Muffin Tin Monday - The Twelve Days Of Kimmens

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

12 drummers drumming

11 pipers piping

10 lords a-leaping

9 ladies dancing

8 maids a-milking

7 swans a-swimming

6 geese a-laying

5 gooooolden rings

4 calling birds

3 French hens

2 turtledoves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

Our version:
On the Twelfth [technically the 8th, when I actually made it. The 12th day isn't until Jan. 5] Day of Christmas, my Mommy made for me...

12 carrots drumming

11 macaronis piping

10 crowns a-leaping

9 ladies dancing shoes

8 cups of milk

7 swans a-swimming (in ketchup)

6 geese a-laying 

5 onion riiiiings!

4 cheesy birds

3 chicken nuggets

2 Dove turtles

and a partridge in some pear chunks!

Carrot 'drumsticks' and broccoli 'drum,' Mac N Cheese, PB/Honey sandwiches
Banana bread, milk, ketchup
Hard-boiled egg, Onion Rings, Cheddar birds
Chicken nuggets, Turtles candy, Apple chunks

I had wanted to do this theme last week, but the holidays and lack of time conspired against me. This week's Muffin Tin Monday theme is "Picks, Skewers and Kabobs" so I added a lot more picks than I normally would have and got to do my 12 Days of Christmas anyway!

I got some ideas from A Little Bit Of This And That's 12 Days of Christmas, but I changed some up as well, to fit what foods I had on hand, and also to make mine different.

12 Drummers Drumming: Instead of pretzel or Pocky 'drumsticks,' I did carrot slivers. 24 of them, to be exact. So each of the 12 drummers can have a pair. They have to share the broccoli 'drum' though!

11 Pipers Piping: Instead of 'piping' mashed potatoes, or using pretzel stick 'pipes,' I opted for Macaroni and Cheese, since they look like pipes. I served them piping hot and I piped on some ketchup to make an '11.' Super corny, yes. But also genius! :)

10 Lords A-Leaping: While the others I saw used a food that makes their child 'leap' for joy, I didn't want to load any more candy on her lunch, so I opted for the lords' crowns. I used jewel picks to jazz them up.

9 Ladies Dancing: Originally I had planned on a shoe for the Lords A-Leaping, and then a princess cutter for the Ladies Dancing, but the princess cutter was bigger than my bread, so I went to Plan B. My husband had made banana bread the other day, which I don't like, but the Princess likes it, so I used that. The heel fell apart coming out of the cutter, but I didn't want to eat it and make another, so I made it hold together long enough for the pictures! I added a little bow pick to make it more girly, and to follow the theme.

8 Maids A-Milking: A glass of milk. Boooring.

7 Swans A-Swimming: I have a swan pick 'swimming' in a pool of ketchup (to dip the nuggets and onion rings.)

6 Geese A-Laying: Technically they are ducky picks, but work with me here! I stuck them in a hard-boiled egg. My first attempt at hard boiling eggs. And I didn't mess it up!

5 Golden Rings: I made onion rings just for this muffin tin, much to the delight of my husband and Unka Seesee. At first I was stumped for ideas on this, as I don't have little circle cookies, but once I thought of onion rings, this meal was a go! I used 5 little 'gold' (yellow and orange) flower-ring picks too.

4 Calling Birds: Instead of using chicken here (as my 'bird,') I made cheddar cheese birds using a cutter I got from Daiso's bento supply area. I love Another Lunch's take on this, and I had toyed with making a phone for 'calling,' but it was too much work, on an already busy, labor-intensive meal.

3 French Hens: Instead of French-cut green beans, I nuked 3 Foster Farms nuggets and used a mini rooster hen cutter to make them more chicken-y. I thought using chicken here was more appropriate than for the Calling Birds.

2 Turtle Doves: Instead of using store-bought Turtles candies, I decided to make my own. I got the idea from my Blogger's Santa Swap buddy over at It's "A" Sweet Life. And as I happen to have loads of Dove Promises left over from after-Thanksgiving clearance, I loved the irony of making Dove turtles! So I used caramels and Dove Promises instead of Rolos. I had toyed with the idea of using little wing picks, but I decided to stay with the dove-shaped caramel.

To make my dove-shaped caramels. I nuked them for 30 seconds (a little too long, as it turns out. They were very gooey.) Then I rolled them out between 2 wrappers, using a mini roller.

I used my mini dove cutter from a Christmas set to make them dove-shaped.

Instead of a whole Dove Promise per pretzel, I cut one in half. 

I placed the chocolate on top of the pretzels and microwaved them for a minute.

Once the chocolate was melty enough, I dabbed a little on my walnuts (I didn't have any pecans) and used it to glue the nuts onto my caramels. Then I pressed the caramel doves down onto my chocolate. I let them stay in the bowl until the chocolate hardened. They were quite tasty!

And A Partridge In A Pear Tree!: Technically, these are apple chunks, since I didn't have a pear, but you'd never know if I hadn't told you. I used a little faceted jewel partridge-looking bird pick. I wanted to use a cute new bento cutter I got, but this went better with the "picks" theme.

Little Z loved her "beautiful lunch." She went for the turtles to start, but didn't eat much of them at all.

She ended up eating the broccoli, a sandwich crown, most of the nuggets, half of the egg (plus some of the egg Daddy was trying to turn into egg salad to make himself a sandwich!) One-and-a-half cheese birds, and some of the macaroni. I ate the carrots, apples and second sandwich, my husband ate the onion rings. The banana bread, cheese birds, leftover macaroni and egg were tossed later, since I forgot to put them in the fridge when we left for my nephew's birthday party. 

Surprisingly, all of my picks were present and accounted for by the end. Normally she scarpers off to play with them somewhere.

I got the individual tree muffin cups from a holiday cupcake kit at Target, on clearance after Christmas. The picks were all imported from Japan, either from Jlist.com or bought off eBay.