The BEST Bran Muffins

I absolutely love these muffins. My FMIL introduced me to the recipe. It's a good day when there are bran muffins in the house! I couldn't help but share the glory of these muffins, so here's the recipe. These are great for breakfast, so I decided to make them this morning. My fiance loves them too, so it's an all-around win! :)

To begin, get your ingredients together. You're going to need bran, buttermilk, whole wheat flour, baking soda, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, an egg, oil, and raisins (optional). 

Then, preheat your oven for 375.

Start by combining one cup buttermilk and 1 cup bran. If you don't have buttermilk (I don't just have buttermilk on hand), you can make a substitute that works just fine. If you have lemon juice or vinegar, you can add one tablespoon of that to one cup of regular milk. Let is stand for about five minutes and voila! You have a perfectly good buttermilk substitute. 

Once your buttermilk is made, add it to the bran. Set it aside and work on the dry ingredients.

Add the flour, baking soda, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cloves to your mixing bowl. Mix it all up.

Make a well in the center (anyone know why they do this?) and add your wet ingredients, including the buttermilk/bran mixture.

Do some more mixing until it's pretty well combined.

Pour the batter into muffin liners in a muffin tin. Fill them about half way.

Pop 'em in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Ta da! Glorious, warm bran muffins for breakfast. :)

I can't say enough about how much I love these muffins! :) They aren't super sweet and they're very filling. 

I love them. Special thanks to my FMIL, Karla, for sharing the recipe.

And..... Here's the recipe for your C&Ping convenience!

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Bran Muffins
Makes 12 Muffins
Preheat oven 375

Ingredients:
1 C bran
1 C buttermilk (see substitute)
1 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 C brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t cloves
1 egg
3 T oil
1/2 C raisins (optional)

Directions:
Combine bran and buttermilk, let stand. Mix dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add liquid ingredients and bran/buttermilk. Mix well. Using tin liners, fill each muffin tin half full. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Buttermilk substitute:
Add 1 T lemon juice or vinegar to 1 C milk, let stand approximately 5 minutes.

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Hope your day is wonderful!

Peacock Sunglasses and Worry

Well... at least that's what I like to call them. It's not too often I do some serious shopping. My wardrobe consists of a couple of summer dresses, jeans, flip flops, and various blouses (a large majority of them are black - I'm a photographer, what can I say?). Because of my lack of designer-wear, a common person might say I could benefit from a serious shopping spree. I don't absolutely love going shopping like the typical female though. Cute clothing isn't an important part of getting ready in the morning for me. I shouldn't worry about what new designer jeans I'm going to buy, or getting the cute shoes I saw in the store window. 

I will admit -- it's hard not to. 

So often we are bombarded as a people with messages that we are not good enough. Our clothes don't fit the best, we aren't spending enough money on our handbags, our makeup isn't top quality.

Ranting about my new peacock sunglasses and clothes in general reminded me of several verses I read awhile back found in Matthew 6. The Lord reminds us "do not worry." Not about food, drink, or clothing. He reminds us that he has dressed the lilies of the field in their beauty -- will he not dress me, his daughter, in such splendor? Although the Lord does not literally pick out my clothes each morning and put them on my body, it is an excellent reminder that He will provide for me just as he cares for the flowers. He has up to this point, and I have faith that he will continue to.

31“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Holy cow. Just reading this verse kindles a flame in my soul that I can literally feel. What power in such words! Recently, Ethan and I have been doing some planning for our near future -- aka apartment hunting. Talk about good timing. Who knew that a pair of new sunglasses I saw in the store today could lead me to a verse that rekindles my hope in our future and assures me that good things will come when we follow Christ! It is things like this that remind me that I am not alone and that our God is SO good.

Matthew 6:19-34 NLT

19“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

22“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. 23But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

24“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

25“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

28“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

31“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

34“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today

Chocolate Mug Cake

Ethan and I will be moving into our apartment in December after we get married on the 15th (Yay!) so I have been slowly collecting recipes that I can make for both of us. For Christmas last year, one of the gifts I received was a cute recipe box -- what more of a reason do I need to fill it with delicious recipes that I will (hopefully) one day try out! While browsing on Pinterest for said recipes, I came across a blog that had several single-serving "mug" recipes. French toast, apple crisp, chocolate chip cookie, and get this... molten brownie! Needless to say, I copy and pasted every one of the them to put in my box. 

Today I tried out the chocolate cake recipe. Although it needs a couple of modifications in my opinion, there is potential. 

Chocolate Mug Cake

Recipe from Chocolate-Covered Katie

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon plus 2 tsp cocoa powder

3 tablespoons spelt flour (or white, or even peanut flour)

1/8 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar (pr evaporated cane juice)

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 stevia packet (or 1 tablespoon more sugar)

2-3 tsp coconut oil or vegetable oil (sub applesauce or mashed banana)

3 tablespoons milk of choice 

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Combine dry ingredients and mix very, very well. Add liquid, stir, then transfer to a little dish, ramekin, or even a coffee mug. Microwave 30-40 seconds. If you don’t want to eat it straight out of the dish, be sure to spray your dish first (and then wait for it to cool before trying to remove it).

NUTRITIONAL FACTS

Calories: 205 with oil (or 140 without)

Fat: 12g with oil (or 2g without)

Carbs: 30g

Fiber: 6.5g

Protein: 5.5g

ww points (new system): 6 (or 4 without oil)

A couple of personal notes:

I used banana instead of oil for a "healthier" alternative. (Only 140 calories without the oil! -- but... you may want to stick with the oil.) The banana taste is definitely prevalent. If you think you can handle the banana taste and texture, more power to ya, just make sure you mix it VERY well.

I also used whole wheat flour. This may affect the taste as well. 

Also, I had to microwave it for 30 more seconds after the 40 seconds, so you may need more heating. Try thirty second intervals until you think it's the right consistency. 

Overall, this recipe will need some trial and error attempts, but eventually I think could be a winner in my book (or box).

DIY Hydrangea Wedding Bouquet

This is my bouquet that I made from a tutorial you can find here. I added a few details to it to make it my own. It was overall really simple! I love the consistent color and the rustic feel of the stem. Special thanks to Jaimee Morse for this gorgeous DIY bouquet!