Muffins, muffins, who wants some muffins?

Well, not really. Muffin tins, actually. Filled with decidedly non-muffinish food. Today was our latest go-round with Muffin Tin Monday, and it was a simple but good one:


From the top right: ham roll-ups, whole grain cheese fish, hummus, steamed broccoli and carrots, ranch dressing, pita triangles.

Both kiddos liked this, although the veggies didn't get too much play. Gabi ate her carrots but left the brocolli, and Little Buddy didn't eat either, although he did use them as a dip delivery vehicle. I'm trying to teach him to actually BITE the dip-coated vegetable, instead of just licking it clean and re-dipping. So far its a no-go, and so he always gets his own little bowl of dip (or muffin cup, as the case may be).

Next Monday is Independence Day, and I've got all sorts of ideas percolating about . . . we've got a busy busy day on the 4th but hopefully I'll be able to work in a muffin tin lunch! Otherwise, perhaps some other time this week. . .

Meatless Monday - Leftovers to the rescue!

Last night we had a delicious Meatless Monday dinner! I was unprepared (as per usual) so I had to rely on the pitiful contents of the pantry and refrigerator. Luckily I had one last leftover from the weekend - about two cups of homemade olive tapanade. I boiled some pasta (angel hair and regular spaghetti) and tossed it with the tapanade, along with some of the reserved pasta water. Topped with fresh shaved Parmesan, it was a real treat!

To go along with the pasta, I cooked up some carrots with a bit of butter and sugar for some caramelized goodness.  The kiddos got plain pasta with Parmesan, which they gobbled up along with the carrots. I never know what they'll eat - they've turned up their noses at this exact type of carrots before, but this time they would have gladly eaten more - to bad for them I didn't make very many anticipating that they wouldn't eat them!

Mi travieso terrible - My mischiveous toddler

English needs a word like the Spanish travieso. Travieso means mischievous, but in Spanish it's used as a noun as well and sometimes it just WORKS that way. I never considered the word travieso much before, but now I am . . .

Suddenly, my 20-month old is completely mischievous. Almost every day he does something that leaves us just shaking our heads. This weekend he had a couple of real doozies - ones that left us wondering how he'll be when he's 4, or 14.

Saturday was spring cleaning day, and I spent 4 hours shampooing the carpets. Sunday we were all in the yard - kiddos playing and Papi and I working. The kids were in and out of the house like usual, when Gabi came to let me know that little Buddy had dumped a shovelful of potting soil onto the freshly laundered, beige carpet! Now I'm far, far from a neat freak, and if he had done the same thing Friday I would have just shrugged oh well and cleaned it up. Sunday afternoon, however, it hurt my soul to see that black pile of dirt in the middle of the room. All that work! Why couldn't it have been in the playroom! Or at least the corner! I haven't had the heart to haul out the steam cleaner again - maybe next weekend.

Now that's the kind of mischievous thing that any little kid might do, but Sunday night his more devious side came out. We were finishing dinner (nothing weird - spaghetti with meat sauce); both kiddos had refused to eat it at first, but finally Gabi had gotten up the courage and eaten about half of what was on her plate. Papi and I were making a fuss over her, that she had eaten a good dinner and could have a treat. I looked over to little Buddy and he was grabbing fistfuls of his dinner and shoving it under his place mat. I held back my laughter as much as I could and asked him "are you doing that so I think you ate a good dinner too?" He of course said "yes". Sooo tricky! Funny as hell, of course, but super devious too. Luckily he's still too little to lie to us!

Muffin Tin Monday, Take 2

This is our muffin tin meal from last Monday - we're having a Memorial Day BBQ today with the family that will decidedly NOT be served in muffin tins, so here's what was on the menu last week:


Clockwise from top center: Chicken nuggets, ketchup for dipping, Popchips (air popped potato chips), apple sauce, wafer cookies, and green peas.

 This one went over better, although again the kiddos didn't really like the wafer cookies, and they didn't like the popchips. I don't get that one - those chips are filled with potato salty goodness - but to each his own. At least they left the least healthy options on the tray. They are still loving the concept though; they were so excited for lunch! I think it might be a way to get them into eating new things; if I can harness that excitement into giving something new a try then lunch served in muffin tins is totally worth it.

My daughter Gabi used to be an adventurous eater; she'd at least try anything we put in front of her. As she's gotten a bit older she's gotten a LOT more picky; now she will more likely than not refuse to try anything new. Unfortunately that attitude is rubbing off on her little brother Buddy, especially since she tends to make a big show of turning down food. Just imagine "its sooo yucky", "bleagh", "NO WAY". After that display, I figure we've only got a 40/60 chance of him even trying the offending food, let alone liking it. The only thing we've got going for us right now is his huge appetite; sometimes he's just hungry enough to ignore big sis!