The Pop Tart Solution

I remember being shocked when Pop Tarts first came out with the Brown Sugar and Cinnamon flavor. I think I was about 9 at the time and my cousin and I bought a box to share. It was like bad pie crust stuffed with a sickeningly thick layer of greasy sugar and cinnamon, topped with petrified icing. We ate the whole box in one night and felt so sick afterword. I remember just laying there, holding my stomach and groaning, thinking there was no way that what I had just eaten could be considered, "Part of this nutritious breakfast." (Don't click that link unless you loved G.I. Joes as a kid in the 80's)

Now I think Brown Sugar and Cinnamon is probably one of their more nutritious flavors, what with new Banana Split, Hot Fudge Sundae, and Smores flavors.

But the lure of a quick, low mess, grab and go meal has made me (regretfully) buy a few boxes of this stuffed cardboard junk for my kids. Each time I quickly realized my mistake as I mentally tallied the cavities, child onset diabetes, and carbon footprint damage each one of those individually wrapped monstrosities was causing and I soon vowed never to be guilty of such waste ever again.

So, what's a busy mom to do when a quick grab and go meal is needed? What can I keep on hand for those mornings when I sleep in (I wish) and am late making the kids' lunches, or I wake up and remember why Grocery Shopping was on yesterday's to-do list, or I actually decide to be spontaneous super mom and quickly throw together a picnic lunch and head to the beach with my kids? I have found the answer in one of my new favorite blogs: The Muffin Mom. My sister has been rockin' the muffin scene for years now and has been inventing meals in a muffin that are perfect for freezing and keeping on hand for quick and convenient, grab-and-go food. and has finally devoted a blog to sharing her genius.

Check out these awesome "flavors":

Loaded Baked Potato

Raspberries and Cream

Sausage Maple Pancake

Breakfast Bites

Tuna Melt

And Yogurt Wheat Blueberry

Bake these up, freeze them, and next time you have a day full of in-the-car activities just grab some to go and leave the Pop Tarts and McDonalds drive-through behind you forever. And yes, she is working on a muffin cookbook.