Carrot Muffins and Orange Icing

So, I was playing with my food this morning! Shame on me...

For breakfast, I do not usually make pancakes, waffles, or bacon and eggs. Most often my family has oatmeal. Actually, almost every morning we have oatmeal. Occasionally we will do some scrambled egg whites or yogurt with fresh fruit, but most often, we eat oatmeal. I don't do this because I enjoy making my family suffer, I do it because oatmeal is healthy, full of fiber, and you can easily change the flavor by altering the ingredients you add. For example, one morning you can have apples and cinnamon, and the next you can have strawberries and cream. But I digress. 

This morning, I realized I have an excess of carrots. They are on sale for 3.50 for a 5 pound bag and I am hoping we can finish this bag and pick up another before the sale ends on Tuesday. Ha! So instead of oatmeal with shredded carrots (bleh!) I made carrot muffins. And since I had an orange that was threatening to disintegrate on the counter, we made orange icing. These are low-fat and actually very tasty! Want proof? 

That was her second one! She kept calling it cake. Cute!

Carrot Muffins with Orange Icing

Makes 12 muffins

2 Tbls of butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
2 egg whites
4 carrots, shredded (I used the cheese grater to shred my own)
1 Tbls orange rind, grated
1/4 skim milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (see I got some oats in there!)
2 Tbls ground flaxseed (optional: I add for extra fiber)
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Icing
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbls orange juice

• Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream your butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla and mix. Then add your eggs and mix well. Stir in carrots, orange rind, an milk.
• In a seperate bowl, combine your white and wheat flour, oats, flax seed, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.
• Por your flour mix into the egg mix and beat until just mixed, about 10-20 seconds. Do not over mix.
• Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, pour batter into all 12 liners.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick put in the center comes out clean. Mine took 23 minutes. Set out on a cooling rack.

How to prepare the icing:

• Stir together your powdered sugar and orange juice. If you need to thicken it, add more sugar. To thin it out more, add more juice but only a a little at a time. 
• Then dab on top of your muffins and smooth out with a knife. 

To freeze:

• These muffins freeze very well! After icing them, put them on a baking sheet and slide into the freezer.\
• After several hours, or the muffins are frozen solid, put them into a plastic freezer bag and back into the freezer. They will store well for a couple months. However, mine never last that long :)
• To thaw: Set out your muffins the night before or just microwave them for a minute on high.

This is a good recipe to get your kiddos eating vegetables without the fit! Also, your spouse if they don't like em!  They are low fat and taste great! Kind of tastes orangey but sweet like a carrot. And the icing has a  great tang. Hope your family enjoys these as much as my family does.