Greens! (Zucchini Muffins & Spinach Salad)

This post is all about getting picky children (and adults) to eat things that are green.

My child is hit or miss: she loves the way I cook my broccoli, but tries to pick the teeny specks of parsley out of her chicken soup.  She’s weird.

But that is neither here , the two recipes that I’m sharing with you today are slam dunks.  They are can’t-fail ways to get your kids to eat zucchini and spinach, and the trick is a piece of advice from Marry Poppins herself:

“Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”

If (because it is still January) you are feeling very disciplined in cutting sugar/carbs from your diet, you can come back and read this post in February when you’ve caved like the rest of us  you are ready for a little bit of moderation.  The muffins are made with whole wheat flour, walnuts, and 3+ cups of zucchini, but there is also some sugar in there.  The spinach salad is to die for, but the dressing has sugar in it.  For us, there is plenty of redeeming nutritional value to happily take the sugar that comes with it.

ZUCCHINI MUFFINS

Reasons I love this recipe:

• It is the ultimate snack food.
• It is the ultimate breakfast food.
• In the words of my daughter (5 years old), “This is the best muffin I’ve ever had!”
• In the words of my son (16 months old), “MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm.”

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 c. sugar
• 1 c. vegetable oil
• 3 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 3 c. flour (2 c. whole wheat, 1 c. white)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 c. shredded zucchini (squeezed dry)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350° and mix the first three ingredients (sugar, oil, vanilla) in your handy dandy mixer until it looks lie a 7-11 slushy. I usually skimp on the sugar and use more like 1.5 cups because it makes me feel better about myself, and I ALWAYS add an extra splash of vanilla. TO EVERYTHING.

Step 2: Add everything else, except for the zucchini.  Beat three eggs in well…

…add your nuts, salt, soda, cinnamon and flour.  It’s okay if the batter is really thick at this point; no matter how much you squeeze your zucchini, it’s going to add a lot of yummy moisture.

A word about the flour:  The original recipe calls for half whole wheat flour and half white flour.  (Tip: Did you know that you can substitute up to half of the flour in virtually any recipe with whole wheat without it affecting the taste?)  But I try to squeeze as much health into this recipe as possible – to make it worth it.  In fact, I’m pretty confident that you could just use whole wheat flour and they would come out just as amazing.  **Note to self: next time, use only whole wheat flour**

(You can tell by all my skimping and fudging that this is a VERY forgiving recipe.  I like that in a recipe.)

Step 3: Shred your zucchini.

You might be puzzled by why I, who hate cooking and dishes with such firey zeal, would be willing to shred and squeeze ANYTHING just to put it in a muffin.  The reason?  It takes less than 30 seconds.  And not 30 “Rachel Ray seconds” where everything is already washed and chopped and pre-measured in little bowls and all you have to do is dump it in.  Her 30-minute dinners are kitchen LIES.  This takes 30 real-time, all-steps-included seconds.  I even went so far as to have my handy dandy husband video tape me shredding a zucchini (it’s riveting footage) just so you would know that it can be done by a normal human being in less than 30 seconds.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFA83DOE8cA?rel=0]

Down to a stump in 27 seconds.  I am a woman of my word.

So, once your zucchini is shredded just squeeze it out in little handfuls (like the spinach from last week’s shells) and dump it in your mixing bowl.  I got 3.5 cups out of two hefty (for winter) sized zucchinis.  The rule of thumb is 1 zucchini yields 1 cup.

Step 4: Mix it up and flop it in your muffin tins!  I like mini-muffins because of their snackability.  A cup of tea and three of these puppies on a plate is the PERFECT way to wake up in the morning.  Plus they’re easy to portion out for the kids’ snacks.  And they’re cute.  And do I need more reasons?

Fill your muffin cups 1/2 to 2/3 of the way full and bake them for 12ish minutes (Know thy oven.  I checked at 10 and they needed a few more minutes.  They’re done when a toothpick comes out clean – you know the drill.)

Look how many!  I still had a full pan of minis in the oven when I took this shot, so you can double the minis that you see in this picture!

This is another pre-baby stock up recipe.  The muffins freeze well and ensure that, no matter how sleep deprived a momma is, the children can still get some whole grains and zucchini with breakfast.  🙂

Sam (distractedly) approves.  He ate 4 and I didn’t stop him.

DISH COUNT

Pot-stuff: 1 mixing bowl, 1 zucchini bowl, 2 muffin tins

Dish-stuff:  NADA.  BAKING > COOKING.

Silverware-stuff: 2 measuring cups, 1 measuring spoon, 1 spoon (for scooping batter into cups), and 1 knife (for lobbing the ends off of your zucchinis, if that even counts as a dish)

Even though an egg rolled off my counter and smashed onto my floor as I was starting to bake these, I’m still calling them a win.  I’m very generous with myself.

Kate: 3, Kitchen: 0

Onward!

SPINACH ORANGE SALAD

Reasons I love this recipe:

• It has spinach in it.
• Madeline eats the spinach.
• The end.
• Oh, wait!  There are candied almonds!
• Okay, now the end.

Here’s what you’ll need:

(Yes, I know my braille salt and pepper shakers are the bomb.)

Dressing:

• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp white vinegar
• 1 Tbsp snipped (or dried) parsely
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

Almonds

• 1/4 cup sliced (or slivered) almonds
• 4 tsp. sugar

Salad

• 1 can mandarin oranges
• 2 Tbsp. green onion tops
• Fresh spinach

“Life’s too short to de-tail spinach.”

Not too shabby!

I’ve made this one a THOUSAND times, so I’m happy and relieved to report no kitchen injuries, fires, frustrations, or disappointments.  Kate,4; Kitchen, 0.

Enjoy, friends!

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