Healthy Morning Glory Muffins

This recipe is a terrific breakfast muffin. It combines oats, orange juice and raisins with the sweetness of maple syrup plus crunch from coconut and sunflower seeds in a whole grain bite that is free of refined sugar. Looking for a healthy breakfast muffin? Here you are.

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This time of year I am enjoying copious amounts of citrus thanks to the Band Fruit Fundraiser (here's a link to 156 food blogger recipes using seasonal fruits like the kind my son sold at his recent marching band fruit fundraiser--support a band near you!). I'm also baking--and eating--rich holiday treats like those I recently shared during #ChristmasWeek--have you entered the Amazon Gift Card Giveaway yet? As such, I will take any opportunity to boost the nutrition in my other meals.

When I fix muffins as a breakfast food I know I'm giving my kids something nourishing that will power them through the morning. My mom is Canadian {I'm American so she's not my mum, she's my mom} and thank goodness for that. She raised me on Canadian muffins. Compared to American muffins, Canadian muffins have less sugar and less fat. American muffin recipes seem like cupcakes to me. I love cupcakes. Just not for breakfast.

Oatmeal Orange Beet Blender Muffins

These perky morning muffins have roasted beets from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, oatmeal, and orange juice. They are easily made in the blender for a smooth batter, bright flavor, and golden hue.

We were only engaged for a week, so we didn't undertake any type of pre-marital counseling. Instead we drove from Michigan to New Mexico, seeing the sights en route but probably not avoiding chain restaurants--see this post if you want tips on Local Eating on the Road--since we'd just been living in Germany and were craving all things American. We got hitched once we arrived in Alamogordo.

Why the rush? Well, if you're someone in the military who loves someone else in the military there's this thing called a Join Spouse assignment preference. There's no Join Boyfriend or Join Fiancee or Join Significant Other assignment category. You need the paper to make it officially easier to be with the one you love. It made more sense to my spouse and I to get the paper rather than have a big To Do. So we did.

Had we undergone pre-marital counseling, however, I would hope that it included the orange juice pulp issue. There are too many choices in the grocery store and the amount of pulp and/or calcium in your OJ is just one example. My spouse likes Lots of Pulp. I'd rather have pulp than not have pulp, so I'll easily go along with his desire.

For other recipes using beets, please see my Beet Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. I've been working behind the scenes adding links to recipes from a host of creative and generous bloggers to make this index a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share. For another muffin recipe using beets, how about a sweet Cherry Beet Yogurt muffin or a savory Beet Horseradish muffin?