Chocolate Kale, Beet, Zucchini Muffins

I had a moment on Saturday. My CSA bag was coming and my fridge was still full of veggies from last week. (Can anyone relate?) I thought, "What am I going to do with all these veggies?!" First, I made a giant pot of veggie soup to freeze for the winter. It was primarily squash and collards in the soup, in a bone broth base that I made over the winter. It turned out ok, but not good enough for me to share here! You all can share your summer soup recipes with me, ok?

Then, I made these muffins. I adapted them to be a combination of zucchini bread, the chocolate kale muffins from Mallory Froman I posted recently, and the superhero muffins that I posted awhile back.  I made a giant batch. They are filling and full of veggies. And delicious.  I was able to use three giant zucchini, a bunch of beets (4 small beets total) and an entire bunch of kale. Then I made the coconut braised greens for dinner to use up my Swiss chard and collards, and voila. Room for more veggies. (I'm eating a muffin right now as I write, mmmmm!)

Unfortunately, I don't have photos, and the measurements are a close approximation of what I did. I was cooking with three kids, trying to find jobs to keep them occupied and engaged and not eating all the batter or pulling the bowls onto the floor. So here is the recipe to the best of my memory!

Chocolate Kale, Beet, Zucchini Muffins
These make a double or triple batch! Plan to freeze some, or take them to a party.

2 giant (or 3 large) zucchini or yellow summer squash, about 6 cups shredded
4 medium beets, about 2 cups shredded
1 bunch curly kale, about 3 cups chopped or 1 cup after the food processor
1 can full fat coconut milk
1 banana (you could use two)
1 cup maple syrup
6 eggs
1 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup dark cocoa powder
1 cup coconut sugar or raw sugar
4 cups oat flour (use food processor to grindoats into flour. You could also use all purpose flour, almond flour, coconut flour, or any combination of these totaling 4 C.)
1 T. baking soda
1 T. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin pans.

Get out that food processor!!
First, grind your oat flour by putting rolled oats in the food processor. Blend and put in a small bowl to set aside. If using almond flour, grind that next, put in a small bowl and set aside.

Get the shredder attachment to the food processor. Shred all the zucchini and beets. Set aside. Switch back to blade attachment.

In the food processor, pulse kale till finely chopped. Add banana and coconut milk. Transfer to a very large bowl.  Beat eggs and add them to the wet mixture. Add melted coconut oil and maple syrup. Mix well. Add the shredded zucchini and beets. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well with a fork or whisk. Dry ingredients: all the flours (oat, almond and all-purpose), sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt.

Add dry mixture to wet mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Spoon into greased muffin pans, filled 3/4 full. Bake at 350 just until done, for about 20 minutes. Toothpick should come out either clean or with just a few crumbs on it, but not wet. Feel good about eating these for breakfast or snack!

Note: On the flour, you could increase the proportion of oat to all-purpose flour, or do all oat flour to make them gluten-free.  You could also use a portion of almond flour in these for some extra protein!

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