Bran muffins

Company is coming! Andrew's dad and his fiancée are coming up tonight to move her daughter in at FSU. They are going to be our first guests in our cute little house, so I have turned into a cleaning whirlwind machine this past week. Now is as good a time as any to mention my favorite housekeeping tool, a blog called Unfuck Your Habitat. The woman who runs the blog just came out with an app, and I can't fully express why but it is incredibly motivating and encouraging. I started following it in college and it literally changed my apartment--probably my life as well. It emphasizes doing what you can to keep your space clean, when you can do it. This means taking 20 minutes to clean in your day, rather than letting it build up. These are elementary tactics I know, but as someone who's trying to be a grownup...

Now that the house is spotless, I have been spending today cooking! The spinach-artichoke dip is waiting in the fridge; I'll serve it with tortilla chips and daquiris when they get in around 9 tonight. Next I'll make another batch of my famous chocolate-chip cookies for Stephanie to take to college. My best friend Cat's parents sent me cookies when I started at W&L, and it was wonderful. More food = more opportunities to make friends! (That is a universal truth up there with the Golden Rule and measuring brown sugar by packing it in to the cup as much as you can.) Anyway, tomorrow's breakfast is already mostly made and I am putting off washing dishes by introducing you to my famous bran muffins!

I first started making this recipe sophomore year of college. I had just been assigned my little sisters in Pi Phi (I love them so much!) and I was SO EXCITED. Big sis week is essentially an opportunity to sneak into your little's room every day and shower her with presents and balloons and candy, and at the end of the week there is a big reveal at the srat house with the whole family in matching PJs. Claire and Tania maintain they knew it was me because they got a different kind of cookie every day. But Wednesday is traditionally breakfast day--you get a guy to deliver breakfast in bed to your beautiful little! Tania put on her sheet that she loves French toast, so that was set, but Claire just said she wanted fruit. Silly little! I want to make you something! So my mom dug out this classic and Claire loved them!

My amazing littles at their big sis reveal! Yay PINK family!

The best part about this recipe is that the batter keeps for up to six weeks. This is revolutionary. I can fill a couple of the muffin tin wells with batter when I get up in the morning, and by the time I'm running out the door they are ready to go. Instant breakfast. They were amazing in college, when I often didn't budget enough time to sit down with a bowl of cereal before class. Plus, they are super-good. They don't dry out, and they taste amazing. And they could not be easier! My only warning with making these muffins is that you need a couple of big bowls. You end up with about 6 cups of batter, and since you want extra space to mix without the batter flying out... just plan ahead, that's all. Even the "medium bowl" in the recipe should be, well, pretty big. You can modify the bowl system that the recipe uses, but I find it's the easiest way to go.

This is the largest bowl I used; it holds 5 quarts.

Bran Muffins from Grandmama and John Russell
Use 3 mixing bowls. In the largest bowl, combine:

1 cup All-Bran cereal

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Mix well and set aside.

Delicious! As it sits, it settles a little

In the medium bowl, combine:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 cups All-Bran

In the small bowl, beat 2 eggs, add 2 cups buttermilk and mix well.
Add the contents of the small bowl to the dry ingredients in the medium bowl and mix well. Add medium bowl to largest bowl and mix thoroughly.

All done!

To bake: Spoon batter into well-greased muffin tins until 3/4 full. Bake 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 30 muffins.
Note: If some muffin wells are empty, fill them with water. Seriously.
Covered batter can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 6 weeks.