Mint OREO Brownies

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  These Mint OREO Brownies are an easy and delicious treat that's festive enough for the holiday!

You can easily just take your favorite boxed brownie mix and stir in chopped Mint OREOs, but I love to make this simple one-bowl brownie recipe whenever the brownie craving strikes.

I adapted the recipe slightly to account for the OREOs, but whether you bake the brownies from scratch or use a boxed mix, the combination of the mint and chocolate is delightful!

Mint OREO Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 c chocolate chips
• 1/2 c butter
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/4 c flour
• 1 c sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/4 t baking soda
• 20 Mint OREOs, chopped

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350° F. 
• Line a 13x9-inch baking pan with parchment paper.  
• Melt chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl for 90 seconds on high; stir until smooth.
• Wait about 5 minutes until mixture has cooled, then stir in eggs (don't want them to get cooked in the hot butter/chocolate mixture!).
• Stir in flour, sugar, vanilla, and baking soda.
• Mix in chopped OREOs.
• Spread mixture in prepared pan.
• Bake 18-22 minutes.  

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Spinach Mandarin Mini Muffins

My kids absolutely loved the Spinach Banana Muffins (aka Hulk Muffins) I made a while ago, so I decided to make them again since I bought a huge bag of spinach and we had overripe bananas.

However, in the middle of baking the muffins, I realized my husband took the overripe bananas to work, so I had to improvise, and I used Halos (mandarin oranges) plus one banana.

It was so delicious! I decided to make another batch using only mandarin oranges, and I just loved it.

The kids can't taste the spinach at all, and they love having the muffins for breakfast, snack, and even dessert. I've slipped many times, calling them "spinach muffins" instead of "Hulk muffins," but thankfully they haven't caught on.

I made several batches and popped bags full of the muffins into the freezer.

Many people commented on Instagram that this wold be a great treat for St. Patrick's Day!

Spinach Mandarin Mini Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 c flour
• ¾ c sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• ½ t baking soda
• 1½ t ground cinnamon
• ½ t salt
• ¼ c vegetable oil
• ¾ c milk (I used rice milk)
• 3 c fresh spinach
• 6 Halos (mandarin oranges)
• 2 t pure vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. 
• In a blender, combine oil, milk, spinach, mandarins, and vanilla until pureed.
• Pour puréed mixture into dry mixture and combine.
• Fill prepared mini muffin tins and bake for 9-11 minutes (for regular-sized muffins, bake for 18-20 minutes).   

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