For a few weeks I was struggling with what to feed Amalia now that she’s pretty much off of purées entirely. The purée thing was easy and fun for me but when it came to solids, I was at a major loss at first. Now we’re in a groove, and I’m going to try to share more of our recipes with you starting with these veggie-packed muffins that are gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free, sweetened only with bananas. Despite all of that, they’re so insanely good that I ate four in my first sitting and have had to make a new batch every day this week because my whole family is obsessed with them.

It’s one of those “treats” that makes you feel zero guilt because it’s full of healthy ingredients.

I’m not gonna lie, they look like dog food in these photos (I went a little overboard on the cinnamon and almond butter in this batch) which is probably why Bootsie is patiently waiting beside them for us to finish shooting so he can get a bite. I mean look at that face, how can I say no?

I originally found this recipe and tweaked it over a few tries to perfection. You could totally play around with what kind of flour you use and what veggies you add. I swapped out the maple syrup for bananas and it actually made it even better, IMO.

Scroll down for the recipe and I hope you and your family (or just you!) enjoy these healthified muffins as much as we do.

Veggie-Packed Toddler Muffins
Makes 6 regular-sized muffins or 12 mini muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour (I’ve also subbed in regular whole wheat flour here for a non-GF version and that was amazing)
1/4 tspn, salt
1 tspn, baking powder
1/2 tspn, baking soda
2 tspns, chia seeds (optional)
2 tspns, cinnamon
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 ripe banana
1 large egg
1 tspn, vanilla extract
1 cup grated carrots (I actually used a food processor instead of a grater to make this easier)
1 cup grated zucchini

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Line or grease your muffin pan.
In a large bowl, mix flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
In a bowl of a stand mixer, mix coconut oil, banana, egg, chia and vanilla. Combine well!
Add dry ingredients to the wet mix and stir until smooth.
Stir in shredded veggies with a spoon, not the mixer.
Fill the muffin tins 3/4 of the way up.
Bake for 15 minutes or until a fork comes out clean.
Cool for a few minutes.
Enjoy!

Photos by Julia D’Agostino.