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MTM-Snacky Supper

Ok, so I had to move my MTM to Sunday night because Big Sis is starting Monday night dance lessons tomorrow.  She is super excited and wanted to bust out the Bella Dancerella yesterday...so the girls got all dolled up and did a little ballerina practice.

I have a feeling it is not going to go that well when Little Dude finds out that she has to hang in the waiting room with Mom while Big Sis gets to have all the fun in dance class....

Our usual Sunday night supper is very casual and pretty snacky because Daddy is taking a nap and Mommy doesn't feel like she has to make a big meal production.  So we eased into our new Sunday night muffin tin routine with a Snacky supper, but in a muffin tin!

I did one 12 cup tin for the girls to share tonight and we did a "picnic" in the living room.  Strawberries, Cantaloupe, Cheese and Crackers.  

They ate every last scrap.  As you can see we are dabbling in potty training with Dudie.  

I will link up at Muffin Tin Mom.

Now I am off to make Cowboy Candy.  Hopefully I can make it to bed before midnight :)

 

Preserving

So last year, Andy and I planted our first garden.  It did ok, and we learned a bunch of things.  We ended up giving away quite a bit of produce last year.  Last year I wanted to try to do some canning, but never really was able to do it, because I didn't know how, and I also felt I didn't have time to.  

So this year, I planted 

*less tomatoes

*more beans

*same cucumbers

*corn

*dill

all in anticipation that I was really going to try preserving some things this year.  Canning is something that my Mom and Grandmas both did and something that I have always wanted to do.  

Raspberry Jam

Garlic Dill Pickles

Spiced Peach Jam

Frozen Peaches

I also did some canned peaches as well, but didn't take photos of them.  

I feel like I am doing great so far!  It is so rewarding for me to know that my family is still going to be eating food that we have grown in our garden this winter.  

 

MTM-Yellow

We are slowly working our way through the colors of the rainbow, with a few other themes mixed in on various weeks.  

I had a lot on my plate as far as what I needed to get done today, but feel like I didn't get anywhere with any of it today.  I am pretty pooped out from a fun weekend of garage sales with my mom, and then a busy Mother's Day yesterday.  On top of that, Big Sis woke extra early this morning, at about 6am because of a thunderstorm (she normally wouldn't wake till 8:30am at the earliest.  

1.  Apple & Eve Big Bird Juice Box.  (This was a treat, we normally serve milk with meals)

2.  Spaetzle (traditional German noodles or dumplings), tossed with Butter and Garlic

3.  Potato Salad

4.  Pineapple   

5.  M&M's--yellow

6.  Vanilla pudding with Yellow sprinkles that melted by the time I took the picture.  

They both went after the juice boxes and M&M's first.  Neither girl ate very well tonight.  I think because they were both a little grouchy from being inside all day, and also they knew after supper tonight was bath time.  My girls will choose bath time over food any time!  

Make sure to click the button on the top of the page to see more fun ideas for muffin tin meals.  

 

MTM-Easter

Once again, my best laid plans for a super awesome muffin tin for the girls were screwed up by my super busy day at work.  

So here we go!

1. Bunny Macaroni-Annie's Organic (I'll confess this was leftover from lunch)

2.  Bunny Poops (potty humor is rampant in our house lately) Cottage Cheese

3.  Easter Eggs (it's a stretch....) aka Pickles

4.  Easter Smiles aka Peaches

5.  Bunny Sandwich (Ham, Colby, Pesto mayo) and no I couldn't be bothered to make a face on the poor thing.

6.  Easter Mud--(the sprinkles make it Eastery, right?) - chocolate pudding.

Despite my half-axxed effort tonight, the girls both were very enthusiastic about their dinner, and ate well.

I am linking up with Muffin Tin Mom.  If you click over to her site you will find many creative ideas...go check it out!

MTM-Red

I am starting a "colors of the rainbow" series of Muffin Tin meals.  Although it will probably take us a while to get through it, since we will have to have an Easter MTM and a few others in there.  Andy said tonight that I must be running out of ideas if our theme tonight was "just red".  

I actually had fun thinking of all kinds of different foods for each color when I was planning out "Red".  It was a fun challenge to try to make a balanced meal out of foods of the same color.  

1.  Grape tomatoes

2.  Red Jello (Little Dude was NOT a fan)

3.  Red pepper slices with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

4.  Spaghetti

5.  Strawberries

6.  More Spaghetti

We really can't go wrong with spaghetti and strawberries at our house.  Everyone (except me) loves spaghetti.  The hummus was something different for the girls to try, and they both did try it.  Neither one seemed to be a big fan, but I will definitely give it another try at a later date. Maybe they would be more receptive if the dipping implement was a pretzel ;)

I didn't get a picture of the girls enjoying their dinner, but I can tell you that we went STRAIGHT into the bath after dinner....whew, they were a mess!  

I am linking up at Muffin Tin Mom.  Click the link and see lots of fun and springy Muffin Tin Meals~

 

MTM-Wingin' It

I have been crazy busy at work last week and today, I didn't have any energy or time to think up a fun and creative theme, so I just had to wing it with the MTM this week.  

1.  Sliced Strawberries

2.  "Lambie" -  C's favorite stuffed animal to cuddle/sleep/play with is a lamb, so I put "Lambie" in our Muffin tin, also ranch for dipping.

3. Chocolate Pudding

4.  Ham - because I need to use it up.

5.  Broccoli

6.  Mashed Taters

C was eating before I even got my camera out.


Both girls ate really well.  The best part was watching all the creative dipping that was going on:  Strawberries dipped in Ranch, Broccoli dipped in Pudding, Mixing pudding in with mashed taters, Ham dipped in Pudding....here is E alternating bites of ranch and pudding:

I am linking up with Muffin Tin Mom.  Head over to her site to see tons of fun ideas!

Menu Plan 3/26/11

Here is our Menu for this week:

Sunday

B:  Silver dollar sprinkle pancakes

L:  At my In-laws

D:  Sloppy Joes, potato chips, baked beans

Monday

B:  Oatmeal and Fruit

L:  Turkey-Vegetable Soup, Saltines with butter

D:  Muffin Tin Monday

Tuesday

B:  Cereal and Fruit

L:  Ravioli and Marinara, breadsticks

D:  Grilled Steak, baked potato and salad

Wednesday

B:  Yogurt, Toast with Jelly

L:  Grilled Cheese and Alphabet soup

D:  Hot dogs on the grill, sweet potato fries, corn

Thursday

B:  Pancakes

L:  Frozen Pizza and vegetable

D:  Taco Pie, refried beans

Friday

B:  Oatmeal and fruit

L:  Hot ham and cheese pita, applesauce

D:  Baked Macaroni and Cheese, green beans

 

Aldi

I made my first grocery trip to Aldi on Monday of this week.  I haven't really ever shopped there before.  I haven't been doing much grocery shopping this past month because we have been pretty stocked up and we haven't needed much except the essentials.  But normally I try not to spend more than $100 a week on groceries.  A lot of the time it ends up being a struggle for me.

Because I had heard good things from others on a tight grocery budget about shoping at Aldi, I decided to give it a try.

I was able to get everything my family needed for this weeks meals, including a lot of produce (which is great because we are trying to eat more healthfully).  The only things on my list that they didn't carry were olive oil and soy milk, so I do have to make a seperate trip somewhere else for those.

Here is what I got!  I am reserving judgement on whether I am going to keep shopping until we try several of the products.  So far everything we have tried has been good. 

 

MTM-Spring Time

In honor of it just being the first day of spring yesterday, we decided to do a Spring Time Muffin Tin. 

The girls were over at my in-laws' house today, because of our current childcare situation.  They were REALLY tired this evening and both were on the verge of breakdowns, since E was up 45 min early and C was up 2 hours early.  In addition to that, E only got one nap (I am impressed that she slept at all, actually) and C didn't get a nap either.

Thus, here is what I had going on while trying to make dinner.

When I finally got everything put together, this is what I came up with.

I was kind of in a hurry, so I made them, snapped a picture, and slapped them in front of the girls, then went right back into the kitchen to make something for the hubs to eat.  Then I hear C over at the table saying "Mommy, aren't you gonna tell us about our springtime muffin tin?"  One thing that is important to me as a Mom is to try not to let my everyday duties of life get in the way of making time and effort to enjoy the little moments with my girls.  Although, sometimes it takes one of those little voices to bring me back to that conviction.

1.  Green Grass (string beans)

2.  Sunshine (orange slice)

3.  Butterfly (cheese and sprinkles)

4.  Tulip (jelly on wheat bread)

5.  Umbrella (turkey on a pick---quite a stretch on this one I know!)

6.  Raindrops (sprinkles on blueberry yogurt)

They both chowed down pretty well, actually.

I am linking up with Muffin Tin Mom, you can click the link to see more fun MTMs!

MTM-Rainbows

It is Monday, and at our house, that means Muffin Tin Monday!

We did a Rainbow theme today.  

1. Red:  Ketchup with Venison strips

2. Orange:  Honey Glazed Carrots

3.  Yellow:  Pineapple

4.  Green:  Salad with Cucumber

5.  Blue:  Blueberries

6.  Purple:  Grapes

A bonus M&M rainbow in the middle (used brown instead of purple-oh well).  The girls both ate their M&Ms and most of the fruit.  C ate all of her venison too.  E liked the carrots, but C did NOT, and gagged after 3.  I thought she was going to lose her supper...Yikes!

Daddy took the girls outside to play in the snowbank and the swingset today. It was a pretty warm day, around 35 degrees or so.

We also did a bonus MTM last Friday that was mainly just to use up a bunch of leftovers:

Yogurt, Kiwi, Chicken noodle soup, Green beans, Macaroni and Cheese, and Avocado.  

I am linking up over at Muffin Tin Mom.  Go check it out for more great MTMs!