Blueberry Pineapple Spinach Banana Nut Muffins

This week I decided to participate in the Chiquita Cooking Lab Recipe Contest. It reminds me of a Chopped for Beginners, especially with this weeks combination – Pineapple, Spinach and Bananas were in my basket – well my scratch off. I’m not quite a creative one, but I know that pineapple and bananas go great in cakes and muffins. So I decided to try my hand at some blueberry/pineapple spinach banana nut muffins! If nothing else, I figured this would be a great Vitamin boost for our family since the cold season is here!

I will admit I didn’t use very much spinach – just enough to say it’s in there,  but I used all of the ingredients!!

• 1 ¾ cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 single serving applesauce (or ½ cup)
• 1 tablespoon triple washed baby spinach, chopped by food processor into small bits
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup pineapple(drained)
• 1 cup blueberries
• ¼ cup chopped nuts, plus extra for topping, optional ingredient

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick spray.
2. Add dry ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk together.
3. Whisk to beat egg and sugar together till light (I did this by hand for just a couple minutes).
4. Whisk in the rest of the wet ingredients.
5. Pour dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredient mixture, add ¼ cup walnuts if desired, and stir gently just to combine – do not over-mix.
6. Pour muffin batter into muffin tin cups – about ¾ full each. If using walnuts, sprinkle walnuts on top of each muffin.
7. Bake for 14-17 minutes until centers set or a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
8. Cool until safe to touch and enjoy!

Are you up for the challenge? Each week get the 3 secret ingredients and give it your best shot to win $4,000!