Morning Glory

Cooking healthy is one thing. It's easy and fun and I love looking for healthy recipes for my family...especially this time of year. Baking healthy is another thing. Not that it's hard, but I'm just sayin'...if I want to eat a cookie, I want to eat a cookie. Sure I've done the ol' applesauce/butter switcheroo and other things, but overall, I like to bake with butter, butter, butter, and sugar, sugar, sugar. I know. I know! Beautifully healthy friends o'mine...please still love me!
Anyways, like all of you, I'm trying to gradually get healthier and healthier so I thought I'd make some "healthy"-ish-ish-ish muffins for MOPS.  Not technically "healthy", but for me...this is a start! I mean, muffins with carrots? That's got to be healthy, right?!!


Morning Glory Muffins:
inspiration here

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup oat bran (didn't have, so used 1/2 cup wheat bran, 1/2 cup oatmeal. That equals one cup oat bran, right??)
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour (just used whole wheat flour)
2 ts baking soda
1 Tb baking powder
½ ts salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ ts powder ginger
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 medium size eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil (Used 1/4 cup canola oil and 1/2 cup applesauce...these were also for my kids and my skinny Harper needs some fat!)
1 ½ ts pure vanilla extract
¾ cup half & half (or whole milk)... again, I used whole milk for my skinny minnie!
1 cup shredded carrots
½ cup raisins
1/2 cup unsweetend coconut
*also added 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin tin.

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.
In a separate bowl mix together the carrots, raisins, coconut, and pineapple.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, dark brown sugar, oil, vanilla, and half & half. Whisk well.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the large bowl containing the dry flour mixture. Mix until just combined, do not overmix! It’s perfectly normal to have lumps. Lumps are good! Then add in the “add in” bowl mix and “gently” mix that until just incorporated. Don’t overmix!
Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake in preheated oven for 20-ish minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

I may have also added an orange juice/powdered sugar glaze....

It made 1 dozen muffins and one loaf and seems to get more moist and yummy with each passing hour. It felt like a ton-o-ingredients, but they were worth it. And they'd be great to freeze!

Baking project during nap time today?

Great Grandma Nor Nor's Rye Bread!! Can't wait to see if it turns out!

Have a great weekend and a very Happy Mother's Day!!

 Ya'll are rock star moms!