Muffin Tin Monday: green and beige

my lovely friend tamsin reminded me that i have not done a muffin tin monday post in forever.
so i was inspired to get at it again.
here was today's masterpiece:

Top row: sugar snap peas, lucky charms, french fries
Bottom row: banana, baby cucumber, popcorn chicken {or as Noah calls them, baby chicken popcorn}

I did take out the lucky charms before giving this to him because I knew he would eat them all first and then not eat anything else. And it worked. He ate everything! And was quite pleased with his reward of lucky charms afterward.
Seriously, some days I feel like I can't get enough food into him. Other days he eats next to nothing!

Three year olds. Honestly.

Muffin Tin Monday: on the road

For some reason it's become increasingly difficult to be on top of this whole "Muffin Tin Monday" thing, but today I managed to remember, despite the fact that we were at my Mom's house today {waiting for Jamie to come home! Woo!}.
So I present to you, Muffin Tin Monday: on the road!

Top row: 3 "sticks" of cheddar cheese {which Noah dipped in the strawberry yogurt and ate. Um...okay.}, multigrain cheerios, some Ikea letter cookies, a Clementine orange

Bottom row: a few nuts and raisins, strawberry yogurt, some raspberries, dried fruit

By the end of the day most of this had disappeared, but due to the fact that this was an 8 muffin tin, instead of our usual 6 and that Noah {and I} just finished a rather nasty bout of a stomach bug, I give him credit for eating what he did. {A double dairy dip? No thanks.}

Muffin Tin Monday for the win!

After a couple weeks of missing it, we're back at it again; Muffin Tin Monday!

Meals {it really doesn't matter which one these days} have been a bit of a battle lately with Noah. Even today we had a minor meltdown, but overall, I count this as a success because ALL the food got eaten. By Noah.

So we have:
Top row: slices of green pepper, half a banana {the source of the meltdown}, "sticks" of cucumbers

Bottom row: vanilla yogurt {his favourite part of this particular Muffin Tin Monday}, leftover sausage, chunks of granola bar.

I think the reason Muffin Tin Monday works so well is because it's small amounts of food. The food is all separated from each other. And the food is usually presented in a fun/cute way. Usually that spells success for any toddler/preschooler {heck, I'd like someone to make ME a muffin tin meal!}. 

So we keep on!

Muffin Tin Monday: on Tuesday

Whoops. This is a bit late.

We did Muffin Tin Tuesday as Monday we were at a friend's house for lunch.

Top row: yogurt, red grapes, juice box

Bottom row: red peppers, left over taco rice casserole and swiss cheese crackers (bring on the sodium!)

He ate it all - I just didn't let him have his juice until he had eaten all the casserole and peppers (he's a chugger - he'll just chug his ENTIRE juice box all in one go if I let him).

I love Muffin Tin Mondays...even if it happens on Tuesdays.

Muffin Tin Monday: birthday edition

Noah turned three today at 10:19am! I did a birthday version of Muffin Tin Monday {okay, so I just put a candle in the grapes} and it was fun!

Top row: 4 meatballs {too spicy for Noah apparently} leftover from yesterday's festivities, red grapes {with candle}, yogurt covered pretzels.

Bottom row: rice krispie traffic light {leftover from the party yesterday}, motorcycle shaped peanut butter toast, cheddar cheese squares.

Of course the beauty of Muffin Tin Monday is that kids can eat their food in whatever order they choose. So one guess as to which thing Noah ate first?
If you guessed the rice krispie traffic light, you were right.

His grapes, a couple pieces of cheese and meatballs are still sitting there, but that will be a good afternoon snack for him should he hunger.

Happy Birthday, sweet boy.

Muffin Tin Monday: a family affair

Last week was Thanksgiving so we were busy heaping mounds of mashed potatoes, turkey and stuffing onto our plates instead of using a muffin tin.

So here's this week's Muffin Tin Monday:

Top row: red grapes, Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal Squares, Nectarine Yogurt

Bottom: Strawberry Applesauce, Leaf-shaped grilled cheese sandwich, mixed nuts

Noah was thrilled about the applesauce AND the yogurt and ate them both up quickly. He wasn't so much into the grilled cheese (he turned it over and saw that I had minorly burnt it - oops) but he liked that it was a leaf and Jamie scarfed it down when he got home for lunch anyway (Sure Daddy, you can have my leaf! - definitely a little too eager to share).

Jude ate Noah's grapes and I ate the nuts tonight (okay, so I threw in a few milk chocolate chips) so overall, Noah enjoyed the experience, just not everything I gave him. (He had totally had 2 bowls of oatmeal squares about 30 minutes before lunch so in hindsight, this totally makes sense. He just wasn't hungry.)

So there you have it! Muffin Tin Monday - the highlight in an otherwise draggy Monday.

Muffin Tin Monday: he eats it all!

I love muffin tin Mondays. Noah really does, too! He literally eats so much better on these days (why I don't make them every day...I don't know. Perhaps to hold on to the novelty and not burn my creative juices dry.) and eats EVERYTHING. It's unreal!

So here's this week's muffin tin Monday lunch:

Top row: airplane-shaped slices of apple (cool, eh?), cashews and pieces of a fruit twist (100% fruit!) and cracker Bear paws - or as Noah likes to call them, "Baby Bear Paws".

Bottom row: chopped pieces of a pepperette (still a favourite and one of the first things he goes for!), sticks of cheddar cheese and halved slices of green pepper.

Another successful muffin tin Monday. (I might even start doing a theme!)

Muffin Tin Monday: a good thing

Muffin tin Monday was another HUGE success! I'm loving being creative with food - and lunch on top of it {I usually struggle in the lunch department}.

And Noah is loving it, too! He ate everything plus extra meat {apparently Jamie isn't the only one in this house who loves pepperettes} and a Clementine orange.

Top row: cheerios, banana on a stick {genius idea that I stole from another lunch who stole it from someone else - genius. Pure genius.}, cashews {which he loved and kept saying, "mmm, crunchy."}.

Bottom: yogurt, pumpkin shaped sandwich {cream cheese with banana & strawberry jam - raisins for eyes, small piece of licorice for mouth}, pepperettes.

Also, Noah will eat pretty much anything if it's in a fun shape. It's a mind-blowing discovery and I'm loving it because A) now he'll eat the food I give him - or at worst, at least give it a try and B) I can try out things like liverwurst {that's right. I am giving my kids liverwurst and they are actually liking it! Hey, I survived, so can they.} and he'll eat it right up! Amazing!

So, Muffin Tin Monday will continue to happen for as long as I can remember to do it! It's really a win-win. I get to be creative and Noah actually eats a good lunch!

*scoots off to do a little victory jig*

Muffin Tin Mondays: the beginning

I did it! The first of (hopefully) many Muffin Tin Mondays in the Strickland household!

I got the idea from this blog and instantly loved it (in fact, I'd like someone to make ME a muffin tin lunch!). And I had a feeling it would bode well with Noah's eating habits as well.

So today I tried it out and despite Noah being confused about where the actual muffins were, I would say it was a success! He ate everything except the sunflower seeds - granted he tried them, but just didn't finish them.

I'm encouraged and motivated to keep at this! I'm not doing themes like the original idea for muffin tin Monday but maybe sometime along the road I will.

Items: Triscuit triangles and a chunk of old cheddar cheese (so good!), strawberry applesauce, 4 animal cookies, 2 chicken nuggets and ketchup and some sunflower seeds.