Food For Thought – The Incredible Hulk Muffins

Yes, you heard me correctly. Green goblins, green monsters, green machine, franken-muffins…ok that’s enough. If you’re looking for a creative way to sneak some extra greens into your kids’ lunchbox, these muffins are it! If you’re looking for a healthy, grab n’ go snack for YOUR lunches, well you’re in for a treat! These muffins do it all! The greatest thing about these muffins (if you can bite past the colour) is how awesome they taste.

I bake a lot. I love to bake. I look for reasons to bake – kids’ birthdays, adult birthdays, bring your healthy treats to work day, bake sales, just because…the list goes on! As a registered dietitian, it’s in my blood to find ways to create recipes that are both healthy AND taste good. As challenging as that can be when baking, there are ways to make the perfect balanced treat. These muffins may not give you muscles like the Hulk, but they are a much better alternative to buying pre-made muffins or making muffins from a mix.

Sweet Spinach Muffins – Super Healthy Kids

I can’t take credit for these jewels – the credit goes to Natalie, owner of Super Healthy Kids (check out her site – she has a ton of awesome recipes).

Ingredients

18 standard cupcake liners
2 cup flour, whole wheat
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup honey
1 large banana
6 ounce raw baby spinach (by weight)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F, and line a muffin pan with paper liners (or use silicone muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray).
Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Heat the butter until just melted. Using a blender or food processor, blend the raw spinach, banana, honey, milk, egg, vanilla, and melted butter until completely pureed.
Pour the puree into the dry ingredient bowl, and fold together gently until just combined. (Do not over-mix.)
Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, and bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the muffins are firm to the touch on top, but not quite browning.
Cool most or all of the way before serving.

I’ve made these muffins a few times over the last month and have made a few adaptations that you might consider trying:

Reducing the honey to ¼ cup and adding ½ cup mini chocolate chips
Adding an extra banana or two (because I needed to use them up)
Adding more spinach – it’s amazing how much spinach you can add to these muffins. I buy the big 16 oz bag of fresh spinach (you don’t need to use baby spinach), double the recipe and use the whole bag of spinach!
The first time I made these I didn’t have any whole wheat flour on hand, so I used All Purpose flour. They turned out great. You could also do half and half if you don’t want to use all whole wheat flour.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. My freezer is full of them! Ha!

Yours in health, fitness, and healthy treats.