Valentines and Muffin Tins!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I had a great day with my two little Valentines, and of course with my big Valentine, as well :)

Island Boy has been getting really into holidays lately, so he was ALL about Valentines day this year! He loved all the hearts, red and pink, and expressions of love. He also thoroughly enjoyed receiving several cards in the mail from relatives, and also a gift from us.

We had our Valentine's Day muffin tin meal on Friday, and today we had pink, heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast.

Top Row, L-R: Strawberries, plain yogurt with Valentine sprinkles, strawberries
Bottom Row: Three mango slices cut into heart shapes

Because it was a breakfast muffin tin this week, I went fairly simple. It was still a smashing success, as not a single morsel of anything was left (of course, Island Boy adores fruit as well as dairy products of all sorts, and if you add sprinkles, he's in heaven).

And, just to show them, here are our pancakes from this morning. It was a really basic recipe with some red/pink food coloring gel mixed in. And we had strawberry syrup, too. Both kids gobbled them up!

Muffin Tin Monday

Today, my "valentine" is Muffin Tin Monday. Mostly, because today is Monday. And because Island Boy does adore his muffin tin lunches!

There is no theme this week, but we had a good time doing some Valentine-y things (though expect far more Valentines next week, and lots of red!)

Here's our lunch:

 

Top Row, L-R: Frozen blueberries, plain yogurt, chocolate chips
Bottom Row, L-R: Heart-shaped bread with apple butter, frozen blueberries,
open-faced heart-shaped turkey and cheese sandwiches.

Either I really hit on something this week, or he was starving at lunch time, but Island Boy ate every. Last. Bite. There wasn't a crumb of anything left in that muffin tin! I knew for sure the blueberries (which he actually dipped in the yogurt, much to my surprise) would be a hit, as he loves berries of any sort. He actually seems to enjoy them even more when they're frozen. I was also fairly certain he'd like the chocolate chips, as well as the apple butter bread. The plain yogurt and the sandwiches were more of a gamble on my part, but he ate it all, with no problems and no prodding!

The Return of Muffin Tin Meals!

We have been really, REALLY busy with family in town these past few weeks. We have been sightseeing all around the Island (more on that later this week), and enjoying some relaxation time with other adults around to play with (and spoil) the Island Kids.

That said, this week's Muffin Tin Meal theme is "favorite foods." Normally, macaroni and cheese would have been first on the list, but the kids had that last night, as Island Dad and I were out for a date.

Top Row: Apple circles with cinnamon, grilled cheese sandwiches in the shape of a "J" and stars, chocolate pudding with star-shaped sprinkles.
Bottom Row: Grilled cheese, "Number 4" egg (hard-boiled), raisins

The name of the egg: We were visiting friends last winter when Island Boy was about 23 months old and just starting to recognize numbers, but not yet letters. These friends had a stash of hard-boiled eggs stored in their refrigerator for breakfasts. The hard-boiled eggs were marked, of course, with an "H" on the shell. Island Boy mistook the "H" for a number 4, and has thus been referring to them as "number 4 eggs" ever since. We haven't really bothered to correct him....

At any rate, he ate about half of everything, going (surprisingly) for the apple slices over the pudding as his first item. He liked it all, just was not in an eating-type mood today. The adults in the house have all been passing around a cold, and I suspect Island Boy may be dealing with the cold, as well. Looking forward to getting back into the swing of Muffin Tin Mondays again!

Thanksgiving week

Here we are at Muffin Tin Monday yet again.
This week's theme was Thanksgiving. Since we have not yet had our turkey dinner, I did my best to re-create the experience for Island Boy.

Top Row (l-r): Turkey-shaped turkey and stuffing sandwich (with turkey pick), carrot coins, tater tots
Bottom Row (l-r): Turkey-shaped swiss cheese, corn (with corn pick), turkey-shaped cranberry sauce

The turkey and stuffing sandwich is probably not quite what you're thinking. To creat this, I took two slices of bread, buttered them on one side, and then placed in the toaster oven for 3 minutes. I then sprinkled the buttered sides with a bit of ground sage, crushed rosemary, and the tiniest hint of onion powder. Then I put them back in the toaster oven for another two minutes. Placing the buttered sides on the inside of the sandwich, I put 3-4 slices of turkey lunch meat in between, then cut into the turkey shape. I can tell you, having shared the remainders of the sandwich, that it was nothing short of amazing, and I will be re-creating this very very soon.

As for Island Boy, he barely touched the sandwich. He might have eaten the head off of it. He went straight for the cranberry sauce and the cheese. Then he ate the corn. Surprisingly, the tater tots went pretty much untouched, too. And by now you can probably guess what happened to the carrots, haha. I'm still trying, though.

Muffin Tins and Nutrition

Here we are at yet another Muffin Tin Monday! This week's theme was the Food Pyramid.

The theme actually provided me with a good opportunity to consider what exactly Island Boy eats on a regular basis, what he needs more of, and where he's lacking altogether. He really does pretty well with grains, dairy, and fruits. He will devour fruit before just about anything else. He also loves all things carbohydrate based. Luckily for him, we tend to stick mainly with whole grains, so he's doing very well there. It is only on rare occasions (and not in our house that I can recall) that he's had just plain old white bread. He does alright with dairy, too. He loves his milk, and yogurt is a favorite of his, as well.

Proteins are a bit more of a challenge for him. He'll eat them, he just would rather eat the bread and fruit parts of meals first. But I've found that if we cut out his afternoon snack, he will devour literally just about anything we put in front of him for dinner. He INHALED some chicken enchiladas I made the other night. Faster than he's eaten anything. Ever.

Where we really hurt are vegetables. And I don't just mean Island Boy. The whole Island Family (well, maybe not Island Girl, as she will eat anything she can get to her mouth with her own two hands these days) needs to work on eating more vegetables. It's not that Island Dad and I don't like vegetables....I just somehow tend to forget to work them into my meal plan. I'm trying, though. I really am. But this is why Island Boy doesn't much care for them. He also claims to prefer them "not crunchy." This is the complete and utter opposite of me. With the exceptions of broccoli and green beans, I always prefer the raw veggies over cooked ones.

On to the meal!

Top Row (l-r): Raspberries, Heart- and Star-shaped toasted turkey and cheese sandwiches, steamed carrots
Bottom row (l-r): Plain yogurt with red sprinkles, cucumbers in ranch dip, watermelon.

Island Boy, enjoying his lunch (diving into the sandwiches).

He immediately dove into the "your-gurt," as he calls it. This surprised me, since it was, after all, plain yogurt. But the sprinkles were just enough, and he loved it! Raspberries were second. He loved the sandwiches as well. It did surprise me that he saved the watermelon for fourth. The carrots and cucumber, despite MUCH coaxing and assurance that neither were crunchy, remained uneaten. *sigh* He'll learn. Right?

Another great thing is that Island Girl has hit 8 months now, and as such, can have protein. Unfortunately, we discovered (after MTM day) that dairy might not so much agree with her. So we're back to holding off on cheese for now. But she did love the turkey and cheese sandwich bits, as well as the steamed carrot bites. So at least one of my kids loves the carrots!

Island Girl enjoying the "extras" from Island Boy's lunch.

Muffin Tin Monday

We are back in the swing of Muffin Tin Meals once again!

This week's was a relative success, although, yet again, Island Boy shocked and amazed me with what he wanted to eat vs. did not want to eat.

Top Row (l-r): Grapes, apple "circles," and apple juice
Bottom Row (l-r): truck-shaped sun butter and jelly sandwich,
 pumpkin-chocolate cupcake, grapes

Island Boy, initially very excited.

Island Boy was initially quite excited about his lunch. Especially the cupcake. But, much to my amazement, he quickly devoured most of the grapes, about half of the apples, and licked only the frosting off of the cupcake. He took maybe 4 bites of the sandwich. He did finish the juice box quickly, though. Not really sure what exactly was up with this, other than he hasn't been a big lunch-eater lately. But it's still good (to me) that he's excited about healthy food, and, in fact, picks the healthy stuff first!

The Best Laid Plans...

Island Dad returns on Wednesday (our time)!!! I have been doing everything possible to try and kill time between now and then.

Tonight, I had a spouses club function to attend/help at. I got everything set up for a baby sitter (two, actually. They're sisters). Island Boy was BEYOND excited.

I even went so far as to put together a muffin tin meal for him to eat while the sitters were here. 

Top, l-r: star-shaped sun butter and jelly sandwich, pretzels, and sugar-free chocolate pudding (a.k.a. "chocolate dessert").

Bottom, l-r: grapes, J-shaped sun butter and jelly sandwich (J being for, um, Island Boy), and more grapes. All but the pudding cup served in Elmo muffin cups. Island Boy is a GIANT fan of the furry red monster.

I was stoked for how well it turned out. Then the sitters' mom (a friend of mine) called. She had actually forgotten to tell them about the sitting job, and then their teacher sent them home with a huge assignment.  So she was calling to offer to keep the kids at their house, so she and her husband (and their younger children) could help out. So....I packed up the Island Kids, threw the sandwiches, 1/2 of the grapes, and the pudding into a Tupperware toddler to-go plate (I did leave the sandwiches and grapes in their Elmo cups), and rushed the kids into the car.

The sitters' mom reported later that not only did Island Boy LOVE his meal, but her own kids were all really impressed, as well. Apparently the J-shaped sandwich was the icing on the cake for everyone.

But at least he got to enjoy his meal!

Kids and Muffin Tin Meals

We've been busy again! Once Island Dad is back (10 days!!) I should be able to update a bit more. Mostly, we've just been up to the same old routine, but that takes a fair amount of our time!

I got brave and took both kids to the beach again yesterday. The beach we went to was one that we've only been to once before. It's less protected than the one we've been frequenting lately, and so has more waves. Island Boy, who usually is part fish, wanted absolutely nothing at all to do with the waves, and was perfectly content to play in the sand the whole time! We had fun, he learned how to bury feet, and Island Girl spent some time chewing on a sand toy (that did not have any sand in it).

Island Girl has been making developments in all areas lately. She's going great guns with self-feeding. She still loses a fair amount of it, but her pincer grasp is getting better daily. She is not crawling on her hands yet, but is pushing up on them more and more. She is babbling a lot more instead of just shrieking at the top of her lungs. And, thankfully, the pitch of the babbling has come down some lately, too. It was getting pretty ear-splitting.

On to our muffin tin meal for the week! Lately, the meals have been Sunday night dinner, instead of Monday lunch. Between playgroup and other errands on Mondays, lunch time doesn't end up happening at home. When Island Boy saw that he was having a muffin tin meal again tonight, he declared "yummy yummy yummy!!!" And was jumping up and down in the kitchen :D

This week's theme was pumpkins. I did jack-o-lanterns, to make it a bit more obvious to a two-year-old.

Top row, left to right: Jack-o-lantern corn muffin, jack-o-lantern macaroni and cheese, and jack-o-lantern peach yogurt. On the muffins and Macaroni, the eyes and nose are red and yellow bell peppers. On the yogurt, the nose and eyes are raspberry pieces, and the mouth is a slice of strawberry.

Here's a close-up of the corn muffins. I just used Jiffy mix, and turned it orange with food coloring. I should have accounted for the batter rising when I placed the faces on, but on the whole they turned out fine.

Island Boy LOVED the corn muffins (in cement mixer mini-muffin cups, which he adored) and didn't even notice the peppers baked into those. He immediately picked the peppers off of the macaroni and cheese. He also gobbled up the yogurt and berries. I actually thought the macaroni would be the most popular part, but he proved me wrong when he ate only one tin of that, and then asked for several more servings of strawberries and raspberries, while he kind of picked at the remaining bits of corn muffin.

But since he didn't seem to mind the peppers baked into the muffins, I think I will probably resort to "vegetable espionage" in the future, as well, much as I would prefer he eat them by themselves. Lately, they usually get picked out or around.

It's like a Three Ring Circus Around Here

Or maybe it's just Island Boy's muffin tin meal this week. The theme for the week was "circus." As with previous themes, I was initially at a loss for what to do. Then, my package of new goodies from Wilton arrived, and, slowly, so did the ideas.

Top, left to right: Chocolate chip banana bread "Circus Train," circus animal crackers and yogurt-covered raisins (which Island Boy, oddly, insisted were "nuts") and a jicama and fruit clown. On the bottom, in addition to another jicama and fruit clown, we have two cheese, cracker, and olive lions.

The obvious hit were the animal crackers. He also loved the "nuts." But he did not disappoint me, either. The big surprise for me were the strawberries (clowns' hats, smiles, and noses). Being that they have visible seeds, he's often lukewarm on strawberries, but I keep trying (because, come on, how can you NOT like strawberries if you're not allergic to them?!) Tonight, he gobbled them right down, and then asked for more when he had finished everything else! He also inhaled the oranges (clowns' hair).

The jicama came about as the result of Island Boy's current book obsession, The ABC's of Fruits and Vegetables, by Steve Charney and David Goldbeck (2007). The book talks about "J" being for "sweet jicama." So, I thought we'd give it a try. Unsurprisingly, Island Boy was not a huge fan (something that crunches? The nerve of me to offer!), but he did at least take one bite. I also ate a jicama clown (made one for myself), and eaten in combination with the other fruit, it was pretty great! Fairly non-offensive, but with just enough non-sweet flavor to offset the fruit.

He was surprisingly so-so about the cheese, but I think because he was too interested in the fruit and the crackers. He did eat it, though. I was also surprised about his only moderate reaction toward the banana bread (which is homemade, and, if I say so, pretty darn good!), but again...in his world, fresh-ish fruit will beat out banana bread any day, which is awesome! In addition to all but the one bite of jicama that he took, he also left the olives on the lions completely on the side.

My goal for next week will be to find a way to get more vegetables in. That is an area in which all of the Island Family is majorly lacking lately!

Pancake Sunday Meets the Muffin Tin Meal

Once again, it's been a busy few days! We met with a friend for dinner on Thursday, then the same friend plus another for lunch on Friday. We attempted the beach both Friday and Saturday, but to no avail, as it rained at some point during our attempt each day. Such is life during rainy season! 

This week is shaping up to be busy, as well, meeting more friends for lunch, Island Girl's 6-month check-up, playgroup, and a few other things that I'm sure will come up at some point. I will try to be better about updating this week, if nothing else, to share Island Girl's growth during the last 2 months!

Moving on to the food!

There was no theme for Muffin Tin Monday this week, so I opted to create my own, rather than just throw together a random MTM. My original plan was to do breakfast for dinner. At some point, that morphed into a sort of autumn-themed muffin tin. As this is my first year ever without fall, I'm really missing the smell of burning leaves, the crisp edge to the air, and, of course, apple cider (if they have it in our commissary, I have yet to see it).

The four corner spots are pumpkin pancakes (recipe to follow). The top middle is apple circles, which are a repeat from last week's muffin tin "shapes" lunch. Island Boy was so in love with them that he has had them at least once a day every day since that meal. Fine by me! The lower middle spot is maple syrup for dipping. Even to my surprise, he came away from it surprisingly un-sticky. 

He LOVED the pancakes....those were pretty well devoured before I even actually got to sit down at the table. Of course he loved the apples, too.

Pumpkin Pancake Recipe (courtesy of Island Nanny)

Ingredients

2 c. Bisquick mix

2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 1/2 c. evaporated milk

1 tsp. allspice

1/2 c. solid pack canned pumpkin

2 tsp. oil

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

Combine dry ingredients. Add evaporated milk, pumpkin, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Cook on a pre-heated griddle. For muffin tin-sized pancakes, pour by small spoonfuls onto griddle. For larger pancakes, pour by 1/4 cupfuls onto the griddle.

For either, size, after pouring, cook until edges look dry and bubbles are forming. Flip, and cook a minute or two longer, until golden brown.

This time around, I served the pancakes with maple syrup. However, for next time, I am toying with serving them with a maple-cream cheese whip. I'll report back on that one.

A Shapely Muffin Tin Meal (and an Update on us)!

I can't technically call it a Muffin Tin Monday, since it's Tuesday here :-D

We've been keeping ourselves pretty well occupied in Island Dad's absence. Saturday found us attempting to go to the beach, while Sunday we managed to actually make it to church (hence, no pancake Sunday this week, but watch for my version this coming week!)

Island Boy has not napped at all since Island Dad left. But I think I'm alright with that. He's been going to bed by 7:30 very consistently, which tends not to happen when Island Dad is home. So Island Boy is actually getting twelve hours of sleep a night, and then we have what I like to call "Enforced Quiet Time" for awhile in the afternoons. It gives he and I both a much needed break from each other, and allows him to learn new ways to entertain himself. Of course, a lot of the ways he had been learning were somewhat counterproductive to keeping the house clean, so many things have since been removed from his room ;-)

Island Girl is starting to army crawl her own way now! It's more a combination of army crawling/thrusting herself forward with her knees/rolling when necessary. Whatever works. The kid is speedier than you'd expect! Also, she has a tooth now! She's basically going to he a whole new baby by the time Island Dad returns.

On to the muffin tin meal!! If you're new to my blog or to muffin tin meals, check out the original muffin tin meal site. I aspire to Muffin Tin Mom's level of creativity. She's awesome!

This week's theme was shapes. So, we have star- and heart-shaped turkey and Swiss cheese sandwiches, apple circles, and kiwi triangles. Island Boy adored the shaped sandwiches! Even more amazing in the fact that he doesn't usually *love* sandwiches with meat (at least not homemade ones). He also loved the apple circles. In fact, if you look closely, the lower tin of apples has only one slice. He kept walking over and grabbing them out of the tin before I had even served it! I finally had to persuade him to give me just one so I could take a picture :-D Kiwi is still fairly new to him. He does not love eating anything with seeds (or much that is crunchy, for that matter). So he ate about two and a half pieces before stopping and saying "I can't. Too many black seeds. I don't like seeds." Still, I see two and a half pieces as a decent success!

As a side note, with the remaining half of the apple, I hollowed out the core, stuffed a couple extra slices of Swiss cheese into the hollow area, sprinkled an ever-so-tiny amount of brown sugar on top, and then popped it into the microwave for one minute. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

We've all Gone Mobile Today, it Seems.

This week's theme for muffin tin monday was "movies." After much thought and consideration, I opted for Cars as our theme.

Top, left to right: Grilled Tow Mater and cheese sandwich (in roughly the shape of a truck), pretzel "dip sticks" in "oil" (blackberry jelly), and a watermelon car (Lightning McQueen). Bottom is the same things, different configuration. Island Boy was completely in love with the pretzels and jelly, lukewarm about the watermelon (he likes it, but is not a fan of the seeds), and not fond of the sandwiches at all. Eh...you win some, you lose some, and that was a risk I took by including tomatoes, which are not one of his favorites. And, of course, that is his Cars cup you see in the background!

In her own tribute to all things mobile, Island Girl started doing something that approximates crawling today! We hosted play group here this morning, and she was down on the floor (before there were TOO many kids) playing, too. Someone dropped a brightly colored football just out of her reach, and she wanted it. Very badly. So she crunched her knees up underneath her tummy, got up on her forearms (not up on hands just yet), and thrust herself forward, several times, until she actually managed to get the football! Go Island Girl, go!!!!!

Toddler Science and a Muffin Tin Meal

This morning, there was a rather unfortunate odor coming from our garbage disposal. I ran the disposal, and then treated the smell with baking soda and vinegar. Island Nanny and I took this as a prime opportunity to introduce Island Boy to the baking soda and vinegar "volcano." We first showed him what happened when both were poured down the drain. Then I moved the experiment to a measuring glass (placed in a baking pan for protection of my counters...). He thought that was pretty cool! Then, we threw in some tiny pieces of spaghetti and made "dancing spaghetti," which was one of my favorites as a child. The carbonation bubbles catch on the pasta, causing it to float to the top of the liquid, where the bubbles pop. The spaghetti sinks back to the bottom of the liquid, and the cycle repeats indefinitely. Island Boy also thought this was pretty interesting :-D

On to our muffin tin meal for the week! Island Nanny was pretty excited to give it a try, so we did. There was no theme this week, which made it a bit easier to put together.

On the top, left to right, we have 1/4 of a sun butter (a legume an tree-nut free peanut butter substitute) and jelly sandwich, cheddar cheese cubes, and another 1/4 of the sandwich. On the bottom, between the other two quarters of the sandwich, we have red grapes. I kid not, he ate all of it except for one part of the sandwich. He was just too full by then!

Next week's MTM theme is Movies....I'm debating a couple of different choices, so stay tuned to see what I decide on ;)

Muffin Tin Monday

For lunch yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and decided to try a muffin tin lunch. I've been following the blog for awhile, but haven't had time to try it, especially since we often wind up meeting Island Dad for lunch on base.

His work obligations did not allow that yesterday, so we were home for lunch.

Here is what I came up with!

Island Boy dug in before I could get  good picture of the entire plate (also, for now, I don't have 6-cup muffin tins, so just the cups will have to do!)

Clockwise from Island Boy's hand, we have half a grilled cheese sandwich, rice (which had been wrapped in nori, which he promptly removed and ate), rice still in the nori, the other half of the sandwich, more nori-wrapped rice, and raisins in the center.

Island Boy was a HUGE fan, and I liked the variety it allowed me to provide without it seeming overwhelming to him. We'll definitely be doing more of these in the future!