What’s Cooking Wednesday with Jennifer Shirk

Here at Entangled, we like to read.

(Bet you would never have guessed that.)

So we also love quick-n-easy recipes that free up more time for us to indulge in our favorite past time.

Each week we’re sharing some of our favorite recipes to help you find a few extra minutes in your day to enjoy your next favorite book!

This week a special guest:

Healthy Banana Spinach Muffins with Jennifer Shirk!

(Slightly modified from Work Out with Alissa blog)

Who tried it: Bliss romance author Jennifer Shirk

Why she likes it: It’s not every muffin where you get a vegetable AND a fruit. Moist, sweet, low fat, low calorie and very tasty. Even her 15 year old has been having one every morning. You just have to get past the green color. ☺

Ingredients:

2 c oat flour (To make, take 2 c organic oats & grind them in the food processor)
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup apple sauce
3/4 c skim milk
1 (5oz) bag of spinach
2 small bananas
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla
1/2 c chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line a muffin tin with 12 cup liners (but you may get more than 12 muffins)
Whisk together dry ingredients (oat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt)
Blend oil, milk, and spinach until completely pureed
Add 2 bananas and vanilla; blend on low just to mix
Pour liquid mixture into dry mixture; fold in chips with rubber spatula
Fill muffin tins 2/3 full
bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

With all that extra time not spent in the kitchen, what’s Jennifer currently reading?

Right now, I’m reading A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. A little depart from my normal romance reading, but I felt the need for something completely different. I just started it, but so far I find the main character very entertaining!

Don’t miss Jennifer Shirk’s From Fake to Forever, on sale for just 99¢!

Their arrangement is fake, but the attraction is real.

Sandra Moyer’s preschool is struggling, so when her sister suggests allowing a super-famous actor to research his latest role there, she reluctantly agrees. Except the actor turns out to be Ben Capshaw—a playboy who’s never serious, always joking around, and who knows zero about kids or being a parent. Case in point: his involvement in the untimely death of the preschool’s class pet…

Ben is enjoying teaching more than he thought he would, but that doesn’t mean he’s looking for a permanent position. Sure, he’s ready for more serious movie roles and less goofing off, but the buttoned-up, beautiful Sandra and her young daughter are more than he bargained for. Plus, Sandra still won’t trust him—what if it’s all an act, research for the role? As the lines between make-believe and reality blur, Ben will have to decide if love is worth casting aside the role of his life for a new role…that could last a lifetime.

Previously released as The Role of a Lifetime – (May 2008) and has been enhanced with new material.

Jennifer Shirk has a bachelor degree in pharmacy-which has in NO WAY at all helped her with her writing career. But she likes to point it out, since it shows romantic-at-hearts come in all shapes, sizes, and mind-numbing educations. She writes sweet romances (some even funny!) and won third place in the RWA 2006 NYC’s Kathryn Hayes Love and Laughter Contest with her first book, The Role of a Lifetime. Recently, her novel Sunny Days for Sam won the 2013 Golden Quill Published Authors Contest for Best Traditional Romance. She’s a board member for Straight Ahead Ministries, an organization involved in helping spread the gospel and aiding medical and pharmacy students in Russia. She’s also a board member of the Ocean City Library Board of Trustees. She resides in a beach resort in NJ, and when she’s not involved in all the above, she’s taking care of her most treasured possessions: her husband, daughter, guinea pig (Rocco), puppy (Sox) and four hermit crabs.