Muffin Tin Monday - Happy Birthday!

Wow, this week is a huge one for The Muffin - not only is she having two birthday parties, but she also has her very first ballet lesson, and starts Pre-Primary!

Her actual birthday is later in the week, but she was so excited about her Rainbow-themed birthday party tonight (which I'll post about tomorrow), that she wanted a Rainbow Birthday Themed Muffin Tin for lunch:

Top Row: Carrot sticks; Grapes; Birthday Cupcake (and it is actually cake - I cut it out of a thin layer of cake, using a cookie cutter. The little rainbow is made out of sugarpaste - we made them to put on cakepops for the party, and had some left over).

Bottom Row: Apple stars with one of the offcuts; Ham and cheese Birthday Present sandwich; Yoghurt with Rainbow sprinkles.

The After Shot:

It probably looks like she didn't eat any carrot sticks. She actually did, but only two. This surprised me a little, as she has been liking carrot sticks lately. I think the little cake was just too hard to wait for!

To see what other mums put in muffin tins this week, check out The Muffin Tin Mom's blog.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

It's Australia Day! The Muffin has been wanting to make the next recipe in her ABC of Kids Cooking book, and it just happened to be "L is for Lamingtons," so we decided today was the day!


The origin of the lamington is hotly debated (particularly between Aussies and our friends from New Zealand!) - for several interesting versions of its origin, go here.

But no matter where the original lamington was created, and whether it was an accident or a burst of inspiration, Aussies have been happily munching on them for decades, and claiming them as our own.

They are super messy to make, but lots of fun!


To make your own lamingtons, you will need some sponge cake (traditional), or butter cake (increasingly showing up in recipe books). This is cut into cubes, and dipped into a thin chocolate icing before being dredged in coconut. The recipe I used today can be found on the Woman's Day website (they produced the cookbook).

Whether you are spending the day having a barbecue, watching the fireworks, or just eating yummy lamingtons and trying to keep cool, I hope you are doing so with friends and family.

Happy Australia Day!

It's Not Easy...

... except that actually, it really is!

This bento is a great example of the fact that cute food Does Not need to take hours to make.

Mr Frog was made using my Frog Prince Lunch Punch (from the SandWishes set). The butterfly, reeds, and water are all simply sliced green apple. Then I finished off with some spinach leaf Lily Pads, and some Frog Eggs (peas).

(also included was a tadpole I hand-cut out of cheese, but he apparently decided to hide whilst the photo was taken. On the up side, it made a lovely surprise for The Muffin when she found him under a lily pad).

I'll be linking this to Bento Blog Network's "Green" post - check out the other green bentos here.

Muffin Tin Monday - Purple Problem!

You may or may not recall a muffin tin I did a while ago, which was inspired by a book called "Chicken, Pig, Cow Horse Around", by Ruth Ohi. The Muffin loves these books (so do I!), and for a while now she has been suggesting another Chicken, Pig, Cow tin, based on one of the other books in the series.

Today we decided on Chicken, Pig, Cow And The Purple Problem.



This is another lovely book by Ruth Ohi - this time, Cow has decided that other cows are not purple, so she shouldn't be, either. After the ensuing adventure, Cow learns that it is okay to be different, and that her friends don't care what colour her spots are, as long as she is still Cow.

Top Row: Bread and butter Squirrel with two string cheese baby squirrels; Bread and cheese Chicken (not nearly as good as the Chicken in my last CPC tin); Lollipop Pig.

Bottom Row: Bread cow (two, actually, stacked); Mixture of yoghurt, a little cream cheese, and a tiny bit of black food colouring - oh, and a spinach leaf; Crushed cashew nuts.

Pig was made by sticking a pink jellybean onto an Allens Lollipop, and adding heart shaped sprinkles for ears.


Not sure about these string cheese squirrels, but The Muffin was convinced:

But the real fun was recreating part of the story, when Cow finds some grey mud, some brown seeds and a leaf, and proceeds to become "more like a real cow"...

This was VERY messy, but lots of fun - and she ate the cream cheese! Normally she won't touch the stuff, but diluted heavily with yoghurt, it was apparently fine. She was quite shocked to hear there was cream cheese in it (after she'd admitted to liking it!)

The After Shot:

I was quite surprised she didn't eat more of the cashews. I think they were maybe just a bit too messy this way. Normally she'll eat heaps of them (whole, that is).

To check out what other mums put in their tins this week, go to The Muffin Tin Mom's blog.

Lots of sweeties coming up on Sugary Flower in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!