1. Have you checked your oven temperature with an oven thermometer? That's how you KNOW when your oven reaches the correct temperature for baking - not according to any certain amount of time or a magic pre-heat beep from the oven. Many ovens are out of calibration. Just because the knob or digital read-out says 350F, doesn't necessarily MEAN that's the actual temperature. You need to check the temperature with the oven thermometer where the baking is going to be done (such as the middle rack in the middle of the oven). In some ovens the temperature can differ from one rack to another, as well as from the front of the oven to the back. Baking muffins in an oven that is too hot will create asymmetrically shaped muffins. If the oven temperature is too cool, the muffins will be heavy and not rise correctly. Most muffins bake at 350°-400°F. Those temperatures vary according to the recipe and the type of batter used. 2. If the silicone muffin pans aren't working for you, then I'd suggest using standard metal pans. If you don't like the clean-up, use paper or foil muffin papers to line the muffin pans (metal OR silicone). Did you spray your muffin pan with PAM or other vegetable spray? That can discolor silicone (as well as metal pans), especially any over-spray on the surface top of the pan. I avoid PAM for spraying ANY type of pan - it's just nasty, gunky, stuff that builds up on the surface and is difficult to remove. Did you place the silicone muffin pan on a flat surface (a cookie sheet) during baking? There are different finishes on different brands of silicone bakeware, and some work better than others. 3. How did you mix your muffins? Only mix muffins until the dry ingredients are almost completely incorporated (even a small amount of dry ingreients still visible is okay - over-mixing ISN'T okay). DO NOT use an electric mixer because that results in too much gluten development and poor quality muffins. A wooden spoon or spatula will work fine, even a dinner fork is a good choice for mixing quick batters. A Danish Dough Whisk is actually one of the best investments for hand mixing (yeast breads, quick breads of all kinds, etc.). Your problem may partially be your mixing technique, oven temperature, as well as the pan. Wait to mix and pan muffin batter AFTER the oven has completed pre-heating. You never want the batter to be waiting for the oven to heat (that goes for all batters that have chemical leavening - soda/baking powder - in them.) Due to the type of leavening (baking powder), you need to quickly mix, pan, and get it into a hot oven to get maximum lift out of the leavening. Baking powder reacts twice, once when it is mixed with the liquid ingredients, and again when it hits the hot oven. It will lose it's UMPH the longer it sits waiting for the oven to pre-heat. 4. Normally, a bread machine only needs "babysitting" for the first 10 minutes or so of mixing/kneading until you are sure the dough has the correct hydration. You have to do that with ANY bread making technique, not just bread machines. I use a bread machine for nearly all my yeast breads anymore (dough only). It does a better job than either by-hand or stand mixers. King Arthur Test Kitchen uses Zojurishi BM for all their bread dough making for just those reasons. Patience is still a virtue, even in this ADD/ADHD world where people choose baby carrots so they don't have to peel and chop whole carrots, salad in a bag, instead of choosing the greens, washing and preparing them, and a whole generation who only "cook" using a microwave. Slow cooking is a lost art. -Grainlady

This post made me smile because I have a lot of bakeware too. Cookie sheets and muffin pans go into a 12" wide base cab along with cutting boards: Most of my bakeware goes into the 36" wide base cab with pullouts at the far left side of this photo: And my serveware (including square/rectangular baking pans, lasagna pans, etc) goes into the cabinets above and below the MW: Also FWIW, I put in a baking center at the end of the island closest to the range (it doesn't really show in these pix) -- it's just a base cab lowered 4" to provide a comfortable height for rolling out dough and such. It's wonderful for a hardcore baker!

Meg, make sure that the depth of the foil is very close to the depth of the pyrex pans. Baking cakes and rolls in foil pans is very different from baking a casserole. I would seriously think about spending $10 or $15 and getting a couple of other glass baking dishes. I speak from experience with a leaking foil pan of lasagna, and a friend's un cooked cheese strata, while everyone sat around and watched the oven. I also remember a noodle kugel that was baked in a foil pan. The person who cut the kugel also punctured the pan. thankfuly the kugel was firm enough not to leak too much. I use foil all the time to bake a cake, rolls or brownies to take or give away. I might use one for roasting a piece of meat, but never for anything "sauc-ey". Linda C

Some good ideas here. Again, I'm looking for a complete meal so I don't have to eat anything else...just that muffin size thing. I already make meatloafs, etc. in serving sizes but it's not a complete dinner so DH yips at me for not eating my veggies. :( The cabbage sounds like it has several possibilities. I'll play around with that. Soups I already make/package & they are easy to just take a small serving so I think I'm okay on those. Rice? Do you think rice would unmold frozen without falling apart? Probably, because I'd have to make it really moist. I gag on rice and it's hard to cough up all the little bits. Lindac, your idea to freeze ice cube trays of broth is good. I can see where that would be helpful with many meals. grainlady, I'm already doing the Mac 'n Cheese w/Spinach but I also add some ham to bump the protein since serving size is quit small. They're very good. Easy to eat. One of my favorites. I think there could also be something that turns up on John's meat pie thread that I can use also. Just make them smaller. John, I fill in calories on days I just don't want to eat anything with those gawd awful Ensure cans. Since on those days I can't hardly taste anyway it doesn't matter if they're awful. They're easy. I need to make Shepherd's Pie. Those would be good. I'm also wondering if I could somehow make a pot roast with veggies and bind it together to form in the muffin pan with a bit of my homemade Bisquick-type mix? Then, bake them off as needed. I'm pretty sure that will work...just need to make the pot roast. I'm really looking for things that come out still looking like a muffin when ready to serve. Keep thinking friends. There's got to be lots of things that could be cooked into a muffin. I've even wondering if I could convert a beirock (runza) type thing? Beirocks used to be one of my favorite lunches. Not a complete meal but would be good. /tricia