Spinach Banana Muffins

Hey, did you notice that it’s kind of hard to get leafy greens into tiny humans? They taste a little bitter, the texture is weird when learning to chew, and something about the color makes a lot of kids windshield wipe green food right off their tray. BUT, leafy greens are super healthy. They’re full of good stuff (like fiber, folate, calcium, magnesium, and vitamins A, C, and K). So what’s a good way to get them into the bellies of little ones? MUFFINS.

I’m obviously not the first person to come up with this idea. There are approximately 10,000 green muffin recipes on the internet (I’ve personally pinned about 9,000 of them.) BUT, no matter what recipe I tried, I always ended up modifying something. So I decided to just start from scratch and make up my own.

Why do I like these spinach banana muffins better? They’ve got lots of good fats and fiber, no added sugar, the texture is just right (not oddly spongy and not super dense), and most importantly, they’re toddler-approved.

Ingredients

• 1 large ripe banana (or 2 small, if you like things sweeter, go for 2)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup nut butter (we have a NuttZo obsession in my house, but you can use peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower seed butter, or even tahini/sesame butter)
• 2 eggs
• 2-4 cups fresh baby spinach or other leafy greens (I often use the big bag of power greens from Costco) – shove whatever your blender will fit, I do closer to 4 cups, but if you’re skeptical about the amount, start small
• 3/4 cup rolled oats (I’m not here to fear monger, but I go organic with oats)
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I’ve also used pumpkin pie spice)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF and grease a mini muffin tin (or use a silicone one like this).
• Into a blender, add the banana, water, nut butter, eggs, and spinach. Blend until smooth.
• Add the rolled oats, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt.
• Blend again until the oats are mostly broken up, stopping to scrape the sides as needed.
• Pour the batter into the mini muffin cups, almost all the way to the top.
• Bake until the muffins rise and feel firm to a light touch, about 16 to 18 minutes.
• Take the muffins out of the oven and allow them to cool before removing them from the muffin tin (they’ll stick if you try to pull them out too soon).
• These can be stored at room temperature but will stay fresh longer if you keep them in an airtight container in the fridge. They also freeze really well, just be sure they are completely cooled out of the muffin tin before freezing.