Muffin Tin Mondays-the secret to a quiet(er) lunchtime

Ok, I do realize (now) that today is Tuesday but this afternoon I was slightly confused so I made Ace his muffin tin lunch anyways.  What is Muffin Tin Monday, you ask?  Well let me just tell you!  Muffin Tin Monday is every picky-eater Mom's dream!  Even if your child isn't a picky eater (Ace really isn't) it will get you a quiet lunchtime with no arguing about food being too hot, cold, smooshy or somehow otherwise imperfect.  

These have been around for awhile and we used to do them on random fast days for him (it's really helpful on lenten days) but I recently started doing them more consistently on Mondays after reading Sycamore Stirrings' blog on it.  She recently had a challenge for readers to do their muffin tin's to the theme of their favorite children's book.  You should see what some of these super-creative women came up with!

We were too late for the challenge but we did it anyway to Jan Brett's book, The Hat.  We simply *heart* anything Jan Brett, especially if it has Ace's favorite character Hedgie in it.  Her books are always so much fun!  I especially love The Mitten and will be talking about our favorite activity for that book once winter gets underway.  

I cut shapes with cookie cutters, we did little socks out of slice bread (with a stocking),  dogs out of cheese, little girls out of apples, and then I added some tomato slices, applesauce, sliced bananas and teddy grahams.  While the boys enjoyed munched, I read them the book.  It was quite fun!  

The possibilities are endless with these.  I personally prefer the 6 cup ones rather than the 12.   I put different fruits, veggies, yogurts, applesauces, crackers, cookies, etc in them.  I slice 'em and dice 'em into sticks, cubes or shapes and serve with a nice fruit smoothie, bottle of yoo-hoo (on "special" occasions) or a nice cold glass of milk.  Whatever you choose your little darling's are sure to enjoy!

Let me know if you try this and what you used!!

Also, don't forget to stop by A Tad Bit Prudish for the current giveaway!!