Pumpkin Kale Peanut Butter Muffins

Now I can't be the only Mommy out there who has a hard time getting their child to eat some greens.  My son used to love his home-made baby food of peas, broccoli, spinach etc.  Then he became a toddler and all he has to do is see green and he wants nothing to do with it.  I feel like a failure!  So instead of giving up, I am trying all different ways to hide the greens I so desperately want him to eat.  So I came up with these.  Pretty easy and honestly one of the best muffins I ever made.  My son devoured his and so did the hubby.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup kale (I used chopped organic frozen kale from Whole Foods.  I just put some in a strainer, ran it under hot water and squeezed to get rid of the extra liquid.  Then I used my hand blender and chopped it up really fine.  A food processor would work great as well.  Then I jam packed as much as I could into a half cup).
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup olive oil (NOT extra virgin)
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla

Streusel ingredients:  (you could skip this part to make the muffins extra healthy, but I love a crunchy topping)

1/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup plain instant oats
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon all spice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and get your muffin tins ready by greasing or using paper liners.  

Make streusel by adding all of the streusel ingredients to a bowl and cutting (smooshing) together with a pastry cutter or good ol' fork. 

I could honestly just get a spoon and eat this all.  Just. Like. This.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt.  Set aside.

In a mixer add the sugar,eggs, and peanut butter.  Blend for one minute.  Then add pumpkin, kale, oil, water and vanilla.  Mix until incorporated. 

Looks like soup! 

Slowly add flour until thoroughly mixed.

Add to muffin tin. (about 1/3 cup per muffin, or just about fill it to the top).  Add the streusel to the tops and throw into the oven for about 20-25 minutes.  Mine were perfect at 23 minutes.   Made 20 big muffins. 

Make sure to push to streusel into the batter a bit. 

BIGGGGG muffin tops!!!  My favorite!

Can't even see the kale,  or taste it! 

Easy Yogurt Biscuits

I made a "roasted chicken" in the slow cooker the other day and was craving biscuits to go along.  Now biscuits are notoriously known for being slightly unhealthy due to all that butter.  So I found this recipe on the side of the Stonyfield yogurt I buy for Logan.  It seemed extremely easy and much better for you than the usual.  It also seemed like the perfect recipe for add-ins.  My favorite kind of recipe.  This first time I just added a little cheese at the end but next time I think I will add spinach, garlic  and parmesan.  Yum.  I'll be sure to post if they come out good as well...

Slow cooker "roasted" chicken, molasses bacon roasted beets and
yogurt biscuits.  Perfect Sunday dinner.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup plain yogurt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  

Mix yogurt and oil together in another.  

Add together in bowl and mix well.  Dump out onto a well floured surface and knead until smooth.

  Roll into about 1 inch thickness and cut into whatever shape pleases you.  I loooove square.  Place biscuit on a greased or parchment paper topped cookie sheet.  

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Serve warm.  (of course a little butter on a hot biscuit doesn't hurt)