For a few vacations during my childhood, my parents planned a family trip to Disneyland. We often drove to Anaheim from our Northern California home, leaving at the crack of dawn to beat rush hour traffic, and pulled into the parking lot of the Howard Johnson directly across the street from the theme park in the early afternoon (just in time for a swim in the hotel pool!).
As a family of morning people who naturally woke up around 6 am, if not before, we always walked over to Disneyland about a half hour before it opened to be among the first visitors in line. Once we passed through the gates and snapped a quick obligatory photo in front of the Mickey Mouse flowers at the entrance, we headed towards Fantasyland in the back of the park, directly behind Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.
We hopped on Dumbo first, one of the most popular rides, followed by the Tea Cups (Dad skipped that and took pictures of us instead!), It’s A Small World (we always sang along!), and then usually walked over to Toontown to try touring Mickey’s and Minnie’s houses before the crowds came and the lines grew too long. Of course, if we spotted any of the characters walking around in between rides, we often dashed over to meet them too. We even have a photo of me with Pooh Bear, right after I kissed his nose, with a few tears on my cheeks because I loved him… Yet I was a little scared of him as a full-sized character!
To avoid wasting time standing in food lines — and paying the extremely high prices! — Mom and Dad generally brought lunch and lots of snacks in a backpack. Ritz crackers, a jar of peanut butter, some fresh juicy apples or grapes… Things that were kid-approved, easily transportable, and wouldn’t get too broken or squished when we went on rides!
For the same reasons, we also ate breakfast back in our hotel room before heading over to the park. Although we usually had cereal at home, the hotel room didn’t always have a refrigerator for milk, so Mom bought us a special treat from Costco instead…
Muffins! Specifically, jumbo-sized lemon poppy seed muffins. We hated “bits” (like blueberries!) in our food, and since Mom wisely skipped the double chocolate muffins, that left lemon poppy seed as the main flavor we’d agree to eat.
So Mom cut one of those jumbo muffins in half each morning, gave my brother and me each a piece (along with tissues to use as plates!), and had us sit at the desk in the hotel room so we wouldn’t get crumbs all over the beds. In my little kid eyes, it was the best way to start the day, and I looked forward to those super soft, sweet, and special muffins almost as much as going to Disneyland!
Funny enough… I refused to eat any other muffin flavors until I reached middle school. Apparently those Disneyland morning lemon poppy seed muffins left quite the impression on me!
When I scrolled through photos on my phone earlier this month, I came across the set of ones I had taken last year when my aunt, my cousins, my mom, my brother, and I had gone to Disneyland as a mini-reunion. Those brought back childhood memories from Disneyland… Which left me craving muffins…
So I baked a batch of these Healthy One-Bowl Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins as a result! They’re just as moist and soft as the jumbo-sized ones I grew up loving, and they’re also full of that same sunshiny sweet citrus flavor.
Yet unlike the Costco ones, these healthy lemon poppy seed muffins have no oil, refined flour or sugar… And they’re 111 calories!
Continue reading & see the rest! ›› Healthy One-Bowl Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
0 Comments