Peanut Butter and Banana Muffins

This is a recipe that "sneaks in" either carrots and sweet potatoes or cauliflower and zucchini! From Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.

Ingredients:

• nonstick cooking spray
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup natural-style peanut butter (I used Jif)
• 1/2 cup pureed carrot ("orange") or pureed cauliflower ("white")
• 1/2 cup mashed banana (I used 1 1/2 bananas to get 1/2 cup mashed)
• 1 large egg white
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (all I had was white)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin pan with nonstick spray.

2. Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, peanut butter, vegetable puree of your choice (I used cauliflower as Kye loves orange veges so I don't need to sneak those in!), banana, and egg in a large mixing bowl (a large wooden spoon is suggested)

3. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and combine with a whisk

4. Fold the dry mix into the wet mix and combine just until lumpy. Don't over mix as it's a muffin recipe and you want them lumpy.  Add the remaining 1/2 cup of brown sugar and stir once or twice (this put s a crust on top of the muffins)

5. Divide the batter between the muffins. Cook until lightly brown and a toothpick comes out clean (15-20 min)

6. Store at room temperature up to two days, freeze up to a month (to freeze I wrapped individually in cling wrap then put in a freezer bag, to thaw I heat in the microwave for 25 seconds)

Result:

• Toddler: At first he wouldn't try it. But that's typical for a toddler. So I smeared some peanut butter on the pieces and he went to town. He LOVES these now and I typically will give him 1/2 of one with lunch.
• Adult: Neither Zach or I like bananas and Zach said it smells very banana-ish. I didn't completely mash up all the bananas either so you can still see chunks of them so I haven't tried them. The next batch I plan on mashing up the bananas better and then I'll test one and see what I think, I doubt Zach will try it though as he really loathes bananas. This will probably be a Kye-only food!