Do you have someone in the house who won’t eat their veggies? I certainly do! In fact, I have three of those and I only have two kids so read between the line. (I love you honey!)

I recently created these muffins and they took a few rounds of experimenting but I’m happy to say these get two thumbs up from every one in the Dulien household. They are a great way to get your kids to try super foods without detection or a good opportunity to involve them in cooking and explaining all the benefits of each food. Carrots boost our immune system and vision; cauliflower is loaded with choline which boosts our brain power and memory; spinach is high in iron which makes us strong (like Popeye); and chia seeds which supercharges our digestive track.

Baked oatmeal muffins used to be a daily breakfast and snack in our house. If you follow me on insta, you’ve definitely seen me post about the beloved muffins. They are so easy and versatile. Two ripe bananas, 1.5 cups gluten free quick cooking oats and toppings of choice in a mini muffin tin for 12 min at 350. I’ve made these with everything from fruit to nut butter to chocolate chips. You can even find one of my personal faves, apple pie bites on my blog.

Recently, we went through a lot of allergy testing for one of my kiddos and realized bananas don’t jive as well as other foods – and we were definitely banana connoisseurs. I tried so many other muffin recipes and nothing was as well received as our trusty baked banana oat muffins.

I wanted to keep oats in the daily line up because they are a great healthy grain option. Oats are high in fiber, can help lower cholesterol, stay satiated and stabilize blood sugar. I love these organic gluten free quick cooking oats by Bobs red mill. I order them by the case on Amazon and use them for a lot of recipes. If you’re gluten free and haven’t found a flour substitute you love, try blending these oats in a high speed blender until they are a fine powder. I also add them to meatballs and loafs in place of breadcrumbs.

When you throw the cauliflower, spinach and carrots into a blender, it turns into a smoothie like texture similar to mashed bananas that is undetectable to taste when added to a recipe. I’ve played around with the amount of maple syrup and have settled on 2 Tablespoons of maple syrup for our taste preference but I doubled the amount in my recipe for a sweeter taste based off of feedback. If you prefer your foods with less sweetener, you can easily adjust.

These muffins are great warm, although they do need a few minutes to cool right out of the oven as the blueberries can pack a little extra temperature. Store then room temp for two days of in the fridge for uo to four. You can pop them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds before serving if cold.

Ingredients

• 2 cups spinach
• 1 cup frozen cauliflower
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot 
• 1/4 cup maple syrup 
• 2 egg
• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• Coconut cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat over to 350 and spray a mini muffin pan with coconut oil. 
2. In a high speed blender, add spinach, cauliflower, carrot, eggs and maple syrup and blend until smooth. 
3. Add mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add in the chia seed and oats and mix.
4. In a microwave safe bowl, microwave the frozen raspberries and blueberries for 60-90 seconds until well defrosted. Add the berries and the liquid to the oats and mix well.
5. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin filling to the top of each muffin.
6. Bake for 12 minutes at 350.