These Muffin Tin Hacks Will Blow Your Mind

By
Emily H
-
Image by WikimediaImages from Pixabay

Muffin tins are obviously for making delicious cupcakes and muffins, but there are so many other things that they can help you with!

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#reposting this super cool idea from @veggiesandvirtue Knocking out a 🌈 in ☝🏼 #muffintinmonday today! If you’re joining my growing #RaisingRainbowEaters challenge during #NationalNutritionMonth, you know I strive everyday to encourage my kids (and myself!) to eat at least one 🌈 (see a few posts back for more info on this challenge!). So naturally, today’s lunch needed to include all the colors of the rainbow, plus some naturally occurring ☁️ (via cauliflower) and some not-as-natural ☁️ (being piratesbooty and smoked Gouda cheese). Although we don’t count these added foods (shown in the bowls) on our 🌈 chart, its important for kids to see how all foods can fit! Let’s never be so idealistic that we forget to be REALISTIC in Raising Rainbow Eaters, mmmkay? —— There are SO many options for 🌈 foods, but these are what the girls picked for today’s lunch: ❤️ karensnaturals freeze-dried raspberries • fruit_bliss tart dried cherries 🧡 carrots 💛yellow bell pepper • karensnaturals mango and pineapple from the Just Fruit Munchies 💚 romaine from our garden • madeinnature kale Chips • karensnaturals Just Veggies mix 💙fresh blueberries 💜 pitted dates 💗 honeysmokedfish smoked salmon (they asked for it because we have pink stickers…and I was okay with stretching “the rules” for salmon 😉) —— #kidseathealthy #toddlerfoodideas #healthykidsfood #toddlersnacks #kidssnacks #kidsnacks #kidsnutrition #whatmytoddlereats #dietitianapproved #toddlermeals #toddlermealideas #foodforkids #karensnaturals #healthyfoodforkids #healthytoddler #healthytoddlerfood #dietitiansofinstagram #whatdietitianseat #realfooding #muffintin #muffintinmondays #eattherainbow #healthyfamily #loveitlikeitlearningit

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Serving Snacks

Muffin tins are the perfect vehicles for serving a lot of snacks all at once! All you have to do is fill each cup with whatever kind of snack you and your friends are in the mood for — like dips, chips, crackers, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and beyond! This also makes for a perfect tool if you’re having a lot of kids coming over that want a lot of different snacks.

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•MUFFIN TIN PICKY PLATTER• . Tried something a little different today. Miss 3 was a little disappointed she didn’t have a lunchbox 😂 but when she saw morning tea in a muffin tin she was intrigued. She shared this with her 19 month old brother. They both loved it and it was a great opportunity to try a few new things with some familiar foods. I started small and let them ask for more of the foods they wanted. (Which was only the veggie chips). Swipe ➡️ to see how it went! . Today’s morning tea included: Oat, Coconut & Honey Balls (from previous post)🍪 Veggie Chips Grapes 🍇 Cashews 🥜 Kiwi fruit 🥝 Apricot 🍑 Pepitas Sultanas Mini Banana Honey Pikelets 🥞

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Paint

Whether you’re a painter or you want to have a paint party for you or your kids, use your muffin tins as a palette! All you have to do is squeeze the paint into the cups, and if you want to do any mixing, you can keep some empty to do that.

Infusions

Whether it’s for water or cocktails, muffin tins are a great way to put out some garnishes and things to infuse your drinks with for a party! Add things like lemon slices, cucumber, herbs like mint, and anything else that suits the kind of drinks you’ll be serving.

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Muffin Tin Monday! ➕freeze dried bananas ➕strawberries ➕egg noodles (leftovers from daddy’s homemade chicken noodle soup last night) ➕plain Cheerios ➕plum ➕avocado ➕ banana ➕shredded chicken (also from last nights soup) ➕freeze dried strawberries ➕baked carrot chips ➕leftover black beans ➕cubed cheese —————- Swipe over to see what Jax(20mo) ate! —————- Another Monday, another muffin tin! I love doing this on days I clean out the fridge because it seriously helps to use up those leftovers! For those of you that are new here ☺️ these foods are all LEFTOVER from other meals. Using these foods for muffin tin meals cuts down on food waste. I do NOT cook or prepare anything at all for muffin tin meals. I clean out our leftovers on Monday because I’m home from work and have time. You can do this on any day of the week at any meal. This is what works for US! This is a MINIATURE MUFFIN PAN! Each compartment holds approximately 1-2tbsp depending upon the food! —————— This week was EXTRA fun for mama because I wanted to see if Jax would go for the fresh strawberry and banana or the freeze dried (same foods- different textures) OR if he would eat them both! I honestly didn’t care either way because this is our first time having the freeze dried fruits (and carrot chips). I found them both on sale and thought it would be a fun experiment 🤓 for me 🙈 I was very surprised (and happy) that he prefers the fresh!! He tried the freeze dried and didn’t seem interested. I felt like an anthropologist today haha just observing what was happening and making notes 🙈🤓 watching kids eat is so interesting to me!! So much of our food preferences are psychological and I really nerd out by analyzing it! ————— If you are interested in trying a muffin tin meal- I have a previous post explaining it in more detail ☺️

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