Muffin Tin Monday

You're lucky I'm lazy... I've got two tins to post!

This first one is my ambitious attempt to launch a series and get five of these buggers made this month.  Each will have a different Halloween-themed treat.  Because I'm a sucker for disgusting looking food?  No.  I just need an excuse to make fun desserts!  Today's (well, yesterday's because, as I said earlier, I'm lazy about posting) tin contains the ever-popular Dirt-in-a-cup.  Complete with two worms.

Clockwise from the top, peanut butter sandwich triangles, vanilla yogurt, green peas, fruit salad with apples, cantaloupe and grapes, alphabet cheddar crackers and Dirt-in-a-cup in the center.

Dirt-in-a-cup is very simple to make.  I purchased some chocolate pudding (Kozy shack), Oreos with chocolate filling and gummy worms.  Mash the Oreos in a closed baggie.  Fill a cup with pudding, push in a worm halfway with a fork and sprinkle with mashed Oreo.  Done.  You could also use the Jello pudding snack cups as well.  If you really want to go all out, you could serve it in a small terracotta pots - just plug the hole in the bottom.  That would be a fun birthday treat or summer garden party thing to do.

The meal went over fairly well.  Colin pulled out his worm, covered in pudding, and had a look of pure disgust on his face.  I wish I had taken a picture.  He would not touch his worm until I had washed the pudding off.  Even then I am not sure he ate it.  The kids are so sick of peanut butter.  I think we had it for lunch at least 20 times in the last month.  Hard times calls for lots of peanut butter.  I had better think of something else.

Here is my second tin to share - I did this back in mid-September.  I was craving some hummus, so I used a muffin tin meal as a good excuse to get some.  I served the hummus with veggies and pita wedges.  I completely forgot about getting some flatbread (which I usually use with hummus), so I improvised with tortillas.  I arranged them on a cookie sheet, brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled with seasoned salt ( I make my own - I mix equal amounts of chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, white pepper, black pepper, oregano, and salt and store it in a little shaker jar) baked them for around 8-10 min at 350F.  Cut into wedges and serve.

Clockwise from the top: baked tortilla wedges, cucumber and carrot stix, tuna salad sandwich, cantaloupe stars with grapes, tuna salad sandwich, chocolate pudding with chocolate jimmies and mini marshmallows.

I have found serving tuna salad in a hot dog bun a convenient way to use left-over buns.  The bread doesn't get as soggy as fast, and it is actually a little easier for the kids to eat it this way.  My kids LOVE tuna salad.  I know I am very very lucky in that respect.  This time around I made the pudding from Jello pudding mix a couple of hours before lunch.  I must be a snobby purist or something, but I just don't like boxed pudding.  It tastes nothing like pudding should taste like.  I think from now I will stick to pudding snack cups or better yet make my own.

Colin liked it though...



If you would like to see what other moms did for Muffin Tin Monday, look here...