After giving you two recipes for Brussels sprouts and beets, this time I promised you something on the sweeter side! But given that we have just got past Christmas, let us not make it something sinful. Instead, try whipping up these green smoothie muffins.

This is just one of the recipes headed your way in the Waterfront Wellness Healthy Kickstart next week. The Kickstart is a gift from us to you and is free for everyone in our community. It is two weeks of healthy recipes and lifestyle tips, and a great opportunity to start 2023 as you mean to go on! For all the details, have a look at waterfrontwellness.bm, where you can sign up for our introductory chat (optional) and to receive all the information via e-mail.

Unlike the cleanse or detox programmes I have run in the past, the Kickstart does not have a long list of things to avoid or a meal plan to follow. Instead, the idea is to “crowd-out” any bad habits you have by focusing on cooking nutritious options and adding in healthy behaviours. We have 14 amazing recipes to share and this is one of my favourites.

This muffin is gluten and dairy free, lightly sweet and packed full of green leaves. It really does come out of the oven “Shrek green” so kids find them funny too. If you can’t find the Paleo baking flour you could use a wheat flour (not gluten free) or a combination of brown rice and almond flour (fifty/fifty mix). The Paleo flour adds a nice hit of protein and fibre though so it’s a great option.

If you do use fresh bananas, make sure they are very ripe. You can use any unsweetened plant-based milk, or even regular cows milk (not dairy free.) In place of maple, you can switch honey – so it really is very flexible. Whichever way you make them, enjoy! And do join us for the kick-start – it begins January 4, but we have an intro seminar on the January 3, that’s also going to be fun.

Green Smoothie Muffins (makes 18 regular muffins)

Ingredients:

Green Smoothie ingredients:

4 cups fresh baby spinach, packed

1 cup frozen banana slices, defrosted

¾ cup almond milk (suggest Elmhurst, milked almonds)

¼ cup maple syrup

1 large egg

½ cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted

Dry ingredients

2 cups Bobs Red Mill Paleo grain-free baking flour (could use wheat flour, but choose white wheat if you want to keep the bright green colour!) The Paleo one is good for adding protein.

1 ½ tsps. Cinnamon

2 tsps baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F

Prepare muffin cases by placing them in tins and if necessary, spraying with non-stick spray. You can also use mini-muffins if you like and adjust cooking time as per below.

In a large bowl, hand whisk the dry ingredients together so they are well blended

Melt the coconut oil in a small pan on the stove top

Whiz all the green smoothie ingredients except the coconut oil together in a blender or bullet.

Open the blender/bullet, add the coconut oil and whiz again. Make sure you remeasure the coconut oil once melted as the cold/warm measurements sometimes change! (When coconut oil hits cold/frozen ingredients it can go lumpy – this is why we have the bananas and the almond milk at room temp. If this happens to you, just wait for the mix to warm a little and blend again.)

Hand whisk the smoothie ingredients into the dry mix gently. Don’t over mix.

Fill cases two-thirds full and bake for approx. Twenty minutes (regular size) or 17 minutes (mini size). Muffins should be firm but bouncy. They should not brown much at all on top.

• Catherine Burns is a qualified nutritional therapist. For more details: www.natural.bm, 505-4725, Natural Nutrition Bermuda on Facebook and @naturalbda on Instagram