MTM July 15, 2013 - Summer Breakfast

MTM July 15, 2013 Summer Breakfast

Sometimes I'm just in the mood to change things up a bit and I make muffin tin Monday a breakfast rather than a lunch. It has to do with what's in the house and what I feel creative with and plays to the whole its Muffin tin Monday not muffin tin lunch so I can serve it anytime on Monday.

This was the last Muffin Tin Monday with the big kids ( A and H) and I wanted to honor their with us during their summer vacation.


Top left to right:

Sun - Cheesy scrambled eggs with sun ray cheese points
Flowers - Thick apple slices shaped like flowers
Sun flower- Blueberries topped with Mandarin orange slices with another blueberry in the center.


Bottom Left to Right:

Butterflies - buttered toast butterflies
S for Summer - Double slices of crispy bacon (totally moldable when its just out of the microwave)
watermelon slice- Key lime yogurt for the rind, Strawberry yogurt for the pink part of the melon and a few chocolate chip seeds.

MTM July.8, 2013 Ocean Adventures

Muffin Tin Monday- Ocean adventures

One of the things I miss most about California and Virginia is the ocean. This muffin tin monday I chose a underwater theme. 

Top Left to Right

Fish food - candy coated sunflower seeds

Cheese fish - provolone and american cheese fish swimming over bacon waves

Fish Poop - grapes and blue berries

Bottom Left to right:

Kelp bed - sugar snap peas

Octopus - Philly cheese-steak sandwich with veggie straw legs and face painted with food color gel. 

Coral Reef-  diced mango, watermelon and cantaloupe

MTM July 1 2013 - Patriotic

This MTM was a patriotic theme for the Fourth of July which was later in the week.

Top Row left to right:

Blue Berries and Banana slices (to represent the white stars in the blue background of the flag)
American Cheese Stars
Cinnamon Tortilla Star Chips

Bottom Row left to right:

Patriotic Stars Pasta Salad: Tiny Blue star pasta (add food coloring to the water when you cook the pasta), with diced apples and Red Bell Pepper mixed with Mayo, Salt and Pepper.

Turkey Sandwich Star - Turkey sandwich cut with a star press and cut in half to fit

Red and "White" Veggie straws: I chose the red and nutral color veggie straws to symbolize the red and white stripes on the flag.


The kids first question was: "Where is the game board? that goes with this one?" I had to explain that only the MTM's that fall on a game day get a puzzle board but that they all would have a different theme.

MTM June 24 2013 - a Puzzle Lunch

This is the sheet the kids were given with their muffin tin meals for their first experience sharing Muffin Tin Monday with little S and I.

This is the Muffin Tin Meal they received:

As their first Muffin Tin Monday fell on game day with Sarrina (me) they had to look at their muffin tin, add in the ingredients of their lunch into the puzzle and solve for the answer. They had more trouble with this than I imagined they would. The ingredients went into the puzzle in the order they were in the muffin tin and I had even provided a list of all the items. With a lot of help they did finally complete their puzzles to reveal what/their meal spells.

For lunch in order they had:
Snap Peas
Cheese (string)
Nuts (almonds and hidden pumpkin seeds so as not to throw them off)
Cucumber
Pepperoni chips (Pepperoni that is cooked until crispy like a chip)
Tortilla (Quesadilla made with American cheese)

When you write these into the spaces provided on the puzzle sheet the boxes it looks like this:

The boxes in the middle spell little S's name: Spencer.


With this Muffin Tin Monday became a much bigger thing for not only the big kids who had never experienced it before but little S and I.

An introduction

A Dragon is a legendary creature with a wondrous spirit and mine is no exception.

My son was born during the year of the black water dragon in the Chinese Zodiac calender. The general characteristics of a Dragon Baby are alertness, high energy, and an enthusiasm to learn skills. They may be leaders from an early age while having a compassionate and friendly nature, making them a sociable and easy to integrate into any group. Water Dragon babies in particular will have a great and strong sense of self. During their development they will be able to find solutions easily and effortlessly and may develop a strong sense of will when they feel they are not being heard. So far he has been all of this and more. As a Dragon Mommy it is my privilege to guide, teach, and show him all the ways of the universe while trying to keep him grounded.

I learned a few things growing up that I am sharing with him like how to think outside the box and to be ok with not being normal. Our family motto really boiled down to " Why be normal? it only makes you average" and I plan on teaching him the same thing. I am instilling a love of books because if you can read you are never going to be lost, alone, without a vacation, a friend or an adventure. I taught myself growing up to make a game out of finding a outside the box solution to any situation that still plays within the rules. Life is all about playing within the rules to win the game - in school you play by the teachers rules to get an A; as a grown up you play within your bosses rules to get a raise or within the governments rules to not go to jail. Life for a creative and smart person can get pretty boring unless you challenge yourself to find a Rube Golberg like solution to any problem. (Rube Goldberg happened to be born on the 4th of July... I think we'll be making fireworks machines to celebrate each year.).

Just imagine the possibilities for a high energy, enthusiastic, compassionate and friendly leader who loves to learn... (yes, I am already saving for his college) and who will be able to find out of the box solutions to problems,  isn't afraid to go against normal, and has the charisma and charm to pull it off. I have a big job ahead of me good thing I love a challenge.