancakes are super fun when served at a tea party!

St. Patrick's Day is almost upon us and serving your growing child green foods are a healthy and fantastic way to celebrate the popular Spring holiday. And maybe, just maybe those of you who have little ones who won't touch anything green will find a new green food they are willing to try!

Who needs the Sunday Paper with links like these?

The Farm Chicks: Miniature Donut Cupcakes. Eeeeep! So fun!

Recipe911(via FLickr): Adorably awesome teddy bear dinner rolls. How fun would it be to dress up tonight's dinner with these?

Epicute: This Rainbow popsicle {photo credit, above} is epically adorable and perfect for St. Patrick's Day, Springtime, or anytime!

To make a "cute kitty" sandwich, you will need a fruit leather strip and a Peanut Butter and Jelly "Uncrustable" (I made mine at home using my Pampered Chef Cut-N-Seal, but a cookie cutter does a decent job).

Make your uncrustable.


Cut out eyes, nose, mouth, ears and whiskers from the fruit leather with an Bento Animal Cutter Set


Apply to sandwich and enjoy with heart shaped apple and cheese bites.





No kittens were harmed in the making of this lunch.

• Two (or more) slices of bread
• Rolling Pin
• Circle Cutter (cookie or otherwise)
• Peanut Butter
• Jam or Jelly
• Table Fork
• Optional:
• Cut-n-Seal pastry cutter by Pampered Chef

Step 1: Using your rolling pin, roll each slice of bread flat.


Step 2: Depending on the size of your cutter, place a small dollop of PB and J on one slice and cover with the other (below you will see I had room for two).


Step 3: Using the circle cutter, gently cut out a circle.


Step 4: Pinch around the edges of your sandwich, and using the table fork, make little divots in the edges.



Tips: 
-less is more when it comes to the PB and J
-freeze them individually for a quick "on the go" lunch option.






*This is an original tutorial, however, google will show you there are a lot of the people with my same idea.  My favorite other option is Infarrantly Creative. I love how she shows you how to make seasoned croutons with the scraps of bread!