Muffin Tin Monday - A Tale Of Two Dinners

It's Muffin Tin Monday again! And indeed it was last week too, but I never got around to posting the pictures. So here goes:

Last Week: River Theme (as sprung on me at the last minute suggested by The Muffin)

You're going to need to engage your imagination for this one, folks.


Top Row: Cashew "stones"; Quiche "fish" (with pastry tail... I did warn you you'd need your imagination, right?); Marshmallow duck (which was, I suspect, the entire reason she came up with the "River Theme" in the first place).

Bottom Row: Banana & spinach "tree"; Round piece of quiche (representing picnics by the river); Pineapple "sand" with blueberry "balls to play with during the picnic".

Now before you say ANYTHING, I was not given complete creative control over this dinner - The Muffin came up with some of these ideas. I am Not Telling you which ones...

I did kind of like my tree though:


Probably more of a bush, really.

The After Shot:

She loved it, especially the marshmallow duck.

This Week: Dumplings

This is a dinner we all really enjoy. I regularly buy a variety of dumplings from our local Asian supermarket and keep them on hand in the freezer. Then when I don't have much time (or inclination) to cook dinner, we can fill our bamboo steamer up with dumplings, and in ten to fifteen minutes, dinner is served! This is much cheaper (and quicker, frankly) than buying takeaways. It's probably not a lot healthier, unfortunately, but hey - it's not like we have this for dinner every night. I also sometimes buy wonton wrappers and make my own wontons. This is a healthier option, as I can control what goes into them, but it obviously takes longer, so we do tend to buy quite a few pre-made ones. I'm hoping to make a lot more home-made ones soon!


Top Row: Pork & chive dumpling; Leek dumpling; Two jellybeans from her lolly stash.

Bottom Row: Chicken-filled steamed bun; Pork & chive dumpling; Ginger prawn dumpling.

The Misleading After Shot:

Misleading because a) she actually ate a lot more dumplings than in the first picture - we just kept refilling the cups until she'd had enough. And b) she wasn't keen on the steamed bun. This was the first time she had tried one of these, and she really only ate the filling out of half of it. You can see the discarded remains of that half, but what you can't see is the other (intact) half, which Husband ate.

To see what other kids had in their Muffin Tins this week, check out The Muffin Tin Mom's blog.
And if you're looking for a fun and yummy baking activity to do with your kids in the upcoming school holidays, you might like these Surprise Cookies!