Eat your vegetable muffins....spinach-banana muffins that is.

My niece Jessie is a mom trying inventive ways to get vegetables into her son's diet. She made these muffins in a snap this morning and they turned out just fine. They might look a little green but they taste deliciously like bananas. To find the recipe, click on the link below Jessie's muffins.

https://joyfoodsunshine.com/spinach-banana-muffins/

Orange Date Oatmeal Muffins

My sister Penelope recommends these tasty muffins. Oranges and dates are very good flavour mates.

Ingredients:

• 1&1/4 cups milk
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 medium orange (seeded)
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Methods:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Grease large muffin tins or line with paper baking cups. Pour the milk over the oats in a bowl and let stand for 5 minutes. Finely chop the quartered orange in a food processor or blender. I don't have a food processor and my blender appeared to be dead when I tried to use it, so I ended up chopping the orange with a knife. Whatever works.

Stir the orange into the oat mixture along with the egg, sugar, melted butter and dates. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl, then stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just mixed. Fill the muffin cups to the top and bake for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Coffee Walnut Muffins

This recipe is taken from a '70's-era cookbook by Canadian Edna Staebler, called 'Food that Really Schmecks', which focuses on the Mennonite tradition of economical and wholesome ways of preparing food.

Given that I absolutely hate to waste food, I was dreaming up ways to use some increasingly stale walnuts that were in my kitchen cupboard. Prior to using them in this recipe, I freshened the nuts by toasting them briefly in a non-stick skillet. If you happen to make these muffins, you'll note that the texture of the uncooked batter is very dense. You will also notice, I think, that the instant coffee adds a subtle background flavour that complements the walnuts. The whole effect is quite satisfying.

They really schmeck

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs instant coffee powder
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup whole milk or cream
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup melted shortening (I used margarine)
• 2 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Methods:
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F. Dissolve the coffee in the hot water and add the cream, beaten egg and shortening. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl. Stir in the walnuts. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. Spoon the batter into a buttered muffin tin (12 muffin size) and bake for about 20 minutes.

If you eschew (Gesundheit) instant coffee and don't have any hanging about, I'm pretty sure that you could simply use 1/2 cup of strongly brewed coffee instead of instant coffee dissolved in 1/2 cup of water. 

Sylvia's Pineapple Muffins

Always thinking, Sylvia devised these golden muffins to use up the pineapple sauce she had made to accompany her great-nephew's birthday cupcakes and ice cream. It did not get used.

Ingredients:

• 1 small container fresh pineapple chunks with the juice
• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 rounded tsp cornstarch 

• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup oil

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla 

Methods: 

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan, cook over a medium heat for several minutes until thickened and saucy. Allow the sauce to cool somewhat before making the muffins. You'll need 1&1/2 cups of pineapple sauce for this recipe.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a medium-sized bowl. In a second bowl combine the egg and sugar, then stir in the oil, yogurt, pineapple sauce and vanilla. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full, and bake for 15-18 minutes.