By Mid-February in Tulsa. Brayden is nineteen weeks old. He has settled back into one wake-up per night after the four-month sleep regression last month — the window closed at exactly nine days, splitting the difference between Mama’s estimate and Aunt Linda’s. He is sleeping seven-thirty PM to four-thirty AM, nursing, then back down to seven-thirty AM. The schedule has given my body and brain back to me in a way I had not realized I had been missing them.
The spinach banana muffins are a healthy-breakfast experiment — ripe banana, baby spinach (blended into the wet ingredients so the green color disappears into the brown banana base), whole wheat flour, oat flour, maple syrup as the only sweetener, a single egg, and a small amount of plain yogurt for moisture. The muffins are not sweet by conventional muffin standards but they are nutritionally dense enough that I can grab one as a one-handed breakfast while nursing Brayden in the rocking chair.
The technique question was whether the spinach would oxidize and turn the muffins gray-green during the bake. The answer (from the test batch on Thursday) is no — the banana keeps the color in the brown family. The muffins come out the same color as standard banana-bread muffins. The spinach reads as nutritional density rather than as a visual presence.
Sunday I made a double batch. Twelve muffins for the freezer, twelve for the week. They thaw on the counter in twenty minutes or in the microwave on the defrost setting for forty seconds. The single-handed breakfast problem is solved through the end of the month. The math of nursing-mother nutrition rewards the kind of recipe that bakes once and feeds three weeks.
Spinach Banana Muffins
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach, packed
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (or neutral oil)
- 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat. Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease well with cooking spray.
- Blend the wet ingredients. In a blender, combine the mashed bananas, spinach, eggs, melted coconut oil, honey, and vanilla extract. Blend until completely smooth and the spinach is fully incorporated — the batter will turn a cheerful green.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- Combine. Pour the blended wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Fill and bake. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake for 18—22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops are set.
- Cool. Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or freeze individually for up to 3 months.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 130 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 6g | Carbs: 17g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 105mg