Green "Hulk" Smoothie Muffins

I'm going to stop apologizing every time I post that it has been forever since I posted! Life has been busy. We moved, I've been working on making new friends and setting up play dates for the little one. He just had his fourth birthday party, and it was a complete success, so I'm really happy about that a week later! I have been doing a few more cake orders (click here to see some of my work) and although I have still been cooking a lot and trying new recipes, I haven't really had much of an urge to share them.

Until today!

I love green smoothies. And I love these muffins because they taste like banana bread and my 4 year old inhales them as fast as I can bake them. He has no idea that he is getting a good serving of spinach and fruit in each one, he just knows that they are green and so is The Hulk, and if he eats them he will get big and strong too!

This is an adaptation of another recipe that I found. I made that one and wasn't entirely pleased with the results, even though we still ate them all up. The next time, I made some adjustments and was much more pleased with the finished muffins. It makes kind of a strange amount of muffins... I made 12 regular sized ones and 15 mini muffins. You can make any combination you like! Mini muffins are perfect for toddlers and little kids.

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

8 strawberries (thawed, if frozen)

2 cups raw baby spinach, packed tightly

¼ cup plain Greek yogurt

1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour

½ cup old fashioned oats

¾ cup sugar (or ¾ cup honey plus ¼ cup extra flour. I used organic coconut palm sugar)

1 large egg

¼ cup vegetable oil or melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put bananas, hulled strawberries, spinach and yogurt into a food processor or blender. Blend and set aside.

In a mixing bowl (I use my Kitchenaid mixer) combine flour, oats, egg, oil, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Mix on low speed until course and crumbly.

Pour in the fruit/veggie puree and mix well.

Line muffin cups with liners or grease well with cooking spray. Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes (about 17 if you are doing mini muffins) or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I recommend putting any leftover muffins in the fridge.

Enjoy!