Whole Wheat Morning Glory Muffins

Hold onto your hats friends.  You're in for a wild ride.  We finally pulled the trigger and officially started the process of remodeling our kitchen! 👏🏻 Let's just say that I'm feeling ALL of the emotions.  I'm excited about the possibilities, anxious about all of the decisions that need to be made, ecstatic to have a more efficient space, concerned about the cost, blessed and grateful for the opportunity but apprehensive about tearing apart my work space.  😅  

So many emotions - so many decisions.  Appliances, vents, cabinets, island designs, countertops, floors, hardware, lighting, oh my.  There are lots of great choices for kitchens - which is great - but on some level, that just made our decision process harder.  There are literally millions of different types of hardware available to put on kitchen cabinets.  😳

Overall, I enjoyed the process of thinking through all the details of our new kitchen but full disclosure - it was a little overwhelming at times too.   Let's just say that after a week of designing our new kitchen space,  I can't even imagine how stressful it must be to design a whole house.   So many decisions that have to be made in a short period of time.  😬

Tackling a kitchen remodel is new for us and as newbies to the process - let's just say, we have a LOT to learn.  Making my new pantry space efficient and functional but still beautiful is going to be a challenge but baking ... now that's where I'm most comfortable.  Give me some fresh ingredients and I can whip something up in no time.  

I'm very accustomed to looking at new recipes and even I, get intimidated by a recipe with an ingredient list that seems like it's a mile long.  With that being said - don't freak out when you see the extensive list of ingredients for this recipe.  (18 to be exact.😅) Trust me when I say that I'm usually the first person to shy away from any muffin recipe with a lengthy list of ingredients. I mean, why in the world do we need 18 different ingredients for a batch of muffins?  What kind of crazy recipe uses that many ingredients anyway?   

The simple answer is  - a morning glory muffin.  Morning glory muffins are absolutely loaded with whole grains, spices, fruits and vegetables.  And despite the intimidatingly long list of ingredients, they come together relatively quickly.  I whipped up a batch in just one bowl in less than 15 minutes - honest.  These muffins are the tastiest way to get your daily dose of fiber - guaranteed.  

And if you still feel like the ingredient is too long - simplify it.  Add just one type of flour, instead of all 3 or stick to one fruit instead of two.  Substitute 1 1/4 teaspoons of apple pie spice for the individual spices.  There are all kinds of modifications and changes that you can make to this recipe.  Be creative and have fun with it.  ​

Whole Wheat Morning Glory Muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup oat bran
1/2 cup AP flour flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup whole milk
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp. orange zest
1 shredded carrot
1/2 cup grated apple
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 chopped walnuts

Whisk together flours, oat bran, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, oil, milk, honey and vanilla.

Gently fold liquid mixture into dry ingredients. 

Fold in orange zest, carrot, apple, raisins and walnuts.

Spoon into muffin tins and bake 17-29 minutes at 375.  

Buckle up buttercups - cause we'll be starting our kitchen reno project soon.  You better believe that I'll be sharing every step of our kitchen remodel on the blog.  Did you expect anything less?  I'm a little nervous about having my kitchen rendered unusable for a while but I guess while I can't cook - I'll photograph.  📸

​Ciao!

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