Spinach breakfast muffins

I keep finding some really cool GREEN recipes (look forward to reading about chocolate green shakes in the near future). I guess this is my way of thinking healthy (or not having snow days every other day even though I love the beauty of winter and snow) So these green beauties may look savory, but they are indeed a great breakfast muffin! These  also introduced me to the world of quinoa – so I will try to experiment and learn more about that now too… I’m going to try to experiment with one new thing each month 🙂

These muffins have a slightly sweet taste to them, but are dense and tasty enough to not be overly gross BUT not so “spinach-y” that you don’t want to enjoy them for breakfast. I’m telling you – the only way to truly enjoy these is to make them and try them yourself!

Spinach Quinoa Muffins (from Dandy Sugar)

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour (50/50 mix of white & wheat works)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• (1/2 tsp) fresh grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup cooked quinoa

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup palm sugar (or 1/4 cup white & 1/4 cup brown)
• 1 medium mashed banana (or even more!)
• 2 cups of dry spinach leaves (should amount to about 1 cup processed)
• 2 tbsp [canola] oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of 1 lemon
• chopped walnuts or almonds

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 12 cup muffin tin OR for a breakfast at school – prepare a 24 cup muffin tin. Put 2 cups of dry baby spinach leaves into the food processor and pulse until the leaves resemble a puree. You should have about 1 cup of  chopped spinach total.

Combine dry ingredients into a bowl and whisk. In another bowl, whisk egg and sugar together until incorporated and light in texture. Add remaining wet ingredients and whisk. Pour dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir just to combine – do not over-mix. Gently fold quinoa into the mixture.  Pour (mine was really thick… more like ‘dump’) batter into muffin tin to about 3/4 full each. Top each muffin with chopped nuts of your choice.

Bake for 15-19 minutes for the regular muffins (or about 12 – 15 minute for mini muffins) until centers set or a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Enjoy while warm!

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Kermit the Frog always said “Its not easy being green” – but I think its easier than we all thought, so – GO GREEN… its good for your health, the environment, & all of our futures!