Because of M's susceptibility to seizures during fevers and the notorious immune system challenge that is daycare, his neurologist suggested we keep him out of any daycare for at least another year while his immune system matures and we let his cognitive development keep going with as few seizures as possible. That means we had to find a nanny for at-home care while we're working, and we were fortunate to find someone great who also happens to be a dietician-in-training. I've been teaching her everything I know about keto-for-epilepsy and she's totally embraced it, and has come up with some really great suggestions for toddler-friendly recipes that we can adapt. Among them: these spinach muffins, which as as Massachusetts native she renamed Green Monstah muffins for her son. They turned out to be pretty easy to adapt to a 2.5:1 ratio and M loves them. Meanwhile, I get to feel virtuous about him eating his veggies.
These take a LOT of spinach - like an entire bag from the grocery store you'd buy for salads. Which is great! But be prepared.
Ingredients for a dozen 2.5:1 muffins at ~230 cal/ea:
180g 40% heavy whipping cream
80g ghee
35g European butter
140g raw spinach (weigh when dry, but be sure to rinse and spin or air dry)
75g banana
45g egg, raw, mixed well
140g macadamia nut flour (could replace with almond flour)
25g coconut flour
5g psyllium husk powder
12g baking powder
3g baking soda
2g ground cinnamon
A few drops of vanilla flavored liquid sweetener (I use Lakanto vanilla monkfruit extract), to taste - note that you don't need much, as the banana adds a lot of sweetness
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line a muffin pan with liners.
Melt the butter and ghee in a large bowl. Add the cream, egg, spinach, banana, and sweetener, and puree using an immersion blender. This mixture should be lovely and green.
Mix the dry ingredients together well in a separate bowl and add to the wet ingredients a bit at a time, gently stirring it in to combine evenly. This will make a fairly thick batter.
Distribute evenly among the muffin liners and bake 20 minutes, until the tops start to brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove and cool on rack.
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