Whole Wheat Spinach Parsnip Muffins

Wow, just looking at the title of this recipe makes me feel like some sort of hippy dippy granola chick. I swear I'm not!(Even though I do really like granola!)  This post could also be titled, "How To Get Your Kids To Eat Spinach and Like It."

My family loves parsnips. We grill them and put them in stews and pot roast. So when I saw Alton Brown make parsnip muffins on his show Good Eats, I was intrigued. We made the parsnip muffins, and they were very good. While I was searching for the parsnip muffin recipe, I came across a recipe for spinach muffins. We made those and they turned out well too. Through this whole muffin experiment process I learned that my son, who is probably one of the pickiest eaters on the face of the planet, will eat almost anything if you put it into muffin. And he doesn't just eat it, he goes crazy for it!

So I thought, "Hey, why not really boost the veggie servings by combining the two muffins together?" Well, they turned out great too! The parsnips give the muffins a nice nutty flavor. If you know what parsnips taste like, you'll notice the flavor, but the grated veggie just melts into the muffin batter, so there are no chunks or crunchy bits in the muffin, something that can be a little kid deterrent. If someone doesn't know what parsnips taste like they'll just say, "Mmmm! Delicious! I wonder what the secret ingredient is?"

The spinach flavor is barely noticeable due to  the addition of  sweet banana and aromatic cinnamon. Though of course it does make the muffins a striking green color. This could motivate a child to eat it or turn them off to it depending on the child. I think that most kids would think its pretty cool though, especially for something like St. Patrick's Day. What a great way to have some green food without using food coloring! My son helps me make them, so he knows all about the vegetables "hidden" in these muffins, but feel free to keep it a secret if  you need to!

                                                             

Whole Wheat Spinach Parsnip Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup canola oil

3/4 cup milk

6 oz fresh baby spinach

1 banana

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large or 2 smaller parsnips, finely grated. 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with paper liners.

Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl: flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside,

In a blender, place oil, milk, and spinach. Blend until smooth. Add banana (in pieces) and vanilla. Blend until smooth. 

Pour spinach puree into the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Fold in grated parsnips. 

Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full (I like to use an ice cream scoop for this job), and bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick/skewer/fork inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cool and enjoy!