Orange Oatmeal Muffins

I think about everything that goes into my mouth.

"Oh, hi nice to see you".....gulp.

No seriously.  Since I had my baby 15 months ago, I've thought about every calorie that I consume.  I also think about how much fiber I consume.  Fiber & I have become good friends this last year.  I know it was the running, yoga & fiber that helped in me losing ALL my baby weight.  I've worked hard to get where I'm at, and I know that eating a more healthy diet has helped in it.

This morning I was in the baking mood, and wanted muffins.  I saw the oranges, and decided to make a "scratch" muffin...no recipe.

 I started by sifting together in a mixing bowl 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 Tbl Baking Powder, 1 Tbl Cornstarch {thinking that the cornstarch would "lighten" up the flour}& 1 Tsp of Salt.  I then added 1 cup of oats {trying to get the fiber content up}.

 I then made a well in the center & added: 1/2 cup of vanilla non-fat yogurt, 2 eggs, and the zest from 2 oranges.  I started the mixer, combining everything until it was this crumbly mixture.  As the mixture was going {on low} I added in 1 cup of skim milk, until it was incorporated.  I then spooned the batter into greased muffin tins & baked at 400 degrees for 14 minutes.

 While the muffins were cooking, I took the juice from the oranges & added a 1/2 cup of sugar & set it on the stove.  I brought it up to a boil, stirring to make sure the sugar had dissolved, and then turned off the heat.  Once the muffins had baked, and cooled {cooled enough so I could handle} I took each muffin and dipped them in the OJ syrup.  I opted for this instead of a powdered sugar glaze because I wasn't wanting the extra sugar.

 The good news....they were edible.  They weren't the sweetest muffin, but I knew that wasn't going to be the case since I was kinda going in the opposite direction.  I wish however that it had more orange flavoring to it; the zest didn't provide enough of it.  I'll probably have to go get some orange extract or orange emulsion & add it to the batter.  The OJ syrup added that little something-something.  I'm just happy that the muffins weren't gummy, because I know that can happen sometimes when oats get baked into bread batters.

I went online, & typed in the ingredients to see what kind of nutritional facts would pop up:

Not bad.  I had two for breakfast with a glass of OJ; my boys each had one with a bowl of yogurt; my daughter nit-picked through hers throughout the day-eating a little here & a little there {she hasn't grasped the whole muffin concept}.

I'm happy with the end product, and I'm glad that I've got snacks for a couple of days.  I'll definitely have to try this again.