Muffin Tin Monday - Creating Non-Picky Eaters

So as of recently 'Muffin Tin Monday' is what we've been doing for lunch around here each Monday afternoon.  Have you heard of this?  Well, just Google 'Muffin Tin Monday' and you will find a million and one pictures of this idea. 

Basically you just use a muffin tin, load it up with a variety of different foods and serve the muffin tin as your child's plate for lunch (or dinner).  Pretty easy, right?

Here's what was in our muffin tin this past week:

Starting from the top left, moving to the right:

1. Woven Wheat Crackers
2. Peas
3. Sliced Banana
4. Tortilla Chips
5. Carrots
6. Shredded Cheese
7. Ham
8. Cherrios
9. Marshmallows
10. Turkey
11. Raisins
12. Clementines

This might look like a lot of food, but would you believe my four year old ate almost every single thing out of her muffin tin?  Yep, my girls have serious appetites......kind of like their mama.  You could certainly do this with a 6-cup muffin tin or use a mini-muffin tin as well.

The girls thought it was so fun to try all of these different foods, though most of them are ones they have had before.  Luckily my kids have pretty diverse tastes, but Matilda can be a little picky at times.  This offers kids a fun way to try some new things without the added pressure of it being a large portion of their meal.  Not to mention the fact that it's a good way for parents to incorporate lots of different food groups in their kids diets.  And really, who wouldn't want to eat their lunch out of a muffin tin?

For the most part I post pretty pictures of my children here on the blog, but my girls are so darn silly when I pull out the camera, so I thought I would share some 'out-takes' during this last Muffin Tin Monday.  Here are the girls (and no, I did not tell them to make any of these faces):

 'Savannah, I can't believe it's Muffin Tin Monday!'

 Matilda's Pirate Face

 'Oh my, I LOVE Muffin Tin Monday'

Probably my favorite with Savannah's silly face poking into the picture.

Do you do Muffin Tin Monday around your house? 

 If so, what are some little finger foods your kiddos love to eat?

And if you haven't tried Muffin Tin Monday, give it a whirl.......I bet your kids will love it!

Happy Monday!

Apple, Ham and Cheese Dinner Cups

My mom (Grandma Jane) came to stay with us for a week after baby Cass was born.  Whenever she comes after I have a baby she brings tons of recipes and does major cooking.  She completely stocked our freezer with easy-to-prepare meals and little shortcuts (like already cooked shredded chicken) to make my life easier.

Well, while mom did tons of cooking while she was here, there were a couple recipes she never got around to making, so I decided to try my hand at this one after she left - Apple, Ham, and Cheese Dinner Cups.  Mom forgot the recipe, so I lucked out and found it in our kitchen after she left.  She had already bought all the ingredients, so it was super-easy for me to whip up!  I called them dinner "cupcakes" to entice my girls to give them a try.

Apple, Ham and Cheese Dinner Cups

Ingredients:

1 can Pillsbury Grands Jr. Golden Layers Biscuits (10 count)

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup apricot preserves

3/4 cup chopped ham

3/4 cup chopped apple

3/4 cup cheddar or jack cheese

2 tablespoons chopped green onions

Substitution: I used left over pork loin (cubed) instead of ham in mine, but chopped, cooked bacon would be delicious as well!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pull out your regular sized muffin pan and spray with cooking spray.  Open biscuit can and stretch out each biscuit to about 2.5"-3" wide.  Place biscuit into muffin tray, pressing it so it's like a little cup that you can use to put your filling inside.

Mix sour cream, mustard and preserves together in a bowl.  Once mixed, add your meat, apple, cheese and green onions.  Divide the mixture among the 10 muffin cups.  Bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden brown.  I suggest using the middle rack of your oven.  

Serve two per plate along with a nice side salad.

Enjoy!

Summer Pasta Salad

I love a good pasta salad, don't you?  I've tried tons of different recipes and I don't know if I've ever met a pasta salad that I didn't really like.  For Matilda's "Tea for 2" party I wanted to do an updated version of a traditional classic.  This is my version of Summer Pasta Salad with fresh herbs, sun dried tomatoes, peas, black olives and asparagus.

Serves 15-20
Ingredients:
2 lbs. tri-color rotini pasta
1 cup zesty Italian dressing
1 cup Caesar dressing
1/2 jar of sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
10 fresh chives
Handful of fresh parsley
1/2 cup fresh basil
2 small cans sliced black olives
Half bag of frozen peas, thawed (run under hot water)
10 cooked asparagus spears, cut into 1" pieces

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Once cooking is complete, rinse thoroughly under cold water to remove starch and set aside.

While pasta is cooking, make your dressing for the pasta salad.  Combine both dressings, sun dried tomatoes (with some of the olive oil), and all the fresh herbs.  Place in a blender and puree until dressing comes together.  Feel free to add any additional fresh herbs that your family loves.

Pour dressing into a large mixing bowl.  Combine pasta, olives, peas, asparagus, and dressing until pasta is fully coated.  Place in refrigerator to cool.  Remove from refrigerator 1 hour prior to serving and stir.  Can be made up to two days ahead of time.

 Garnish with fresh parsley or any other herbs.  We just happen to have a lot of parsley in our garden this year so that's what I chose to use.  My Grandma Marge always taught us to never serve a dish without a garnish.  I think she would be proud.

This is a wonderful dish for entertaining because it can be made up to two days in advance and only continues to get better the longer it sits.  You can add any vegetables that are in season or that your family enjoys.  I think this would be amazing with some grilled zucchini or roasted bell peppers.  Just make the dressing and see what you happen to have on hand - you can't really go wrong!

Walnut Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Walnut Chicken Salad is another easy recipe with a few ingredients that is "oh so good."  I remember this recipe from late junior high and high school.  My mom and I used to be in National Charity League (NCL), which is a mother-daughter charity group, and every year we would have an annual tea.  Everyone would bring something to the tea, but there were specific recipes that were used each year and this Walnut Chicken Salad was a staple every single time.

I'm on kind of a bagel kick right now, but traditionally this is served as a tea sandwich.  Serve the chicken salad in between two pieces of white or wheat bread, cut off the crusts and cut into four triangles.  This is a great dish if you are hosting a lunch or wedding/baby shower.  It can be made up to a day in advance and just chill in the refrigerator.
 

Walnut Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

2 roasted chicken breasts (bone-in) or a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup good mayonnaise

Salt and pepper, to taste

Olive oil (for roasting chicken)

Directions:

Drizzle chicken with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.  Roast chicken breasts (bone-in) in the oven for 45 minutes at 400 degrees or until the juices run clear.  You can also use a store-bought rotisserie chicken for this dish and just remove the meat from the bone.

Once chicken is cooked through, remove the meat from the bone and discard the skin.  I find roasting the breasts with the bone-in gives the chicken a ton more flavor than just a regular chicken breast - it also keeps it moist.  Chop or shred the chicken breast.

Combine chicken breast meat, mayonnaise, walnuts and salt and pepper.  You do not want too much mayonnaise in this dish because it will over power the chicken, so just enough to keep it moist.  Add more if you think it needs it, but less is definitely more.  Taste to adjust for salt and pepper.  I like a lot of freshly cracked black pepper in my chicken salad.

Serve as a tea sandwich (described above) or spread on your favorite bread with some fresh romaine lettuce.

Add some fresh fruit and enjoy!

A Simple Lunch: Avocado Bread

Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest.  One of my all time favorite quick, yet satisfying lunches is avocado bread.  So simple, yet so incredibly delicious.

Ingredients:
1 Avocado
2 pieces Italian bread
Olive oil
Garlic Salt

Directions:

Cut avocado in half.  Remove the pit and scoop out the inside.  Place in a bowl.

With fork mash up avocado.  Sprinkle in a little garlic salt (to taste).  Mash again.

Toast good Italian bread.

Drizzle with olive oil.

Spread avocado on top of Italian bread.

If you're really hungry, make two pieces of avocado bread!

Enjoy!

Embroidered Reusable Snack Bag Tutorial

I have been wanting to make some reusable snack bags for my girls for about six months now.  Today I finally took the initiative and got some made (it's about time, right?).  I made these today partly out of necessity (we are out of plastic sandwich bags) and partly because we are taking a road trip down to Tennessee next week for me to do a show for "The Cottage Mama" and I just thought they would be great for the car ride.

There are about a gazillion tutorials on the internet for these reusable bags (there are some really great ideas out there).  But as it is with most things for me, I didn't find exactly what I was looking for.......so I made up my own version and now I'm happy to be able to share it with you.........

Supplies:
1 piece exterior fabric (8" x 13")
1 piece unbleached interior fabric (8" x 13") - I used Osnaburg cotton
Velcro (7")
Fabric scraps for embroidery
Water soluble fabric pen
Embroidery floss, needle and hoop
Sewing machine
Scissors
Thread
Iron

The embroidery on these snack bags is what I think makes them fun and unique.  You can use whatever words you like - I used "yummy", "delish", "snack" and "goodies". Take your water soluble pen and write your word onto your fabric (again, I used Osnaburg Cotton).  Embroider over the wording.  Take a damp cloth and remove any of the blue pen that still shows through.

Cut words into rectangle shape.

Take your interior fabric piece and pin velcro in place.  Pin 1/2" from the end and both sides.  I used osnaburg cotton for my interior fabric because I wanted to make sure that I used something that would be unbleached, natural and food-safe.  You can use muslin as well.  I just love the feel of osnaburg (and it's very inexpensive too).

Stitch your velcro in place on both sides.  Stitch as close the edge of the velcro as possible.

Fold your lining (interior) fabric in half (right-sides together).  Stitch down the right and left side, but leave a small opening on one side (see picture below) - 1/2" seam allowance.

I left a small opening on one of the sides - you will need this little opening later to turn things right side out.

Apply fusible interfacing to all of your embroidered words (according to package directions).  Make your words as big or as small as you like.  Mine were all a little different, but I like it this way because it has a more handmade feel.  Iron each word to the exterior fabric.

Use a zig-zag stitch around the exterior of each word rectangle.  You can use a straight stitch if you prefer, but just be aware that you will have some fraying on the edges (but some people like that look).

Fold exterior fabric in half (right sides together) and stitch down the right and left side - 1/2" seam allowance.  Clip corners.  Turn right side out.

Once turned right side out press with an iron.

Turn exterior fabric inside out again.  Place interior fabric inside exterior fabric with velcro facing the right side of the exterior fabric.

Line up the raw edges and pin in place.

Stitch interior and exterior fabrics together by stitching around the top of the snack bag - 1/2" seam allowance.

Now this is why we needed that little opening.  Pull exterior fabric through the opening to turn the whole snack bag right side out.

To close the opening in the lining, stitch down the side of the interior lining.  I stitched the other side too just to make them both the same.

Add top-stitching around the top of the snack bag in coordinating thread.

And there you have it - snack bags for the little ones in your life.  Or just for you (my husband said he even liked them!).

I think it would be fun to embroider kids names on the bags or other fun words that having meaning to your family.

I couldn't decide between "goodies" or "munchies" but Savannah said she liked "goodies" better.

You can adjust the measurements of this tutorial and make these bags as big or as small as you like.

These snack bags came together really quickly by doing them assembly line style.  So I recommend doing it that way if you plan on making these.

 Perfect for dry snack foods like Cheerios!

Cottage Mama's Note:  These snack bags are completely washable, but are not waterproof.  I know oil cloth is a very tempting fabric to use for these bags, but please avoid using that product as it is not considered food-safe.