Top 5 of 2014 -- Food Fun Round-Up!

In 2014, I prepared many bentos, muffin tin meals, and other food fun meals for T.  He enjoyed every single one!  :)

Here are the Top 5...
the five most-viewed food fun snacks and breakfast, lunch, and supper meals I created in 2014:

The top three are all Winnie-the-Pooh muffin tin meals.  I made all three of them the same week...after I read to T the book, Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne.  I guess there are a lot of silly old bear lovers out there...of which I am one!  ;-)

#1 — Winnie-the-Pooh Breakfast

#2 — Winnie-the-Pooh Lunch

#3 — Winnie-the-Pooh Supper

The top fourth is an Easter bento...full of bunnies!

#4 — Bountiful Bunnies

The top fifth is a springtime butterfly-themed muffin tin meal.

#5 — Butterflies Lunch

Many other meals received tons of views.  (Thank you!!)  I just love to make special meals for T...and it's quite rewarding that he loves them so!

In looking back through my 2014 food fun posts, I was surprised to find that I hadn't made more fun meals than I did.  I think "make more muffin tin meals and bentos" will have to be one of my New Year's resolutions!

Linked to:
   Eats Amazing

Perfectly "P" Lunch

T enjoyed this perfectly "P" lunch today...featuring peanut butter!

    P                nut              butter

The lunch included lots of "P" foods and "P" colors, including:

• pea- ("P" shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich)
• nut (mixed nuts)
• butter (butter cookie)
• pretzels
• peaches
• pickles
• punch
• pink paper and silicone cupcake liners
• purple placemat

And as usual, we prayed before T ate.  :)

Linked to:
   Muffin Tin Moments
   Bento Blog Network
   Fun Food Friday

Butterflies Lunch

I made this lunch for T last Wednesday...a butterfly-themed lunch.  (Spring, where are you??!)

• butterfly-shaped sandwich with mini m&m's
• popcorn clouds with butterfly rings
• milk in a sky blue cup
• low-fat strawberry yogurt
• Little Debbie butterfly cake

This muffin tin meal received an enthusiastic "Yay!" and "Thank you!" from T.  :)  He even blew a kiss to me.  Awww.

Linked to:
   Muffin Tin Moments
   Bento Blog Network
   I Heart Lunch
   What's for Lunch Wednesday
   Fun Food Friday

Winnie-the-Pooh Supper

I made this Winnie-the-Pooh muffin tin meal for T's supper today.

• Baked Hunny Chicken
• green beans (from Rabbit's garden)
• hunny butter biscuit
• tossed salad (from Rabbit's garden)
• baby carrots (from Rabbit's garden) with ranch dressing
• mashed potatoes (from Rabbit's garden)
• Winnie-the-Pooh glass of milk

Wasn't that nice of Rabbit to provide so many wonderful veggies for T's meal?!  ;-)

The Baked Honey Chicken recipe is from Daisy at Home.  It's a food suggestion for the Family Dinner Book Club selection for January, Winnie-the-Pooh.

I made the Piglet, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Eeyore picks from a printable for pencil toppers.

Tomorrow is the big day for our Winnie-the-Pooh family dinner celebration...if I can finish getting it together!  :/

Linked to:
   I Heart Lunch

Winnie-the-Pooh Breakfast

I made this Winnie-the-Pooh muffin tin meal for T's breakfast today...for T to enjoy while he waits for our Family Dinner Book Club celebration tomorrow!  ;-)

• bear pancake with banana slices (ears and nose) and
  chocolate chips (eyes and nose)
• Hunnycomb cereal
• hunny butter biscuit with orange marmalade
• applesauce with bear sprinkles
• hunny Teddy (bear) Grahams with blue balloon pick
• Winnie-the-Pooh glass of milk

     "When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
     "What's for breakfast," said Pooh.  "What do you say, Piglet?"
     "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
     Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
     "It's the same thing," he said.
          ~from Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

Inspiration for the bear pancake:
   spunkydiy
   minieco
   kidssoup

Linked to:
   I Heart Lunch
   What's for Lunch Wednesday

Winnie-the-Pooh Lunch

I made this Winnie-the-Pooh muffin tin meal for T's lunch today...for T to enjoy while he waits for our Family Dinner Book Club celebration later this week!  ;-)

• bear-shaped sandwich on hunny wheat bread with mini m&m's for the facial features
• pretzel sticks (to resemble a tree trunk) with a blue balloon pick
• baby carrots (from Rabbit's garden) with ranch dressing
• applesauce with bear sprinkles
• hunny roasted peanuts
• hunny Teddy (bear) Grahams

     "It's like this," [Winnie-the-Pooh] said.  "When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is not to let the bees know you're coming.  Now, if you have a green balloon, they might think you were only part of the tree, and not notice you, and if you have a blue balloon, they might think you were only part of the sky, and not notice you, and the question is:  Which is most likely?"
     "Wouldn't they notice you underneath the balloon?" [Christopher Robin] asked.
     "They might or they might not," said Winnie-the-Pooh.  "You never can tell with bees."  He thought for a moment and said:  "I shall try to look like a small black cloud.  That will deceive them."
     "Then you had better have the blue balloon," [Christopher Robin] said; and so it was decided.
          ~from Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

Football Food

My husband watched the Super Bowl on television yesterday.  I watched part of it....

I fixed finger food to eat while we sat in the family room and watched...and I prepared this muffin tin meal for T.

• baby carrots in a football cupcake liner
• Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (for dipping the carrots)
• Baked Honey Chicken
• sauce (for dipping the chicken)
• Utz Football Shaped Pretzels in a football cupcake liner
• Little Debbie Football Shaped Brownie

The Baked Honey Chicken recipe is from Daisy at Home.  Actually, it's a food suggestion for the Family Dinner Book Club selection for January, Winnie-the-Pooh. That's a great recipe.  Delicious!  :)  I'd never used panko bread crumbs before.  It gave the chicken a delightful crunch.

Linked to:

   What's for Lunch Wednesday

Pumpkins

This was T's lunch today.

• pumpkin-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on honey wheat bread with Twizzler Pull 'n' Peel green apple-flavored candy for vines
• pumpkin-shaped pretzels
• Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights filled soft cookie
• apricot halves with pumpkin pick
• milk in jack-o'-lantern cup

Linked to:
   I Heart Lunch
   What's for Lunch Wednesday

Fireworks on the Fourth

...more like on the ninth, actually.  My plan was to make this meal for T's lunch on Independence Day...but, it didn't happen.  :/

• firecracker-shaped sandwiches (with licorice for the wicks and star-shaped marshmallows for the "sparkles")
• "pop"corn (with firecracker rocket picks)
• "JULY 4" (written with food-safe markers) star-shaped marshmallows
• Mott's Mixed Berry Applesauce
• cranberry juice

The "fireworks" on the right is a pick, placed in the hole of the muffin tin.

Did you know...?

• The earliest documentation of fireworks dates back to 7th century China, where they were invented.
• China is the largest manufacturer and exporter of fireworks in the world.
• The Walt Disney Company is the largest consumer of fireworks in the United States.

source:  wikipedia.org

Linked to:
   Bent On Better Lunches
   Bento Blog Network

Fun and Festive on the Fourth

For supper tonight, I served T's meal in a muffin tin.  Muffin tin meals are great for picky eaters; however, there was no need to coax T to eat since we were having one of his favorite meals:  meatloaf and mashed potatoes!  :)  For fun...and to be festive...is why I put T's meal in a muffin tin on the fourth of July!!

• meatloaf in a biscuit (like a little all-American hamburger!)
• mashed potatoes
• baked beans
• Mott's Mixed Berry Applesauce

Happy 4th of July!!

Linked to:
   Another Lunch
   Bent On Better Lunches
   Bento Blog Network

Hooray...for the U.S.A.!

...an Independence Day lunch.

For lunch today, T ate the following:

• U.S.A.-shaped sandwich
• Snyder's Patriot Pretzels
• vanilla yogurt with raspberries and blueberries
• Newman's Own Alphabet Cookies (U, S, A) with mini m&m's in between
• milk with Hershey's Strawberry Syrup

The Uncle Sam hat is a ring, and the stars USA is a pick.

My inspiration for T's red (more like pink, actually) milk came from kewkew at Tots and Me.  Earlier this week, she tinted her children's milk blue.  Although, I have to say that when T saw his milk, he said "Pink. Yuck."  (He doesn't particularly like anything out of the ordinary.)

Did you know...?

"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938.*

          ♪♫  God Bless America  ♫♪

             God bless America,
             Land that I love.
             Stand beside her, and guide her
             Through the night with a light from above.
             From the mountains, to the prairies,
             To the oceans, white with foam,
             God bless America, my home sweet home.
             God bless America, my home sweet home.

*source:
   wikipedia.org

Linked to:
   Another Lunch
   Bent On Better Lunches
   Bento Blog Network

Yabba Dabba Doo!

Growing up, I loved to watch Saturday morning cartoons.  One of my favorite cartoons was The Flintstones.  I still can remember most of the words to the theme song:

               Flintstones...Meet the Flintstones;
               They're a modern stone age family.
               From the town of Bedrock,
               They're a page right out of history.
               Let's ride with the family down the street,
               Through the courtesy of Fred's two feet.
               When you're with the Flintstones,
               Have a yabba dabba doo time,
               A dabba doo time.
               We'll have a gay old time.

source:  Lyrics Translate

Were you singing??!  :D

Even though T doesn't watch this cartoon from years gone by, I thought he would enjoy a muffin tin meal based on it.

• pebbles > pretzel balls
• big bones > Scooby-Doo! Graham Cracker Sticks
• little bones > applesauce with bone sprinkles
• Dino's food > Beef Burgundy
• Dino > toast circle body with cheese triangle spikes and dinosaur head pick and cupcake liner (from Wilton cupcake decorating kit)
• boulders > whole new potatoes
• big dinosaur > milk in straw cup

Linked to:

   Another Lunch
   Bento Blog Network

Man on the Moon

The Apollo 11 mission landed the first humans on the Moon in July 1969.
source:  Wikipedia

The theme this week for Muffin Tin Monday is the 1960's.  I decided to highlight this space exploration event from that decade for T's lunch today.

• moons > Pepperidge Farm Space Adventures crackers
• planet (Venus, I think) > Golden Oreo cookie
• milky way > 1% milk in straw cup with stars design
• moon craters > Tostitos Scoops! tortilla chips
• full moon > sandwich on Nature's Own whole wheat sandwich round with rocket cracker
• stars > White House Natural Plus applesauce with jumbo star sprinkles

Linked to:
   Another Lunch
   Bento Blog Network

Snowbear Meal

I wasn't planning on preparing a coordinating meal for T, but then some ideas came into my head...and I couldn't resist!  :P

In the book, Snowbear's Christmas Countdown by Theresa Smythe, Snowbear counts down the days to Christmas...hence the placemat.

The date, December 25, is circled in red on Snowbear's wall calendar.  I intended to put the 25 (icing decorations) on a square Wheat Thins cracker (to resemble the date square on the calendar), but I discovered we didn't have any.  So, it is on a snowflake Ritz cracker (with additional crackers underneath).

On the 6th day, Snowbear shoveled snow.  Those mashed potatoes are really a big pile of shoveled snow.

Next up is applesauce with jumbo snowflake sprinkles...because it's a very snowy story!

Snowbear had his penguin friend over for lunch on the 19th day...and they ate fish, of course!  That's where the Goldfish crackers come in.

What would be a Snowbear meal without Snowbear?  He's a polar bear-shaped piece of toast with Swiss cheese on top (and a sprinkle eye).

Linked to:
   Muffin Tin Mom
   Read Explore Learn

Leaves and Pumpkins

I made a fall-themed lunch for T today.

In a leaves and pumpkins silicone muffin pan, I put:

• sandwich cut into maple leaf shape with maple leaf pick
• sandwich cut into oak leaf shape
• sandwich cut into pumpkin shape
• pumpkin-shaped pretzels
• green grapes with pumpkin pick
• maple leaf creme cookie
• apple juice in glass with leaves design

This lunch received a "thumbs up" from T!

Linked to:

   Bento Blog Network

   Muffin Tin Mom

Black is the Color

This week at Bento Blog Network, the challenge is to create a meal based on a color. Since T's favorite color changes often (sometimes on a daily basis!), I decided to go with black.

• black spider mini Oreo cookie with black licorice legs and orange sprinkles eyes; three additional cookies underneath
• mini cupcake with black icing and black spider icing decoration
• celery sticks in black cauldron with Parmesan peppercorn dressing on side
• pitted black olives on sword picks
• "black" bat-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with black sprinkles eyes
• crunchy Cheetos
• fruit punch Juicy Juice with eyes attached to glass

T looked at his lunch and said, "Cool!"  ~That was fun!  ;o)

Checking it out

Linked to:
   Bento Blog Network
   Muffin Tin Mom
   Bento Blog Network

Firecrackers on the 4th

...sort of!

We were out of town last week, so I wasn't able to make an Independence Day meal for T.  (~Forget trying to do it before we left!!)  Hence, I made the meal today for T's lunch.

• firecracker-shaped sandwiches with Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel candy for the wick and star-shaped marshmallows for the "burn"
• stars Goldfish Space Adventures crackers
• applesauce with jumbo stars sprinkles
• mini cupcake with vanilla frosting and a flag icing decoration

He went for the cupcake first.  ~He's a smart one!  ;o)

Check out some other muffin tin meals....

Linked to:
   Bent On Better Lunches

Spring Flowers

This Spring-themed meal was for T's lunch today.

• large flowers = peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• small flowers = cheese crackers
• flower blossoms with stems = tortilla chips and pretzel sticks
• patch of wildflowers = lettuce and carrots (with dressing on the side)
• applesauce with butterfly-shaped sprinkles
• sun = milk in a yellow cup

Scotty Dog Lunch

T's lunch today:

Check out some other dog-themed meals...



and some other muffin tin meals....

Hungry Bear

The bear loved to eat fish, but even a good thing can get old after awhile.  Consequently, the bear hid in his cave and waited patiently for his prey....After the bear ate his lunch, there was nothing left of his meal except the bare bones!  :P

• cave - peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• bear - wheat bread with mini m&m's
• fish - Goldfish crackers
• bones - Scooby-Doo! graham cracker sticks
• applesauce with bear sprinkles

Check out some other bear-themed meals...



and some other muffin tin meals....