Healthy Morning Glory Muffins — The Kind of Baking That Gets You Through a Hard Week

Hot wind. Ninety-four for three days. Three days of farrier work. Two ranches in the county. Eleven horses. The body is tired in the right way.

Patrick on the porch in the afternoon. Coffee in the good cup. The cottonwoods.

Cornbread in the cast iron. Crisp edge.

I sat on the porch with coffee Sunday morning before chores. The mountains were the mountains.

Worked on the truck Saturday afternoon. Plugs and wires. Two hours. Hands black with grease. Came in. Showered. Ate.

Listened to the cattle market report on AM radio while I worked the shop. Beef is up. Feed is up. The math is the math.

Truck started cold Tuesday. Twelve below. Battery is the original. I will replace it before next winter. I always say I will replace it before next winter. I never have.

A neighbor's heifer was choking on a corn cob. I drove over with my emergency kit. Cleared the cob with a length of garden hose. The heifer recovered. The neighbor brought a pie the next day.

Mended the chute hinge Wednesday. Welder was finicky. Got it on the third try. Patrick used to do this. I do it now.

Storm came through Friday night. Thunder. The dog hid under the bed. The kids slept through it. The cattle bunched up by the windbreak. Standard.

Drove to Billings for parts Friday. Stopped at the cemetery on the way home. Stood for ten minutes. Came home.

The barn cats are doing their job. Down to one mouse this week, in the feed shed. The cats brought it to the porch as proof. They are professionals.

The Musselshell was clear Sunday. Could see trout in the deeper pools. Did not fish. Just watched.

Took a walk to the river before supper Tuesday. The cottonwoods were silver. The water was running. I did not think much. I just walked.

A reader emailed about the elk chili recipe. Asked what beer to use if non-alcoholic was not available. I wrote back: any beer is wrong if you don't drink. Use stock.

The wood pile is half what it was at Thanksgiving. I will split another cord on Saturday. The cord will be ready by next winter. The wood always is.

Mr. Whelan from down the road came over Saturday with a story about a horse he sold in 1979. The story took an hour. I listened. He needed someone to tell it to.

Drove the back fence line Saturday. Two posts down from elk. Replaced them in the morning. The fence held the rest of the week.

Wrote a blog post Friday night. The first one in two months. About making chili in a snowstorm. Short. Practical. Posted it. Forgot about it.

Hauled three bull calves to the auction yard Wednesday. Got a fair price. Came home. Counted the cash. Put it in the ranch account.

Hank, the dog, herded the chickens by accident. He apologized in the way dogs apologize — eyes down, tail low. The chickens were unimpressed.

Three days of horses this week. The work is meditative. The horses know. The owners pay. The cycle holds.

The Tuesday Roundup AA meeting was eleven this week — three new guys from a referral. The room was full. The coffee was strong.

The cornbread went in the cast iron mid-week and did its job — crisp edge, no fuss. But by Sunday, with the horses done and the fence mended and the shop squared away, I wanted something that would carry through the morning without much thought. Morning Glory Muffins are that kind of recipe: you use what’s honest, you don’t overthink it, and they come out the same every time, which is more than you can say for most things. Patrick would have eaten three before I had one.

Healthy Morning Glory Muffins

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 42 min | Servings: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups shredded carrots (about 3 medium)
• 1 medium apple, peeled and grated
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup honey or pure maple syrup
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup coconut oil or neutral oil, melted
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 375°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin well or line with paper liners.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until combined.
3. Add the mix-ins. Stir the shredded carrots, grated apple, raisins, coconut, and nuts directly into the dry mixture until evenly distributed.
4. Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey or maple syrup, Greek yogurt, melted oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
5. Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula until just combined. Do not overmix — a few streaks of flour are fine.
6. Fill and bake. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake for 20–22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops are set and golden.
7. Cool. Let the muffins rest in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Eat one warm. Store the rest in an airtight container for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 235 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 210mg