Snow Day

One downside to having two dogs is having twice the yellow snow.  Gross, but true.  Our backyard is a "gold mine."  Now I'm not an A+ pet owner, but I don't think there's anything one can do about that.  I mean, yes you are expected to go out and scoop up *ahem*, but I am not going to chisel out the yellow snow.  Fortunately Mother Nature stepped in and saw the plight of our yard and delivered us with a few inches of white fluffy snow.  Ahh, fresh coverage. 

Notice that?  No plastic lawn furniture in the picture!  Of course there's our new top-o'-the-line homemade chicken wire dog fence, but whatever.  Still pretty.

When there's a snow day, I am always inclined to bake, being that I am a girl and apparently I am hardwired to enjoy domestic activities.  I found a recipe that looked really weird, but turned out great.  I made a few changes to it so that I may claim it as my own.  Get your food processor ready...

Orange Muffins

1 orange, quartered and seeds removed (with peel)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 large egg
1/4 cup butter, cut into smallish chunks

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 

2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

 

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and coat a muffin tin with nonstick baking spray (or line with paper wrappers).  

 

2. Ok yes- you are about to puree an entire orange- peel and all.  Trust me with this one.  Put the orange slices plus orange juice in the food processor and run until smooth (about 1-2 minutes).  It'll look like this:

 3. Now add the butter, egg, and applesauce.  Run the processor again until smooth.  You'll still be able to see teeny bits of butter in the mix.  This is ok.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and soda.  Stir in orange mix.  Spoon into muffin cups, 2/3rds full.  

Makes either a dozen regular size or six jumbo size.

Do you like my attempt at using a prop and being artistic?  Yeah, that's about as good as I'll get. 

 

Per regular size muffin: 150 calories, 26 g carbs, 4 g fat, 2.5 g protein.