Monday 16 January 2012

First MTD of the year...

What is a MTD (muffin tin dinner/meal)? well, it is a meal served up in a muffin tin or in muffin silicon liners, we have been doing these for years now and Ebi-kun never gets bored of them. Recently though he has started eating dinner a bit later, we have been eating together so I haven't been making them as often.

This is the first one I made this year....


Top left to right...
  • red and yellow pepper hearts
  • parma ham sandwich roll
  • strawberries
  • parma ham sandwich roll
  • coleslaw
  • ototo crisps
  • string cheese
  • ototo crisps
  • more ototo crisps
  • strawberries
  • parma ham sandwich roll
  • coleslaw
Why I like MTD's....
  • it is a great way to use up leftovers or little bits and bobs in the fridge and it doesn't matter if it is foods that you wouldn't normally put together.
  • it is a good excuse to play with all the bento making things I own
  • even better excuse to use the gazillion cute picks I own
  • a great way to slip in some new foods (although I don't have that problem with ebi-kun)
  • it is a super easy way to produce a balanced meal.
  • it gives the child the freedom to eat their meal in any order they wish
  • it is quick and easy (usually) and perfect if you have guests or children that all like different things.
I just asked Ebi-kun why he likes them and he said...
  • because you put funny things
  • because it is a mix of foods
  • because it is a surprise, I never know what you will put in it
  • I can do food experiments like trying different foods together to see if they taste good or bad.
  • I like guessing what the theme is when you make a cool MTD.
I don't make a themed tine every time but I do like the challenge of themed tins and they do take a bit longer to put together but they have been worth the effort, ebi-kun has loved every single one I have made. Looking through these has made me quite sad that we haven't been having them so often recently. Ebi-kun had a half day on a Wednesday and eats lunch at home, I think this would be a perfect time to reintroduce the MTD on a regular basis. To finish up, I thought I would share some of our favourite themed tins from the past...

this years Halloween MTD
the ninja MTD
the completely over the top Willy Wonker MTD

The Antarctica MTD

the Mr Men MTD

Christmas version
Inspired yet or have I put you off? If you want to see what others do with their MTD's then pop over to the Muffin Tin Mom, she has a linky every Monday.

Muffin Tin Monday at Muffintinmom.com

13 comments:

  1. Wow what an awesome idea!! Looks like so much fun! Does it take you long to put one together though? Some of them don't look quick to make...but still super cool! :-)

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  2. some of them take quite a bit of faffying around, i usually have a sketch or plan of what I want to do though which helps.The Christmas one didn't take long at all, most of it was done using cookie cutters the wonker one did take me a while because I made all the picks too. We don't have a themed tin that often and I try to pick a day when i know I won't be rushed.

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  3. Those are great looking meals! I also loved reading your son's reasons that he likes them!

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    Replies
    1. I was quite surprised with some of his answers!

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  4. I love your themed meals! Antartica and Christmas are my favorites. Thanks for sharing.

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    Replies
    1. Antarctica is one of my favourites, I think because it was such a challenge!

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  5. I love the Mr. Men tin! LOL They are all great. :)

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    Replies
    1. That one took me ages to think up, I sat there all night with a Mr Man book - with the characters on the back and the contents of the fridge trying to come up with a way to make them lol

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  6. How did I miss that Mr Men tin?? It's awesome! I loved reading Ebi-kun's reasons for liking Muffin Tin Meals - makes me want to ask The Muffin for her reasons!

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    Replies
    1. you should! ebi-kun thinks it is great he is allowed to eat his dessert first if he wants to!

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  7. These look amazing, such a good idea. Particularly like your ninjas!

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    Replies
    1. they are easy to make, I wrote a tutorial here
      http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-make-ninja-rice-ball.html

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